One of the most, ahem, revealing moments of last night’s season premiere of Westworld was the moment when Maeve ordered game designer Lee Sizemore to strip in order to put on some Westworld garb and “play a round” of his own game while helping her find her daughter. Actor Simon Quarterman, who plays Lee, relished the opportunity to turn the tables on what both the characters and the viewers come to expect.
In an interview with Vulture, Quarterman talks about the fact that up until this point, Lee has only ever seen the hosts as props in the stories he tells, so this season will be all about him facing a reckoning at the hands of Maeve, including a bit of humiliation designed to make Lee feel the way the hosts always feel as they’re examined and prodded while naked.
When asked how the conversation went when he was approached to do the scene, Quarterman explained:
“My immediate response was, “Sure, whatever you need.” It’s not often that we see a man naked. It’s a rare thing. Women have to reveal a lot all the time, and it felt so in keeping with what we were doing with the themes and with the tables being turned. And obviously, doing it with Thandie, who spent most of the season last year naked. I found it incredibly powerful, actually. When we were shooting, I was very clear to the team that they could shoot it however they wanted to. I thought it was important for that scene to happen.”
Now that he’s experienced it, he also sees it as something that would benefit any actor. “After it occurred, it’s quite liberating because it is shown now,” Quarterman says. “Can’t go back, can’t hide that anymore. It is just a body. I mean, we’ve all got one. It’s very liberating.”
The scene was an opportunity to finally start chipping away at Lee’s ego, which was so big during Season One, it deserved its own billing in the credits. Quarterman explains, “For Lee, it’s about the breaking down of this egoic construct and chipping away at the rules of that. The stripping down of it. Maybe there’s something lurking underneath.”
Keep up with the trials and tribulations of Lee Sizemore on Westworld, Sundays at 9PM ET on HBO.
(image: screencap/HBO)
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