+ http://parade.com/513895/walterscott/ed-harris-on-westworld-and-staying-non-hollywood/
October 7, 2016
The Oscar-nominated actor, 65, makes a rare foray into television as the villainous no-named “Man in Black” in the HBO adaptation of the 1973 sci-fi thriller Westworld, airing Sunday nights. The chilling new series, set in a futuristic Wild West–themed amusement park, explores the meaning of life through the interactions of humans and artificial beings.
Can you describe your character?
In the first two episodes, it seems like he’s the baddest guy around, but you learn a lot more about him as the episodes go on in terms of what he does in the real world, his family and what he’s doing in Westworld.
How does the series compare to the Westworld movie?
[The movie was] a lot more campy. This is darker and stranger.
What were some of your favorite Westerns growing up?
I was born in the 1950, so there were tons of Westerns on TV by the time I was 6, 7, 8 years old. In terms of television, Maverick and Have Gun—Will Travel. But filmically, classics like High Noon and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—that’s one of my favorite films.
Do you stay low-key and non-Hollywood by choice?
Big-time, yes. I’ve been in the same house for 31 years, up the coast, and have a little bit of land. There’s always something to do, something to work on when I’m home. I enjoy it. It clears my head. It’s physical. You focus on one thing at a time.
How did giving up football lead you to acting?
I realized after my freshman year that I wasn’t really good enough. I was playing at Columbia University, which is not known for its football team. I probably could have played four years there, but I didn’t. After my freshman year, I was working out for the fall and said, “I just don’t want to do this anymore.” I saw some summer theater that year, and I decided maybe I could do that. So I decided to start studying acting.
Talk a little about the violence on Westworld, because your character “kills” a lot of other characters.
He doesn’t “kill” anybody, because they [the robotic figures] all get re-fixed and sent back out. So in that way, I guess that made me feel like maybe the violence was acceptable on some level. It is a violent world. Everybody knows that. And this is a place where it’s safe and you’re not harming anybody by being violent. You get a chance to go there and get that kind of thing out of your system, hopefully.
I think when he initially came there, he didn’t come there to shoot up robotic people or have sex with robotic prostitutes. I don’t know why. I think he was probably more curious than anything when he first went there. I think he discovered this darker side of himself that he probably wasn’t even aware of on some level, but knew there was a real part of him and a real part of his nature. Every year, he goes back for a month and he purges it, so he doesn’t have to deal with it in the real world.
Is variety in your roles important to you?
If I’ve been an architect of my own career in any fashion, one thing that I’ve attempted to do is not get typecast, in order to be able to play all different kind of characters. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that over the years.
You have two directing credits. Do you want to do more or do you really love acting?
I really love directing. I’ve been looking for something to do since Appaloosa, which we shot in the fall of ’07. I read a book last year, The Ploughmen, by a Montana writer Kim Zupan. It was the first novel that he published. It’s a really well told, suspenseful story but beautifully written and haunting in a way, so I’ve written a screenplay. Stacy Keach is going to play one of the main characters. My wife, Amy [Madigan], is playing another one, and hopefully my daughter, Lily. I’m in the process of trying to cast the story’s main guy, a 29-, 30-year-old deputy sheriff in a small city in Montana. I hope to shoot it next fall. I’m really excited because I just love the whole directing deal.
Is your daughter, Lily, going to follow you into the business?
Maybe, we’ll see. She really loves to act, and she’s a really good actress. She’s done a lot of theater in school and I think she’s up for doing this. If she doesn’t want to do it, it’s fine with me. I’m not going to like force her, but I think it’s a really cool part for her.
What’s next?
I’m doing this picture called Kodachrome with Jason Sudeikis and Elizabeth Olsen. It’s a comedy-drama, semi-road picture. When they stop making Kodachrome film, there’s only one place left to develop it. I play this crankety, very well-known photographer who goes with his estranged son and his secretary out to Kansas to get his film developed.
Then, hopefully, I’m doing Buried Child again. We did a Sam Shepard play in New York early this year, and I think we’re going to be doing that in London in December, January and February. And then at some point next year, I’ll probably end up doing season two of Westworld.
News
By Imogen Lloyd Webber
September 1, 2016 - 6:21PM
After extending its engagement on multiple occasions off-Broadway last season, Buried Child
is heading to the West End! Led by Oscar nominees and real-life husband
and wife Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, the production will play November
14 through February 18 at Trafalgar Studios.
Directed by Scott Elliott, the company of the New Group revival of Sam
Shepard’s play also included Taissa Farmiga, Larry Pine, Rich Sommer,
Paul Sparks and Nat Wolff. No word yet on whether they'll be
transferring with the production.
Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play follows Dodge (Harris) and Halie
(Madigan), who are barely hanging on to their farmland and their sanity
while looking after their two wayward grown sons Tilden and Bradley.
When their grandson Vince arrives with his girlfriend Shelly, no one
seems to recognize him, and confusion abounds. As Vince tries to make
sense of the chaos, the rest of the family dances around a deep, dark
secret. Pine plays Father Dewis.