Ernest Dickerson Talks Walking Dead Season 3 Premiere

Steve Barton |

Jun 11, 2012

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“The Walking Dead” on AMC

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http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/2012/06/ernest-dickerson-interview.php

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Ernest Dickerson, director of the Season 3 premiere of “The Walking Dead”, recently chatted with AMCtv.com about introducing Michonne in all her glory, keeping zombies warm with fire, and a whole lot more. Read on for the early word on what’s shambling our way next fall!

Q: What’s been the most exciting thing to direct in the Season 3 premiere?

A: I’m really excited for the fans to see a growth in the characters that they know… And in this episode we’re introducing Michonne in all of her glory. We get to meet her, and I know a lot of people have been looking forward to that.

Q: This is the sixth episode that you’ve directed. What’s the number one secret to creating an awesome episode of “The Walking Dead”?

A: It always starts with the script. It starts with the writers. I was fortunate in the first episode to have a really slam-bang script with a lot of action. Hopefully I make it cinematic. What I love about doing this show is each episode is like doing a mini-movie; it’s different than any other television show I’ve ever done.

Ernest Dickerson Talks Walking Dead Season 3 Premiere

Q: You directed the memorable Season 2 finale with the walker attack on the farm. What was that like to film?

A: I think a lot of people were looking at what we had to accomplish and thought it was impossible… It was really cold the last night, like 27 degrees. There’s nothing more pitiful than a shivering zombie so we had them on the bus until the last possible second. When the barn was burning, I know they loved being down there.

Q: You’ve gone from directing episodes on a stretch of highway and in the forest to now directing inside on a sound stage. Are you happy to be indoors?

A: It was slightly more pleasant because we could have air conditioning pumped in there, but it was a really dusty environment and real gritty. I had dust in my hair and I blew my nose and black soot came out. [Laughs] I thought it’d be easy, but no, not at all. There’s no such thing as easy in the world of “The Walking Dead”.

Q: Glen Mazzara told us he wrote a particularly gross zombie gag for Episode 3.01. How does this compare to the Woodchuck Zombie gutting from Season 2?

A: That’s hard for me to say because the entire time we were shooting the Woodchuck autopsy, what I called the Zombie Autopsy, I kept wondering if it was gross enough.

To stay up-to-the-minute on all things walker related, follow @WalkingDead_AMC on Twitter and visit “The Walking Dead” on Facebook. For more be sure to hit up the official “The Walking Dead” page on AMCtv.com.