The bumpy road to success: Drama’s most troubled productions
With HBO preparing to debut the much-anticipated Westworld, Stephen Arnell finds that, despite its troubled production history, the show looks certain to be the cable channel’s latest hit. Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s eagerly awaited re-imagining of Michael Crichton’s classic sci-fi movie Westworld premieres on HBO on October 2. The 1973 hit film has already spawned both a lacklustre sequel (1976’s Futureworld) and a short-lived CBS TV series, Beyond Westworld (1980). Now Nolan and Joy’s Westworld (pictured above) has been plagued by production woes – including a two-month shutdown earlier this year, the departure of cast members Miranda Otto and Eion Bailey and a protracted development process since HBO ordered the pilot way back in August 2013. At one point it was reported that HBO had persuaded Nolan to ‘put aside his ego’ to get the show back on track. Earlier rumours of graphic rape and sex scenes in Westworld also gave fuel to widespread condemnations of HBO’s depictions of sexual violence against women, with critics citing other shows such as The Night Of, Game of Thrones, Rome, Deadwood and The Sopranos, in which this appeared to be a recurring theme. Despite this, word of mouth around the show is exceptionally strong. Early reviews have given Westworld an aggregated score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with some critics predicting a Thrones-style worldwide success for HBO. In his September 19 review, IGN Movies’ Eric Goldman wrote: “From its standout cast to its excellent visuals to one hell of a hummable score … Continue reading The bumpy road to success: Drama’s most troubled productions
