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Press Release
Episode #10: “The Bicameral Mind” (season finale)
Debut date: SUNDAY, DEC. 4 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: Dec. 4 (11:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m.), 5 (10:50 p.m.), 6 (9:00 p.m.), 7 (11:00 p.m.), 10 (12:50 a.m.) and 13 (8:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Dec. 5 (8:00 p.m.), 6 (10:45 p.m.), 8 (8:30 p.m.), 9 (8:00 p.m.), 10 (8:10 p.m.) and 11 (8:00 p.m.)
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) unveils his bold new narrative; Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) embraces her identity; Maeve (Thandie Newton) sets her plan in motion.
Written by Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; directed by Jonathan Nolan .
The series is also available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.
WESTWORLD is created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, based on the film written by Michael Crichton. Production companies, Kilter Films, Bad Robot Productions and Jerry Weintraub Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, Bryan Burk.
Debut date: SUNDAY, DEC. 4 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: Dec. 4 (11:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m.), 5 (10:50 p.m.), 6 (9:00 p.m.), 7 (11:00 p.m.), 10 (12:50 a.m.) and 13 (8:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Dec. 5 (8:00 p.m.), 6 (10:45 p.m.), 8 (8:30 p.m.), 9 (8:00 p.m.), 10 (8:10 p.m.) and 11 (8:00 p.m.)
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) unveils his bold new narrative; Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) embraces her identity; Maeve (Thandie Newton) sets her plan in motion.
Written by Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; directed by Jonathan Nolan .
The series is also available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.
WESTWORLD is created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, based on the film written by Michael Crichton. Production companies, Kilter Films, Bad Robot Productions and Jerry Weintraub Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, Bryan Burk.
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Interviews
Arnold has been such a mysterious figure on this show. What we know about him, we mostly know through the words of other characters. As the actor who played him, who is Arnold to you? What can you share about your thoughts on the character as a man, as an innovator, and as this force looming over Westworld?
Well, Arnold is the Anti-Ford, but at the same time, he kind of overlaps him in complimenting him. They are certainly the polar opposites [as] the founding fathers of this place. Bernard in some ways exists on the Arnold side of that philosophical space between the two characters, but that ground was Arnold's in that he was a bit more of the romantic and a bit more of the dreamer and kind of vulnerable to the possibilities of new lifeforms going through this technology. Perhaps that's his nature, but it's also perhaps the loss that he experienced, the loss of this child. Westworld existed in its origins within the tensions between Ford and him.
It's been a turbulent ride for Bernard since learning he's a host. He killed Theresa, maybe killed Elsie, and ultimately shoots himself. What were some of your takeaways from playing Bernard after the robot reveal?
I can say that the epicenter of all of that is this kind of interrogation and quote-unquote "self-exploration" scene with Ford in the lab down in the bowels of this place, behind this army of defunct hosts. We spent several days down there on those scenes and I was ready to get out of there by like the fourth day. It was pretty… you know. I love acting when it's right and it's fun, but I was ready to move on from that scene. (Laughs.) Anthony Hopkins was sitting there on the other side of the room, kind of grinding Bernard into pretty much oblivion. It was good stuff, but… you know what it was? It really called on, as Evan has described, dredging up a lot of the themes in the mirror reflection that the show plays on. Who are we? Why are we? Are we missed? Are we not? How much of our personality is self-created and how much of it is organic? What makes us up? Not to be overblown about it, but it was pretty trippy in that regard. You're basically as actors replicating to some extent what these hosts are tasked with doing. It was fun in that regard. I think as well, when the mirror reflects back on the audience, ideally they empathize, yes, but also recognize it as a metaphor for their own looks into the mirror at times.
Well, Arnold is the Anti-Ford, but at the same time, he kind of overlaps him in complimenting him. They are certainly the polar opposites [as] the founding fathers of this place. Bernard in some ways exists on the Arnold side of that philosophical space between the two characters, but that ground was Arnold's in that he was a bit more of the romantic and a bit more of the dreamer and kind of vulnerable to the possibilities of new lifeforms going through this technology. Perhaps that's his nature, but it's also perhaps the loss that he experienced, the loss of this child. Westworld existed in its origins within the tensions between Ford and him.
It's been a turbulent ride for Bernard since learning he's a host. He killed Theresa, maybe killed Elsie, and ultimately shoots himself. What were some of your takeaways from playing Bernard after the robot reveal?
I can say that the epicenter of all of that is this kind of interrogation and quote-unquote "self-exploration" scene with Ford in the lab down in the bowels of this place, behind this army of defunct hosts. We spent several days down there on those scenes and I was ready to get out of there by like the fourth day. It was pretty… you know. I love acting when it's right and it's fun, but I was ready to move on from that scene. (Laughs.) Anthony Hopkins was sitting there on the other side of the room, kind of grinding Bernard into pretty much oblivion. It was good stuff, but… you know what it was? It really called on, as Evan has described, dredging up a lot of the themes in the mirror reflection that the show plays on. Who are we? Why are we? Are we missed? Are we not? How much of our personality is self-created and how much of it is organic? What makes us up? Not to be overblown about it, but it was pretty trippy in that regard. You're basically as actors replicating to some extent what these hosts are tasked with doing. It was fun in that regard. I think as well, when the mirror reflects back on the audience, ideally they empathize, yes, but also recognize it as a metaphor for their own looks into the mirror at times.
