We argue frequently: David Benioff’s collaboration with ‘GoT’ partner DB Weiss on ‘3 Body Problem’
Alexander Woo, well known for his work on the acclaimed HBO series “True Blood,” has joined the equation.
Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” is based on Chinese author Liu Cixin’s bestselling sci-fi novel series of the same name, which many thought was unfilmable before the trio took on the project, similar to “Game of Thrones,” which was adapted from George RR Martin’s sprawling fantasy saga.
“Sometimes we all agree, which is easy. We sometimes disagree, which forces us to argue. And Dan and I have found that when we disagree on something, one of us is usually more enthusiastic about the issue, and the person with the greatest passion wins.
“And once Alex joined us, we just started doing the same thing. “We just divided everything among the three of us,” Benioff told PTI during a roundtable conversation.
According to Benioff, while people believe they can simply divide responsibilities while cooperating, the reality is “a lot sloppier than that”.
“We don’t fight very much. But every now and then, if ‘Game of Thrones‘ had a major battle scene or a big slaughter, we both wanted it. “Those would be the fights over who would write the last half of the episode,” he said.
Behind the scenes, Benioff stated that they would go over every detail before the major death.
“I recall the major one we had at the conclusion of season one, when Ned Stark was beheaded. And we knew we wanted to cut out of the sequence in the episode right before you see his head fall off, but do you see the blade truly go into the neck, or does it halt just before it does?
“We had a lengthy and dull argument over which frame it should end on. We decided on a frame where you can only see the blade beginning to enter, so no one would think he was actually alive. We wanted people to know that Ned Stark died here, but we didn’t want to show the blood, spine, or anything else.”
“3 Body Problem” is regarded as an exciting thriller that reimagines science fiction drama with a sophisticated and rich plot spanning hundreds of thousands of years. The work, which is regarded as one of the most successful in the genre, was translated into English in 2012 and became an instant hit. It made history as the first Asian novel to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
In the story, things are set in motion when a young scientist, disillusioned with humanity, decides to contact an alien civilisation during 1960s China. Her decision has reverberations across space and time.
Weiss said there is a lot of darkness in the story, which spans three books, but it also offers an insight into how people learn to overcome problems and work together.
“It is about how people can learn from their mistakes and turn their lives around, even if they have committed awful mistakes in the past… We tried to tell the tale by focusing on the people, their motives, what they were experiencing, and the events that were taking place in the story rather than taking a top-down approach and saying, ‘Well, this is symptomatic of the world we are in right now’.”
“3 Body Problem,” which premieres on Netflix on March 21 with an eight-episode first season, stars Sea Shimooka, Benedict Wong, Tsai Chin, John Bradley, Eiza Gonzalez, Liam Cunningham, Jess Hong, and Jovan Adepo.
Unlike the fantasy genre, Benioff stated that science fiction has never been his “favourite genre”. But he chose “3 Body Problem” because it is a story about life and humanity’s struggle to live in a cold, dark universe.
“I wasn’t drawn to it because I know anything about physics or because I’m particularly interested in particle collisions. I became deeply in love with the human story. That was our main motive for this television adaptation of the narrative.”
Woo, who has already worked on shows such as “Manhattan”, “Sleeper Cell”, “LAX”, and “Wonderfalls”, feels they have provided a respectable adaptation of the novel series to the book’s fans.
“This is what we did for most of the pandemic. David, Dan, and I met for the first time in late February 2020. We did not see each other in person for another two years. But we saw each other every day on Zoom, and we struggled with all of the obstacles and challenges of telling a billion-year-long story.
“Nobody has ever tried that on television before. How can you convey a story with so much science that no one has tried it before? “And I hope we found a way that the audience will enjoy,” he remarked.
“3 Body Problem,” like “Game of Thrones,” is produced on a big budget, which Woo believes was required given to the story’s vast character.
“The reader of the novel is picturing a scale beyond anything they’ve ever read before. As a result, the show’s viewers must be treated to an experience unlike any other. And it will require a large budget, which will be costly. If you’re going to bring all of the things you’ve imagined as a reader to life on a screen, you have a great duty to do honor to what Liu Cixin wrote,” he remarked.
Benioff stated that he hopes to reach the end of the saga with their series.
“If Netflix gives us the number of seasons we need to get to the end, people will care enough about these characters and about their fate,” he said.
This article was prepared from an automated news agency feed without any text changes.
