Apple's 'See' director clears up rumors about show's budget

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Executive producer and director, Francis Lawrence, discusses the making of "See," and clears the record on how much the series cost to produce.

Apple's 'See' director clears up rumors about show's budget


"See" takes place 600 years in the future, after a viral apocalypse had eradicated much of the world's population. The humans who survived were rendered blind, reverting to a primitive, tribal-like culture.

Jason Momoa ("Aquaman", "Conan the Barbarian") plays series lead Baba Voss. Voss' wife gives birth to twins, the first humans in six centuries who are born sighted. He must protect his children and tribe against a powerful queen who believes the children will herald in the destruction of their world.

As it turns out, a post-apocalyptic world takes a fair amount of planning. According to Lawrence, they had to think critically about all of the show's intricacies.

"We had a think tank with blind consultants and an evolutionary biologist and a survivalist and all these different people come in to brainstorm ideas," Lawrence said.

It had been reported that the show would cost $240 million for two seasons, or roughly $15 million per episode. In an interview with Business Insider, Lawrence said that while the series is expensive, the budget had gotten blown out of proportion.

"It's an expensive show," he said. "People have thrown around that it's the most expensive show. I can guarantee you it's not."

In the interview, Lawrence goes on to talk about how it was important to the creators to incorporate blind and low-vision actors into the show. While the cast is primarily sighted, they plan on scouting additional actors for future seasons.

"See" launched at Apple TV+'s debut on November 1, along with titles like "The Morning Show," and "Dickinson," and many more to come shortly after launch.

Apple TV+ is priced at $4.99 a month, though if you buy new hardware, such as a new Apple TV, iPhone, or Mac, you'll get a year for free. Additionally, even if you don't own any Apple devices, you will be able to watch Apple TV+ from your favorite browser at tv.apple.com.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    He really didn’t clear up anything, but the show is watchable and not as bad as some critics have claimed. Yes, it’s a bit of a mess storywise, but I think that will improve.
    randominternetpersonStrangeDaysrhinotuffnapoleon_phoneapart
  • Reply 2 of 25
    He really didn’t clear up anything, but the show is watchable and not as bad as some critics have claimed. Yes, it’s a bit of a mess storywise, but I think that will improve.
    I haven’t watched it yet but I will. Others in my household were more interested in The Morning Show. I only saw the last few minutes of the first episode and didn’t think much. Then I watched the next 2 episodes and we all like it. As with everything else, I’ll make my own decisions on what I like and not let a reviewer decide for me. 
    SpamSandwichlolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 25
    So far I've watched For All Mankind, See, and The Morning Show.  They are all strong shows and I'm looking forward to the next episodes to drop.  If I could only pick one, it would be For All Mankind, but they're all right up my alley.  I think Apple TV+ is going to get some pretty good buzz and give Amazon a run for the money as the next subscription after Netflix and Disney+.  Having said that, it's going to be free for millions of people just as Amazon Video is, so it will not suffer from the lack of an audience.
    StrangeDayslolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 25
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    I haven't gotten around to watching this show yet, I'm still on for all mankind, but I look forward to eventually seeing See.

    I also pay no attention to any reviews about anything Apple TV+ related at all. I am the sole decider when it comes to determining what I think of a series or movie.  I've seen many comments online where the people had obviously not even watched a single second of anything, yet they're declaring everything to be bad, because it's from Apple of course. Many of the comments and predictions have been factually wrong.

    Probably the same asshats who laughed at the iPhone and dismissed the iPad as big iPhone and the same people who criticized the Apple Watch for not being round and the same people who just don't get it, and they never will.

    Apple is in it for the longterm when it comes to Apple TV +, and there will certainly be some missteps along the way and not everybody will like every show of course, but that's not a big deal, because Apple can afford a few missteps, and I think that in a few years time, Apple TV+ will have established itself very nicely.
    lolliverfastasleepricmacwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,876member
    Clear as mud. 
  • Reply 6 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,876member
    For All Mankind E1 was great, looking forward to the rest. 
    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 25
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,031member
    Dickinson is quite good. Pulled from Emily Dickenson's poems, a period piece in clothes, scenes but modern theme music and dialog.

