Westworld Star Vincent Cassel Details the Challenges of Diving Into the Complex Series

One of the most compelling components of HBO’s Westworld is how its complex characters can go from being the hero in one episode to being a villain in the next, as their layered backstories make their heroism or villainy all just a matter of perspective. Rachel Evan Wood’s Dolores and Thandie Newton’s Maeve, for example, are fan-favorite characters, despite the viewer not always knowing who they should be rooting for. With the debut of Season Three, fans have been introduced to Vincent Cassel‘s Engerraund Serac, who has already sparked a number of theories about his intentions, despite only having earned minimal screen time.

While Serac might not have earned as much screen time as other characters in the series, we’ve come to learn he has a long history with the park and connections to familiar characters dating back to the earlier seasons of the show. Between that confirmed history and the resources at his disposal, we’ve likely only seen the tip of the iceberg of what the character is capable of.

ComicBook.com recently caught up with Cassel to discuss the complex series, challenging roles, and whether he’d ever like to become a cyborg.

ComicBook.com: Back in a 2016 interview with VICE, you said, “The hardest thing is to accept that acting is easy. I would say anybody could do it.” Are there roles that you’ve taken in your career that you expected to similarly be easy, but proved much more challenging?

Vincent Cassel: Okay, wait. Come again. It’s not exactly like that. Acting should be easy. When it’s hard, it’s when there is a problem. And the thing is, sometimes you keep on knocking your head on the problem, on the closed door, and it doesn’t work, and you have to find the easy way. What I wanted to say by that is that you have to make it easy. I had another sentence, it’s like, acting is easy, what’s hard is to accept it.

Thanks for clearing that up, as that definitely changes the intention of that comment. As far as Westworld is concerned, were you a fan of the series ahead of this opportunity presenting itself?

It took a long time before I got interested in the series. I had thought it was [difficult] to get into that, because I knew it was so time-consuming and so addictive. And so, at the end of the day, I haven’t watched a lot of series. I would say maybe 10 altogether. But Westworld was one of them, and, I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I thought it had super-good acting, and the writing was always intelligent and smart and thoughtful. And the styling of these sets is sleek, everything is so perfect and beautiful. It was really interesting then to get into it and to realize that so many people were involved. And my question still today is, how do [co-creators] Jonah [Nolan] and Lisa [Joy] control that from far away, where they are, because you don’t see them anymore once the show started. And they control everything.

It’s definitely a series where it’s easy to get lost from one episode to the next, only for everything to be revealed in a finale.

Yes, of course. I lose track. That’s fascinating to me.

So when you took on this role, did they give you an overall trajectory of where your character might be headed in seasons down the line or just discuss the upcoming season?

The way it’s been presented to me, it was very global. It was concepts. Who’s this guy, what he wants, how he wants to get there, what’s the final plan? All these things. Honestly, once I accepted that concept and I flew to L.A., I realized that everything that they told me was here and there in what they would give me to read and to actually play. But there was so much more to come. So, whatever they want to do, there are a lot of things that they told me that are not, for example, in that season.

It sounds as though you had discussed things with them about Serac, but once you got the scripts, not all of those discussed details are there yet?

I can see where it’s heading on a big scale, but yeah, it goes there slowly, because it’s only my storyline, and, of course, the other storylines. The others, I don’t know exactly everything about what they want to do, what they want to achieve and everything. I don’t know, it’s like a big construction game.

In all of the characters you’ve played, there’s a certain charm you bring, regardless of whether you’re meant to be a hero or a villain. Was there much collaboration with the filmmakers for how to play Serac in Westworld?

That’s interesting because, the way I see it, they say that the most important thing is the choice of the actor. Once you choose the right actor, you can leave him free somehow. You know he’s capable or he’s going to give the color that you had in mind. I’ve seen [Nolan and Joy] at the beginning and then I haven’t seen them again. So, my collaboration, I would say, would be to assume the freedom they gave me on set every day with different directors each and every time.

In that regard, is it challenging to work with different directors from one episode to the next?

It was very refreshing, actually. It’s a different way of working. It’s my first series, and it’s a big series, too. There’s so many people involved and I felt a little lost at first, and then I realized that the freedom you have is actually really enjoyable on many different levels. It’s like once you’re hired, you know you’re hired for five months, and they’re going to call you once in a while, and you’ve got to be there in the middle of the desert. Nobody is going to come pick you up. You’ve got to be there on time. You’ve got to know your lines, of course, because the lines were actually my biggest concern. It’s such a very articulate way of speaking that he has that I couldn’t miss any words. It’s the freedom they give you, and if you’re ready to enjoy it, actually, I like it. It’s different, but I like it.

We’ve seen how some human characters have had their consciousness recreated to somewhat live on in the body of a host. If the technology got to that point somewhere down the line, would you like your consciousness to be transferred into a host decades from now?

Cyborgs?

Sure. Would you become a cyborg?

It seems like somehow this is the way to immortality. The minute we’re not dependent on the tissues anymore, we can still have the consciousness, I don’t know. Honestly, the time will come when it might be normal, as many things were not normal in the past and they are now. Slowly but surely, you can change your heart, there’s a lot of technology getting to the human body more and more. So, maybe at some point, I don’t know if you’ve seen that Robert Rodriguez, it’s half CGI, half acting…

Alita: Battle Angel.

Yeah. You see that thing, that vision of the suit you wear, you just change what’s broken and you keep on living. I don’t think I would say no, honestly.

And then you can reprise your role in Westworld Season 75.

Still around. Yeah, we’ll see.

*****

New episodes of Westworld air Sunday nights on HBO.