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Westworld, the classic 1973 film about androids running amok in a theme park, has been remade for TV – but this time it’s seen from the robots’ perspective
Don’t miss a thing with our 52-page guide featuring a special preview of Westworld, the TV version of the classic 1973 film
This is a vision of the future that will make your hair stand on end. The wealthy get to play cowboys at a hitech theme park that transports them back to the Wild West. They visit a replica town and indulge in fantasies, including wild nights at the local brothel and even shoot-outs. The twist is that the townsfolk are eerily life-like androids that begin to malfunction and develop opinions and emotions...
Welcome to Westworld, the name of the theme park and a major new ten-part TV series starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris and Thandie Newton. Written and produced by Jonathan Nolan and his wife Lisa Joy, the show is loosely based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name. It’s essentially the same premise as Crichton’s other big hit Jurassic Park – megalomaniac theme park boss comes unstuck when his ‘attractions’ turn rogue – but here they’re robots rather than dinosaurs. Yul Brynner, known as the Gunslinger, led the rebellious robots in the film, and the difference with the new TV series is that here the story is told as much from the point of view of the robots as it is from the humans.
‘Crichton’s film was brilliant,’ says Jonathan. ‘But he didn’t get time to fully explore the perspective of the robots, who’re used however the guests want to use them. We wanted to consider not only what we make of them, but what they make of us.’
Thandie Newton, who plays android Maeve Millay, the madam of the local brothel and the brains of the town, says, ‘ Maeve is fiercely intelligent and has been programmed to understand a human being so well that she’s able to anticipate their desires.’
For Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden, who play android Dolores and Teddy, the outsider who falls in love with her, the intrigue lay in figuring out which characters were androids. ‘The trap you can fall into is feeling too comfortable around the androids because they’re so human-like you forget until they remind you – and that can be very threatening.’ But often the androids display more humanity than human guests, says James. ‘It’s a really violent, vile place where the guests reveal really ugly human traits. The androids are the ones with the moral compass. It’s the humans who are running amok, enjoying the bloodshed, and telling themselves it’s not really cheating to go and sleep with a prostitute because she’s a robot!’
The worst of the humans – and a repeat visitor to the park – is the enigmatic Man In Black, a cold-blooded killer played chillingly by Ed Harris. ‘He
comes to this park and he just wants to be as evil as he can,’ says Ed of his character. ‘Westworld is a place where he can exorcise some demons.’
Overseeing all the events at Westworld is its creator, brilliant, darkly mysterious scientist Dr Robert Ford, brought to life by Sir Anthony Hopkins in his first TV series since Great Expectations in 1991. ‘I like to scare people,’ he said recently, and he’s in fine scary form here, all icy blue eyes and soft-spoken menace.
He’s described his character as ‘the most interesting part I’ve had in a long time’ and the creators are thrilled he came on board. ‘It was an incredible blessing to have him on the show,’ says Lisa Joy Nolan.
Westworld begins on Tuesday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic.