Sons Of Anarchy creator blames Frank Darabont's firing from The Walking Dead on Mad Men
Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story outlining several theories as to why Frank Darabont is suddenly no longer in charge of AMC’s The Walking Dead—a decision that came about mere days after Comic-Con, when the network made the surprising decision to fire him while he was still in production on season two. Among the many possible reasons floated: The frequently reported rumor about Darabont still not being able to adjust to the demands of a weekly show, and being “notoriously a pain in the ass” when it came to staying on schedule (an accusation those close to the production deny). The fact that AMC deemed some of Darabont’s early second season footage “not usable,” which many believe gave the network a good excuse to get rid of him. And of course, money—namely Darabont’s refusal to accept massive budget cuts and various network cost-saving notes, like asking him to film half of the show’s episodes indoors, and take “silly” steps such as having the zombies be heard and not seen sometimes, to save on makeup expenses.
It’s that last scenario that seems most likely to Sons Of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, never one to miss his chance to rail against the cowardice of Hollywood (even when it involves people he doesn’t work with directly). Yesterday, Sutter took to his Twitter account to argue what some have already theorized in the wake of AMC’s increasingly public troubles—that the network’s sudden need to slash budgets for shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad can all be blamed on its expensive renegotiations with Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner. “Why Darabont got fired — Weiner,” Sutter tweeted. “He held AMC hostage, broke their bank, budgets were slashed, shit rolled down hill onto [Breaking Bad’s Vince] Gilligan and Frank. No one else wants to fucking say it, but the greed of Mad Men is killing the other two best shows on TV—Breaking Bad and Walking Dead.” He then added, “I don't know [Matthew Weiner], got no beef with him. Just hate that Darabont is being demonized. No one has the balls to tell the truth. [Mad Men] gutted AMC.” Sutter further claimed that the situation has gotten so bad that “no creative in town will trust AMC to back up their artists.” Unless, of course, you're The Killing’s Veena Sud. [via THR]