We’ve known for months that The Walking Dead‘s “atomic bomb” of a villain, Negan, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, will make his debut in the season six finale. We’re also aware that TV show Negan might be very different than comic-book Negan, because comic-book Negan says things like, “Motherf*cking d*ck suck c*nt f*cking f*ck f*ckity f*ck f*cker f*cking f*ck f*ckers,” and AMC doesn’t want to get f*ck f*ckity f*cking fined. So, what’s TV’s most popular show to do? Have a backup plan.
When asked by EW whether he filmed Negan’s debut in two different ways, director Greg Nicotero responded, “That would be a very good guess.”
“Even back when Michael Cudlitz was cast as Abraham we were like, ‘Damn, how are we going to deal with Abraham’s dialogue?’ And I think Gimple went, ‘Yeah, Abraham’s dialogue is fine. It’s Negan that we’re going to have problems with because every other word of Negan’s is f*ck.’ There is a rhythm to it that even in some of the takes that we did. What I affectionately call the ‘f*ck takes’ have a completely different rhythm to them and a completely different feel. So while editing it, I was very careful to make sure that I preserved a lot of the performance without getting myself into trouble with the profanity.” (Via Entertainment Weekly)
In the broadcast version of the season four finale, Rick wimps out and says, “They’re screwing with the wrong people,” but on the DVD, “screwing” is changed to “f*cking.” The Walking Dead was criticized for the curse-free threat, so I’d imagine we’ll get at least one Negan-ism in this season’s finale (especially when American Crime Story is dropping F-bombs left and right). The “f*ck take” will air the first time, and be edited out in repeats. It’s like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, except with swearing and zombies.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
