HBO Goes West(world)
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO will be moving forward with a new adaptation of Westworld.
Based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film, the new version will be a series starring Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton along with Ed Harris, Miranda Otto, and Jeremy Wright. The pilot will be written by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Hopkins will play the inventor who runs an amusement park that features lifelike robots in various roles. In the original film, the amusement park Delos contained three “worlds” — West World, Medieval World, and Roman World. Marsden, Wood, and Newton will portray robots — who can be killed and recycled with new personalities. In the original film, Yul Brynner was front and center as the robot “Gunslinger” that starts to break down along with the rest of the park, its safety programming malfunctioning with the resulting danger to human guests.
— HBO (@HBO) November 17, 2014
The new series is the first partnership between HBO and Bad Robot Productions, with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk executive producing along with Jerry Weintraub, Jonathan Nolan (Christopher’s brother), and Joy.
Sources tell THR that cast members have signed multi-year deals mainly due to the appeal of playing multiple “characters” as the robots get recycled and rebooted with new personalities. “This is built as a series and, in terms of storytelling, I think the rules are definitely being broken,” HBO programming president Michael Lombardo told THR in August. “The promise of the show, in terms of where it’s going, is exciting to actors, and they want to be a part of this.”
Check out the Westworld vine here: https://vine.co/hbo
