Image Credit: WireImage.com
Ed Harris is coming to series TV: The Abyss and Apollo 13 actor has signed on as the Big Bad in HBO’s Westworld reboot.
The four-time Oscar nominee’s character is called The Man in Black, and is described as “the distillation of pure villainy into one man.” He joins previously cast star — and fellow series television newcomer—Anthony Hopkins, along with Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, and Shannon Woodward.
The Warner Bros.-produced sci-fi pilot produced by J.J Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk updates Michael Crichton’s 1973 classic film about a theme park where androids fulfill dark human desires. Harris’ description might sound like he’s playing the Yul Brynner killer-cowboy robot role, but it seems like actor Rodrigo Santoro was tapped for that part—and online production rumors suggest The Man in Black is actually a human character who sadistically abuses the androids.
Harris will soon be seen the feature film Run All Night, starring opposite Liam Neeson and Joel Kinnaman. Harris won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for his work in HBO’s Game Change. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buck:
They never happened. Ford just created that storyline.
That was my impression. And the story could be easily implanted in other hosts so that they had the right reaction to him. But it has me wondering if it really did play out, or if it was based on an incident that actually happened. [Reply]
It could just be a plot device to foreshadow exactly how badly you can mess up when playing with the hosts settings, leading in to Maeve being reprogrammed at the end of the episode. [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
After last night the thought kept sticking in my head that Arnold achieved sentient AI through transfer of consciousness but (some major plot point) caused him to inhabit the computer systems of the park rather than a host.
Are we 100% sure that Arnold is really dead? Other then the story from Anthony Hopkins saying he died at the park under mysterious circumstances nobody has mentioned Arnold.
Originally Posted by KC_Lee:
Are we 100% sure that Arnold is really dead? Other then the story from Anthony Hopkins saying he died at the park under mysterious circumstances nobody has mentioned Arnold.
What if he is still alive in the park?
It's possible. That could have been Arnold grabbing what's her name at the end of the episode, living as a hermit in some secluded area of the park. But nobody mentions him because the event (whatever it was) was a PR nightmare.The company scrubbed his existence. I like to think it was the breakdown from the movie-this universe's version of it. [Reply]
The pic I linked from Reddit isn't showing up so I hosted it on Photobucket. Here is a pic of Maeve's settings from a screen capture of the scene in the episode:
Here's a screencap of the picture of Ford and Arnold as seen by Bernard:
Here's a screencap of the host portraying Ford's father:
I just saw a piece on Deadspin (yes I know they suck) and noticed that Ford now dresses similarly to Arnold's style, and that Arnold's sweater vest in the picture looks like the one that android Dad is wearing. Here's what Deadspin said:
This week’s theory that’s sending the internet into a tailspin is that the actor playing Ford’s robot father looks a lot like Arnold in the photo Ford showed Bernard in episode three. We all assumed the younger one is Ford, because otherwise he’s aged really well. But if this is accurate, was Arnold Ford’s dad? That definitely would explain why Arnold’s version of his family was so idealized. And also, possibly, who took Elsie. Plus, it would make sense, narratively, for this whole thing to have started as a family business. There’s also the possibility that Bernard isn’t seeing the photo properly because he is a host. If he’s the Arnold copy, the photo wouldn’t show him as himself. We know that photos that disrupt the hosts’ belief in their world don’t appear weird to them. On the one hand, it’s seeming likely that there’s something off about Arnold and Ford’s dad. On the other hand, what the fuck? [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
Just started watching it. At the 07:04 mark The Gunslinger (Yul Brynner) is standing against the wall, visible past Bernard's right shoulder.
We get another trip down into the deepest levels of Westworld. I’m assuming that was mock-up of Yul Brynner from the Westworld film Bernard saw in the background?
Jonathan Nolan: It was indeed. It was a little tip of the hat. We didn’t want to feature it too heavily, we don’t want you reading too much into that.
Right. Because you’ve previously said the film’s events did not literally happen in your story.
Originally Posted by listopencil:
Here's really shitty pic of 07:04 with just the figure:
Yeah I kinda hollered when I saw that like YEAH!
What cracked me up in the original movie is he NEVER runs. Just walks. Both thumbs hooked in his belt all Al Bundy style. and no matter how fast that dude runs....Yule catches up. :-)
This show is SO damn GOOD! I am nerd boy familiar with the original movie and I couldn't see how they'd take that story and be able to turn it into a sustainable series. man....well done! [Reply]
