Surely this 'artistic' city sounds familiar...
Our country has historically been the place chosen by many international film and television productions to locate their natural settings (including Game of Thrones). Mainly because of the variety of landscapes that it offers in relatively small distances if we compare them to those that would have to be covered, for example, in the US.
Mountain, coast, medieval towns, large cities and countless natural landscapes just a few hours from each other. In 2019 he managed to become the nation with the most Biosphere Reserves recognized by UNESCO, with a total of 52.
That was surely the reason why, in May of last year, Westworld deployed a good part of its filming here, recording both scenes of its third season in three different locations under strict security measures.
On March 16, the third season of Westworld premiered on HBO Spain.
The first of them is presented in the making-of made for the occasion by the co-creator, director, screenwriter and executive producer of the series, Jonathan Nolan: “We are in Valencia, in a beautiful place: the City of Arts and Sciences. This season it will be the venue for Delos.” Its futuristic appearance made it the ideal place to become this fictional city (which borrows its name from the Greek island).
For her part, the also co-creator, director, screenwriter and executive producer Lisa Joy adds that the site “is something never seen before. It has spectacular architecture. It seems that you have landed in the future. We knew that the venue had to be iconic. That's why we came up with this place, it had to be here”.
In the trailer we could already see the character of Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) landing with a helicopter with the Hemisfèric of Santiago Calatrava in the background.
City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
Secondly, We will see Ricardo Bofill's house/studio in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona). That is where Maeve Millay (one of the main protagonists, hostess played by Thandie Newton) comes to her senses in one of the new chapters.
This is how Joy explains it: “Maeve wakes up again. But this time she is not in the world that she was in. And here she will meet Engerraund Serac”. He is one of the richest characters on the planet, being the co-creator and owner of Rehoboam, the most advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the world. He is played by Vincent Cassel, who debuts with this role in the series.
Another member of the team explains why they chose this property to house his home: “Maeve will see her house before seeing him. Y her house reveals details about who he is."
Location Manager Mandi Dillin adds: “We shot in an old cement factory which belongs to the architect Ricardo Bofill. It's beautiful, and we couldn't have created it in a studio or in Los Angeles."
“They don't usually allow filming it, so it is an honor to have the work of Ricardo Bofill and his house among the holdings of famous architects. It's been great to add those two things,” notes production designer Howard Comming.
In another of the chapters, Maeve wakes up being part of the resistance in a supposed Italian town occupied by the Nazis during world war II. But in reality, the medieval aspect of her streets and her fantastic bridge belong to Besalú (Girona).
Rodrigo Santoro, in charge of giving life to Hector Escaton (host and sentimental partner of Maeve in the series), tells it like this in the making-of: “Right now we are in Belasú, Spain. As you can see, there is part of the team. It is mediaeval. Very old. Very pretty. I am a guerrilla. Maeve is now the British spy and we are together. That world is quite epic, I think Besalú fits in wonderfully”.
Lisa Joy adds that our country “is a beautiful mix of old and new. We are in the past and in a couple of hours of walking you are in the future. That is why Spain is so interesting”.
Besalu
Westworld was originally born as a remake of the film of the same name that Michael Crichton and Richard T. Heffron made in 1973 (which was translated in our country as Almas de metal).
He knew how to assimilate and renew what cinema about artificial intelligence had done up to now (Blade runner, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Ghost in the Shell...), becoming one of the best products that this subgenre of science has offered to date. -fiction. On March 16, its third season premiered on HBO Spain, which will drop a new episode every Monday until it reaches eight.