Interview: Director Laura Belsey talks The Walking Dead ‘The Calm Before’

When it comes to the scene at the end, what was it like to bring the pike scenes to life? Was it green screen, animatronics or were the actual actors there?

All of the above! The answer is D, all of the above. We had animatronic heads, we shot with the real actors and green screen in the same light, it was combined media. When we shot it, it looked weird but then it looked even more real once we had the actual heads too and it was combined with the pikes. I can tell you that on the actual day that shoot was horrifying. It was a very intense thing.

How was the mood on set while filming that scene?

It was a combination of things, because once we were done there were a lot of selfies with the heads. Of course we couldn’t share them until after the episode airs but it was the perfect way to wrap up the shoot.

Belsey noted at the end of the interview that filming the pike scene was so intense that there was a lot of “gallows humor” going around, where she even ended up in a box of the prop heads because that’s what happens when you have a box of prop heads sitting around on set.

The director also noted that working with this cast and crew was an amazing experience and she’s so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this episode.

We’re so grateful to Laura Belsey for sharing her insight into “The Calm Before” and we can’t wait to see some of those selfies now that the episode has aired!

The season finale of The Walking Dead is Sunday, March 31 at 9pm on AMC.