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One. More. 90 minute episode... #themaze #westworld #violentdelights #violentends pic.twitter.com/nUROWD5alw
— #EvanRachelWould (@evanrachelwood) November 28, 2016
It's such a complicated reveal, because it's not just Bernard discovering that he's based on Arnold, but there's also Dolores traveling through at least two different versions of this town, and discovering Arnold as she descends deeper down the rabbit hole. Was it challenging to figure out how to bring this sequence to life, with these two intersecting narratives building toward the reveal?
It's challenging in that you're jumping through her memory and you're making those transitions, and you're trying to make sure people can follow and understand as she's realizing where she is, what's going on, who she is, and who can see what in that moment. There's a moment in the scene when a young Robert Ford walks past Dolores. He doesn't acknowledge her, because for him, she's not there. There are these little things that transpire that we needed to transitionally make sure people could follow along at any given moment. We used the wardrobe and the change in scenery and people in order to express that story. Also the lighting. [Cinematographer] Jeffrey Jury did a fantastic job transitionally, especially in the lab underground, to change the lighting as she was remembering things. A lot of this was done practically, when she's walking through the lab, and she transitions from the pant and shirt to the dress. That was all done practically. We used a piece of the set — a beam between the walls in the room on the set — and we had them take out a piece of the wall so the camera could dolly all the way down that hall. So those are just done through wipes in the wall as she transitions from one wardrobe to the other. If you notice, there's a hint on one end of the light. She sees the light start to change, and that's what starts her memory into that transition. It was all done practically.
What about the scene where Maeve and Hector have sex as their tent burns around them — how was that accomplished?
That was actually our last night of the shoot for the season! We shot part of it on location, and shot the burning part on the back lot of the studio out in Santa Clarita. We had half a tent, and we used long lenses. There were fire bars between the camera and Thandie, and when the fire was behind them, what we did was we put them at the open end of the tent, and the tent was treated with a special fire protection and a special glue that lights on fire, but is a controlled fire spread. We used long lenses to stack it up and make it look like they're much closer to the fire than they are, but they're always at a safe distance. When working with fire, there's always an element of danger. We had the fire department there and everybody was on standby. But Thandie and Rodrigo were never inside a close space with fire, but it looked like they were, by stacking up the lenses. It worked very well. When the camera was in the foreground, we had fire bars below the camera. What I was hoping was you would imagine the lantern, when she kicks it over, it races across the tent's back wall, shoots up, goes along the ceiling, down the walls, and consumes them all around. When she first kicks the lantern over, the blanketing and everything was treated so the fire shoots toward the camera, and when we turn around, it shoots up the back wall. All of that progression of fire is all controlled, and it's all real.
It's challenging in that you're jumping through her memory and you're making those transitions, and you're trying to make sure people can follow and understand as she's realizing where she is, what's going on, who she is, and who can see what in that moment. There's a moment in the scene when a young Robert Ford walks past Dolores. He doesn't acknowledge her, because for him, she's not there. There are these little things that transpire that we needed to transitionally make sure people could follow along at any given moment. We used the wardrobe and the change in scenery and people in order to express that story. Also the lighting. [Cinematographer] Jeffrey Jury did a fantastic job transitionally, especially in the lab underground, to change the lighting as she was remembering things. A lot of this was done practically, when she's walking through the lab, and she transitions from the pant and shirt to the dress. That was all done practically. We used a piece of the set — a beam between the walls in the room on the set — and we had them take out a piece of the wall so the camera could dolly all the way down that hall. So those are just done through wipes in the wall as she transitions from one wardrobe to the other. If you notice, there's a hint on one end of the light. She sees the light start to change, and that's what starts her memory into that transition. It was all done practically.
What about the scene where Maeve and Hector have sex as their tent burns around them — how was that accomplished?
That was actually our last night of the shoot for the season! We shot part of it on location, and shot the burning part on the back lot of the studio out in Santa Clarita. We had half a tent, and we used long lenses. There were fire bars between the camera and Thandie, and when the fire was behind them, what we did was we put them at the open end of the tent, and the tent was treated with a special fire protection and a special glue that lights on fire, but is a controlled fire spread. We used long lenses to stack it up and make it look like they're much closer to the fire than they are, but they're always at a safe distance. When working with fire, there's always an element of danger. We had the fire department there and everybody was on standby. But Thandie and Rodrigo were never inside a close space with fire, but it looked like they were, by stacking up the lenses. It worked very well. When the camera was in the foreground, we had fire bars below the camera. What I was hoping was you would imagine the lantern, when she kicks it over, it races across the tent's back wall, shoots up, goes along the ceiling, down the walls, and consumes them all around. When she first kicks the lantern over, the blanketing and everything was treated so the fire shoots toward the camera, and when we turn around, it shoots up the back wall. All of that progression of fire is all controlled, and it's all real.
Source:
“We weren’t interested in spinning out mysteries with no answers in sight,” Nolan said. “Our goal is to tell an ambitious story in season-long chapters, each with a distinct feel and theme.”
Added Joy: “Most of the questions viewers have will be resolved in the final episodes, except for the most important one: What happens next.”
The Westworld finale is a super-sized 90 minutes long and is directed by Nolan himself (who also helmed the show’s pilot).
Added Joy: “Most of the questions viewers have will be resolved in the final episodes, except for the most important one: What happens next.”
The Westworld finale is a super-sized 90 minutes long and is directed by Nolan himself (who also helmed the show’s pilot).
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