‘Westworld’ makes a scene in Agoura





LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!— Actors Evan Rachel Wood and Jimmi Simpson on the main set of “Westworld” at Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!— Actors Evan Rachel Wood and Jimmi Simpson on the main set of “Westworld” at Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley.

With its intricate subplots and robust cast of seasoned actors including Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins, “Westworld” scored three Golden Globe and three Screen Actor Guild nominations last week. Created by Jonathan Nolan and wife Lisa Joy and produced by J.J. Abrams, the HBO show has become a new favorite of popular culture.

What viewers may not realize is that Nolan shot major scenes of the critically acclaimed series in Agoura Hills, including the season finale’s climactic gala sequence.

Finding the right locations

Bringing to life this thriller— set in a sophisticated Wild West amusement park where humanoid robots (Hosts) serve every violent and sexual whim of the humans (Guests) paying admission—required feature-film scale.

The 10 episodes of the first season of Nolan’s sci-fi/Western hybrid (a remake of Michael Crichton’s 1973 Yul Brynner feature) operated on a blockbuster’s $100-million budget. Jeff Morris at Simi Valley’s Big Sky Movie Ranch, where key scenes were shot, said HBO paid $700,000 to film there.

“Westworld” location manager Mandi Dillin has also worked on movies such as “Frost/Nixon” and “Iron Man” and feature films by Nolan’s filmmaker brother, Christopher, including “Inception” and “Interstellar.”

“Westworld,” she said, “is the most expensive television that I’ve been involved (with) and one of the most expensive pilots ever made.”

Most of the Old West mesas and vistas used in the show are in Simi Valley (Corriganville Park, Hummingbird Ranch) and Thousand Oaks (Ventura Farms).

When it came to the series’ grand finale—the 90-minute 10th episode, “The Bicameral Mind”— the crew sought out Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills.

Disguising the ‘Dr. Quinn’ set

Catharine Beverly-Bishop, special park uses coordinator at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, helped pave the way for filming at Paramount Ranch, where Nolan’s crew filmed the show’s scenes set in Escalante (an older Western town seen in flashbacks) and the season finale’s pivotal gala event—meant to impress the executives in charge of the park—when renegade Hosts unleash their fury and bring truth to the show’s favorite maxim: “These violent delights have violent ends.”

“It’s still a working movie ranch but set aside so visitors can see how a movie ranch works,” Beverly-Bishop said of the national park’s protected 2,700-acre property, which has a Western set.

Clint Eastwood shot the training scene from 2014’s “American Sniper” at Paramount Ranch, but the location is best remembered as the backdrop for the ’90s series, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” CBS’long-running frontier drama. Because reruns have never stopped airing worldwide, “Dr. Quinn” has a big European following.

“We get a lot of people from Germany interested in the show,” Beverly-Bishop said.

The “Westworld” shoot approached the park last year to film there, and Beverly-Bishop embraced “a great opportunity.”

Then HBO put production on hold—according to the Hollywood Reporter, to allow Nolan and Joy time to write the final four episodes; other reports suggest budget overruns.

The parties scheduled a new set of dates, and filming at Paramount Ranch began April 11, 2016.

“The first couple of days of filming was at the chapel and graveyard,” Beverly-Bishop said. “Nighttime filming was the gala.”

First came construction as the crew overhauled the ranch’s existing Western set—building a chapel, adding a balcony to a saloon.

“The park rangers there are incredible and so accommodating,” Dillin said, adding that the alterations to existing facades were necessary in order to distance the look of “Westworld” from countless productions and wedding photos shot there.

‘Violent ends’

When it came down to shooting those nocturnal gala scenes, it got very cold at night, Beverly- Bishop said.

“It was a big production, a lot of people, a lot of moving parts,” she said. “For us, it looked like a fire camp. They brought in a lot of lighting. They had streetlights put up.”

Beverly- Bishop said the show’s stars were courteous but remained in their trailers, except when cameras rolled.

“They’re not outside shaking hands with the public,” she said.

That said, there were never more than 20 gawkers at one time, with eight rangers per shift and security detail to ensure a smooth shoot.

Beverly-Bishop remembers Hopkins reciting the lengthy speech his character, Ford, gives before his own android creation, Dolores (Wood), offs him as all hell breaks loose and renegade Hosts shoot the audience.

“It was a complicated scene,” Beverly-Bishop said, recalling 300 people on set that day.

After production wrapped, the crew spent May 3 to May 13 striking the set, changing set pieces they left behind.

“They altered so that (HBO’s) intellectual property is not violated,” said Beverly-Bishop, who added that the white chapel went from resembling a Northeastern church to something “from the Alamo.”

“They took off the steeple and painted it beige.”

Beyond the maze

Ultimately, Dillin enjoyed working on the ambitious, multi-genre production and “building a new world together—What does (the town of) Pariah look like? What does Sweetwater look like?”

Now that season one has aired and captivated viewers and critics alike, Beverly-Bishop expects Hollywood productions—as well as tourists—to seek out Paramount Ranch.

Dillin said she feels lucky to be able to work at movie ranches such as Paramount.

“Not everyone gets to make a Western,” she said.

Then, describing the ranches, Dillin sounded like a “Westworld” character.

“They’re here. They exist.”


LOCATION SHOOT--On the set of

LOCATION SHOOT–On the set of “Westworld.”

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