Twitter user Shannon Corbeil asked Carnival Row creator Travis Beacham (pictured above with actress Tamzin Merchant who plays Imogen Spurnrose on the fantasy noir series) how the script called A Killing on Carnival Row for a full length feature film Beacham wrote in 2005 ended up as an Amazon Prime series coming out in 2019.
Beacham was happy to answer in a series of tweets and it’s an interesting read!
1) So Carnival Row was a short film I wrote in film school, wanting to direct. Born from a litany of bizarre influences. Dickens, The Third Man, Brassaï, Jack the Ripper lore, Celtic mythology, etc. But to my chagrin, the faculty balked at making it.
2) My screenwriting teacher convinced me to write the feature. This felt like the height of indulgence. I ADORED it but could not imagine anyone else would. It was so dense & weird. Then an alumni interning in LA asked me to send it to him, which I did, thinking nothing of it.
3) A month or so later, he calls me (still in film school) and says, “You should know you’re going to start getting phone calls.” And my life, truly, was never the same after that. Within a year, I had agents, I’d met Guillermo del Toro, and Carnival Row was on the Black List.
4) It was very warmly received in Hollywood, and sold to New Line, but quickly proved almost impossible to make for a host of dull reasons. So it became kind of a sacrificial lamb in my mind. This pure thing I loved intensely that had to die so I could have a career.
5) And it really was very dead. But it kept coming up. Years later, I’d still get asked in meetings, “Carnival Row, I loved that script. What’s going on with that one?” And I’d have to force a smile & say, “Oh I don’t know,” while thinking — you are never going to see that one.
6) But at some point, shortly after I took a bit of a thumping on an unrelated pilot experience, Legendary acquires Carnival Row from New Line. And Thomas Tull calls to ask, “So what do you think about making this as a tv show?” And like that, it wasn’t dead anymore.
7) Finally, we shopped it around. Amazon happily snapped it up. We wrote it. Hired a crew. Found a cast. Went to Prague. Built the Row. Shot the whole thing. And it’s coming out on August 30th, in open defiance of the natural order. #CarnivalRow
8) And I don’t know what lessons there are to draw. It’s still so surreal to me that it’s happening. I know people reach for comparisons b/c they have to, I guess, but to me it’s this thing that’s been in my life for ages and is suddenly real. Which is the craziest part.
Created by Travis Beacham and René Echevarria, Carnival Row takes place on an alternate earth where fae and other mythical creatures roam under the sneering eye of mankind, who have systematically decimated their kind bit by bit. And the tension is only growing as a string of murders within the mythic community seeks to undo what little peace remains.
What makes Carnival Row work is its commitment to launching into this kind of world with fleshed-out ideas. Since the series is choosing to take the path of claiming the world is as it is and not going the route of having the creatures be revealed as having lived in secret for generations, more care needed to be taken into crafting a world that feels lived in. And that care is clear and present from the first frame.
There will be those that try and compare the series to Netflix’s lackluster feature film attempt at this idea, Bright. But, where that film failed is where Carnival Row succeeds. There is never a moment of adjustment with the show. Once you’re in, you’re in. Very quickly, one stops viewing the characters as creatures and just starts viewing them as personalities, and that is no small feat.
Additionally, not only are the technical aspects just some of the most gorgeous artistry on television right now, the story is very followable, which is something many shows like this have a problem with. Audiences should have as easy a time getting into this world as they did for the likes of The Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter.
One of the […] subplots is a regency-style drama about venal aristocrats distressed to find they must share their fashionable address with a horned and hoofed newcomer. Tamzin Merchant sinks her teeth into the role of a spiteful ingenue whose naive games descend into darkness.
The whole thing is underpinned by layers of subtext dealing with racism, immigration and colonialism […] and weave[s] timely themes in among the pseudo-historical shenanigans and lurid action, taking in those who grease the wheels of oppression for their own benefit and a society that denigrates others while secretly enjoying their company.
A second season has already been confirmed, and the series does end strongly with seismic changes for the fantasy city.
David Gyasi portrays Agreus who develops a relationship with the human Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) to the chagrin of her brother Ezra (Andrew Gower). We also see the animosity from the police forces and political leadership, including Absalom Breakspear (Jared Harris) and his wife Piety (Indira Varma). The cast here truly are an ensemble with even relative newcomers Anna Rust and Karla Crome fleshing out their supporting roles.
[…] it is the character work led by Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne that makes this show interesting. If not for seeing characters with horns in almost every scene, you could easily take this as a period drama dealing with political and racial themes in a real world setting. As a testament to Travis Beacham‘s original story, Carnival Row comes across as a fully realized world that doesn’t play like anything else currently on television.
After a three months hiatus, Midsomer Murders returns to ITV with episode 20×04 “The Lions of Causton” (starring Outlander‘s Richard Rankin) in a new time-slot on Monday nights (instead of Sunday).
Considering ITV’s erratic scheduling, there’s unfortunately no guarantee that this means we will get Andrew Gower‘s episode “Send in the Clowns” two weeks later. *
The BBC Press Office announced today that the final two episodes of Poldark will air on BBC One over the August Holiday weekend.
Prepare yourselves for “an exciting action-packed double bill”. The penultimate episode of the series will air on Sunday 25 August 2019 at 8:00pm followed by the finale on Monday 26 August 2019 at 8:30pm.
During the bank holiday weekend, Poldark fans will be treated to an exclusive first-look clip of the finale straight after episode seven airs on BBC One. It will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer as well as on the BBC and Poldark social channels.
Carnival Row just announced an exclusive screening event at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles (CA) next Wednesday, 21 August 2019 at 7:30pm – 9 days before the official release on Amazon Prime.
To attend, you only need to email them here! Good luck!
Be among the first to experience The Row. Email CarnivalRowSocial@BenarrochProductions.com now for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the #CarnivalRow screening on 8/21 in L.A. 100 total tickets available while supplies last. https://t.co/QdgJFJDrrCpic.twitter.com/fkZiXvnl1M
Good news for our American Poldark fans: after screenings in London and Cornwall, the first episode of the 5th season of the popular period drama will also be presented at special events across the USA.
This post will be updated with information about the ones we can find! Click the links to find out more about the events and how to receive tickets.
Auburn (NY), Tuesday 10 September 2019, 7:00 – 10:00pm
Ellsworth (ME), Saturday 14 September 2019, 4:00pm
Triangle (NC), Tuesday 17 September 2019, 2:00 – 3:30pm
Andrew Gower plays James Hadfield in the first two episodes of Poldark‘s final season, which airs Sunday nights at 9:00pm on BBC One in the UK and is scheduled to be released on PBS (USA) on 29 September 2019. For more international air dates see this post.
(Thank you to fan site Poldarked for the heads-up about the Charlottesville screening!)
Andrew Gower Online 