Life imitates robots
Evan Rachel Wood tells Dominic Corry how the futuristic plot of Westworld helped her face her deepest fears
For all the mysteries revealed throughout the first season of bold scifi drama Westworld, the biggest surprise may have been that it’s the story of a robot uprising told from the perspective of the robots. Leading that uprising is Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores, the rancher’s daughterturned-revolutionary.
Set in a futuristic theme park where rich tourists indulge their baser fantasies with highly advanced androids in a Wild West setting, Westworld attracted controversy when it first began for what critics perceived to be sexually exploitative story-telling. But by aligning its perspective with the victims, the show eventually proved itself more interested in commenting on abuse rather than exploiting it.
As Wood tells Weekend during an interview in Beverly Hills, it was frustrating seeing Westworld being misjudged before it had a chance to tell the whole story.
“It was hard to sit there like the cat that ate the canary, because you can’t say anything [or] you’re going to spoil it,” says the actor. “You’re like ‘Just trust us! I swear it’s all for a reason.’”
As season one came to a close, Dolores took control of her own fate and turned the tables on her human oppressors, leading her fellow robots in a violent rebellion. As the highly anticipated season two finally arrives, Wood says the newly awakened Dolores is struggling with leadership.
“When I started season two I was really excited to discover this new side of her,” says Wood. “Then once I started doing it, I realised it was incredibly challenging and dark and hard because we try to make it non-gratuitous and very realistic and not glorify anything. So she’s not just coming in and shooting up the place for fun, there’s a real life or death reason as to why she does what she does. I wasn’t expecting the weight of her responsibility and the loneliness of her responsibility.”
Wood sees a connection between Dolores’ journey and the changes being felt throughout society with regard to sexual assault and abuse.
“It was funny how life was imitating art and certainly the year that we just had added some extra weight to season two. Because it was very similar to the shifts we’re seeing with people in the country. For me it was just a harsh look at reality. It was: ‘Okay, now that we’ve identified the problem, what are we gonna do?’
“Wait until you see this season. It’s gonna feel like we wrote it after the fact.”
In February, Wood courageously revealed her own history of sexual assault when she testified before the American Congress to support a bill that provides legal protections for survivors of abuse. In a gut-wrenching statement, she spoke about being raped, tortured and mentally abused by a former boyfriend.
“It was one of the scariest, most overwhelming things I’ve ever done,” Wood says of her testimony. “But because of where we’re at right now, it just felt like, ‘Well, if you don’t tell your truth now, what the hell are you doing? Now’s your opportunity to say it on a platform that’s going to reach the world and . . . be honest’.”
She says the response has been very positive. “It’s been amazing. I think I’d maybe told five people my story before then and then suddenly the world knows and it was an adjustment. I don’t know what a world feels like where people know this about me and I don’t have to carry this alone anymore and I don’t have to be ashamed of it. The response has been very validating and very supportive and nonjudgmental, which was the thing that propelled me to do it — because I shouldn’t be that scared to be judged for telling my story.”
Wood remains confident of real change. “I think we’re already starting to see it. A lot of people want instant gratification and I’ve heard a couple of people say, ‘Oh I can’t believe we’re still talking about this.’ But it’s not fixed yet. Even if we don’t see all the changes we want to see now, we’re still planting seeds for the next generation and the next. So I have hope.”
The actor says her personal experiences made shooting abuse-centric scenes in Westworld both tough and cathartic.
“It was difficult but it was very empowering. Getting to say that monologue to [co-star] Ed [Harris, who plays the Man in Black], in the finale last year. To be beaten, but then to rise off the ground, I mean it’s hard not to go through the shift the character did. The show is a metaphor for so many things but the one that specifically really got to me is facing your darkest, deepest fear in the eye and, no matter how much it knocks you down, get back up and come back even stronger.”