AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ cast reveal what their auditions were like for the hit TV series.

Before becoming one of the most watched shows on television, AMC’s The Walking Dead was nothing more than a pilot, a script, and an idea. Casting directors were given the tough task of finding the right actor for each and every character in the TV series.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actors from The Walking Dead revealed what their audition was like for the zombie drama and damn it’s pretty exciting.

Here is what Andrew Lincoln aka Rick had to say about his audition.

ANDREW LINCOLN (RICK)

I remember pacing around my hotel since I was flying in from England and had terrible jetlag before going to have a screen test with Frank Darabont. I felt like a lab rat, I was completely over obsessing about it. We were throwing ourselves off a cliff with this thing, holding hands and hoping the parachute would open. Jon Bernthal (Shane) had already been cast. I remember doing the big car scene with him and thinking, “That was a really great take and one of them, we really clicked.” I kept hearing this noise and I thought it was the car engine. We looked around and realized that one of Jon’s dogs had fallen asleep and was snoring in the middle of my take. I thought, “I’m never going to get this job.”

… AMC offered the part to me soon after I touched down back in England. I remember meeting Sarah WayneCallies the day before we started filming and she looked at me and said, “Don’t f— this one up!” She was cast after me. Lennie James (Morgan) was cast before anybody else. It was a very shrewd move.

They’d been trying to find Rick for a long time and I was just about to film a movie in England but had to pull out because my son was born a bit early and when my daughter was born, I made a vow not to do that ever again. Then I had to fly out to L.A. for a screen test for The Walking Dead. I got a friend to replace me in this movie and the next day, this script came through from AMC. I must have been on their radar with Frank and he wanted me to test. It was incredible.

Andrew Lincoln wasn’t the only actor with anxiety over their Walking Dead audition. Steven Yeun revealed the casting director first hated his audition and forced him to take a break before auditioning again.

STEVEN YEUN (GLENN)

I knew what part I was going to play and I remember being pretty excited about it. I had read the comic book before and binged on it just prior to the audition. The best part of the audition process was that it was a pretty actor-friendly situation. Frank Darabont was so kind and supportive the entire time and [casting directors] Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas were also so great to me; they just wanted me to do well. The best part of the audition process, besides the surreal aspect of being in Frank’s office and doing a scene with him directing you, was before that when Sharon Bialy literally grilled me in the call-backs. She was a hard ass on me, in a great way, where she broke down my initial nervousness and overthinking. She told me to get out of the room, go work on the scene again for an hour and come back. I remember coming back and going for it; she was much happier this time around. Whenever I do see her, I often remind her of that and how much I appreciated it.

But, what about tough guy Norman Reedus? Did he struggle with his audition, absolutly not.

NORMAN REEDUS (DARYL)

I went to L.A. for pilot season just to see what was on TV because it was starting to become really great. I was already watching AMC shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men religiously. There were so many similar scripts — hospital and cop dramas — and then The Walking Dead was so different. It stuck out like a sore thumb. I had a feeling it was going to be something cool that I would want to watch. I asked to go in for anything, even something just for a day. They got me in for an audition — not in front of Frank — but I read Merle’s lines. I’d already been told that Michael Rooker was playing that part and thought maybe he couldn’t do it or said no for some reason. I read it and went back to New York after pilot season and got a call to audition again. I came in and read different Merle lines. I thought maybe Rooker was not going to be doing it. When I left the offices in New York, I was walking home through Chinatown and got a call saying Frank created a new part — Daryl — for me. I did cartwheels in Chinatown! It was a dream. I didn’t know how long I’d last or if it was just one episode. But the job since Day 1 has been my favorite working experience ever and it continues to be. I feel very blessed to be here.

The Walking Dead is currently filming in Atlanta, Georgia as they prepare for their October season 6 premiere. Recently, casting directors were looking for walkers to work on an overnight scene filming outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

To read all of the audition stories for 25 of your favorite actors on The Walking Dead visit THR.com

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Emily Ratajkowski, an aspiring actress who started her acting career dancing in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” music video, now wants a serious acting role.

She tells Editorialist magazine of her next move, “It depends on the story and character. Complex and dynamic female roles in my age range don’t come around that often. If I could choose . . . it would be someone who has nothing to do with being pretty or attractive.”

