Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy take our burning premiere questions
You just saw HBOsWestworldpremiere.
You now have questions (lots andlotsof questions).
We have some answers or rather, some helpful clarifications on some of the things you saw.
Credit: John P. Johsnon/HBO
You said during HBOs newbehind-the-scenes videothatWestworldis set in the 21st century.
Wondering if you’ve got the option to reveal what year?
Jonathan Nolan: Thats something for the audience to discover.
So theyre just getting starting to get a handle on how thats not the case.
You were just busted, Mr.
I didnt mean to get him in trouble.
Joy: Now Im like: Jonah, what are you doing?!
Nolan: Um, whos to say its not metaphorical?
[Laughter]
So, moving on!
The exteriors were shot in Utah.
One thing I can definitely say is that later on well see the ways the park is terraformed.
One more orientation question, but I think this is one you’re able to probably answer.
Nolan: We mapped it all out with the help of our intrepid production designer Nathan Crowley.
So the idea is that most of the facilities are underground.
When were told in the premiere that the park hasnt had a critical failure in 30 years.
Nolan: Its playful but not meant to be literal.
They stretch back to when Crichton was playing with them.
We feel like theres a long story here.
Shes been that plucky heroine for 30 years.
Joy: Shes that wide-eyed, innocent, always wondering Oh, when will my life begin?
When will it all start?
in that romantic, existential way in which all people do at that phase in their lives.
When will I find my love?
Shes like a Disney princess.
Joy: Exactly, very much so.
And then to take that Disney princess and put her through the ringer and explore some existential stuff.
Are we meant to assume those other lands might also exist?
Nolan:I would assume nothing.
Weve got an awful lot of material to cover just with Westworld, but you want to stay tuned.
Lets get into those pesky Reveries the new gestures programmed by Dr. Ford that are seemingly causing the glitches.
Were told theyre tied to past memories.
But were also told their memories are reset over and over again, which at first seems contradictory.
Nolan: How much they can remember is an important question for the season.
Joy: Im looking at my husband going: Can you be a little less vague, dude?
Feel free to jump in and rescue this interview!
Theyre saved as backups in case something goes horribly wrong.
But I only use the latest configuration.
Nolan: Its like Time Machine on the Mac.
The Reveries work on a kind of subliminal level.
But dipping that fishhook in might prove to be a little .. fraught.
Nolan: No, I think its the phrase itself thats important.
The seemingly innocuous phrase that has layers of meaning behind it.
This might also be a bit confusing to some, as well: The hosts dont know theyre robots.
So they have some awareness that theyre robots on some root level?
Humans only have one sort of aperture for consciousness.
But with the hosts, those levels would be explicit.
They would have a different architecture.
This gave us great fodder [for Westworld programmer characters to] directly query the hosts subconscious.
So, no, theyre not aware of their plight.
They are aware on another level, but they are forbidden from accessing it.
Another good twist is the Man in Black is no longer, seemingly, a robot.
Which perfectly reflects the whole idea that the hosts are now the heroes and the humans are the villains.
And I assume thats the reason you switched that, but whats your actual reason?
Joy: Its tough talking to you because you really have an understanding of this place [Laughter].
Yeah, it was about subverting that.
It was important for us to establish that connection with the hosts from the beginning.
Weve been trained to have a distance from those characters in other movies and TV depictions of artificial intelligence.
To look at them as the Other.
So that was a lot of fun to play with.
If you started from the guests, we already have that kind of human-centric bias.
We had to shake that system.
Joy: You are right, in terms of the plot, its an issue of perspective.
And it evolves, this is an ever-changing look at people and other creatures.
If Dolores is a person, its unforgivable.
Thats a question we continue to ask throughout the series.
I wanted to also ask about Dr. Ford.
Hes a bit like the John Hammond character inJurassic Park.
Michael Crichton wrote both, but hisWestworldfilm lacked that creator character.
Was there an eye toward Hammond when you wrote this?
Joy: The sad thing is I dont think Ive seenJurassic Park.
I have a lot of catching up to do.
And hes this classic Promethean figure.
Another change is the use of contemporary music in the Old West.
Its effective yet also breaks the immersive time period setting.
Can you talk about your decision to do that?
Joy: The setting of the show is itself anachronistic.
So though theyre contemporary songs, theyre also played in this Old Timey fashion.
It mimics the set-up of the series itself.
Nolan: And selfishly, we loved using contemporary music.
And we found a company that could make the reels based on contemporary songs.
So we have this player piano in our office which is pretty great.
