#Show me a hero david simon how to

The thing about race in America, it’s the same narrative over and over again. These other miniseries, like “Generation Kill,” which had to do with a news part of the war, or “Treme” which had to do with Katrina, they became tied to current events. “The Wire” happened and that became, because it was a continuing series, an elaborate journey. That’s a long fucking time ago, you know?

It was 2002, so, I mean, the first time I sat down with those guys - those women, those guys - I mean, that’s 13 years ago. So I think that’s what prompted me to go talk to them, just to get to know them and understand what they went through and what they thought and where they were at that point. I needed to have their voices in my head and actually have a sense of who they were. It’s just like I felt like I had to talk to the people and talk to all the people, as many as I could, to get their voices in my head.

#Show me a hero david simon how to

ZORZI: I don’t know how to say this without it sounding like it’s a reflection on Lisa Belkin, who wrote the book, but I felt the need to sort of re-report the book. We had to get the voices of people and the public. Bill went up to Yonkers and started recording. So that’s how that happened.ĭAVID SIMON: Originally I saw it as maybe the next miniseries after “The Corner,” and that’s when HBO bought it, when we were still finishing “The Corner.” We started going to work on researching the story. I gotta go, ’cause they’re lining up over here.” And then he called back two weeks later: “Read the book.” I’m like, “What was the name of the book again, ’cause, you know….” Ugh. First time he comes, he’s like, “I want you to check this out, let me know what you think.” Like, I’m at The Baltimore Sun, you know? I’m on the desk as city editor, assistant city editor, I’m like, “Okay, yeah. Like, what, you fucking forgot what it was like in the last 10 years? You know what I mean? “Uh, yeah, dude, um, you know.” No, he doesn’t speak like that. He called me “Read the book, we’ll go to HBO.” Now, granted, I have to tell this story on him: He called me on deadline twice, when I was on the desk with a bunch of young reporters. It had a political story, and I had been a political writer at the Sun, I was on the desk at the time. ‘All That Heaven Allowed’ Trailer: Rock Hudson’s Legacy Captured in HBO Documentary “That’s a long fucking time ago.”īILL ZORZI: Gail Mutrux brought the book to David sometime in 2001.