Emily Ratajkowski’s most difficult acting role was in the Ben Affleck thriller, “Gone Girl” where she played his girlfriend.

In uplifting news, Channing Tatum rescues a horse

Channing Tatum is a pretty charming and lovable guy.

The Magic Mike XXL star shared big news via Instagram on Tuesday. “Meet ‘Smoke’ my rescue horse,” the 35-year-old actor captioned a black and white photo of the stallion. “He loves beer! We’re meant to be.”

Meet “Smoke” my rescue horse. He loves beer! We’re meant to be. (to be clear he just loves the smell)

A photo posted by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) on Aug 17, 2015 at 9:25pm PDT

Channing Tatum is also known for his portrayal as Magic Mike in the 2012 comedy film Magic Mike, and its 2014 sequel Magic Mike XXL, which he produced and was inspired by his early life, and Greg Jenko in the action-comedy film 21 Jump Street and its 2014 sequel, 22 Jump Street, based on the 1987 television series of the same name. All three films were major hits in the box office.

Tatum is now working on the new Marvel movie, ‘Gambit’ now filming in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Black-ish to air episode dealing with the N word.

Last season, Black-ish is one of the most watched new comedies to hit our living rooms. The ABC series touched controversial topics such as hitting kids, and how black people say hello. Now, the comedy plans to take on the “N word”.

From Variety:

The hit ABC comedy isn’t planning on taking the gloves off in its second season. Early in the run, an episode will tackle “the N word”  — and its repercussions — when youngest son Jack (Miles Brown) utters it during a talent show performance at his grade school.

“We wanted to do it last year, but we felt like it might have been low-hanging fruit for us,” says showrunner Kenya Barris. “But in this off-season, you’ve seen where we’re at. As we’re supposed to be evolving, (racism) is still rearing its ugly head constantly. So we felt like the word was still timely.”

The new episode will feature each member of the family expressing their opinion on the word. “I have my own feelings about it and I know that a lot of people in my own house and my friends have different feelings about it,” says Barris. “So I felt like the show was a good place to address it. Let’s examine this word and take a real look at it.”

Learn where Alfonso Ribeiro created the carlton dance for ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’

Alfonso Ribeiro played Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990-96. Most recently, Ribeiro won season 19 of “Dancing With the Stars.” He will also take over as host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in the fall. But, before becoming a host and winning Dancing with the Stars, Ribiero was a co-star on one of America’s most watched sit-coms.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was one of the first young African American series that mixed hip-hop with comedy. In a recent interview with, Variety, Alfonso Ribeiro revealed where the dance came from:

The only moment (of going off script) for me was one episode where Will was in a cabin, and he’s supposed to be tied up by this girl and then … he comes back and tells me that he might have killed her, and I go crazy. I told the director, “Listen, just keep a camera on me. I’m going to be crazy.” It ended up at the end of the show, where I got down on my hands and knees and pulled myself across (the stage) and ran up in the audience and came through the elevator doors in the school. It was one of those silly on-set moments that ended up making it to air.

The Carlton Dance was created when it said in the script: “Carlton dances.” It was never even intended to be funny; it was just that he was dancing. The dance is ultimately Courtney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video “Dancing in the Dark”; that’s the basis. Or in Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious” video, “The White Man Dance” as he called it. And I said, “That is the corniest dance on the planet that I know of, so why don’t I do that?”

The dance will live forever as the Carlton dance.

Source: Variety

Get ready because a new ‘Flight of the Conchords’ movie and album is coming soon.

Flight of the Concords didn’t last long on HBO but, it was one of the most original shows in network history. Now, the New Zealand group are making a major comeback. Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement announced that they’re making a new movie and album. In a new interview with Consequence of Sound, Clement discussed how his work on Steven Spielberg’s BFG derailed for a time the duo’s return to the stage.

“We were planning on doing it this summer, but then I ended up doing The BFG instead,” Clement said. “So it’s my fault we didn’t do it this time. But we are hoping to announce a tour. We’ll announce it before the end of the year, hopefully, and then some time next year get on the road … after we get some new guitar strings and that sort of thing.”

Clement also spoke to Indiewire recently and talked about a Flight of the Conchords movie that is in the pre-production phase. There is no expected release date for the movie, but Clement explained that they are still writing it.

(Via Consequence of Sound)