Bad Robot/Jonathan Nolan Bringing "Westworld" to HBO

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/08/westworld-hbo-series-jj-abrams-pilot/

Series Adaptation Of ‘Westworld’ From J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan & Jerry Weintraub Gets Pilot Production Commitment At HBO
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

In one of the biggest commitments ever for HBO, the pay cable network has nabbed Westworld, a drama series inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi movie. The project, from J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot, Person Of Interest creator Jonathan Nolan, producer Jerry Weintraub and Warner Bros TV, has received a pilot production commitment. It marks the first major cable sale for Bad Robot, which had been focused on broadcast TV for the past few years with such series as Fringe, Person Of Interest, Revolution and the upcoming Believe. Written by Nolan and Lisa Joy (Burn Notice), Westworld is described as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. Nolan is set to direct the pilot, which he and Joy will executive produce with Abrams, Weintraub and Bryan Burk. Kathy Lingg is co-executive producing, while Athena Wickam serves as a producer. Warner Bros TV is producing with Bad Robot, Jerry Weintraub Prods and Kilter Films.

This marks the second series inspired by Westworld, which starred Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin and introduced new digital visual techniques (check out the trailer for the movie below). The first, the short-lived 1980 drama Beyond Westworld, was a continuation of both Westworld and its movie sequel Futureworld.

Whaaaaaaaat???

 

[Wolfwood]

Sploosh. Can't wait.

Wonder who they'll get to play a menacing cowboy robot.

 

[Sawyer]

You know I didn't put Christopher Nolan in the thread title right?

 

[jonathancrane]

Interesting...

 

[Asgard]

Wow...I mustve seen Westworld when I was like 8 or 9.

 

[747]

Haven't seen the original movie, but the premise + HBO + Jonah Nolan makes me incredibly intrigued!

 

[Teelie]

I re-saw the original movie some time last year. It'll be interesting to see it redon on HBO with far better technology. The original was fairly cool for the time but the animatronics were somewhat simple.

 

[Sawyer]

I had no idea Michael Crichton was behind the original.

 

[Snow Queen]

Jonathan Nolan's writing/directing something? I'm in.

 

[The Demon's Head]

Sounds awesome.

 

[StarLord]

I love the movie. Looking forward to more info on this.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I wanted to buy the Blu Ray of this recently but there is no Region 2 yet. I'm interested to see how this TV show conversion goes given the talent involved.

 

[nite-owl]

Westworld is described as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin

?

I suppose HBO does like it's nudity.

 

[Teelie]

HBO is taking the nudity back from Skinemax Cinemax.

 

[Dave McFly]

I think it is kinda funny that Bad Robot Productions is doing a series about bad robots .

 

[Teelie]

I call it foretelling. They are all secretly bad robots plotting a Skynet-esque takeover of Hollywood.

 

[Shifty]

I would rather see a Westworld movie remake and a HBO series of Logan's Run.

WB has been trying to remake that for nearly 20 years with no luck, meanwhile cable television would be the perfect medium for the property.

I just don't see 5-7 seasons from a Westworld series but could see that with the world in Logan's Run or even BladeRunner.

 

[Eddie Dean]

?

I suppose HBO does like it's nudity.

I takes like 10 minutes in the original movie to get to RoboSex. It should be right up HBO's alley.

 

[Tanin]

I hope they take cues from the sequel as well!

 

[Sawyer]

https://twitter.com/EricIGN/status/487344274896216064

Eric Goldman
‏@EricIGN
HBO just mentioned piloting Westworld (from Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams), which I am greatly curious about. #TCA14

https://twitter.com/EricIGN/status/487347038787354624

Eric Goldman
‏@EricIGN
Westworld will film this summer. Casting happening soon. Same basic idea of amusement park w/ robots but tonally different from film. #TCA14

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/11/hbos-westworld-series-to-be-its-own-thing

HBO'S WESTWORLD SERIES TO BE "ITS OWN THING"
HBO's president comments on J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan's Westworld adaptation.
BY MATT FOWLER

"We’re about to pilot a show that I think will work to be a what you’d call a franchise show," HBO's programming president Michael Lombardo said of J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan's Westworld series - which is based on Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi film about a robotic theme park, and was given a pilot production commitment by HBO last August.

During an executive Q&A session at the TCA press tour, Lombardo spoke about how Abrams and Nolan's (Person of Interest, The Dark Knight) take on the show would be "similar only in construct."

"Hope we’re going to start shooting this summer. We’re casting right now, and I assume, you know, announcements will come out when those deals happen," Lombardo stated. "Obviously, it takes place within some time in the unspecified future within an amusement park populated by robots. Beyond that, I think it’s its own thing, and Jonah and Lisa [Joy] have done it and the script is one of the more exciting scripts we’ve read in a very, very long time."

"There’s no Yul Brynner and tonally it’s very different. At the same time, it has some of the elements, the basic elements that make the idea of it really exciting."

Nolan, who co-wrote the Dark Knight trilogy with his brother Christopher and David Goyer, is writing the pilot with Lisa Joy (Burn Notice) and will direct it. This is the second team-up for Abrams and Nolan, following CBS' Person of Interest.

Abrams and Nolan's take on Westworld has been previous described as "a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin."

Additional reporting by Eric Goldman

 

[Sawyer]

Take this with a grain of salt, because I've never even heard of their source, but...

Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden and Evan Rachel Wood Offered Lead Roles

 

[DA_Champion]

Take this with a grain of salt, because I've never even heard of their source, but...

Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden and Evan Rachel Wood Offered Lead Roles

Wow, big names.

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/ant...rld-pilot-from-j-j-abrams-jonathan-nolan-hbo/

Anthony Hopkins & Evan Rachel Wood To Star In HBO Pilot ‘Westworld’, From J.J. Abrams & Jonathan Nolan
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

After True Detective, toplined by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the casting bar for HBO‘s new drama series is pretty high. Enter the pay cable network’s pilot Westworld, which has locked in Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood for lead roles. The project, inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi movie set at an amusement park, hails from from J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot, Person Of Interest creator Jonathan Nolan, producer Jerry Weintraub and Warner Bros TV. It landed at HBO a year ago with one of the biggest commitments ever for the premium network, a pilot production commitment, and now has been officially greenlighted to pilot with Hopkins and Wood on board. Described as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin, the series will keep the setting of the movie, which starred Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin and introduced new digital visual techniques. In his first TV series role, Hopkins will 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. Wood plays the provincial, beautiful and kind 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. Also in talks for a lead role in the pilot is James Mardsen. This marks Wood’s return to HBO where she had a recurring role on True Blood and co-starred in the miniseries Mildred Pierce. Nolan and Lisa Joy wrote the script and are executive producing Westworld with Abrams, Weintraub and Bryan Burk. Nolan also will direct.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Whoa. That site was right. I guess their True Detective season 2 rumors are real?