First the thugs react.
“Just ’cause they’re in the street doesn’t mean that they lack opinions.” – Haynes
Stanfield takes over as The Greeks’ Baltimore distributor and is given a phone and a code to use to contact them. Stanfield gives the number to Levy and Herc steals it and passes it on to the police department. Freamon appeals to Daniels for a wiretap but is unsuccessful. McNulty leaks further details of his invented serial killer to the press and the story gains momentum. When Templeton stages a phone call from the serial killer McNulty uses it as probable cause for a wiretap. Freamon sets up on Stanfield’s phone while the homicide unit believe they are manning another, disconnected, wiretap of the killers phone. Dukie struggles with bullying and searches for a new path. Bubbles learns that he is HIV negative. State’s Attorney Bond announces the Davis corruption case. Campbell convinces Davis to protect his fellow politicians and he embarks on a publicity campaign suggesting that his race has motivated the charges. Partlow sets up an ambush for Omar which he narrowly escapes by jumping from a balcony.
Deceased:
Donnie
I had the great opportunity to talk and interview the casting director of “The Wire”, Alexa Fogel. She told me some really interesting things about the show about the casting process. She casted many of the core actors of the show (Dominic West, Wendell Pierce, Idris Elba ect.) She was not involved in some of the Baltimore casting with characters like Snoop. I just thought i would share some of the things she told me and also share them them in class on Tuesday.
she told me a little bit about the casting of Dominic West. West was quite different from some of the qualities of David Simon’s original envision of detective McNaulty. She said that West was younger and better looking than the way in which McNaulty was written. He auditioned for the role many times and the character started to evolve where they really liked him. He also had on-screen chemistry with Wendell Pierce (Bunk) and that is how the role evolved.
Casting is often very complicated and a long process. Alexa said that Idris Elba (Stringer Bell) originally auditioned for Cedric Daniels. She said that some of the other black actors auditioned for other roles that the one that they ended up with and I thought this was very interesting. It amazes me that she was able to have this vision that Idris Elba was Stringer Bell and not Cedric Daniels because i do not think the show would have worked with him as Daniels. Casting is very difficult and very important to the quality of the show.
Another character that Alexa casted that she shared with me was Michael K. Williams (Omar). Williams auditioned for the television show Oz (Alexa also casted for Oz) and did not get the part. However, Alexa kept him on her radar and she ending up casting Williams for “the Wire and Williams obviously gave a great performance.
I asked her what she thought about the role opportunities currently afforded to black actors and she said that they suck and that it is disappointing that the roles for black actors to showcase their maximum talent is minimal in television and really do not exist after “The Wire.” I definitely agree about this and we have talked about it in class.
I hoped you enjoyed some of these thoughts as I really enjoyed learning more about some of the inside information of the show. I will share more thoughts in class.
An off-topic aside, but check out this headline: “Vermont school to evacuate students from Mexico.” Clearly they don’t have a grammar stickler copy editor!
Campbell’s conversation with Clay was incredible ironic. “You gotta carry this for all of us Clay….” I felt like I was listening to a conversation between Webay and Avon from season one. I guess that there is one glaring difference. Clay couldn’t do the years at a a “minimum security country club” while Bay is “standing tall” with 15 to 20.
Also, I was sad to see Donnie go. While he was a minor character, Donnie had so much presence. He looked like a genuinely scary dude. Even after seeing this entire series once before, I was still scared for Omar when Donnie introduced himself in prison (shank in hand). I thoroughly dug Donnie and Omar’s soul-music-soaked conversations while waiting outside of the condo. Specifically, the one in relation to patience just before they walked into the ambush.
In relation to actors from ‘The Wire’ in ‘Oz,’ does anyone remember Cedric’s role? He played a deep-cover narcotics cop who was trying to bust a dealer in Oz. He ends up getting hooked himself. I saw ‘Oz’ after ‘The Wire’ so it was almost painful to watch him in an incredibly emaciated state–playing a dope fiend no less–after seeing him in his ‘ubermench’ role as Cedric Daniels.
I noticed this headline from the day after our discussion last Thursday:
‘Baltimore Sun’ Lays Off Almost 60 — Guild Leader Calls Cuts ‘Shocking’
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003967453
The Guild Unit Chair at the Sun described it as, “This is really a devastating hit,” she said. “These are experienced journalists with a wealth of knowledge.”
“Cook and other Sun officials have not returned calls seeking comment.
Jones agreed with Kuhl that the cutbacks are apparently part of a shift away from a traditional newspaper structure to a more multi-platform approach: “They are more about distributing content through many forms.”” Multi-platform approach or a move to the internet?
We ended our discussion last Thursday by talking about what can one person really do? In the case of the falling news institution, I’m not really sure there is anything that one person can do. Just buying a newspaper is not going to make any difference. These 60 people are now out of a job on the same day that we watched a fictional tv show about it. I realize that awareness of the issues is essential, but I can’t help but feel some guilt too.