Now that “Fargo” is an acclaimed hit on FX, it joins the elite group of movies that actually made it as TV shows too. So it’s more “M*A*S*H,” “Alice” and “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” than “Ferris Bueller,” “Bill and Ted” or “Timecop.” When FX presented the show to the Television Critics Association, I got to sit down with legendary former NBC executive Warren Littlefield, who is producing the show with Noah Hawley. We discussed the show’s original interpretation of the world of the film and sort of geeked out over Coen Brothers movies.
CraveOnline: Warren, you’re a legend in the TV business. When you moved over from executive into actually producing shows, what surprised you or how different was it than you expected from the other side?
Warren Littlefield: How difficult it is. The world wants to play in television now, really amazing artists with the freedom and the range of narrative that you get to do in television. So that’s exciting and at times intimidating. But, finding a place like FX where they really value the vision of artists and it’s been a really good home for Noah and myself and a great place to do “Fargo.”
Were you less abreast of the changes in television working on individual shows than you were when you were overseeing all of them?
Warren Littlefield: This is a much more detailed, in depth relationship with a creative product. When you’re running an entertainment division, you’re juggling 100 things at once and so the depth that you can participate in them is just a much more shallow experience. Nothing wrong with that. It’s great. I loved it. I love that role, but this is a qualitatively deeper, and I think more rewarding experience.
The show is set in 2006 Minnesota. It’s funny to me that neither the show nor the movie took place in Fargo.
Noah Hawley: Oh, I know. That’s one of the things that I said when I went in and met with FX is that the movie’s called Fargo, but it takes place in Minnesota. What that makes Fargo really is a state of mind. It becomes a type of true crime case. Truth is stranger than fiction. Bill Macy does go to Fargo. The very first scene is in Fargo. We will go to Fargo at some point in the show, but for the most part, we are in the wilds of Minnesota.
How did you come up with original, funny sounding names like Lester Nygaard, but that also could be real names?
Noah Hawley: Well, you know, there’s no shortage of Swedish surnames that are out there. You just try to stay away from the ones from the movie. The internet is a great resource for all things.
Is there maybe a spiritual kinship between Lester Nygaard and Jerry Lundegaard, an insurance salesman and a car salesman?
Noah Hawley: I think the interesting thing about salesmen is the amount of pressure that’s on them day to day and the fact that a car salesman has his monthly quota that they have to hit and for an insurance salesman it’s the same thing. You’re selling. I don’t think that Martin’s character is a great salesman so he feels that pressure at work and he feels that pressure at home. That’s the thing. Joel and Ethan, in talking about the movie, have said that polite societies are often the most violent. The amount of pressure you put on someone in a culture that it’s harder for people to communicate, to express their feelings, that rage that builds has to go somewhere.
Warren Littlefield: And you’re in a world of Minnesota nice, so I think what’s so fascinating is what Noah’s doing is he’s opening up this window into the brain and into the soul and saying it may be not so nice.
Well, Sam Hess and his sons weren’t nice.
Noah Hawley: No. He was a bully, definitely. But yeah, I think I wanted to avoid any kind of stereotypes. There was no interest in talking down to these characters or patronizing these characters. You want it to be a real world but it’s a Coen Brothers world so it’s everything slightly heightened.
Is Gus Grimly nice?
Noah Hawley: Are they nice? Well, Colin’s character is to a fault I think. He’s a sweetheart. Not necessarily the world’s greatest law enforcement officer, but someone with the best intentions I think. Very moral, very moral person. That’s the whole sort of drive of the show in my mind. It’s the best of America versus the worst of America.
Is Lorne Malvo the worst?
Noah Hawley: Well, he’s the mysterious stranger who comes to town. He’s a product of the great American highway system where people can just sort of blow threw, but there is a sense, Joel and Ethan have described the region as Siberia with family restaurants. Part of what the show is about for me is you’re in this environment that’s basically the wilderness. They’ve carved out these little towns of civilization like islands, but the wilderness is out there and what happens when a man like Lester Nygaard puts on his Muk Luks and goes out into the wilderness? What does he bring back with him and how does that infect the society he lives in really?
Are you conscious of classic moments from the movie? Would you want to have a version of the wood chipper in the series at some point?
Noah Hawley: No, you’ll never see a wood chipper as a plot point.
Flat out never!
Noah Hawley: If you look carefully, you might see a wood chipper at some point. There may be elements throughout the season, if you look carefully, that are homages to that movie and other movies that they’ve made. But I don’t think we want to retread the territory and I think that part of designing the show without any of the characters from the movie is that it is a new story, new characters but that exists in that Coen Brothers Fargo world.
