The Official "Westworld" Season 1 Thread

[satam55]

8/9/15 Update:


Original post:

JAMES MARSDEN JOINS HBO'S WESTWORLD

Marsden is the latest addition to the pilot, also starring Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright.

8 AUG 2014 BY ERIC GOLDMAN

He'd been rumored for several weeks, but now it's a done deal -James Marsden is joining HBO's Westworld pilot as a series regular.

Marsden, known for the X-Men films, along with Enchanted, Superman Returns, Anchorman 2 and more, will play Teddy Flood, reports TVLine. Based on the film fromMichael Crichton, Westworld revolves around a theme park where robots help guests take part in a vivid reenactment of the wild west - before something goes wrong and those robots begin to turn on the humans. (Yes, between Jurassic Park and Westworld, it sure seems as though Crichton thought theme parks would be the end of us!)

James Marsden (rocking some amazing hair) in Anchorman 2.

TVLine describes Flood as "a mysterious new arrival to the small frontier town who quickly proves both his charm — and his talent with a revolver. His pursuit of a local beauty launches him on a dark odyssey."

Marsden's possible casting first surfaced when it was revealed that Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood had joined Westworld, which is written by Jonathan Nolan(The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy, with Nolan directing the pilot. Nolan will reunite with his fellow Person of Interest executive producer J.J. Abrams for the project, who is EPing Westworld along with Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk.

Hopkins is playing the man behind Westworld, Dr. Robert Ford, while Wood is playing "sweet, Midwestern farm girl" (we smell a robot!), Dolores Abernathy. This week sawsix other actors join Westworld, including Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Boardwalk Empire), Shannon Woodward (Raising Hope) and Rodrigo Santoro (Lost, 300).

As TVLine notes, Westworld -- should it get a series order -- would be Marsden's first full-time TV role since Ally McBeal. In recent years, he had a recurring role on 30 Rock as Liz Lemon's love interest.

James Marsden Joins HBO's Westworld - IGN

 

[satam55]

Been meaning to post these from the last few weeks, but there wasn't a thread on this forum:

HUNGER GAMES, LOST, RAISING HOPE ALUM JOIN HBO'S WESTWORLD

TV series stars Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood.

7 AUG 2014 BY EVAN CAMPBELL

The J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan-produced HBO pilotWestworld just added a trio of familiar actors to the cast, including The Hunger Games' Jeffrey Wright.

TVLine reports that Wright (Casino Royale, Boardwalk Empire) will portray Bernard Lowe on the show, based off the 1973 sci-fi film by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park). Lowe is the head of the programming division at the robotic theme park, creating artificial people.

Jeffrey Wright as Beetee in the upcoming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part I

In addition, Raising Hope actress Shannon Woodward and Lost/300 actor Rodrigo Santoro are also joining the Westworld cast. Woodward's character Elsie King is also a member of the park's programming division, while Santoro's character, Harlan Bell, is described as a brutal bandit in the sci-fi drama show (similar to Yul Brynner's role in the 1973 film).

Also joining the cast, per TVLine, are Ingrid Bolso Berdal (Hercules), Angela Sarafyan (The Good Guys) and Simon Quarterman (The Devil Inside).

Westworld stars Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood, with Abrams and Weintraub producing and Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy writing. For more on the upcoming sci-fi drama, be sure to check out what HBO said about the series at the TCA press tour last month.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/07/hunger-games-lost-raising-hope-alum-join-hbos-westworld

ANTHONY HOPKINS AND EVAN RACHEL WOOD CAST IN WESTWORLD PILOT FOR HBO

James Marsden is also rumored to star.

22 JUL 2014 BY ANTHONY COUTO

Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins (Thor, Silence of the Lambs) and actress Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe, True Blood) have been cast in the TV reboot of the classic sci-fi/western Westworld. The pilot will be produced byJ.J. Abrams (Star Wars: Episode VII), Jonathan Nolan (Person of Interest), Jerry Weintraub (Ocean's Eleven) and Bryan Burk (Star Trek) for HBO.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Hopkins will play Dr. Robert Ford, a "brilliant, taciturn and complicated Creative Director, Chief Programmer and Chairman of the Board of Westworld," who has been described as having an "uncompromising creative vision for the park—and unorthodox methods of achieving it."

Westworld (1973) official poster. Because it's awesome.

Wood plays the more sympathetic character, Dolores Abernathy -- who we suspect to be an android, much akin to the more relatable kinds of robots seen in Blade Runner and Battlestar Galactica. "Provincial, beautiful and kind," Dolores is your typical farm girl on the Western frontier "who is about to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie."

Film Divider first heard the rumor of Hopkins and Wood's casting in Westworld before they were officially confirmed, and also reported that James Marsden (Superman Returns) has been offered a role in the pilot.

The site says Marsden has been eyed to play Teddy Flood -- a hero/android character, like Dolores, who is "all about adventure and romance; his two pursuits in life are the open plains and, as I’m sure you guessed, the lovely Dolores Abernathy." They also say Flood's job is to be "killed by the guests over and over again," tragically programmed to never win over Dolores' "heart." While Marsden's casting is not yet for certain, the site has already been proven credible when it comes to Westworld scoops.

Other rumored characters to be involved in the Westworld pilot are Harlan Bell -- a hardened gunslinger, similar to Yul Brynner's role in the original film -- and The Man In Black -- a frequent guest of the park, who sadistically tortures the inhabiting robots.

