AMC Picks Up Crime Thriller Television Series ‘The Killing’

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/08/11/amc-picks-up-crime-thriller-television-series-the-killing/

AMC Television has officially announced that they have made a full series order for the ilot that was formerly known as The Killing, from writer and executive producer Veena Sud (Cold Case). They have also passed along the first production photo from the yet-to-be-officially titled crime thriller series. Read the full press release after the jump.

AMC PICKS UP NEXT ORIGINAL SERIES

Untitled Project from Veena Sud,
Formerly Known As The Killing

Mireille Enos (Big Love) to Star

New York, NY August 11, 2010 - AMC announced today a full series order for the pilot that was formerly known as The Killing, from writer and executive producer Veena Sud (Cold Case). Sud has signed on to also serve as the showrunner for the series, which is currently untitled. Set in Seattle, the series is based on the wildly successful Danish television series Forbrydelsen and tells the story of the murder of a young girl and the subsequent police investigation. Produced by Fox Television Studios, it is executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen (Burn Notice) for Fuse Entertainment. Fuses Kristen Campo co-produces. AMC first announced the pilot order in January 2010 with Patty Jenkins (Monster) directing the pilot. Production on the series begins this fall in Vancouver and season one consists of 13, one-hour episodes. The series is slated to premiere in 2011 on AMC.

Todays announcement marks the fifth original series greenlight for AMC. The first four were Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon and The Walking Dead.

We are thrilled to be moving forward with this stunning piece of television. It is a crime drama, but it is also a gripping character based story that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. The storytelling is completely compelling, and the show is visually breathtaking. Veena, Patty, Fuse, FTVS and the cast did a phenomenal job of bringing it to life. said Joel Stillerman, AMCs senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content.

“Ever since Mikkel Bondesen brought us this remarkable Danish mini-series, we were determined to bring it to American television, said David Madden, Executive Vice President, Fox Television Studios. “We are so proud to be working with AMC and our extraordinary cast on this very special series.”

As Sarah, Mireille Enos (Big Love) portrays the lead homicide detective that investigates the death of Rosie Larsen. Other previously announced castings include: Billy Campbell (Once and Again, Enough) as Darren Richmond, Seattles City Council President, running for Mayor; Michelle Forbes (True Blood) as Mitch Larsen, the victims mother; Joel Kinnaman (Snabba Cash) as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the investigation to find Rosie Larsens killer; and Brent Sexton (W., In the Valley of Elah) as Stan Larsen, the victims father.

The series ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victims grieving family and the suspects. The story also explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As it unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think theyve moved on, their past isnt done with them.

 

[Shifty]

First footage of The Killing (AMC promo)
[YT]p4QfjHYZNLI[/YT]

​

 

[Hunter Rider]

Looking forward to this.

Btrw in those clips there was a black guy with a sniper rifle, what show was that from?

 

[Shifty]

The Walking Dead. The clip aired last week twice during the premiere. With the huge audience TWD has they'll probably air a better preview on the season finale in 4 weeks.

 

[GhostPoet]

Interesting...I was never into AMC stuff before The Walking Dead...this sounds like it may be another show of theirs i'll watch

 

[Crockett]

I'm looking forward to this show and is awesome that Joel Kinnaman is doing his english language debut starting with an AMC show.

 

[Shifty]

The remaining 12 episodes will film between Nov 30, 2010 to Apr 7, 2011 in the Vancouver, BC area. Guess they're going for a northwest winter look for the show.

 

[Hunter Rider]

So does that mean it will be snow set?

 

[Shifty]

Maybe, they did get a lot of snow last week but it will melt if it hasn't already. It will just be cool and rainy. Maybe some light snow. It will certainly help with the mood.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Ah I see, so they are going more for grim and cold, when does it start?

 

[Shifty]

With Breaking Bad pushed to the summer I would say mid-March 2011. Nothing official has been released but that seems like the likely month it will launch with most of the season filmed by then.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Cool, something to look forward to as other shows start winding down.

 

[Soapy]

I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[Shifty]

AMC Announces Production Start of The Killing.

Nothing we haven't read except that the show will premiere in March!

