Producer-director Ridley Scott is at it again. The father of such projects as "Blade Runner," "Alien" and "Coma" has helped create a new dystopian landscape. This time it's the androids who face a daunting task as they must parent human children in "Raised by Wolves," premiering on HBO Max Sept. 3.
It's a brave new world created by Aaron Guzikowski, who says he got the idea when he became a father.
"The big spark that really helped me find my way into this world was the idea of the androids," he says. "And I think it was when I had kids of my own, and just seeing technology kind of encroaching on them, for better or for worse.
"And also myself, just carrying this phone around all the time and just wondering someday maybe this phone is gonna carry ME around. Who knows where this is all going? And what does this mean for my kids?"
British actor Abubakar Salim, who plays the father android, says at first he had no idea how an automaton would act. But he was eased into the role by workshopping the voice and cadence with Scott, who directed the first two episodes.
"We had at least I think a good two or three weeks of rehearsing and working the actual character and making sure that we felt grounded with him," says Salim.
"I mean a lot of that, of the evolution of the paternal instincts and everything came from _ I guess for me the way of seeing it was no one really knows how to be a parent the first time, right? So that was what was quite exciting. It's like how does an android _ even though they have all this information _ know to be a parent even though they have to work off the cuff?"
Scott had examined the script and responded to it, recalls Guzikowski.
"And apparently soon after he had read it, he had just started drawing pictures, storyboarding. So as soon as I had heard that, it was beyond exciting to me ... Before I was even interested in making movies or TV or anything, I was obsessed with the stories that Ridley was telling. So it is a dream. It's been great. And he hasn't disappointed in terms of just his generosity, in terms of just being a great mentor, he's been great."
As for Scott, he relishes the challenge.
"I really do like creating worlds and try and make them as accurately as possible because in a way, it's almost like an additional character," he says.
"I enjoy the rock-and-roll of the whole process of making films and I find it very exciting, and I'm very fortunate to be able to do it and it's a wonderful occupation."
Guzikowski sees a thread between his work and Scott's.
"There was a lot of exchange of DNA between a lot of the mythologies that Ridley has established in the past, and this new story," he says. "But I think a lot of the rules that apply to these androids and the questions that they bring up are similar to going as far back to Ash from 'Alien' in 1977. There are some similarities there."
David W. Zucker, one of the show's producers, says, "Aaron's material came in as a spec (script) and, as Ridley always says, if it's there on the page and he responds to it _ which he did with this _ then it just begins to gestate in his mind.
"The exciting thing was the first time Aaron and Ridley came together, both of them _ being fine artists _ Ridley was working on some of his visual inspiration for the piece, and started slowly sharing it with Aaron. And then before we knew it, the two of them were drawing right next to each other and evolving their ideas. So, it was a very exciting sort of collaboration, from start to finish."
Danish actress Amanda Collin was cast as the android mother.
She says the first day on set with Salim, they weren't quite sure what to do.
"Abu and I looked at each other and we're like, 'I think the first scene we're just supposed to walk.' And we looked at each other and we were like, 'How, how do we walk? How do we walk as androids?' And we just walked. And so little by little, stuff came along ... and then you start to incorporate the whole animalistic kind of way of moving, and it was a great joy to just keep discovering the senses of an android."
ACTOR PAYS THE DEVIL HIS DUE
The devil made him do it _ again! Tom Ellis will be back as Beelzebub in "Lucifer" Friday, streaming 16 episodes on Netflix. It's Season 5 for the saucy Satan, and this trip he'll be back in pairs as his twin shows up to share the spoils.
Ellis, who is Welsh, has been attracting an audience since he was born _ literally.
"I have a twin sister and when we were born in Cardiff at the University of Wales Hospital _ it's a big training hospital _ we were the heaviest twins ever born on record," he says.
"I was 9 pounds, 3 ounces and my sister was 7 pounds, 5. My dad said, 'When you were born there was a crowd of about 20 people about to take on board this astonishing achievement.' And he said, 'So you kind of came out to an audience.'"
SELENA GOMEZ VENTURES INTO THE KITCHEN
Actress-recording artist Selena Gomez is sporting a new passion. This time it's among her pots and pans. Gomez is starring in a new streamer, "Selena + Chefs," on HBO Max, in which she collides with some of the country's most famous culinary experts in her own kitchen and tries to learn how to cook.
The performer says she manages the multiple facets of her career by allocating time for each one.
"I think that I equally pay as much attention as I can to each individual thing," she says. "I'm so lucky that I have the best label who's super understanding, and I'm really, really lucky that I have a lot of things that I get to do ... . I don't do anything I don't want to, of course, but it just _ life gives me so many different challenges and I just, I really thought this (show) would be something lighthearted, because I was getting definitely down.
"There's more important things going on, but this was an opportunity to make something that could make people smile," she says.
"I hope they're going to laugh because I look like a fool, and just enjoy. Like if you want to try the recipes ... I wanted to do that simply because I love cooking. I just don't know how to do it all the time ... I love to make sure that all the new things that I step into are something that I care about."
Some of the intrepid chefs that will be tutoring Gomez include Roy Choi, Nancy Silverton, Antonia Lofaso and Ludo Lefebvre.
PANDEMIC BREAKS OUT ON TV
Topic, yet another streaming channel, is offering its original drama "Release," premiering on Sept. 3. And the timing couldn't be more fortuitous: It's about a pandemic.
The series stars Lana McKissack who says, "My character, Rose, in our episode was very paranoid, duct-taped all the holes, like tiny cracks in the doors and the windows, really took everything very, very seriously. And I said to (co-creators) Ryan Morrison and Joe Penna when we shot this: 'This would totally be me in a pandemic.'
"Well, this IS me in a pandemic. I'm not duct-taping things, but I still hand-wash every piece of kale, and spray the mail when it comes through the door, and Swiffer the floor when the mail gets picked up. So, yeah, I feel like I was ready for this before I knew it."
