We Own This City’s Jon Bernthal and Reinaldo Marcus Green on the Resiliency of Baltimore

We were joined by actor Jon Bernthal and director Reinaldo Marcus Green to talk about We Own This City, HBO’s spiritual successor to The Wire. The two discussed how the screenplay did a fantastic job translating the journalistic elements of the book into six episodes and how it helped Reinaldo delve into the visual storytelling. Jon Bernthal knew that they had to dig into the nuance of such a polarizing subject and listen to the people who populated Wayne’s life. Speaking to Wayne himself, who alternated between declaring his innocence and guilt, Jon saw the contradictions and inner conflicts of the character.

Reinaldo talked about trusting the actors to do the right research and discover what drove each of the characters to become police officers. The pair also shared their respect for writers David and George to examine how the system affects the individual and to give accuracy and specificity to the script. John, specifically, emphasized how rare it is as an actor to give themselves over to the director and trusting Ray as a filmmaker to get it right,. Reinaldo returns the compliment: Jon dove deep into the character and worked to get to know Baltimore, with his research and anecdotes finding their way into the script.

The two also discussed the difficulty and care it took to re-create the Freddie Gray protests and it being an open wound still for the community. Wanting to show the resilience of Baltimore people, the crew cast real people from Baltimore and police officers who had lived through the protests to bring another level of detail to the performance.

Watch the full conversation below.

Q&A on the series We Own This City with actor Jon Bernthal and director and executive producer Reinaldo Marcus Green. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

Tells the story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it.