Breaking Bad premiered March 21st this year so perhaps it will be March 20. Find out soon.

 

[Crockett]

March? Can't wait.

 

[CrimsonDeath]

First I got into Breaking Bad, then the Walking Dead was an obvious choice having read the comics. Next I will watch Mad Men, then Rubicon, and wait for this new show. That should kill some time until the next season of Breaking Bad. t:

 

[Shifty]

First I got into Breaking Bad, then the Walking Dead was an obvious choice having read the comics. Next I will watch Mad Men, then Rubicon, and wait for this new show. That should kill some time until the next season of Breaking Bad. t:

AMC is replaying the entire run of Breaking Bad starting next week with 2 episodes a week on Wednesdays until March. They're late at night so a DVR is your best option.

 

[Shifty]

The Killing: First Look

The Killing: Promo

Each episode will cover one day in the investigation.

 

[Hunter Rider]

The Killing: First Look

The Killing: Promo

Each episode will cover one day in the investigation.

Cannot be viewed in my country.

 

[Crockett]

This could be the same that Shifty posted but at least those who are not in States can view the videos.

Promo
[YT]t2podjmVdug&NR=1[/YT]

About the Show
[YT]p6gfbck4gjo[/YT]


I'm so stoked for the show right now.

 

[Crockett]

The premiere date has been set to Sunday, April 3rd at 10pm ET/PT.
http://collider.com/amc-mad-men-the-killing-breaking-bad/68727/

 

[Shifty]

Meanwhile, Ashley Johnson has joined the cast of AMC's new drama series The Killing as a recurring. The Killing is a murder mystery that centers on Sarah (Mireille Enos), the lead homicide detective that investigates the murder of a young girl. Johnson will play the wife o[BLACKOUT]f suspect Bennet Ahmed (Branden Jay McLaren) who, sandbagged when Sarah (Enos) and Holder (Joel Kinnaman) show up at her apartment unannounced, tells a revealing story from Ahmed’s past.[/BLACKOUT] The series premieres on Apr. 3.

Always been a fan of her.

 

[Shifty]

Vancouver plays Seattle in new AMC thriller, The Killing
By Alex Strachan, Postmedia News January 10, 2011

PASADENA, California — Currently being filmed in Vancouver, The Killing has the potential to be one of the most talked-about and obsessively followed new television dramas of the 2011 season. It hails from AMC, home of the Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead. It is inspired by the Danish TV sensation Forbrydelsen, Scandinavian writer Soren Sveistrup's International Drama Emmy-nominated thriller about the murder of a teenage girl, and how her untimely death threatens to tear apart an entire community.

The new version is written and conceived by Toronto-born Veena Sud, an alumnus of New York University's prestigious Graduate Film & Television program, a program that produced filmmaker Martin Scorsese, among others.

The Killing is being filmed right now in virtual secrecy in Vancouver, standing in for Seattle. Three of 13 episodes have already been filmed, but viewers won't see the finished result until The Killing's AMC debut on April 3.

This is how much faith the network is placing in The Killing: It has landed Mad Men's coveted Sunday-night time period. When The Killing's projected first season ends later this summer, it may lead directly into Mad Men's fifth season, though Mad Men's summer plans have yet to be confirmed.

The Killing revolves around three separate but distinctly personal stories: a young girl's murder, as seen through the eyes of her grieving family; the prime suspect, a city councillor mulling over a campaign for mayor; and the world-weary, female homicide detective who catches the case. The killer's identity won't be revealed until the season's end, if then. The Danish original caused a sensation in that country, after a second season aired in 2008.

The idea for a North American adaptation evolved after AMC programming president Joel Stillerman watched all 20 hours of Forbrydelsen, "in literally less time than it takes to fly to Copenhagen and back." What he saw was an eerie convergence of Mystic River, Prime Suspect and the dark, Scandinavian thrillers of crime novelists Henning Mankell and the late Stieg Larsson, whose The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is being adapted into a Hollywood film by The Social Network's director, David Fincher.

