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Davis Guggenheim
Director, Producer
HBO: Set the scene of Deadwood for us...
Davis Guggenheim: The US government had given some territory, which included the Black Hills, to the Sioux Indians under the Laramie Treaty of 1873. And they said, "We'll give you this land for as long as the river shall flow."
But within months of the treaty, Custer and his men had found gold in the Black Hills, and this brought the prospectors rushing in. Deadwood existed in the Black Hills and was not U.S. territory, it was Indian territory. The Indians didn't want these people there, and in many cases, they were massacring prospectors as they were coming in.
So in the early part, the U.S. army was keeping prospectors away and stopping them at the border. Anyone who came here was coming here against the will of the U.S. government and against the will of the Indians. So this place was completely lawless, there was no organizing structure, no social principles except for gold. And personal gain.
HBO: What has been the most challenging thing about making Deadwood?
Davis Guggenheim: The burden we have is the association people have with westerns. I believe this story can be told anywhere. I mean you could've put it in the times of Rome, or the colonial times, or at the beginning of any sort of new society. We are making a western, however trying not to have it carry the same baggage that other westerns have.
The western form has been done so many times, and we've seen it done a certain way so many times that when you see a guy on a horse with a cowboy hat on, you bring to it certain associations. When you see a guy banging on an anvil, when you see a guy drinking whiskey or you see a prostitute wearing period dress, you as an audience member associate it with movies we've seen since we were kids. And that's what we're working against. Look at this story for what it is, look at these characters for who they are. Because the stories are told in a way that I have never seen told. In a western or any other thing. They're something beyond.
HBO: Tell us a little bit about the scope of the production.
Davis Guggenheim: I've never worked on a show this big. I worked on a lot of TV shows-- and most movies aren't this big.
HBO is letting us pay so much attention to detail, they're letting us do it right. We don't want this to be a typical western town. We want this to be the town of Deadwood. A town that you see for the first time and you don't associate with other movies or other towns in this period.
I've never worked with better production designers, better costumers, a better cast--this is the best cast I've ever worked with in my life. Everyone on this production is here to do their best work.
HBO: What are some of the challenges of directing the series?
Davis Guggenheim: The most important principle to directing on Deadwood and what I try to tell the new directors who come in is an awareness of all the different things that are going on in David Milch's writing. Usually you read a scene and it's a car chase. Or it's a fight scene. And that's all it is. But with David Milch's writing, there are always other things that are going on, other layers of the character's intentions. I try to direct to those other things.
A character can walk in the room order a drink and I can say, David why is he doing this? And David could say, well you know ten years ago, when he was in school, his teacher said this, this and this to him. And when he went home, his mother said this. Now that will never be in the show, but David has figured it all out.
What is the mystery about the character that he doesn't even know himself? We as viewers know a little bit, and that keeps us wanting to know more. If you can get half of that as a director, you're serving this thing. Even as we re-edit and make these shows, even as I see episodes we've looked at fifty times, I start to see that these layers are still coming out. They're still revealing themselves.
HBO: Can you talk about some of the main characters in Deadwood?
Davis Guggenheim: Seth Bullock is as close to the typical hero as you'll get, on the surface. But in truth, he is not. He's a very principled guy; he's very righteous. He's an ex-lawman and always does the right thing. He has these instincts for goodness and yet underneath it, he has this rage. He has this capacity for violence. Which is this wonderful dichotomy, since there's something working against what his true nature is, or what he thinks his true nature is.
Al Swearengen, the saloon owner, is so fascinating. He does all these horrible things. He kills so many people. He's completely driven by self-interest and yet, in many ways, you are attracted to him. David Milch has written him so beautifully. Swearengen, despite doing things for selfish reasons-- for money, for gain, for himself-- he struggles with it, and he does have compassion. Ian McShane, who plays Swearengen, is just so entertaining and so incredibly captivating.
What's interestingly about Wild Bill Hickok is you can't say that name without thinking of all the western characters and the legend that goes with it. What's so brilliant about David's writing is he has completely taken that character and turned it on its head. Hickok was a famous scout in the Civil War. He was a dime novel hero. And so people began to build this impression of him. So before he walks in the room, people instantly think of how many men he killed. So here's a man struggling with the story about who he is. When he just wants to be a man. It's a perfect example of how David writes. Your expectations are one thing. As you become introduced to these characters, they are layered and complicated, constantly turning and evolving.
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Deadwood Nuggets
Deadwood produced a million dollars of gold at $20 an ounce in just June and July of 1876.
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Deadwood History
For more information and on the Real Deadwood, try the following source:
Adams Museum and House
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