The gunslinger talks

Early last week, HBO’s biggest and most-talked about series, “Westworld” concluded its first season with a 90-minute finale that was full of major revelations, big reversals, and tragic deaths as the host uprising got underway. 

As the man in black (Ed Harris) gets close to the centre of the maze, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) plays by her own rules and fully realises her “role” for the park. Dr Ford (Anthony Hopkins) latest and last narrative ends with a bang and a twist, and last but not least, Teddy Flood (James Marsden) raises even more questions about his role in the new narrative, as well as his relationship with Dolores.

Premiering in October, “Westworld” is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin, exploring a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. Created for television by Jonathan Nolan (“Interstellar”) and Lisa Joy (“Pushing Daisies”), the series was inspired by the 1973 motion picture “Westworld,” written and directed by Michael Crichton.

We talked to James Marsden, the 43-year-old American actor, about his biggest role yet on TV and his cowboy moves.

I’m happy that you hope that I’ll be there [in season two], and so do I! I wish I could give you a firm answer to that but I’ve learned not to speak with absolute certainty about anything on the show.

You could say that. We get the script one episode at a time. I signed on when I read the first episode and I only knew the extent of that one. We had idea where the storyline was going. I was given the script maybe a week or sometimes just a couple of days before we started shooting each episode. We treated each episode like its own little film, and we strung them along the way. I didn’t know what was happening in the finale until right up to the very end.

Probably the storyline Evan Rachel Wood was given. Watching her change from diagnostic mode and then going back to her role as Dolores and suffering the grief of her parents being murdered was brilliant. It’s such a wonderful opportunity for an actor to play all those emotions. She’s also the oldest host in the park, so she gains this sentient asset and her own free will starts to surface. I would think that’s a challenging character to play.

It was really special. He’s someone that you really want to have the opportunity to work with. Sir Anthony is one of the greatest actors in our generation. I would prefer not to have been nude with him when we first did the scene together though! He loves other actors, and he loves being on set. He’s always smiling and joking. Sometimes he would walk up and play the piano. It was interesting watching him change when they yelled “action”, and turn into this very intimidating, dark character. 

 

We have to remember that every time Teddy dies, he gets reset so every time he sees him it feels like the first time. He doesn’t know much about the man in black. He knows he could be lethal so Teddy is very cautious about him. They play parlour games with each other to some degree in terms of the information they share. Some of the information he shares with me, I don’t really understand because I’m programmed not to. But I think for their purposes later in the season, they help each other. My character wants to find Dolores, and he thinks the man in black will help him. The man in black wants to find the centre of the maze and he needs Teddy to stay alive to get there. So they are helping each other even if there’s some mystery about who they are. It’s an interesting and complicated dynamic.

It was a lot of fun to be on set with Ed. He’s a terrific actor, and it always ups your game to be sparring creatively with someone like him. He’s wonderful man, too. When we stopped shooting, he’d want to go and throw a baseball with me. He’s a big baseball fan and would bring two mitts to the set, and we would throw baseball and chat. Like me, he’s from Oklahoma so we had a great time. 

I don’t really know about breaking the association. I think the role of Teddy in “Westworld” has the potential to become something in pop culture – or at least I hope anyway. We live in a time where people remember the most recent things they’ve seen. If “Westworld” continued to be a high-calibre show people have constantly invested in it, it could definitely be right up there with “X-Men”. 

 

I approach every project from a position of how I can bring something interesting to the role. If it’s a comedy, I look for the opportunity to do something unique and different to make the audience laugh. With “Westworld “, my challenge was to make my Wild West gun-slinging hero character believable. I learned how to ride a horse properly, shoot pistols and all those classic western motifs that come into play. Beyond that I wanted the audience to believe in my love for Dolores. I believe that their relationship is at the heart and centre of the show, and their love for each other is deep. 

 

This probably the question I get asked the most, and it’s still one of the difficult ones to answer! I wouldn’t feel great about putting a black hat on and shooting robots. I guess I would be a bystander, and watch how other people behave. If I got invited to come to the park I would have to go, but I would tread lightly. Some of these dark, disturbing fantasies that people live out on “Westworld” have no appeal for me.

 

>> “Westworld” is returning for the second season late next year.

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