Martin Freeman said that he took the job because it was short-term but he's open to coming back for more.
I'm loving it. Billy Bob is on excellent dangerous-creepy-dude form, and it really does fit in well with the Coen way of doing things.
I assume the claim at the beginning that it's based on true events is just as bogus. I'm liking the quality of the characterisation so far as much as the movie's, perhaps more so. I wonder if Lorne Malvo's story of the foot in the toaster oven and Chaz Nygaard's secret automatic weapon stash will have a payoff. The plot is more than a bit silly but it's very entertaining.
I'm on the fence on this one, I liked the first ep more than the second. But who in the hell says "negative 10 degrees" when talking about the weather? Should probably run your scripts by actual Minnesotans dontchaknow?
Re: "Fargo" becomes a miniseries It did sound odd but I took it as being a quirky MN way to express "ten below" or "minus ten", but I'm from the UK so I don't know any better. A web search reveals blogs and videos where people write about "negative ten degrees" in MN, but I don't know where they actually originate. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obR-OLtaGvo[/yt]
I lived in Minneapolis for about 4 years, I heard that on the radio. That would be the high sometimes during the day. Well, maybe, yah, they only said, "negative 10" leaving out the degrees. Still. As a former Minnesotan, it didn't strike my ear wrong.
Maybe that "negative ten" stuff flies with you fancy southrons down in Winterfell but for the free folk beyond the wall? I don't buy it. Serious clash with the accent. It was just a bit immersion breaking, whereas the Coen brothers unsurprisingly came off as much more authentic in the original film. That YouTube video is kind of a strange example considering it's from Asian immigrants who aren't native English speakers.
It's true, I rarely traveled further north than Fridley, MN. Bemidji was spotted once on a highway in the summer. Free folk, I don't know... Uncultured wasteland I liked to think of it...
It's very good. The first episode blew my mind for the way it recaptured the essence of the film while still charting its own path.
Three episodes in, I'm really enjoying the series so far. Alas, as often seems to happen with FX series, my DVR cut off before the episode was over. (The same damn thing happens with The Americans all the time.) My recording cut off just as Gus was telling Molly about the guy he "left off with a warning." What happened after that?
I saw the first hour and a half or so this weekend. Need to catch up and see the rest of it. I'm enjoying it but I don't know why they decided to call it Fargo. It makes no sense to me because they have nothing in common other than the geographical location, being based on real events, and the fact that they both involve murders. And the creative liberties are much more obvious in this than in the movie Fargo. I'm sure these basic events did happen but I doubt the actual words spoken were anything like that. The series and the movie seem to make completely different points. Fargo the movie had all those nihilistic overtones, the sense of escalation due to seemingly normal people thinking they can beat the system and get away with something, and more identifiable characters. Fargo the TV series seems more like just a bunch of psychos killing people they don't like. And they're both awesome, don't get me wrong. They just have so little to do with each other. Did they only call it Fargo because they thought they'd be accused of plagiarism due to the heavy Minnesota accents?
Nothing in the movie or the series is based on true events. The point in calling it Fargo is a) marketing, b) some oft the same people behind it and c) it has the same atmosphere, normal people doing idiotic things in the heat of the moment and then people die.
So the series is tied directly to the movie after all. I'm really enjoying the tone of the shows and the cast. Thornton is great at a sort of playful but still very threatening menace.
It is? I must confess I was really tired when I watched last episode and don't remeber much about it...
OK, I'll hide this in case the series makes someone want to see the movie for the first time: Spoiler: the movie Fargo In the movie, after the Steve Buscemi character collected the ransom money he found it was almost a million more than they were expecting (because Jerry had been lying to them to get the money for himself). He took out the expected amount and buried the rest in the snow, so he could retrieve it after settling up with his partner. His partner killed him, so he never went back for the money. That was the money found at the beginning of the latest episode. Also the opening shots and music of the episode were a very close homage to the opening of the movie.