Exclusive interview: Director Michael Satrazemis talks The Walking Dead 908

We talk exclusively with The Walking Dead director Michael Satrazemis about the chilling mid-season finale and Tom Payne’s epic performance.

Director Michael Satrazemis has been part of The Walking Dead family from the very beginning. He’s the man behind some of the most iconic episodes of the entire franchise, including classics like “Vatos,” “Cherokee Rose,” “I Ain’t a Judas” and “Prey.” I talked with Michael Satrazemis the day before Thanksgiving and what was supposed to be a ten minute interview blossomed into an epic forty minute conversation.

Second only to Greg Nicotero in the number of episodes he has directed, Satrazemis was tapped to direct “Evolution,” which is not only the mid-season finale but also one of the most important episodes of the The Walking Dead’s ninth season. It’s an episode that ushers in a new era with the most terrifying villains to date: The Whisperers.

When we started our conversation I noted that “Evolution” plays out like a full length horror movie in the span of an hour-long show, which is what Satrazemis was going for. “That’s probably the best compliment I could get! That was the way to treat it after reading it, he said. “For a long time nothing happens, and it was like Rosemary’s Baby where you have the whole movie and nothing happens until the end. It could be one thing, it could be another, and you just have to feel the walls closing in while knowing that it will be revealed at the end.”

The fog rolling in, along with the overwhelming tension, were major factors in the aesthetic of the episode. “Everything is representative and building toward a climax. The biggest thing for me was to get the performances to keep growing into sort of a hysteria to keep the audience engaged. And the fog was kind of the scariest part.”

Satrazemis talked about how they had to create the effect of the foggy cemetery using temperature control to keep the fog along the ground. The FX crew had their work cut out for them because the slightest whisp of wind could send the fog away. There was very little visibility between the fog and the nighttime setting, which definitely added to the overall sense of impending doom while also making it tricky for the crew to navigate the set.

One of the most challenging aspects of shooting this episode came toward the end with Tom Payne’s Jesus going full Matrix against the walkers. These visually stunning sequences were challenging, but Satrazemis gives full credit to his dear friend Payne. “I’ll tell you, that was all Tom Payne. None of that was a stunt person. First off, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that excited because he’s so English and proper. He was so amped up!”

Satrazemis is no stranger to directing episodes that have featured the loss of beloved characters and having to see them through those scenes can be rough for everyone around. “I’ve lost a lot of friends and people I love dearly so there’s a responsibility to them to do it well.”

When it comes to directing Tom Payne’s final scenes, Satrazemis made sure to honor Payne’s request: “Tom was like, ‘I’ve totally accepted it and I’m totally fine with it, but all I can say is when we get to that last bit you’ve gotta make me look like a f-ing superhero!’ And he really looked superhuman in that scene!”

With so much tension in “Evolution” it was nice to be able to have a few moments of levity, which arrived courtesy of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan and Seth Gilliam’s Father Gabriel. “I’ve done a lot of stuff with Jeffrey. I just love him so much, and Seth is so solid. Those scenes are a treat, because there’s so much tension everywhere else in the script. You show up on set with these two and you can just wind them up and let them go. It just amplifies their strengths. This new Negan, I love him because I feel like he has a lot of Jeffrey’s charm. Jeffrey will charm the socks off of you.”

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Satrazemis laughs at the moment Negan discovers that the cell door is unlocked, because it’s not something you see coming. “That’s a sneaky one. You don’t know where that’s going to go.”

The veteran TWD director had a chance to meet a new member of the cast while working on this episode. Satrazemis had nothing but kind words for Daryl’s new costar, Dog. And he also knows how important it is to keep Dog alive and well, at all costs.  “I’ve gotten a couple of emails! People have found my email address and knew I’d be directing this episode and they’re concerned that the dog is going to die in this episode. Listen, I love the dog. I hope no one kills the dog. You gotta have the dog. You can’t go wrong with a dog.”

The importance of this episode in setting up the future of the show isn’t lost on Satrazemis. “Angela told me what I was getting, and to get the Whisperers…. There’s Andy going away, and there’s the Whisperers. It’s an honor, and it kind of blew my mind that I got to have that, to tell that story.”

We talked about how the mid-season finale is a cliffhanger but it also doesn’t leave people hanging, at least not completely. We know Jesus is gone. We know that the Whisperers are actual people wearing freaky skin masks. Overall was a very different feel from past mid-season finales. “When I got the script the way it is I saw that it wasn’t a typical mid-season finale. I just loved it, I loved the shape of it. It felt like a horror story right away, and it felt the script really felt fresh for an [episode] 8. The 1s, the 8s, the 9s and the 16s are either starting a story about everyone or ending a story about everyone, and this one felt special. It all starts from the script and that script was amazing.”

With so many moving pieces in this episode, Satrazemis owes the success of “Evolution” to the script and the amazing performances.  “David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick wrote an amazing script,” he said. “I’m really proud of it, I’m proud of what everyone did. I’m proud of the performances. These kinds of episodes are very delicate, especially when nothing happens for a long time, and everyone did an amazing job. I’m the luckiest guy alive.”

Talking with Michael Satrazemis is such a treat because he’s as much a fan of the show as the fans are and he knows that the story has to be done right. It’s something that he takes seriously, and his passion shines through in his work. Thankfully, Satrazemis will be back behind the camera in the second half of The Walking Dead season 9, and he’ll be busy with Fear the Walking Dead season 5 soon enough.