    Reminds me of the great PBS series of the 90s Anne of Green Gables with Meghan Follows. 
    lolliverfastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 25
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    SEE puts to rest any concerns about Apple not producing adult content. We have an evil queen who masturbates or receives cunnilingus while “praying” to her god, and Jason Momoa slices and dices his way through bad guys, especially the slavers he brutally kills one by one to get his son back. Blood everywhere.
    fastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 25
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Morning show 1st episode was great, really good cast, topical too.

    See... I like a good sci-fi more than most people but my feeling was they set this up to fail by making everyone blind. All I could think about was stuff like "how do they fight invaders without killing their own?" I also did't buy the ESP stuff even though I know that losing one sense only heightens the others. Not sure I will see more of See.

    Emily Dickenson is entertaining and geared for maybe tweens, teens and young adults, only. 

    I'll check out the other shows soon. 


    edited November 2019
  • Reply 10 of 25
    So far I've watched For All Mankind, See, and The Morning Show.  They are all strong shows and I'm looking forward to the next episodes to drop.  If I could only pick one, it would be For All Mankind, but they're all right up my alley.  I think Apple TV+ is going to get some pretty good buzz and give Amazon a run for the money as the next subscription after Netflix and Disney+.  Having said that, it's going to be free for millions of people just as Amazon Video is, so it will not suffer from the lack of an audience.
    “For All Mankind” has a watchable premise, but I will admit to being very irritated with some of the modern language that seeped into the script, especially since it’s supposed to be representative of an actual time period in US history. Little linguistic details which were not commonly used in the 60’s stood out since I lived through that time. I didn’t bother writing them all down since the irritation was transitory and I still plan on watching the rest of the series.
    lkrupp
  • Reply 11 of 25
    So far I've watched For All Mankind, See, and The Morning Show.  They are all strong shows and I'm looking forward to the next episodes to drop.  If I could only pick one, it would be For All Mankind, but they're all right up my alley.  I think Apple TV+ is going to get some pretty good buzz and give Amazon a run for the money as the next subscription after Netflix and Disney+.  Having said that, it's going to be free for millions of people just as Amazon Video is, so it will not suffer from the lack of an audience.
    “For All Mankind” has a watchable premise, but I will admit to being very irritated with some of the modern language that seeped into the script, especially since it’s supposed to be representative of an actual time period in US history. Little linguistic details which were not commonly used in the 60’s stood out since I lived through that time. I didn’t bother writing them all down since the irritation was transitory and I still plan on watching the rest of the series.
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 25
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    I don't know how historically accurate Deadwood's linguistics are, but they're certainly not modern, because nobody talks like that today.

    Maybe they created their own rules for how the people would speak?

    Or maybe people back then did curse a lot and like to say cocksucker every 90 seconds? I don't know, I wasn't alive then.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 25
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    apple ][ said:
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    I don't know how historically accurate Deadwood's linguistics are, but they're certainly not modern, because nobody talks like that today.

    Maybe they created their own rules for how the people would speak?

    Or maybe people back then did curse a lot and like to say cocksucker every 90 seconds? I don't know, I wasn't alive then.
    You didn't interrupt correctly what the creators were trying to do. Their goal wasn't to be historically accurate with the language, but to be accurate with the effect of the language. 

    However, in those days, such words as crap, shit, damn, and bitch were considered to be very foul language. Today, these words are used in every day common language and we hear them all the time, usually taking little offense.  Therefore, the show uses the "worst" words (of today) in order to get the point across.
    The original intention of the series was to use period slang and swear words; however, according to David Milch, the series' creator, the results sounded downright comical. Utilizing current profanity, the words have a much greater impact on modern audiences, sending the message of how lawless and "barbaric" the camp was during its early days.
    fastasleepphilboogiewatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 25
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Soli said:
    apple ][ said:
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    I don't know how historically accurate Deadwood's linguistics are, but they're certainly not modern, because nobody talks like that today.

    Maybe they created their own rules for how the people would speak?

    Or maybe people back then did curse a lot and like to say cocksucker every 90 seconds? I don't know, I wasn't alive then.
    You didn't interrupt correctly what the creators were trying to do. Their goal wasn't to be historically accurate with the language, but to be accurate with the effect of the language. 

