Ed Harris Admits He Hated Playing Westworld's Man in Black
The veteran actor doesn't hold back when discussing how HBO's Westworld transformed his beloved villain role into something he couldn't stand, admitting he still resents the changes years later.
Actors can get emotionally wrecked by their characters just as much as audiences do. Remember how Leonardo DiCaprio broke hearts worldwide in Titanic? Or how long it took fans to accept that Alan Rickman wasn't actually a villain in real life? That emotional connection works both ways. Sometimes actors get so attached to their roles that changes can mess with their heads.
Ed Harris knows this feeling all too well. For most of his early career, he played the classic American hero type. Clean-cut, dependable, boring even. Movies like The Right Stuff, The Abyss, and Apollo 13 showcased his talent for playing the perfect all-American guy. His looks and presence made him a natural fit. But those roles barely scratched the surface of what he could do.
The Villain Renaissance
Recently, Harris has been killing it as a bad guy. His performance in Darren Aronofsky's wild Mother! was unsettling. He played a terrifying industrialist in Snowpiercer. His creepy turn as Kristen Stewart's murderous father in Love Lies Bleeding was unforgettable. The man's hair alone deserved awards recognition.
But it was television where he really traumatized viewers. HBO's Westworld gave him the role of The Man in Black, a twisted guest at the futuristic theme park. For three decades, this character committed every violent act imaginable. Harris played the sadistic villain perfectly. Then the showrunners changed everything.
When Characters Go Off the Rails
Season three brought a complete makeover for The Man in Black. Harris suddenly had to juggle multiple versions of his character without knowing where the story was heading. Audiences might enjoy discovering plot twists episode by episode, but actors need some warning when their entire character gets rewritten.
Harris had signed up to play pure evil. Then he was asked to play something completely different. "I wasn't the happiest camper to tell you the truth," he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020. "I really enjoyed the part I was playing, and I was hoping that he, 'The Man in Black', would continue to somehow be prevalent in the story." When the character's foundation got shaken, Harris struggled just like the audience did.
Brutal Honesty About Bad Decisions
Most actors would give some diplomatic answer about embracing creative challenges. Not Harris. "To tell you the truth, it was hard to enjoy," he said. "In other words, I didn't like it. I still don't. But that's my problem."
This kind of honesty is rare in Hollywood. It makes you wonder how many other actors have been frustrated when showrunners clearly making things up as they go along try to fix dying storylines with shocking plot twists. Game of Thrones, anyone?