Fifty views tells me that there's still plenty of interest in Deadwood, so allow me to share my impressions David Milch's commentary on tonight's Episode 2.3, "New Money":
--This is the episode where Al gets laid out by kidney stones. Milch was afraid that "Deadwood" was turning into "The Al Swearengen Show", so he debilitated Al to shift the focus to the other characters.
--As William Sanderson (Farnum) gave his famous line about Wolcott's arrival, "Al, if you're not already dead and moldering, I send news to revive you: A fish to rival the fabled Leviathan has swum into our waters...", Milch noted about Sanderson, "Look at that face. When you're a writer, and you see faces like that, you feel like you're stealing your money. Because you don't have to do anything!"
--Milch couldn't resist saying "Look at that face," every time Richardson was on screen.
--The first time we see Dayton Callie (Charlie Utter), we get another "Look at that face." Callie was friends with Ed O'Neil (Al Bundy) and Michael Madsen, who worked on Milch's previous series,
"Big Apple". I had never heard of Big Apple, but looking at that cast (not to mention Milch's involvement), I'm going to look for this as soon as I'm done typing this post.
Milch wrote the part of Utter with Callie in mind, no audition necessary. Milch says he hates auditions, as they necessarily mean that the people who don't get the part will have their hopes dashed and their feelings hurt. He says he'd "prefer to cast people who've never acted before."
--Another casting note: he says he got a lot of grief from people about bringing back Garrett Dillahunt, who had played Jack McCall in Season One, to play Francis Wolcott in Season Two. "Why should that matter? Nobody ever says, 'Tom Cruise was in Risky Business, I can't go see him in War of the Worlds!'" Another good reason to give the part to Dillahunt: one less audition necessary.
--When John Hawkes (Sol Starr) makes his first appearance in the episode, Milch immediately launches into this tale: "I was just in NY, speaking to some Hebrew association about Sol Starr. I cannot believe that I flew there. I'm a Jewish person myself. I think I must have some ambivalence about it, because it was supposed to be about the anti-Semitism of the portrayal of Starr. I charter a plane, fifty-thousand bucks, to go there and say I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm an idiot....(Hawkes) was supposed to go with me to the inquisition there in New York. He got smart. He said that unfortunately he had been murdered the night before, so he couldn't attend."
Milch also mentioned that Tim Blake Nelson (Clooney's and Turturro's buddy "Delmar" from "O Brother Where Art Thou") was originally cast to play Starr--and unlike Hawkes, is Jewish.
--Milch has a great speech about the prodigious use of profanity on the show, saying it was intended to illustrate the lawlessness of the time and era. Traditional social niceties did not apply. "What I was trying to do with that (the profanity) was sort of
break down the conventions of language." These people, in this lawless place, would obey no laws, even the conventions of language, "their way of saying, 'I am equal to this environment.'"
--Milch meandered into the story about how he dealt with the audience's worry about replacing David Caruso in "NYPD Blue". (It was funny, he wouldn't say Caruso's name, called him "the guy, the red-headed actor from NYPD Blue".)
The point of the story was how he anticipated the audience's reluctance to give Jimmy Smits a chance, so he wrote a scene where Smits makes his first entrance, and says "Hey Andy, how's it going?" to Dennis Franz. Franz runs from the room to his boss, saying, "This isn't going to work at all." The boss says, "Why what happened? What did he do?" Franz explains, "Him and his 'How are you?' BS. No good." The boss suggests that Andy should give the new guy a chance--which is exactly what Milch was asking of the audience.
When Milch finished telling the story, he said, "You know what? I think I told that same story last year (on the Season One commentary)...Well, I only know so many stories."
--Sarah Paulson (Miss Isringhausen) had to be written out, because she got a role on Broadway in a Tennessee Williams play. So Alma fired Miss Isringhausen.
--Milch mentions that "The Tit Licker" had a scene in this episode, but it was cut. Milch told the origin of The Tit Licker for those of us who hadn't seen Season One, and finished the story with, "...so I figured that wouldn't be a bad thing to play." That makes me wonder if Milch played The Tit Licker.
--Incredibly fascinating backstory: Remember the funny-looking kid who had one scene, talking to young William Bullock in front of the Bullock house? He told William, "I watched the sheriff build this house," and about the trout that lived in the stream they were standing over. William was excited that he might have just met his first friend, but the funny-looking kid said, "My Pa and me are going to grow apples in Oregon," and he hops on his Pa's wagon and waves goodbye to William. Remember that kid? (I'm trying to get a screen shot for you, but I suck at the internet.)
Milch said he's friends with the kid's father. The kid was dying, and the father told Milch that the kid wanted to be an actor, so Milch promised to write a small part for the kid. The kid died three days before the episode aired.
--Before watching this tonight, I had been under the impression that David Milch is my favorite person in the world, the one guy I'd love to spend a day with. Nothing happened tonight to change that impression. I love this guy.