    However, in those days, such words as crap, shit, damn, and bitch were considered to be very foul language. Today, these words are used in every day common language and we hear them all the time, usually taking little offense.  Therefore, the show uses the "worst" words (of today) in order to get the point across.
    The original intention of the series was to use period slang and swear words; however, according to David Milch, the series' creator, the results sounded downright comical. Utilizing current profanity, the words have a much greater impact on modern audiences, sending the message of how lawless and "barbaric" the camp was during its early days.
    Interesting. It's been a very long time since I last saw the series. I'll probably re-watch it again sometime in the future, but I do believe that I liked the earlier seasons better than the later seasons if I recall correctly, but I suppose that's a common theme with many series that span over many seasons. Game of Thrones also comes to mind, regarding the very last season.
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 15 of 25
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    apple ][ said:
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    I don't know how historically accurate Deadwood's linguistics are, but they're certainly not modern, because nobody talks like that today.

    Maybe they created their own rules for how the people would speak?

    Or maybe people back then did curse a lot and like to say cocksucker every 90 seconds? I don't know, I wasn't alive then.
    Yes, they created their own rules. It's like flowery Shakespearean dialect peppered with modern usage cases of swearing using words that may have existed at the time but not in that same context, for dramatic effect. This was because actual swearing at the time would come across as corny these days. There are many articles and essays written about it. This is a good one:

    https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2428&context=greatplainsquarterly
    edited November 2019 StrangeDaysphilboogie
  • Reply 16 of 25
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    apple ][ said:
    Soli said:
    apple ][ said:
    Don't watch Deadwood, then — even though it's one of the greatest shows ever made.
    I don't know how historically accurate Deadwood's linguistics are, but they're certainly not modern, because nobody talks like that today.

    Maybe they created their own rules for how the people would speak?

    Or maybe people back then did curse a lot and like to say cocksucker every 90 seconds? I don't know, I wasn't alive then.
    You didn't interrupt correctly what the creators were trying to do. Their goal wasn't to be historically accurate with the language, but to be accurate with the effect of the language. 

    However, in those days, such words as crap, shit, damn, and bitch were considered to be very foul language. Today, these words are used in every day common language and we hear them all the time, usually taking little offense.  Therefore, the show uses the "worst" words (of today) in order to get the point across.
    The original intention of the series was to use period slang and swear words; however, according to David Milch, the series' creator, the results sounded downright comical. Utilizing current profanity, the words have a much greater impact on modern audiences, sending the message of how lawless and "barbaric" the camp was during its early days.
    Interesting. It's been a very long time since I last saw the series. I'll probably re-watch it again sometime in the future, but I do believe that I liked the earlier seasons better than the later seasons if I recall correctly, but I suppose that's a common theme with many series that span over many seasons. Game of Thrones also comes to mind, regarding the very last season.
    There are only three seasons, it was sadly canceled before they could do the final and fourth season which left it with a huge cliffhanger. However, they did just recently produce a movie to finally wrap things up (which I haven't seen yet, was debating rewatching the series first to jog my memory). At any rate, despite the cliffhanger, it's still a really great show.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 25
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    lkrupp said:
    SEE puts to rest any concerns about Apple not producing adult content. We have an evil queen who masturbates or receives cunnilingus while “praying” to her god, and Jason Momoa slices and dices his way through bad guys, especially the slavers he brutally kills one by one to get his son back. Blood everywhere.
    Well, I think that was pretty obvious that Apple wasn't going all-out family friendly, since it was floated alongside the 'rumour' that Tim Cook was vetoing scripts!

    The fact that people here believed it was laughable.
    edited November 2019 StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 25
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    lkrupp said:
    SEE puts to rest any concerns about Apple not producing adult content. We have an evil queen who masturbates or receives cunnilingus while “praying” to her god, and Jason Momoa slices and dices his way through bad guys, especially the slavers he brutally kills one by one to get his son back. Blood everywhere.
    Damn! Couldn't you have used the <spoiler> </spoiler> tag?

    StrangeDays
  • Reply 19 of 25
    What's the point of wearing jewery if no one can see it?
    gatorguy
  • Reply 20 of 25
    What's the point of wearing jewery if no one can see it?
    Touch, sound... etc :/
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
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