David Carr, media columnist for The New York Times, journeyed to Detroit this summer to chronicle the shooting of the AMC police drama, "Low Winter Sun," and he appeared to be surprised that the city has such a "terrible beauty" and seems "authentically cinematic even absent the current crews, semis and generators."
Catherine Hardwicke, a director for one episode of the series starting Sunday, told Carr: "How could I not make something remarkable here?” When we drive or walk around, you see location after location that is amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.”
Carr describes a scene on St. Aubin, near St. Albertus, the defunct Catholic church near Canfield Avenue that symbolizes the 19th Century immigration that gave Detroit so much of its energy.
"The exterior shot features Frank Agnew, the lead character, driving slowly down an empty street. A hot wind kicks up a few stray raindrops that offer no relief just as Mark Strong, the British actor who plays Agnew, gets into the car. And then a character in ad hoc armor, who looks like an extra from “Mad Max,” ambles past the car on giant stilts, wearing a sign that reads, “Detroit, Rise Up.” As it turns out, the character is part of the shot, but there is often a very thin line between what is real and what is not in this forsaken place."