Based on the film of the same name from director Michael Crichton -- who also wrote Jurassic Park -- Westworld doesn't yet have a release date.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07...n-rachel-wood-cast-in-westworld-pilot-for-hbo

HBO'S WESTWORLD SERIES TO BE "ITS OWN THING"

HBO's president comments on J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan's Westworld adaptation.

11 JUL 2014 BY MATT FOWLER

"We’re about to pilot a show that I think will work to be a what you’d call a franchise show," HBO's programming president Michael Lombardo said of J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan's Westworld series - which is based on Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi film about a robotic theme park, and was given a pilot production commitment by HBO last August.

During an executive Q&A session at the TCA press tour, Lombardo spoke about how Abrams and Nolan's (Person of Interest, The Dark Knight) take on the show would be "similar only in construct."

"Hope we’re going to start shooting this summer. We’re casting right now, and I assume, you know, announcements will come out when those deals happen," Lombardo stated. "Obviously, it takes place within some time in the unspecified future within an amusement park populated by robots. Beyond that, I think it’s its own thing, and Jonah and Lisa [Joy] have done it and the script is one of the more exciting scripts we’ve read in a very, very long time."

"There’s no Yul Brynner and tonally it’s very different. At the same time, it has some of the elements, the basic elements that make the idea of it really exciting."

Nolan, who co-wrote the Dark Knight trilogy with his brother Christopher and David Goyer, is writing the pilot with Lisa Joy (Burn Notice) and will direct it. This is the second team-up for Abrams and Nolan, following CBS' Person of Interest.

Abrams and Nolan's take on Westworld has been previous described as "a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin."

Additional reporting by Eric Goldman


http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/11/hbos-westworld-series-to-be-its-own-thing

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

 

[MartyMcFly]

The whole cast is stacked. Love the movie too so I'm interested in the show. Can't wait to see it

 

[be back in a bit]

JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan? I'm in.

 

[hex]

That movie was dope back in the day.

Fred.

 

[Recca Gatsby]

Oh hell yeah I am IN

 

[Conz]

this is gonna be really friggin good

didnt realize Jeffrey Wright was in this. i kinda fukkin hate that guy. he has the most ridiculous, pretentious, imdb bio ever, and im convinced he wrote it himself as this is exactly how i picture him talking in real life

Quite possibly the most underrated and underexposed actor of his caliber and generation, Jeffrey Wright's undeniable talent and ability to successfully bring to life any role he undertakes is on a par with the most praised and revered A-list actors in the business. Born and raised in Washington DC, Wright graduated from the prestigious Amherst college in 1987. Although he studied Political Science while at Amherst, Wright left the school with something that would prove to be more valuable: a love for acting. Shortly after graduating he won an acting scholarship to NYU, but dropped out after only two months to pursue acting full time. With roles in 1990's Presumed Innocent, and the Broadway production of Angels in America, (in which he won a well deserved Tony award), within a relatively short time Wright was able to show off his exceptional talent and ability on both stage and screen alike. His first major on-screen performance came in 1996 in the Julian Schnabel directed film Basquiat. Wright's harrowing performance as the late painter Jean Michele Basquiat was critically acclaimed for its haunting accuracy and raw emotion. With a Tony, a Golden Globe, and an AFI award under his belt, the intensity of Wright's skill has been proven over and over again. Hopefully the near future will bring an influx of more varied lead roles for black actors so that Wright can continue to astonish his colleagues, critics and fans alike with the intensity of his skill.

 

[ORDER_66]

This might be a smash hit... look at all DAT TALENT.....

:banderas3:

 

[Danie84]

Saw the original movie recently

...how will a whole series work with clone people short-cutting every other second

 

[satam55]

ED HARRIS JOINS HBO'S WESTWORLD

The Oscar-nominated Ed Harris is headed to Abrams/Nolan's Westworld adaptation as an evil character known as The Man in Black.

11 AUG 2014 BY MATT FOWLER

More casting news coming in for HBO's TV series adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 film, Westworld - from J.J. Abrams and Person of Interest'sJonathan Nolan.

First we learned that Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood had joined the pilot. Then it was Raising Hope's Shannon Woodward and Boardwalk Empire/Hungar Games' Jeffrey Wright. And a few days back, X-Men's James Marsden joined up as a series regular.

Now comes the news - via Variety - that Oscar-nominated actor Ed Harris will star in Westworld as a character known as The Man in Black - described as the “distillation of pure villainy into one man.”

Would this Man in Black have any connection to the malfunctioning murderous robot cowboy portrayed by Yul Brynner in the original film? The "Gunslinger" that wore all black? Or is Harris playing an actual human being?

Ed Harris in 2008's Appaloosa.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/11/ed-harris-joins-hbos-westworld

 

[FlyRy]

i'm interested. is this gonna be a summer or fall show?

 

[satam55]

i'm interested. is this gonna be a summer or fall show?

Production & casting just began this past month. I doubt HBO has set a date for the series premiere.

 

[Diunx]

No way this is a full series with all that star power, could be a top 5 miniseries in the making

 

[wire28]

Jeff wright weekly?

I'm in

Edit:

this is gonna be really friggin good

didnt realize Jeffrey Wright was in this. i kinda fukkin hate that guy. he has the most ridiculous, pretentious, imdb bio ever, and im convinced he wrote it himself as this is exactly how i picture him talking in real life