HBO is prepping to go into production on their adaptation of Michael Crichton's 1973 film, Westworld. J.J. Abrams is producing the series, and the pilot episode is being co-written and directed by Jonathan Nolan. The cable network has also just cast Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood in the new series. The thriller is described as a "dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin."
Hopkins is set to 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." As for Wood, she will take on the role of 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 fact that they got Hopkins is fantastic! It just shows you the potential that this series has. I'm a fan of the original movie, and I'm confident that this series will be even better. It's got such a solid team of talent behind it.
The original flick centers on a robot that malfunctions and creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.