So Murai says he and the rest of the creatives knew it was a “controversial choice” to then return in the third episode to the prepandemic times for a Miranda spotlight. “She read for us and we were immediately like, ‘Obviously this is the only way we can make this character work,’” Murai shares, with Sprenger adding, “It’s just truly a magical experience that we got to sit there and witness her performance in this show.”Īfter episode one followed Jeevan and Kirsten during the pandemic outbreak, episode two fast-forwarded 20 years and introduced an older Kirsten ( Mackenzie Davis) and her nomadic troupe of Shakespearean actors. It was Station Eleven writer Cord Jefferson, who worked on Watchmen with Deadwyler, who suggested her for the show. Hiro Murai’s two worlds collided with the third episode of Station Eleven, “Hurricane.” Having briefly appeared in “Wheel of Fire” as well as on a season two episode of Atlanta, Danielle Deadwyler takes center stage as Miranda, the ex-wife of Arthur Leander and the author of the Station Eleven graphic novel within the show. “This one beautifully came together we jumped inside the bus, and we were like, ‘Yeah, that’s going to be a great shot!’”Ĭourtesy of HBO Max The Eye of the Hurricane “We had always talked about wanting this bus, and we had this idea, like, what if we were inside the bus watching them emerge into this world and never getting this perfectly clear view, but still framing with layers and layers of what is happening with the story in the foreground, and in the background,” Sprenger says. Production was able to take over a busy Chicago street for a few hours, and unlike the first shot, a massive blanket of artificial snow was added for this setup. Sprenger knew that the traffic often becomes encased in snow, leading to the sequence’s use of vehicles, either abandoned or containing the dearly departed. We wanted to frame this world as almost like a reset button for everything, rather than the end of times.”Ī Chicago native, Sprenger grew up walking to Navy Pier, which can be seen in the distance, as well as this very apartment building it gave him “a very odd emotional connection” to this scene and shot. It’s blanketed in snow, and it’s an eerily beautiful sky. I also love that, even though this is the first shot of the post-apocalypse we get to see, it’s really beautiful. And you feel the presence of the occupants of the bus, just because we’re inside it, but really the focus is on Jeevan and Kirsten. “This show isn’t about the dead people on the bus, it’s about the people who are alive, trying to keep on surviving. “It’s my favorite because it’s philosophically doing what we set out to do,” Murai explains. As they set out into this new-still snowy-world, the camera captures them from behind, through the window of a nearby bus, resulting in what Murai and Sprenger agree is their favorite shot from the pilot. “Wheel of Fire” concludes by jumping ahead to “80 days after,” as Jeevan and Kirsten emerge from the apartment belonging to Jeevan’s brother, Frank ( Nabhaan Rizwan), sans Frank. In taking us inside their distinctive worlds, Murai and Sprenger explain how they made dinner parties fun again, turned a dog into a human, and achieved “core Atlanta” with the help of Justin Bartha. Four of the 10 installments were stand-alone stories that were essentially unconnected to the main Atlanta characters, and featured none of the usual starring cast, aside from a very brief Glover appearance in the premiere. Maybe that’s why at times Atlanta season three felt like a collection of short films as opposed to a traditional season of TV. “I really didn’t know what we had because I started making television with Atlanta, and then I came to realize that is not the norm at all,” Murai says. For many Atlanta has been a TV game changer, from the way it explores race in America to its unique storytelling and visual style. That partnership continued on future Childish Gambino projects, like the Grammy-winning visuals for “This Is America.” So when Glover got the chance to make his own series, he turned to Murai, who helmed 14 episodes across the show’s first two seasons that included the striking series’ high-point “Teddy Perkins,” for which Murai earned an Emmy nomination, while Strenger won the Emmy for cinematography. Murai first worked with Atlanta mastermind Donald Glover back in 2013 when he directed the multihyphenate’s short film Clapping for the Wrong Reasons and “3005” music video. Speaking of community, the COVID pandemic delayed Murai and Strenger’s return to their tight-knit Atlanta family.
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