Interview with Warren Leight - Part 2
From MeeVee.com
In Part II of our exclusive interview with Law & Order: Criminal Intent producer Warren Leight, we learn more about the surprises in store for fans during November sweeps. We also find out how Leight feels about recent articles charging the Law & Order franchise with excessive violence, and what goes into writing an episode of Criminal Intent.
Criminal Intent and the other Law & Order series are drawing heat this season. Some critics feel the shows have taken the level of violence too far, specifically the Elisabeth Hasselbeck case, where a character with a similar name was raped and murdered.
It’s funny; it’s something I’ve been talking about. I don’t know if it’s a shift in graphic violence. But to compare, and I’m not attempting to rationalize it, this show to what is on virtually every other show that deals with crime, we’re way behind the pack. We’ve done more stylized shooting with the teasers and we’ve faded to red where it feels more shocking than graphic. We have people who were upset that Detective Eames was kidnapped in the first episode, and then Detective Logan getting knocked around in a firehouse. You can’t sustain that sort of emotional intensity for all episodes. Episode One of this season was, in fact, shocking, but I wanted the audience to worry about Eames. I wouldn’t say it was gratuitous in any way.
Full interview.
Thank you to PeachyBC and Lrose
posted by thereel @ 8:33 AM
7 Comments:
thank you for letting me read this interview!
hm... reading this just makes me wish I could talk to the gentleman. He was pleased to use Griffin Dunne last week. I found it distracting since Dunne was "the bad guy" in a previous episode. Likewise, Carrie Preston was the "perp" in two episodes now. Please, Mr. Leight, no more recycling when surely there are other good actors out there that could have done just as well if not better. Dunne's portrayal wasn't very convincing for me. It takes more than a strong accent and greased-back hair to make that character. OTOH, his first role on CI was excellent.
^^i'm sure he's a great guy, but i'm reading some disconnect from the fans in some of the comments he makes. at least, disconnect from those who may be saying things that he may not exactly want to hear... Gotta agree that I thought Griffin was great in that first episode, too
Seems to me I have been preaching for several months about the recycling of the same actors over over. I would think less time spent in rehersal using ones that are aquainted with the shows way of doing things. I know they get their scripts just days or hours before they go on camera. In reference to violence, over all the shows history has been pretty mild. The mother show and SVU have always been more graffic than LOCI. Its real life. If someone takes offense to it, there's something called the OFF switch.
Hey Warren, want some cheese with that "whine"? Geez...
I really don't think you should make young-ish New York playwrights TV showrunners. Balcer had Hollywood under his belt. Leight is Greenwich Village. He is falling back on what he knows, which is a terribly small world. He means well (OK, the worst thing you can say about anyone), but his judgement is a wreck-o-rama. He's putting masquerade and the Country Crossover disaster into the same "it's so fabulous" pack. Hmmmm. There's a disconnect for you. That he doesn't see the difference is truly a worry, especially for a writer.
"Young-ish"? Leight is pretty much the same age as Balcer.
Maybe if he spent less time sucking up to actors and more time writing, the episodes might actually improve.
I think this guy's days as showrunner are counted.
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