What got you thinking about that fringe element of the porn industry?
I don’t know what got me thinking about that. I like those gray areas in terms of what’s the difference between what they were doing that is legitimate porn and what these guys were doing which was not legitimate? The whole gray area of what’s bad and what’s really bad is interesting to me because it really defines what these guys do. We deal guns, but we don’t deal drugs, we do this but we don’t do that. I just think that hypocrisy is interesting narrative territory.
How much more Donal Logue are we going to see?
Donal Logue’s character, that character will be one of our major antagonists for the season.
So you arc the show and the writers bring you the specific episodes, or even just scenes that deliver, does that make you really proud to see it come to life?
I have a great writing staff and they really hang the meat on the episode. My writers will do a pass and then I’ll usually take it. I do a pretty extensive pass on it myself in terms of getting the script where I want it. It’s always interesting to then sit in post a week or 10 days after we’ve written it and see it come to life. My actors I think each season get stronger and stronger and their interpretations of those characters continue to get more interesting to me. It’s season six and no one’s showing signs of fatigue which is great.
Do the writers ever illuminate things beyond your own ideas?
The process for me is I’ll come in with an idea of where I want an episode to go and my writers will beat that out and get very specific with it and then I’ll come in and tweak it and say, “That’s good. Move in that direction.” It’s really a supervisory dynamic and then I’ll get their draft. And a lot of times, what ultimately was a notion in the room, to ultimately see it on the page of “oh, that’s an interesting place for it to go,” my job is usually just taking it one step further.
We are big comic book fans at CraveOnline. What did your Punisher movie script entail?
I came in and did a draft and I love Gale Anne Hurd and the Marvel guys are great. I think my take on it was I was a fan of the comic book, but I wasn’t married to a lot of the comic book. Ultimately I think my draft took it in a direction that they felt was too much off mythology. I think I tried to make him a little too real.
They certainly went the opposite direction in Punisher War Zone!
You know what it was? I think I introduced a couple new characters that I think they get nervous when there’s new characters that aren’t already a part of the mythology. I think I just went off the reservation too much. Ultimately I think the only thing they used from my draft was the way Jigsaw becomes Jigsaw.
So you did still have Jigsaw, but you introduced some new characters?
Yeah, mostly within his [circle]. The dynamic I had, I think I had a woman who was this guy’s handler initially, but I think the only thing that was left from my draft was I did have him running this recycling thing and that ultimately he became Jigsaw by falling into that recycling bin with the glass. I think that was the only thing that was left from my draft but it was really the first time writing in that formulaic process. I really wasn’t used to doing that, but it was a fun experience regardless.
