‘Westworld’ stars Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton on technology and the kind of world they would want to have

Los Angeles — Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, stars of the highly-rated and critically-acclaimed science fiction Western TV series, “Westworld,” talked to us about their relationship to technology and the kind of world they would want to have, if it wasn’t like Westworld.
 
The show is based on the 1973 film of the same name which was written and directed by Michael Crichton. It takes place in Westworld, a fictional, technologically advanced Wild West themed amusement park populated by android hosts.

Evan, 32 and a North Carolina native, portrays the oldest host still working in the park. She discovers that her entire life is an elaborately constructed lie. While Thandie plays Maeve Millay, a host who acts as the madam of Sweetwater.

Below are excerpts of our conversations with the two talented actresses:

Evan Rachel Wood

Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

How do you see this series developing and how do you explain this global interest in the series?

We’ve hit a nerve. From what I can tell, great sci-fi is always rooted in some kind of reality and Jonah (Nolan) and Lisa (Joy) the creators and showrunners are so clued in to where we’re going and where we are now and the implications of our relationship with technology and data and also what makes us human in that relationship with ourselves and the stories we tell ourselves and the loops that we may be stuck in.

The show is a great vehicle for entertainment but it’s also really teaching us about ourselves and about the world around us and forcing us to ask questions that we may not have asked before.

Just working on the show, it’s opened my eyes to a lot. I look at the world around me differently now, but not necessarily in a bad way. So, it can definitely serve as a cautionary tale, but it also is rooted in these beautiful human emotions that are portrayed so well by the actors on the show.  There’s this incredible humanity in the midst of all of this chaos so it’s a good balance.

Where is your character going?

That’s a very good question. I’m always curious to see what new incarnation of Delores I play every season. 

I feel like one of the goals of this show is that at the end of each season we wipe the slate clean and start over. We give ourselves a new world and a new set of rules. The world keeps expanding and the characters keep evolving.

Delores in the beginning was trying to figure out what she was and then in the second season her main objective was to escape. Now for the first time we’re really seeing her make choices. She’s expanded and she’s a fish out of water. She’s learning and growing. Now we’ll see a really beautiful mixture of the sweet Delores that we know and love, her core programming and the Terminator Delores that we know. And now this new version of her that she’s creating within herself.

Do you remember the time or time frame when you started to make choices for yourself?

Well, one of the themes of the show is if we really do have choices, if free will really exists. 

I think it does, I think it’s just really hard. I think it’s probably fluctuated in my life. I don’t know if I really asked myself what I truly wanted until I was probably in my 20’s, which seems late.

I don’t know how to gauge but maybe that is about the time you start really starting to question who you are and what you really want. But it feels like…especially after I had my child, your priorities shift and I think I relate to the show in the way that I’m constantly on a quest for truth, certainly don’t think I know everything. I’m completely willing to be wrong but I think I’m always trying to learn and grow and trying to make the best choices that I can.

Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

How has this season of the show challenge your life?

Through being on a show and the research that I’ve had to do to understand the technologies that we’re portraying, it’s given me a deeper understanding of data and of a technologic elite and algorithmic determination.

And if we really are in charge of our destiny or if there is a system built around us that’s maybe rigged not in our favor. And where our data is actually going, what the value of it is, we still don’t really have privacy laws protecting or whose hands it’s going into, what it’s really being used for.

Because technology is moving so quickly, shows like this are important to almost give us a visual representation of what’s actually happening so people have a better grasp of it. 

I know even just some people that watched the first episode last night were suddenly questioning everything in the room around them and I think that’s part of the fun of the show but also part of the show that wakes you up to the realities.

What’s your relationship to technology?

Technology for me is a double-edged sword. In so many ways, we are more educated and connected than we ever have been but with that comes a lot of growing pains, a lot of harsh truths and a lot of discourse that I think we haven’t seen quite at this level. It’s made me want to understand it more so that it doesn’t get away from me. 

