Day two of the ATX TV Festival found something for everyone. A first for the festival was the Mystery Screening held in the State Theatre. Following this new format, NBC returned to the 1993 for a retrospective for the pivotal crime drama, Homicide: Life on the Street. Finally, clear eyes and full hearts reunited for the 20th anniversary of Austin-based sports drama, Friday Night Lights.
Spectators flocked to the Mystery Screening after festival organizers revealed the surprise title: The Vampire Lestat premiere set for June 7 on AMC. The third season in AMC’s Interview With the Vampire reinvents itself to follow Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt after Daniel Molloy’s book is released. Surprised by former lover Louis de Pointe Du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) version of events — and him — Lestat decides to bombard the world with his suffering as a new musician on tour. Along the way, viewers will learn Lestat’s twisted origins and the skeletons in his coffin.
After the screening, TV Guide welcomed showrunner and creator Rolin Jones to discuss what is coming this third time around. He praised Reid, comparing him to the late James Gandolfini as having a top-5 TV performance of all time. In addition to familiar faces like Anderson and Eric Bogosian, Jones hails music composer Daniel Hart as the other solid component of this season. The music is in of itself a character and strikes a chord within the storytelling. After an abbreviated Q&A session, Jones continued the conversation with fans outside the venue.
This fantastical take was followed by a more grounded conversation with Tom Fontana, David Simon and Kyle Secor about NBC’s critically acclaimed police drama, Homicide: Life on the Street. Set in the city of Baltimore, the show followed the lives of homicide detectives, based on the book by then-cop reporter, Simon, who later joined as a TV writer and eventually delivered HBO’s The Wire and We Own This City. Secor starred in the show alongside the late Andre Braugher.
The panel celebrated, moderated by TV critic Alan Sepinwall, the show’s legacy with a screening of the season one episode, “Three Men and Adena.” Based on a real-life case involving the unsolved murder of a Baltimore youth, Detectives Tim Bayliss (Secor) and Frank Pembleton (Braugher) spend the majority of the hour-long installment coercing a confession from the prime suspect, a food vendor Risley Tucker, played by Moses Gunn. Fontana would later win an Emmy for the episode.
The trio reminisced on the early days of the series, filming on location in homes and locales of Baltimore natives. And they all shined when speaking of working with Braugher. Secor said he was pretty tremendous from the moment he met him. He shared how the two worked on manifesting their characters’ lack of chemistry, which gradually developed into a partnership.
Gunn, who passed shortly after filming the role, almost wasn’t cast as the pedestrian character with a nefarious aura. Fontana remembers the executives wanting to book a big name as the first season’s ratings sucked. Given the series starred Daniel Baldwin, they sought to book his feature film star brother for the potential role. After a accidental sleight in the script, Baldwin left the project. But Fontana sees how it worked out for the better.
Finally, Friday night saw the return of ATX TV’s favorites, the cast and crew of Friday Night Lights. Based on the book that was adapted to film in 2004, the series told the ordinary story of a small Texas town whose heart was found in its local high school football team. Cast members in attendance included Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Jesse Plemons, Gaius Charles, Adrianne Palicki, Scott Porter, Stacey Oristano, Derek Phillips and Aimee Teegarden. They were joined by showrunner and EP Jason Katmis, writer and EP David Hudgins, director Jeffrey Reiner and consulting producer and writer Kerry Ehrin.
The show was this year’s recipient of the “Texas Made” Award presented with Media for Texas. The honor celebrates talent and productions that have created opportunities for TV & film professionals in the state, continue to bolster the state as a creative hub, and exemplify unique opportunities in storytelling.
The panel opened with Plemons and a friend to serenade the audience with two songs. Then, the vast ensemble discussed the origins of the project, spearheaded by film screenplay writer Peter Berg. Katmis, a baseball fan from New York, had no interest in the project until he witnessed the pilot. Blown away by the performances, he signed on feeling intimidated but excited. He said their success lied in leaning into the ordinary and authenticity of the story.
“Viewers dropped down into this world and were living with these people,” said Katmis. The authenticity was boosted by filming in Texas and using real-life citizens as players.
The conversation moved on to how Britton was one of the only actors that appeared in the original film. Britton portrayed the wife, Tammy Taylor, to Billy Bob Thornton’s Coach Eric Taylor. She relayed how she had no speaking dialogue until 25 minutes into the film. When approached to reprise her role, she joked, “To be mute for a lesser Billy Bob Thornton?” referring to her on-screen husband played by Chandler.
Chandler seemed to be an odd choice for the role. But it was the casting director who pushed for him to land the iconic character. Chandler praised the masterclass of acting throughout the series, which was inspired by Berg’s emphasis on being free to play on set. He wanted his cast to know their lines and know their characters and then let that all go. Chandler said that freedom changed his whole way of acting. It led to an Emmy win for the final season.
Speaking of the final season, the creators spoke on the difficulty of seeing the series through during the strike of the mid-aughts. Season two ended at episode 15 without a proper conclusion. And attempts to return to those storylines were dashed at NBC. Luckily, Direct TV picked up the tab, allowing the writers to eventually return to the show and offer it a proper ending in the final three seasons.
The Texas Monthly moderator closed with questions on the potential reboot of Friday Night Lights, which left the audience excited. As of now, Katmis said the conversations are still in the early stages.
Overall, day two of the ATX TV Festival was a joyous celebration of TV dear to everyone’s heart.
Photo credit: Maggie Boyd and Zachary Salas