Even with all the hype “Westworld” was one of the biggest surprises of the year. Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan‘s reimagining of Michael Crichton‘s Sci-Fi novel had a notoriously long production process (HBO stopped filming at one point), but the result captivated most critics and viewers. In fact, “Westworld” is HBO’s biggest hit since the inaugural season of “True Detective.”
I spoke to Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright and the creators after the show landed key Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations about some of their favorite scenes for The Envelope earlier this month. Wright, who called me from an outdoor market in Madrid, was as candid as he is on twitter and our discussion warranted a separate piece.
[Spoiler alert: If you have not watched or finished the first season stop here. You’ve been officially warned.]
If you watched the entire season you’re aware that at first the audience was led to believe Wright’s character Bernard was a top employee working for the corporation running the Westworld theme park. Not only did we find out Bernard was a robot host himself, but that Robert (Anthony Hopkins), the creator of the park, based him on his deceased creative partner Arnold. That was quite a surprise to viewers and, it turns out, for the cast who only got a few scripts at a time. And it was the perfect entry point for our conversation.
The Playlist: Thanks so much for much for taking the time. How much of the Bernard/Arnold dynamic were you told about at the beginning of the production and how much was kept quiet?
Jeffrey Wright: Well, I didn’t know Bernard’s secrets about his neutrality until we went back into production after shooting the pilot. As I read it, I understood him to kind of be an understated every man who we would explore the history and the world that we were inhabiting. I did know that Jonah and Lisa had a lot in store, but I didn’t know that they had a lot in store in multiples.
I spoke to Evan two days ago. She said until the last few episodes she did not know that many of the scenes that she was shooting with you were in the past as “Arnold” and not as “Bernard” in the present although she did suspect something was up cause minor things on the set would change. Did you know what was up during those scenes?
We each had our own little secrets. We were each given as much information as we needed to do our jobs. I did know that. I needed to know because, otherwise, those scenes would be contradictory for Bernard [in the sense] that he would have this relationship with Dolores. I was aware, because obviously those scenes were Arnold. They’re completely illogical with Bernard. I probably got a little farther down the rabbit hole simply because I had to go a little deeper, a little earlier than everyone else in order not to really confuse myself.
At the end of one episodes it looks like Bernard is dead. Did you start wondering, “Wait, am I going to make it through the season?” Was that ever a worry? Did they let you know that you were going to make it through at least with all the duality?
Yeah, I was never concerned about that. Outside of the storytelling, Jonah and Lisa invited me on board. We made a commitment to one another that was beyond just the first season.
What was the most challenging part of pulling off your scenes. Were you ever concerned with giving away the duality?
No. The biggest challenge was bouncing from emotional room to emotional room in a lightning flash and watching and repeating for four or five days in a row or however long it took. It was great, fertile territory for an actor. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of here once we were finished. It was fairly taxing.
You’re pretty prominent on twitter. Were you surprised by how enthusiastic the response was online? Were you thinking, “Yup, if they make the show they were going to make, this is going to hit with people”?
If we’re completely arrogant, we would say that we expected this response. However, you could never anticipate how an audience will react to your work. That’s the kind of weird abstract challenge of working on television is that the audience is really your co-workers and the crew. The final audience is somewhere down the line. You kind of shape and temper your performance and all the aspects of the filming to that obviously, but you don’t know. What we did know is that we were really taken by the writing. For us, it was rare. When you gather a group of people who have worked as long as we have and the level we all have in this game, we’re pretty good judges of what’s compelling material. We knew that we were onto something. I won’t go so far to say I anticipated that I’d be getting social media notes from people in Iran saying how much they loved seeing the pirated versions of “Westworld.” I couldn’t of anticipated that, but I think it’s just fantastic. It speaks to the power of the medium and why we should try to stretch it.
Why we play a role in trying – still, trying – to gather large communities around this storytelling fire in a way that is a celebration of our commonality. The way that audiences have embraced this and the way that they started to write their own stories around it, the fan art around it, or just the appetite for it couldn’t of been predicted. I don’t know. I thought it was the right place to be. In taking this role, we all did obviously in themes that we may of been right at.
It’s public knowledge the show had a bumpy production process in its first season. The fact that it all came together but both critically and in terms of the fanbase, are you excited to go back for a second go around?
I was excited to go back to the next season as soon as we finished the first season. I can speak for myself. I was somewhat frustrated that it took us so long from start to finish of the first season. It put pressures on us in that we couldn’t work anywhere else. There was a lot of uncertainty. It was never a moment during the process where I wasn’t just glowing at the work that Jonah and Lisa were offering me and the trust that they were instilling with me with this stuff. We were all more frustrated that we weren’t working on this incredible material than anything else when we were experiencing these down times. It wasn’t at a function of creative incompetence or having to go back and rethink the nature of the show. It was really around just trying to hammer out a logistical protocol and understanding for a show of this scale, of this complexity with 400 characters operating on three separate timelines. At the end of the day, we all survived it and thrived beyond that. It was more than anything a complete joyride.
In terms of the film’s finale, at what point did you know about the episode’s climactic scenes?
I had an inkling about that. I was privy to some kind of accidental outside information. I didn’t know until I called Evan after seeing the last script in which the last beat of the final scene was protracted. I texted her saying, “Evan, what the hell is going on here? This doesn’t make any sense to me.” We texted back and forth for about four minutes until I finally called her. She said, “Oh, good. I’m glad you called. What the hell is going on?” Well, and she explained it to me. We laughed together over the phone as my head exploded onto the walls of my apartment. It was bad. I just remember saying like, “Whoa.” I didn’t know definitively until that moment talking with her.
“Westworld” is currently available on HBOGo. The second season is expected sometime in 2018.