TRIVIA: The character of "Bubbles", played by Andre Royo, was largely
based on a real Baltimore drug addict and police informant who went by that
name. The real Bubbles, who would slur his speech much more than the fictional
character, first started working with the cops near the early 1960's after
being arrested for a burglary. He spent the next few decades as an informant,
leading to the arrest of several hundred felons and getting paid at least $50
for each one caught. His photographic memory and ability to blend into the
scene made him one of the best in the city. Eventually he would start using the
hat method portrayed on the series, where he acted as if he was selling hats
and would place one of a certain color on the head of those the police should
arrest.
According to Michael
Kenneth Williams, he secretly struggled with a cocaine addiction
during the third season. He never missed a day of work nor was he ever late. He
also suffered with an identity crisis due to his popularity as Omar.
Clark Johnson , who plays
newspaper editor Gus directed both the pilot and the last episode of the show.
The writers/producers briefly considered doing a sixth season about the
influx of Latinos into Baltimore, but none of them knew enough about
Baltimore's Latino population to write about it so the idea was dropped.
Stephen King called Snoop
"perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television
series".
Entertainment Weekly included Omar Little in its list of the "16
Ultimate TV Antiheroes" at position #3 in the July 15, 2012 issue.
When Dominic West
first auditioned on videotape from his London home, he tried to have his
girlfriend read the lines for the other characters in the scene, but her
English accent kept throwing him off and he kept laughing. So West performed
the scene himself by leaving pauses where the other character's lines were
supposed to be. West admits to imitating Robert De Niro for his
audition. At first, the producers found the audition tape "weird" and
"comic" but they reconsidered when they concentrated on West's
performance. When West was offered the role, he became reluctant because the
contract was for five seasons. But his agent convinced him that the show would
not last more than one. It ended up lasting five seasons.
Tom Waits - composer of
the show's title theme, 'Way Down In The Hole' - agreed that The Wire's
producers could make use of the song provided they first let him see the show.
Videotapes were promptly dispatched to the Waits household, followed by weeks
of agonising silence. When the execs finally got the courage to give the
legendary singer-songwriter a call, Mr Waits explained that he'd received the
cassettes but he couldn't play them because he didn't know how to operate his
VCR. "My wife knows how to use it and she'll be back in a couple of
days," Waits continued. Two days later, a release was signed.
Senator Clay Davis' catchprase "Sheeeeee-it" didn't appear in
the script. It was added by Isiah
Whitlock Jr..
Due to the fact they hadn't appeared in anything significant until The
Wire, and their American accents were so perfect in the show, many people were
unaware that Idris Elba
and Dominic West were actually
British.
This is Barack Obama's
favourite show and his favourite character is Omar. He said, "That's not
an endorsement. He's not my favourite person, but he's a fascinating
character."
Prez's experiences as a teacher are based on those of Ed Burns, who became a
Baltimore middle school teacher when he retired from the Police.
In season one, two detectives, Augustus Polk and Patrick Mahon - were
assigned to the Barksdale detail. The names "Polk" and
"Mahon" are a play on "pogue mahone," the anglicized
version of an Irish expression meaning "kiss my ass." "Pogue
Mahone" was also the original name of Irish folk-punk band The Pogues,
whose music is used throughout the series.
The producers wanted to keep a documentary-type atmosphere. Therefore,
aside from the ending montage at the end of each season and a few exceptions,
no musical score is used in the series. The music had to be coming from a
stereo, boombox, etc. i.e. it had to be literally part of the scene.
Ranked #8 on Empire magazine's 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time (2008).
Felicia Pearson was
discovered by Michael
Kenneth Williams at a Baltimore club. He invited her to come to the
set one day and he introduced her to the writers and the producers, and after
subsequent auditions, she was offered a role in the series.
In preparation for the role of Bodie, J.D. Williams walked
around Baltimore's inner city during the middle of the night a few days before
the first taping; talking about this to AllHipHop, Williams stated "it was
like 12 or 1:00 in the morning. I just threw on a black hoodie and walked
around. I went to one of their hoods and watched that night. I learned not to
do that no more, I was lucky I made it back that night."
By the end of shooting for season 1, the producers realized that shooting
for subsequent seasons should take place mostly on the eastern side of
Baltimore because of the lack of trees. Without as many trees in the frame, the
passing of the seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring & Summer) during a running
season of the show wouldn't interfere with the continuity of the story.
