Hotmail
On 'Deadwood' set,
history comes alive
HBO's hit Western is built
on a mountain of research
 Kevork Djansezian / AP Actors and stand-ins mill about the main street set of HBO's "Deadwood" series. Authenticity is a top priority for creator David Milch: “It’s precious to me to get the world right.” |
Television video |
 SyFy reimagines ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Dec. 5: Caterina Scorsone, who plays Alice in the network’s modern adaptation of the classic novel, joins NBC’s Lester Holt and Amy Robach to discuss the series. |
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A visit to the dingy Western set of “Deadwood” makes you wonder: What century is this, anyway? — until director Ed Bianchi yells “Cut!” and the scruffy miners put on sunglasses and haul out cell phones to check their messages.
For creator David Milch, “Deadwood” is not a TV show; it’s living history.
“This is where the Chinese prostitutes were kept,” he says, pointing to small bamboo cages along the Chinese Alley section of the set, one of the largest ever built for a TV series. “They were kept in these ‘cribs,’ dressed in burlap sacks, and literally sexed to death.”
Disturbing stuff, yet just some of the many gritty details depicted with unvarnished realism on “Deadwood,” the HBO series about life in a Black Hills mining town that begins its second season 9 p.m. EST Sunday.
“‘Deadwood’ is really about individuals coming here and finding their own way to live, wherever they came from,” says Ian McShane, who portrays foul-mouthed saloon keep and town boss Al Swearengen.
That story is told, says Milch, “by bringing alive the process of evolution of a society,” and, most importantly, by making the characters and their surroundings authentic.
“It’s precious to me to get the world right. The realities of a time are not an inconvenience, but the door into its reality.”
The world of “Deadwood” is filled with the history of South Dakota’s Deadwood in 1876, which Milch and his production team researched over a two-year period.
More than half the characters on the show are historical figures, including Swearengen, though “they’re sometimes drawn in bold colors,” says Robin Weigert, who plays the rough and tumble — and equally foul-mouthed — Calamity Jane.
Library in a dressing room
Some of the actors have done their own research into their roles.
John Hawkes, who plays the Jewish character Sol Star, points to a “Deadwood library” of books in his dressing room with titles like “Pioneer Jews.”
“The Jewish experience is typically viewed through New York,” he notes. “Being someone whose people had been chased throughout history, (Milch) and I agreed that Sol would have been someone who would have wanted to pass, to try to assimilate, to fit in.”
Molly Parker’s Alma Garrett, a transplant from the civilized East, represents the rare upper class in this dusty world.
“I researched the Victorian New York life she would have lived before coming to Deadwood,” the actress explains.
This includes her on-screen addiction to the opiate laudanum. “Women like her were expected to be quiet and ornamental, which is why many women of her class became laudanum addicts.”
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM DRAMA |
 'The Tudors' turns bloodier in season 2 |
| Add Drama headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide