Equal parts surrealism, comedy, horror, drama, and more, the show does not easily fit into one category. As Donald Glover puts it, "I'm not making a TV show, I am making an experience." To better understand and appreciate Atlanta, I'm taking a closer look at the brilliant people behind it.
1.Paper Boi's song of the same name was performed by Stephen Glover, Donald's brother.
2.Donald Glover was careful to pitch a "safe" version of the show to FX so that he could experiment with the weird stuff down the line.
This "Trojan Horse" maneuver is common in the entertainment industry. After all, studio executives are making an investment with their money, and everyone likes a safe bet. Glover has compared the show to many other movies and TV programs, such as "Curb Your Enthusiasm with rappers" or "if David Lynch or the Coen brothers made a show about hip-hop culture."
The influence of these other shows and filmmakers are obvious, but from Season One Atlanta has been in a league of its own. It was Glover's plan from the start to sell the show as something familiar before establishing his (and his team's) unique style.
He toldVulture: "I just Trojan Horsed it. I told FX the show was something it wasn’t until we got there and then hoped it would be enjoyable."
3.Paper Boi's order for Lemon Pepper Wet wings become so popular that the real-life restaurant changed their menu to include it.
Residents of Atlanta will already know this, but for anyone passing through you've got to stop at two places: American Deli and J.R. Crickets. Donald and Stephen Glover based the Lemon Pepper Wet off of wings at American Deli but chose to set the scene at J.R. Crickets.
J.R. Crickets doesn't sell Lemon Pepper Wet in real life, though they did use to sell "Fester" wings, which was the same combination of ingredients. But the order became so popular after the episode came out that they officially changed the name to Lemon Pepper Wet. Try the wings at both American Deli and J.R. Crickets to see what you think.
4.Donald Glover didn't want to play Paper Boi, an up-and-coming rapper, because audiences already knew him as a successful artist.
5.Donald and Stephen Glover have compared the differences in each season's tone to the differences in Ye's albums.
Stephen Glover toldRolling Stone that he and his brother Donald often use Ye's albums as comparisons for the show's growth:
"We’ve kind of been comparing the season to a sophomore record from a new artist. Internally, we’ve drawn Kanye parallels: if the first season is College Dropout, this one is Late Registration."
Speaking about what exactly made the second season of the show similar to Late Registration, Donald Glover said at an Emmys panel: "This is probably our most accessible but also the realest — an honest version of it — and I feel like the most enjoyable."
6.Brian Tyree Henry didn't study other rappers when creating the persona of Paper Boi because he wanted to start with Alfred.
7.Donald Glover had to bring in what Black creators call a "white translator" to argue the case that Atlanta should be able to use the N-word freely.
8.While Zazie Beetz is proud of her character Van, she does not want her to be viewed as a generalization of every single Black woman.
Beetz toldGQ, "I think it is important to see intelligent Black women who are also struggling with their partners. You know what I mean? That’s all part of this larger narrative of what’s going on in the media and in film and television in general. But her story isn’t everybody’s story. I don’t want executives in studios to be like, 'Oh, we have to do more exactly like Van.'"
9.The cover art for Childish Gambino's Awaken, My Love! was shown in the Season One episode, "Juneteenth," two months before the album was released.
10.If the show's disorientation ever makes you feel high, that's intentional.
11.Donald and Stephen Glover write all of Paper Boi's raps.
Murai has made a lot of incredible things with Glover, including the music videos for "Sober" and "Telegraph Ave." He also directed Guava Island, a film starring Glover and Rihanna. Murai's most recent project was the limited series Station Eleven
13.If you didn't already know that it was Donald Glover who played the incredibly creepy Teddy Perkins, now you know. Allegedly, he stayed in character between takes and even fooled LaKeith Stanfield into thinking he was a different person.
14.Studio executives did not understand the casual, baby-parents relationship between Van and Earn.
15.The opening episode of Season Three, "Three Slaps," is based on the true story of the Hart family.
16.Seasons Three and Four were written and filmed at the same time.
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