January
Andrew Ross Sorkin
It wasn’t a news event, but for a long time I was thinking about how you would craft a show around the world of finance and hedge funds. Then two things happened simultaneously: First, I was watching Law and Order and I realized that legal shows always work. Second, around this time some of the early insider-trading “expert network” cases were being built. To some extent, that was a eureka moment: figuring out how to take finance and the legal world and pit them against each other.
As a journalist, a big part of what you do is search for drama and conflict. And a lot of the backstory with Billions is grounded in my journalistic background.
I definitely care about the authenticity. I want people who live in this world to see certain scenes and go, “Oh, yeah, that feels real.” And you want the language to be real. For instance, we intentionally chose not to duck away from or dumb down the language in which these people speak.
Early on we talked a lot about wardrobe. What would Bobby Axelrod—Damian Lewis’s character—wear? And what would Bobby wear to a conference? Would he wear a button-down shirt? Would he wear a tie? Would he wear a T-shirt with a Tom Ford blazer?
If you literally go downtown and walk into the Southern District office, especially around the bull pen, it looks just like that on our set. The set designers did an amazing job. Paul’s office is slightly more wood-paneled than Preet Bharara’s.