Year Two of the Damn Dirty Geeks podcast starts off big with our first podcast guest of 2016, director/executive producer/makeup effects creator Greg Nicotero, who joins the DDG for two hours discussing one of our favorite films, Steven Spielberg's thriller JAWS.
In Part 1 of our evening with Greg Nicotero, he shares how seeing JAWS in 1975 prompted many nightmares as well as his earliest aspirations to learn how such movie creatures were made.
Greg also unspools his tale of how his family kept a fiberglass shark on their wall -- a rarity for a Pittsburgh boy who grew up fascinated by the challenge and process of recreating the beast from JAWS.
The DDG also discuss with Greg the crucial differences between Peter Benchley's best-selling novel and Spielberg's more streamlined, simple and terrifying film adaptation that scared audiences right out of the ocean.
Greg gives his own insights into how learning from directors like Spielberg, George Romero and John Frankenheimer aided his own approach to directing episodes of THE WALKING DEAD as well.
Enjoy Part 1 of our podcast fun with Greg Nicotero. Soon we'll publish Part 2 in which Greg talks more about his own Jaws obsession, discusses his early work with George Romero making DAY OF THE DEAD, and more about his directing and makeup effects career.