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James Marsden Talks About How Being a Westworld Host Is a Lot Like Being an Actor

Today I learned that even James Marsden, the World’s Handsomest Man, isn’t safe from the male plague that is Matthew McConaughey impressions (right up there with Christopher Walken, Bane, etc.)—though he deserves credit acknowledging that it’s the one “everybody does” and for not going to the obvious “Alright, alright, alright” bit.

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His impression is the big selling point of this clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but he also talks a lot about his role as Teddy on Westworld and the themes of the show. Apparently he and Evan Rachel Wood discovered it’s not too hard to play a robot when you realize how similar it is to acting:

We as actors, are robots. We’re the hosts. We come in, someone gives us lines to read, we have a narrative, we do the scene, we make out with someone who’s not our real girlfriend, we die, sometimes. And they yell, “Cut! Let’s do it one more time. Let’s reset and start over again.” We went, “That’s what we do for a living as actors!”

Marsden also shares an anecdote about a fan who told him a heart-warming story about his experiences watching the shows and reading the comic with his father and thanks Marsden for being a part of the tradition he now continues with his own child—right before Marsden realized he’s talking about Star Trek and not X-Men. The actor confesses to Colbert he just didn’t have the heart to tell the man he’s not Chris Pine.

You can check out the whole clip for some old photos of Colbert and Marsden too, where the 43-year-old actor confesses to being somewhat of a theater nerd (but handles it with significantly more composure than Eddie Redmayne).

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