The updated version of The Killing features Mireille Enos, last seen in HBO's Big Love, as Sarah Linden, the single-minded but emotionally shaken detective who takes a personal interest in the case of a missing Seattle teenager. Billy Campbell plays ambitious, morally upright councillor Darren Richmond, and Joel Kinnaman plays Stephen Holder, a former drug squad officer reassigned to Seattle's homicide division.

The early clips available online at amctv.com show a Seattle shrouded in perpetual mist and grey sky, soaked in drizzle. There's a chilling, eerie beauty to the dampness, an effect not lost on The Killing's makers. In conversation with Postmedia News after The Killing's coming-out news conference, Sud said Vancouver was — and is — the only conceivable location for the series, with its uncanny visual similarity to Seattle, coupled with some of the continent's most experienced film crews.

"I have absolutely fallen in love with Vancouver," Sud said. "It has become the city of my dreams — quite literally. We initially chose the city for production reasons; I'd visited Vancouver and had a chance to see a lot of the city. It seemed the perfect place to tell a Seattle story. But something else happened, too. Part of the soul of Vancouver has seeped into the story.

"Vancouver and Seattle are very much like Copenhagen: close to the top of the world, incredibly beautiful, dark, brooding skies. It's the perfect match for the tone of the piece and the story we're telling. We're very lucky: We have an amazing, amazing crew, and a photographer and post-production people who help the look and make it dark and brooding, even when we're shooting on beautiful, sunny, green days.

"I'm Canadian. I was born in Toronto. I'm an American citizen, but returning to Vancouver has been like a homecoming for me. It's poetic."

Sud says she's still pinching herself that The Killing landed at AMC, "a network that's absolutely dedicated to slow-burn storytelling — slow-burn in the sense that every moment doesn't have to be prettified or easy to digest. (From) character to everything that every writer dreams of, I've been given the ability and opportunity to really, really tell this story in a way that's authentic and true."

Each episode will relate a single day in the life of the investigation, Sud said, "and the life of this family, and the life of a political campaign."

No one knew the eventual resolution of Forbrydelsen, not even the actors themselves.

Sud was cagey about whether viewers will learn The Killing's secret by the time the first 13 episodes are over.

"At this point, we're going to organically follow the story, and whether or not it gets solved at the end of the season is a mystery."

The Killing is set in a more violent societal milieu than Forbrydelsen, and that will mark one major stylistic difference between the two versions, Sud suggested.

"We live in a society that is incredibly violent, much more so than Denmark. Amber Alerts are the norm, it seems, so much so, that a missing child, a missing teenager in a major American city, never makes the news. So the biggest challenge is to make us, as Americans, care about this young girl over a long period of time. I don't know if it's a cultural sensibility per se, but there's a clear societal difference between America and Denmark.

"We're creating our own world. We are using the Danish series as a blueprint, but we're diverging, as well, and creating our own world — our own world of suspects and, potentially, our own solution and resolution to the mystery.

"I love the qualities of the Danish version, but we're blessed, too, with our own actors, like Mireille, who has come in with all her own strengths and qualities, creating a deeper backstory for our main character, for Sarah."

The Killing may be many things, but one thing it will not be, when it finally sees the light of day, is exploitative, Sud vows.

"The most important thing to me is not pornographize murder," Sud said. "I want to show the real cost . . . when a child is lost. What you see on the screen, in the clips that are already out there, is incredibly graphic, and heartbreaking.

"But we're not spending time looking at a dead child's body and just analyzing that. We're spending time with all the people who have lost her, the impact of this loss on her mother, on her siblings, on her father.

"Again, every episode is one day, about what happens every day in the moments and the hours after you've lost a child — what it's like to pick out a dress, what it's like to have to identify your daughter at the morgue, what it's like to make breakfast for her younger brothers the next morning. What do you tell them?

"When I was doing research for the pilot, I spent a lot of time with parents who had lost their children, expressly for the purpose of telling this story in a way that is authentic and respectful. Most television overlooks the victims. And what I kept hearing, over and over again, was not, 'Tell our story,' but, 'Tell our story in a truthful way.'

"If The Killing does one thing, I want it to be that."

[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

[Shifty]

New short promos on AMC

 

[Crockett]

A batch of images, some new and some old.
http://collider.com/the-killing-tv-show-images-amc/75518/