Boardwalk Empire, created by former Sopranos writer and executive producer, Terence Winter, was a binge-worthy drama set in the roaring '20s.
The cast was incredible, the writing was flawless, and the story was — as many HBO shows are — addictive.
But there were a lot of secrets behind the scenes that fans still don't know about!
In real life, Boardwalk Empire was an area highly populated with actual historical figures!
Terence Winter explained that most characters were based on real people, with the exception of the protagonist.
“If everybody is real, I can’t manipulate the story the way I want to," he said.
There's no denying that Martin Scorsese is Hollywood royalty.
He has contributed to some of the greatest movies of our time. So, there's no wonder why the pilot of Boardwalk Empire was so impressive!
It might seem bizarre that a children's show would play off of a show about violent murders in the prohibition era. But they did, and it was called "Birdwalk Empire."
Chances are it breezed right over their target audience's heads, but gave the adults who happened to be watching a good laugh!
Terence Winter recalled in a commentary for the episode that he was cautious about filming that scene there, for obvious reasons.
"I just had visions of this being in the paper the next day," he added.
Very smart decision, if you ask me.
Halfway through the show's first season, fans were introduced to Richard Harrow. He had just returned from the war and wore a creepy, tin mask to hide his probably much scarier looking injury.
Turns out, the inspiration for this character came from a real-life article written about a woman who made life-like masks that would cover soldiers’ facial disfigurements when they would return home from war.
"The more I ... read about it, there [were] so many things in the '20s that were really a mirror to current society," he told NPR.
Considering the state of the world in 2020, he is definitely not wrong.
"We're still debating evolution almost 100 years later. I thought, 'God, what an opportunity to really do a show that holds up a mirror to current society, and it's 90 years in the past.'"
"Part of what makes [Boardwalk Empire] special for me is that we try to be as true to the characters as possible and let the chips fall where they may in terms of actor deals and commitments and that sort of stuff," Terence told NPR.
"Because [then] we felt we would never kill anybody. You start to get very close to people, and if you start to let personal relationships bleed into the work, it really colors it in a bad way."
"The hardest part of my job [is] making the phone call [to the actor], putting people out of work. [It's] tough. I've made a lot of those tough phone calls. ... I make the call before the actor reads it in the script or hears it from somebody on the crew," he told NPR.
He told NPR that, at a certain point, it was inevitable to rub elbows with some people involved in organized crime, during the time he grew up.
"It interested me enough, but not enough to ask any questions. I think I was a smart enough kid to just keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. Occasionally guys would come in and they'd say, 'Take a walk.'"
