Daily Dead was invited to check out Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights this past weekend, and as part of the media event, Greg Nicotero took the stage to talk about his experience with The Walking Dead maze. Here's a recap of his Q&A, which also includes reflections on favorite moments from his career, not being able to say anything about The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere episode, and much more:
Greg Nicotero talked about the connection horror fans have to iconic locations from their favorite movie or show:
"It's one thing to see it on the screen, but being a fan, I've gone to Martha's Vineyard to see where they shot Jaws, and I've stood at the bottom of the steps in Georgetown where Father Merrin [stood in The Exorcist]. There's something about this genre that solicits that kind of connection.
The reason people go to conventions and watch these shows over and over again and go to see these movies is because they want to feel connected to this material. What I love about Universal is that these guys create the opportunity for you to experience it right in front of you.
I thought I had the greatest job in the world, but these guys get to do it all year long. I have a four-month hiatus on The Walking Dead, and I go off and do other shit. They just do it all year long. I'm kind of jealous, so I would say to really give it up to these guys because today is Christmas Day to them. They're opening up an amazing thing."
An audience member asked if Greg Nicotero could tell him who was at the other side of Negan's bat at the end of the season 6 finale:
"Can I tell you how much this sucks [not being able to say anything]? It's been five months of me not... I can't answer it. I can't talk about any of that. If I do say something, if there's not an apostrophe or a period, then people assume. It's crazy. You'll find out soon enough."
Not many fans of The Walking Dead are aware that an official retrospective is in the works. Here's Greg Nicotero talking about what you can expect:
"If people don't want to watch the presidential debates, there's going to be a big, two-hour retrospective of the entire six seasons of The Walking Dead that will bring people up to speed as to where we are, and they've interviewed all current cast members, all past cast members. It's two hours, and I just did my interview last week, and weirdly, I remember season 2, episode 11. I couldn't believe I remembered all of it, but it's weird because you look at everyone's face and they're so young and innocent. We've destroyed all of them. All the lines in all their faces are my fault, basically."
Lauren Cohan, Seth Gilliam, and other cast members of The Walking Dead stopped by to say “hi” and check out Halloween Horror Nights as well, and Greg Nicotero talked about what visitors can expect to see at The Walking Dead maze:
"It was fun. I went through the maze with the actors and Lauren was literally hiding behind me, and I was like, ‘Okay there's going to be a walker on the right.’ Then there was a walker on the left and I had to talk her through it, ‘You know I don't like scary stuff.’ I love that her and a lot [of the cast] were all hiding behind me, there are some great moments: the bicycle girl, the well walker. I love the fact that we get the greatest hits of The Walking Dead and you get to experience something new. It's not the same thing every season and every year in the mazes. I like the tunnel scene with Aaron and Maggie. It's just fun and it's exciting and it's scary and we have so much to call from that we could keep doing this for another 26 years. I totally just got your guys’ budget extended for 26 years, and you’re welcome.
In terms of having the opportunity to recreate those experiences for fans, I'm a fan. Literally, if I wasn't here on this stage, I would be out going through the mazes. I'll probably see you guys tonight running around the mazes because I love it. It's what inspires me. It's what keeps me going. I've been doing this for 30 years and The Walking Dead's been on for seven seasons and we kill ourselves every week to make sure the show feels fresh. It has to feel fresh for us. A lot of times they always say, "Four seasons in the show, TV shows start to wander a little bit." We are so dedicated to that not happening that I literally have no stomach or colon because it's all been rotted away from stress, because there's so much pressure on us to keep the show fresh. I just want it to be on the air again, so then I can talk about stuff soon enough. Again, to this creative, amazing team, it's a joy to collaborate with like-minded people that just really love what they do."
Greg Nicotero is known for his makeup effects, but he's also directed a full season’s worth of episodes for The Walking Dead. Here's what he had to say about the difference between planning for a live audience and shooting an episode:
"There's a huge difference between being live and shooting film. In shooting film, we can cut, move the camera, everybody can go have a cigarette and drink some water and chill out. We have to concoct our scares artificially with camera angles and lenses and things like that. These guys have to do it live every night. It's way harder to do it live because of the audience expectation. We can't manipulate you guys as much on film because you're not in the room with us. We have to guide you.
For The Walking Dead, I directed, I don't even know how many this year. I directed three episodes already. I start my fourth episode on Tuesday and I do the finale and you sit in the editing room and you're like, "There's a great lower [shot], let's just extend this moment. I want to see a little bit more of this walker." I get to sit and cut and play with it and draw out moments that I feel [will] elicit a specific emotion [in the audience]. [With] these guys, it's completely different. They don't get a chance to [say], ‘Hold on, go back to the beginning of the maze and we're going to try it again.’ It doesn't work that way, so they have a fantastic opportunity to craft these scares live."
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Check back later this week for my impressions from Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights. For more info, visit:
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
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