The allure of TV has grown significantly in the last few years as we see more and more actors going there as films become safer in terms of what’s produced, at least for the mainstream, and the benefit for viewers is obviously there. HBO got a lot of positive word of mouth and sales through subscriptions and DVD/BD box sets with shows like True Detective and they’re hoping to hit that magic again with an updated Westworld adaptation. The series has had a lot of commitments put towards it since HBO got involved with it and now we’ve learned that Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood have boarded the pilot for the series. For Hopkins, this marks his first TV work outside of a few miniseries and UK productions.
Anthony Hopkins will play Dr. Robert Ford, the brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director, chief programmer and chairman of the board of Westworld who has an uncompromising creative vision for the park — and unorthodox methods of achieving it. Wood plays the provincial, beautiful and kind Dolores Abernathy, the quintessential farm girl of the frontier West — who is about to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie.
The original feature was released in 1973 based on the story by Michael Crichton, who also directed it, which had as its starts Yuk Brynner and James Brolin. With it being a Warner Bros. property at this point after being with MGM originally, that makes it easier for HBO to work with.
The people behind this are certainly interesting and that alone makes it something worth seeing what could develop as J.J. Abrams is set to produce with Bryan Burk of Bad Robot. The pilot that’s been ordered will have Jonathan Nolan co-writing it and directing it. Nolan is currently the showrunner on Person of Interest, where he’s also directed a bit. Nolan will be writing with Pushing Daisies writer Lisa Joy.
Original feature plot concept: For $1,000 a day, vacationers can indulge whims at the theme park called Westworld. They can bust up a bar or bust out of jail, drop in on a brothel or get the drop on a gunslinger. It’s all safe: the park’s lifelike androids are programmed never to harm the customers. But not all droids are getting with the program.
