Ed Harris Opens Up About His Disappointment With Westworld Role
Ed Harris shares rare honesty about his struggle with the direction of his Westworld character, revealing how unexpected changes left him frustrated and disconnected from the role.
Few things stir up an audience like a powerful performance. Just ask anyone who’s ever watched Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic or spent years trying to separate Alan Rickman from his on-screen villains. But the emotional rollercoaster isn’t just for viewers—actors themselves can get caught up in the personalities they bring to life, sometimes with lasting effects.
Ed Harris knows this all too well. Early in his career, he was often cast as the quintessential American hero—stoic, reliable, and, if we’re being honest, sometimes a little dull. Films like The Right Stuff, The Abyss, and Apollo 13 cemented his reputation as the face of traditional masculinity. Yet, those roles only scratched the surface of what he could do.
From Hero to Villain: A Career Reinvented
In more recent years, Harris has found new life playing darker, more complex characters. He’s delivered chilling performances as the mysterious “man” in Mother!, a ruthless industrialist in Snowpiercer, and a deeply unsettling father in Love Lies Bleeding. Each role has shown a different side of his talent, with his transformation often so complete it ’s hard to believe it’s the same actor.
But it was his turn on television that truly left a mark. On HBO ’s Westworld, Harris portrayed ‘The Man in Black,’ a menacing figure who spent decades committing brutal acts in a futuristic amusement park. His performance was both terrifying and captivating, drawing in a whole new generation of fans. Then, everything changed.
Unexpected Twists and Creative Frustration
By the third season, the character underwent a dramatic shift. Harris suddenly found himself juggling multiple versions of the same role, with little clarity about where the story was headed. For viewers, the evolving mystery was part of the thrill. For Harris, it was a different story.
He had signed on to play a clear-cut villain, only to have the character’s core identity thrown into question.
“I wasn’t the happiest camper to tell you the truth,”
he admitted 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.”
The sudden changes left him struggling to connect with the new direction, much like many fans.
Honesty in Hollywood: Speaking Out
While most actors might gloss over their frustrations, Harris didn’t hold back.
“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.”
His candor is rare in an industry where stars often stick to safe, diplomatic answers.
It’s a reminder that even the most seasoned performers can be thrown off when creative decisions take unexpected turns. Harris’s experience raises questions about how often actors are left to adapt on the fly when showrunners shake up a storyline, sometimes just to keep viewers guessing.