If you have followed the history of the “True Detective” series on HBO, you know that the show is creatively overseen by writer Nic Pizzolatto. The acclaimed writer has been an integral part of all three seasons and has reportedly had some clashes with filmmakers over that time. Well, according to the filmmaker behind Season 1 of “True Detective,” Cary Fukunaga, his struggle with Pizzolatto comes down to what he felt was an unfair partnership.
Speaking to THR, while promoting his upcoming film, “No Time to Die,” filmmaker Cary Fukunaga talked about his experience directing the first season of “True Detective.” Though that season earned rave reviews, including an Emmy win for Fukunaga for his direction, the filmmaker didn’t have the best experience working on the series. Why? Well, as Fukunaga explained it, his issues stem from what he feels was an imbalance of power that created a bit of a “struggle.”
“[‘True Detective’] was presented to me in the way we pitched it around town — as an independent film made into television,” Fukunaga revealed. “The writer and director are a team. Over the course of the project, Nic kept positioning himself as if he was my boss and I was like, ‘But you’re not my boss. We’re partners. We collaborate.’ By the time they got to postproduction, people like [former programming president] Michael Lombardo were giving Nic more power. It was disheartening because it didn’t feel like the partnership was fair.”
He added, “Nic is a really good writer, but I do think he needs to be edited down. It becomes too much about the writing and not enough about the momentum of the story. My struggle with him was to take some of these long dialogue scenes and put some air into them. We differed on tone and taste.”
As mentioned, the end result is pretty solid, as many would argue that the subsequent seasons of “True Detective,” which feature more oversight from Pizzolatto, failed to capture the magic of the first episodes. And all’s well that ends well, right? Both men continue to have strong careers, with Fukunaga set to release his first blockbuster, the James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” in theaters next month. As for more “True Detective,” it might happen but without Pizzolatto, after the lackluster response to Season 3 back in 2019.
