BOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD TELEVISION ‘I AM CALM ABOUT MY NAKED SCENES’
Thandie Newton bares it all on what made her take up Westworld
English actor Thandie Newton, star of popular films like The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Mission Impossible 2 (2000), and Crash (2004), has been nominated for an Emmy award in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Maeve Millay in American science fiction show, Westworld. In an interview, Newton discusses the show, her love for sci-fi series and more. Excerpts: The first time I met Jonathan [Nolan] and Lisa [Joy], I was like, listen guys, I’m intrigued by this because Jonathan is brilliant. But then I read the pilot and I had to say, sorry, but it feels like there are situations of sexual violence and actual violence. But I knew that with these two, there had to be a purpose behind it. I never thought I was a sci-fi fan. But then, Jonathan and Lisa asked me if I had seen any Sergio Leone films, I watched Once Upon A Time in the West (1968), and it was exquisite. It was a great lesson about my own intolerance, and it was a lovely step into Westworld. When I read the pilot script, there was so much that I was horrified by – the violence. But the whole point of it is to shock us into the awareness that this is what we do to each other. You have to establish the depravity, show the extreme of what we can do to each other, so you can then comment on it. Yes, I had no idea what was going to be happening episode to episode. We had to think about the audience. There was lots of chat, and we were all kind of learning a new philosophy for life. I am naked almost all the time in the show, but I am calm about it, because it is not titillating. I have been in shows in which I wore clothes and I felt more exposed and exploited, as a woman. I’ve refused to take my shirt off in shows. In this show, you need to see it to comment on it. The 69th Primetime Emmy Award ceremony will be simulcast LIVE exclusively on Star World, Star World HD and Star World Premiere HD at 5 AM on September 18 with a primetime repeat at 8 PM and is powered by Amazon Prime Videos in association with Levi’s.
They didn’t give us all the scripts at once. We had to think about the audience. THANDIE NEWTON, ACTOR