History Forum / General / General Topics / March 2005

According to this article about the cable Home Box Office serial
DEADWOOD, the producer claims authenticity in depictions of the
corruption, double-dealing, cruelty, exploitation, murdering,
ugliness, vulgarity, crudeness & hellishness of the South Dakota gold
rush in the  19th century. My 7th grade junior high school American
history teacher would be duly outraged
by any 5 minutes of HBO's purported western history/
realism. Needless to add: Teaching/depicting history is subjective.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/031305/ent_20050313056.shtml

copyrighted by the associated press 2005

Putting grit of Old West in 'Deadwood'
Television

By Matt Hurwitz
Associated Press

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A visit to the dingy Western set of "Deadwood"
makes you wonder: What century is this, anyway? - until director Ed
Bianchi yells "Cut!" and the scruffy miners put on sunglasses and haul
out cell phones to check their messages.

For creator David Milch, "Deadwood" is not a TV show; it's living
history.

"This is where the Chinese prostitutes were kept," he said, pointing to
small bamboo cages along the Chinese Alley section of the set, one of
the largest ever built for a TV series. "They were kept in these
'cribs,' dressed in burlap sacks, and literally sexed to death."

Disturbing stuff, yet just some of the many gritty details depicted
with unvarnished realism on "Deadwood," the HBO series about life in a
Black Hills mining town that begins its second season at 9 tonight.

"'Deadwood' is really about individuals coming here and finding their
own way to live, wherever they came from," said Ian McShane, who
portrays foul-mouthed saloon keep and town boss Al Swearengen.

That story is told, said Milch, "by bringing alive the process of
evolution of a society," and, most importantly, by making the
characters and their surroundings authentic.

"It's precious to me to get the world right. The realities of a time
are not an inconvenience, but the door into its reality."

The world of "Deadwood" is filled with the history of South Dakota's
Deadwood in 1876, which Milch and his production team researched over a
two-year period.

More than half the characters on the show are historical figures,
including Swearengen, though "they're sometimes drawn in bold colors,"
said Robin Weigert, who plays the rough and tumble - and equally
foul-mouthed - Calamity Jane.

Some of the actors have done their own research into their roles.

John Hawkes, who plays the Jewish character Sol Star, points to a
"Deadwood library" of books in his dressing room with titles like
"Pioneer Jews."

"The Jewish experience is typically viewed through New York," he noted.
"Being someone whose people had been chased throughout history, (Milch)
and I agreed that Sol would have been someone who would have wanted to
pass, to try to assimilate, to fit in."

Molly Parker's Alma Garrett, a transplant from the civilized East,
represents the rare upper class in this dusty world.

"I researched the Victorian New York life she would have lived before
coming to Deadwood," the actress explained.

This includes her on-screen addiction to the opiate laudanum. "Women
like her were expected to be quiet and ornamental, which is why many
women of her class became laudanum addicts."

The language of "Deadwood" decidedly is mixed. While some characters
talk like rough-hewn prospectors, others reflect East Coast roots.

Hawkes likens it to "Shakespeare of the Old West" - a
pioneer-meets-patrician dialect that can be difficult to deliver. "I
sometimes have to translate it first to understand exactly what I'm
saying," Parker said, laughing.

About the series' profanity, Milch said: "This is the type of world you
are in. Don't expect any law."

Perhaps the most astonishing realism is delivered by the army of extras
who often populate the main street.

"We have a core group of about 150 guys and 30 to 40 women," explained
assistant director Kenny Roth, who's responsible for making sure each
muddy prospector is performing a bit of "business" that will add to the
street scene's realism.

"They basically have us do 'Deadwood 101' - just stand in front of your
shop and sell something," said Richard McMullen, who plays the gun shop
owner.

"I love those days where the whole street's working," said Timothy
Olyphant, who plays Seth Bullock. "I find I'm really taking them in,
and it really helps us to connect into the environment and make it
real."

Dressing such a legion is the job of Le Dawson, the show's wardrobe
supervisor, who keeps about 360 costumes in a constant state of
distress.

"These aren't people who had money to go to a tailor and say, 'Hey, I'm
missing a button. Please fix it,"' said Dawson.

The outfits were heavily researched by costume designer Katherine Jane
Bryant, who gathered ideas from around the country. "So many people
that came from everywhere ended up in Deadwood," she said.

The "Deadwood" set is located on the site of Gene Autry's old Melody
Ranch, where his "singing cowboy" films were shot, and the new town
utilized many of the existing structures.

"(Milch) told me he wanted the town of Deadwood to be a character,"
explained production designer Maria Caso, and the set literally is
loaded with thousands of authentic props.

Her staff constantly is buying antiques. "We can never have enough set
dressing - the street just eats it up," she said.

The realism created for "Deadwood" appears to be working - at least for
Parker.

"I sometimes arrive at 4 in the morning for makeup and walk down (the
main street) in the dark ... It's totally magical," she said. "Who
knows what it would have felt like to be there. But you can at least
imagine for a moment what it might have been like. Hard."

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, March 13, 2005