Special effects went through 14 gallons, for just one scene, Berger enthuses.
Thats a lot of blood for television.
It doesnt rival [what we do on]Walking Dead, but were getting there.
Credit: Matthias Clamer/AMC
Fortunately, there is still plenty to see here at the shows studio base just outside Albuquerque.
The result is both horrific and to Cooper at least hilarious.
If that sounds weird, hold on to your Stetson.
AMC
My brother and I were big comic nerds, says Goldberg.
He was just like, Read this, its the best comic ever.
[Seth and I] became friends very soon after I read it.
It was one of the things we clicked on.
So, does Rogen think the show will be controversial?
I dont know, he says, unleashing that distinctive laugh-bark.
Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
Weclearlyare not the best gauge of that.
Instead, after plastic surgery, he winds up looking like a walking rectum.
Thats the bad news.
Lewis Jacobs/AMC
Luckily, enough readersdidget it and realized where we were coming from with it.
We had a strange mix of letters coming in.
This iscrazystuff, man!
Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
to long, well-thought-out analysis of each issue.
We also had a fair number of letters from guys locked up in jail.
Preacherearned Best Continuing Series at the 1999 Eisner Awards and attracted a diehard following of fanboys and fangirls.
Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
Preacherwas the first non-Batman series I ever read, says Sneddon, today.
I foundPreacherwas actually bought more often by women than men.
Its one of the few comic adaptations Im looking forward to seeing!
Lewis Jacobs/AMC
Ennis fantastical but also from-the-heart writing had a similarly seismic affect on Rogen and Goldberg.
No one says that much about themselves that bluntly in their art.
Its like that expression: in your dreams, youre everyone, laughs Rogen.
InPreacher, Garth iseveryone, kind of.
Its just like, Here I am!
Like it or not!'
Its just fing crazy.
He said I could.
But then the movie fell apart.
Mendes wasnt the first person to try and get aPreacheradaptation off the ground.
In 2006, HBO announced that Mark Steven Johnson, director of 2003sDaredevil, was developingPreacheras a TV show.
But Mendes left the project when he found himself unable to wrangle the sprawling tale into a movie.
Caruso tweeted that he had just closed his deal onPreacherand was pretty fing pumped.
Neal ultimately controlled the rights to it and he knew we were huge fans, says Rogen.
Through some weird series of circumstances, we became the most viable option, says Rogen.
And, to us, that was always the best way to do it.
It always seemed weird to try condense it into a movie.
Its a good mixture, says Catlin, who is another of the shows executive producers.
Because theyre devoted idiot fans and I had no history with it.
In February 2014, it was announced that AMC and Sony Pictures Television had come on board.
This is one of the few things that really is.
Cooper, in turn, was intrigued by the script for the pilot.
By the time we finished, he was just like, This is crazy!
It sounded like nothing Id ever heard of, he says.
Although Negga and Cooper are a longtime offscreen couple, the choice was still a surprising one.
In the comics, Tulip is white while the Ethiopia-born, Ireland-raised Negga is black.
It felt like there was a lot of story there to tell, says Catlin of the casting.
But it wasnt a mandate.
If we had found a white actor we liked better we would have cast her.
It was just a bonus that the best person for the job happened to be Irish-Ethiopian.
Physically, there is a departure from the Tulip of the comic books, says Negga.
But its purely physical.
I dont think the spirit of her has changed at all I wouldnt want it to.
Goldberg: We actually pitched, like, Its going to be frame for frame, almost.'
Rogen: And we totally just threw that out the window.
Goldberg: Totally fing hurled it.
The original comic book drops the reader into the middle of action, plot-wise.
It started in the second act, basically, says Rogen.
How did AMC react to this change in plans?
Theyve been outrageously supportive, honestly.
Were used towaymore time, says Rogen.
[Our movies have] hundreds of visual effects shots.
With TV, you just have no time [for] post-production.
So, the more that happens in camera, the better.
And KNB have been really helpful for that.
We have a gag were shooting later today.
Rogen is also new to the world of TV spoilers.
theKnocked Upstar innocently asks when he is introduced to your writer on set.
Ive never done anything thats secret before.
Hes never really a preacher in the comic, says the showrunner.
Hes just a bad ass guy in a preacher collar.
Jesses got a very dark, quasi-criminal past.
Shes abadassand shes trying to drag Jesse back into the life.
Then theres the character of Cassidy.
Hes the mysterious, lazy Irish drug addict who literally falls out of the sky.
Nirvana is not part of it, he says.
Rogen insists fans should not worry about such changes.
I think fans of the comic will be surprised at howmuchwere actually incorporating, he explains.
Most of this will sound familiar to fans of Ennis and Dillons work but very strange to non-readers.
Its a real adventure story, he says.
There are these insane characters that they meet and the situations they get into are incredible.
I think theres a lot for a broader audience to really grab onto.
Theres also likely to be a lot for religious-minded folk to get offended about.
I very much like that film, but it is a vicious attack, he says.
Were showing you conversations where two sides argue their points and we dont take a stab at favor one.
But, again, Goldberg continues, what the f do we know?
you’ve got the option to see a trailer forPreacherbelow.
The show premieres on May 22 at 10 p.m.