My son is in school now and he can code better than me. I didn’t know how to do that.  We don’t learn cursive anymore but we’re learning how to code in school. I’m certainly from a generation that does not have that ability. So, it’s definitely inspired me to want to learn more so that I’m not taken advantage of I suppose. 

But I think there’s a lot of really amazing things about technology too, with any technological advancement there’s good and bad. I also appreciate how much we are able to communicate and whether or not we agree on things we’re able to have conversations that we weren’t able to have before and there’s so many dialogues that have been started. It’s going to be messy and it’s going to be hard, most revolutions are. 

But I’m curious to see what the world’s going to look like when my son is an adult.  What are we doing now that’s laying the groundwork for whatever the world’s going to be later? But it does scare me sometimes.

How would you like the world to look?

If I could have my own? I’d like to make it free, a world where everything was free, and money doesn’t exist. I would make a world without money. It’s hard because you want to say a world where there’s never any conflict, there’s never any this, never any that, but I think some conflicts can be healthy as long as it doesn’t get dangerous or as long as people aren’t being threatened.

But it’s one of the ways that we evolve and grow and I don’t know if you can have bliss without pain and if all pain is bad or if it’s inevitable or if it’s something that’s a useful tool for us to learn and grow. I don’t know if I would want to cut all suffering. But maybe eliminate evil. That would be nice, I think there’s a difference. Something like that.

You're a black belter in taekwondo. How much is that still part of your life? Is your son following your footsteps and how important is it for women to empower themselves?

I loved it. I did it when I was a kid up until I was a teenager. I used to compete. One of the men who trained me actually ended up being like a big stuntman in Hollywood now. So, I was trained well.

I thought it was an amazing outlet to focus, to meditate, to channel strength and to teach you about respect and your body and empowerment. I was a big fan of it. I would like to do it more, I don’t have as much time to do it now, but I love working on stuff like this where I’m able to go back and go, oh right. I love this and I can do this. I can kick really high. I’ve been waiting to do something that could actually highlight some of my skills.

Anything else that you do to keep in shape?

I really don’t like working out, but I do love nature. I do love hiking, biking, dancing and staying active. Honestly, I feel like being a single mom to a little active boy is my workout right now because I’m always on my feet running around after him. 

I wish I had a whole workout regime to share but I don’t. I do get in shape for the show though because you have to be. I have to start training at least two months before we start shooting otherwise my body will collapse and give out. I never know what they’re going to ask me to do so you have to be ready for anything. So you’ve got to be on the top of your game.

Thandie Newton

Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

What kind of world would you like to have?

All children. Just children. Perfect little beings. If I could spend all my time nurturing and mirroring and caring for children, that would be a very happy place for me. What other kind of world? That'd be no factory farms. There'd be smaller communities.  We'd live outside a lot. People would know one another. Be accountable. There'd be transparency. Maybe there'd be no money. So, it's just about reciprocating skills.  Sounds achievable.

Playing the role of a sentient robot, do you get any thoughts about the nature of consciousness and do you believe that complexity and artificial intelligence can lead to consciousness sometimes?

Not human consciousness, certainly not.  One of the things that I love about playing the character, but also what I love about playing any character, is that it turns off the static in my head, and I have one thought, one direction, one experience, which is the one I'm having.

It's almost a kind of meditation and my consciousness otherwise it is just brain chatter, the stimuli from social media, or from anything. We all have that brain chatter. Trying to turn it off, we have a tendency to believe these ideas, or these grievances or these criticisms that fly around our head. We make the mistake of thinking that it's who we are, when in fact who we are is underneath that. Consciousness is a state of real peace and acceptance, where no words apply.

So, playing Maeve, and like I said, in every performance, but particularly Maeve, really taught me about the simplicity of sentience and the connection to all beings.  Obviously, Maeve is connected to the electronic world, but ironically, through playing this robot, I learned more about my own consciousness.  Just the simplicity of thought, and the economy of thought, the clarity of vision, is something that I certainly want to try and achieve. — LA, GMA News