Noah Hawley, creator of the TV series “Fargo,” “Legion” and “Alien: Earth,” remains optimistic about the industry.
“This was a process of becoming optimistic,” he declared at the Cannes series.
“We’re between the old model and the new model, but every generation has masterpieces and we have to figure out how to make them now. It’s a bigger question about what the technology companies have done to Hollywood. We’re all affected by that. They come into the industry, they flood the industry with money, and everyone tends to feel, ‘Oh, this is a renaissance.'” Then everything dries up. ”
The past few years have been difficult. “Our biggest competitor is YouTube. They spend $0 on everything they make. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars making movies and TV, and they’re being dazzled every day by free stuff.”
Although Hawley started out as a novelist and continues to write, “television is the quickest way to interact with culture,” he says.
“If you want to say something important, television is a better medium.”
“Someone recently called me a ‘franchise whisperer,’ which is priceless in this day and age. Our industry is so focused on franchises and existing IP that audiences are more likely to watch. But I’m trying to interpret these brands, what ‘Fargo’ is, what ‘Alien’ is, and tell you a whole new story that evokes the emotions you felt when you watched the original.”
He also worked on “Legion,” which is set in the X-Men universe.
“Freud wrote an essay called ‘The Uncanny’, addressing human beliefs in the supernatural. It’s when familiar things act in unfamiliar ways. Haunted house stories are unsettling because your house isn’t supposed to do that. (I thought:) What if ‘Breakin’? What if ‘G Bad’ was a story about Walter White becoming a supervillain? I found Professor ”
Starring Dan Stevens.
“[While filming the pilot]he had bad food poisoning. Every time we yelled, ‘Cut!’ he threw up in a bucket.” And then he dances again. That’s an actor’s dedication,” Hawley joked.
He admitted that he never re-watched the original production before appearing on the show. Instead, he thinks about the feelings he remembers from them.
“When I think about[Ridley Scott’s]’Alien,’ there’s a strong feeling of discovery surrounding the life cycle of this creature. It starts as an egg, comes out and attaches itself to the body, and I think it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. But that’s not all! Then the chestburster comes out,” he laughed.
“In the second film, we already know its evolution, so we’re replacing surprise with suspense. We had to introduce new creatures to give you the same feeling you had when you watched Ridley’s movies.”
The second season of the show begins. “Fargo” has had five seasons so far.
“To me, ‘Fargo’ is a story of the battle between decency and cynicism. It’s not a story of good and evil. It’s a story of people who believe in the worth of others and people who don’t.” David Thewlis says in the third season, “The problem is not that there is evil in the world. The problem is that there is good. If not, who cares?” Things are not going in the right direction in my country. “Cynicism doesn’t win, common sense wins,” Hawley said.
“In Season 5, everyone on that show was a Republican. There were different versions of being a Republican, but still. I was trying really hard to not be political with a capital P, but to talk about the underlying humanity.”
If the second season was about “the end of the family business and the rise of corporate America” and the third was about “deconstructing the phrase ‘this is a true story’ in a world of alternative facts,” the final season was about the need for a justice system.
“A sheriff, a guy who believes he’s right, is as good as a villain. If you look at ‘Yellowstone’ or ‘1883,’ there’s a consistent mindset that’s rooted in the idea that no one can tell people what’s right or wrong. He knows that in his bones. There’s a scene where[Jon]Hamm lists a bunch of ridiculous laws, but that doesn’t mean the laws themselves are stupid,” he said.
“I went into that season believing there was a lot of viewers who believed he was a hero, and my job was to ask them, ‘Are we still with him?'” But no one calls to ask if it’s going to work. ”
Despite the many iconic male characters over the years — “When Billy Bob Thorton showed up with that hair, I thought, ‘We’re making the same show.'” — women still carry the stories.
“In my heart, these series are about women. I would have done something wrong if women weren’t at the center of these stories.”
When interpreting famous brands, his first mission is authenticity.
“I have to say, I understand what ‘alien’ is.” Once you do that, you can do what you’re supposed to do. I don’t consider it “fan service”. It’s about feeling like you’re getting it right. These things need to stand on their own two feet. ”
In “Alien,” he came up with the “Peter Pan metaphor.”
“This story is about humanity trapped between monsters of the past and monsters of the future, including AI, which feels like the world today.”
Has he already used AI?
“Not yet, but we’ve had these conversations. If you’re spending $150 million to $170 million to make a season of Alien, that’s a lot of money, and companies are desperate to find ways to spend less. I remain open-minded about how storytellers can use it, but it shouldn’t replace storytellers.”
He added, “This novel I wrote is expensive to produce because it includes plane crashes and underwater scenes.However, at its core it is a human drama.Would it be okay for this movie to come out if everything bigger was AI?Ki The only way to see Public’s “Napoleon” would be for them to shoot part of the movie and use AI for the rest. That’s inevitable. I’d rather have control over the problem than have it happen to me.”
