Before we get into the TV part of this edition of TV Guy'd - a chat with the handsome and charming James Marsden of Westworld fame! - I'm gonna stretch the definition of the column (and further test the patience of my long-suffering editor) by talking a little bit about Star Wars.
I mean, the way I see it, what I'm about to talk about sort of falls into the category of this column, because the 90-minute documentary The Director And The Jedi is a special feature on the Last Jedi Blu-ray, which one would generally watch on a TV, right? So that's my butt covered in that respect.
I'd actually had this documentary on the to-watch list for some time but it was a recent imperfect storm of events in the Star Wars universe that prompted me to fast-track it, namely the underwhelming box-office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story (which led many folks to question the saga's commercial viability) and the news that ongoing harassment by dip-shit fanboys had basically led Last Jedi co-star Kelly Marie Tran to delete her Instagram account (which led many folks to question the saga's position in the current culture).
Watching The Director and the Jedi, a documentary with a much more gentle and introspective tone than the traditional electronic press kit where all and sundry talk about how much fun they had making this particular movie, what comes across in Tran's handful of appearances is how dedicated she is to giving her all as an actor and how thrilled she is to be part of a story that clearly means a great deal to her.
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Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson describes his creation of Tran's Rose Tico as introducing "a character who wouldn't be in a Star Wars movie", someone with "a naivety and an innocence". And I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of the more Pollyanna-ish aspects of Rose. But the character and the complete conviction Tran brought to the role are vital in Johnson's vision of steering the Star Wars saga a few degrees onto a new course, one that shakes up the established way of doing business a little and brings a bit of evolution.
To put it bluntly, if you're pissed off at Rose, and at Tran to the point where you're being a fuck-wit to her on social media, you're clearly content to paddle around in the shallow end for the rest of your culture-consuming days. If you wanna do that, fine - there's a few classic Star Wars movies and a shitload of rip-offs that should give you your kicks.
But taking pot-shots at the people venturing into the deep end is a dick move, and proof positive that it's best for all concerned if you just shut up, eat your pablum and leave the business of expanding the boundaries of art and entertainment to the adults.
Whew. Now that I've got that Howard Beale moment (Google the name) out of the way, let's talk about that hunky James Marsden, shall we?
In this life, really good-looking people have the edge in a great many ways, so it feels a little silly to point out where they may have been misjudged or underestimated. But I feel that for a while there, we may not have realised that Marsden brought more to the table than an attractive mug.
Speaking for myself, it was the 2007 Disney musical-fairytale-rom-com Enchanted that indicated Marsden could add more value than previously suspected. I'd dug the actor's work as Cyclops in the early stages of the X-Men franchise - while the character often seemed sidelined in favour of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Marsden imbued the leader of the mutant pack with an understated strength and decency reminiscent of Christopher Reeve's Superman - but seeing him display utter commitment sprinkled with traces of self-deprecation and self-awareness as Enchanted's Prince Charming character was a low-key revelation.
Marsden has tackled a variety of genres since then, proving himself an inspired casting choice more often than not (my personal favourite: Liz Lemon's genial life partner Criss in the latter seasons of 30 Rock). The actor is justly in demand right now, and his body of work looks to continue its fascinating diverse run. On the slate: a Netflix adaptation of In The Tall Grass, a novella by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, the big-screen debut of video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog and - most excitingly - an undisclosed role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood alongside, well, pretty much everyone in Hollywood.
But one of his most high-profile roles to date has surely been playing cowboy Teddy Flood on the pay-TV series Westworld, the second season of which is now airing on Foxtel station Showcase.
When the show premiered last year, it drew upon Marsden's nice-guy effect and all-American appearance to pull a bait-and-switch - at first glance, it seemed as if Teddy was one of the guests of the titular resort, where cashed-up humans enact their Wild West fantasies with the help of robotic 'hosts'. The end of the first episode, however, revealed that Teddy was himself a host, locked in a loop of action and reaction that generally saw him suffer a grisly demise.
In Season Two of Westworld, the hosts have staged a bloody revolt against their creators and oppressors, and Teddy is, in Marsden's words, "asking himself some pretty existential questions now that he's not tethered to his programming".
"Everything is amplified for Teddy at the moment," says the actor, recently in Australia to promote the series. "He's looking at the world with a fresh set of eyes for the first time."
Guiding him through that world is Dolores, played by Evan Rachel Wood, and that's where things get complicated for Teddy. Teddy is programmed to love and defend Dolores, who has become a merciless warrior for robotic rights, "so she's got a bit of Jekyll and Hyde happening, which he's trying to unpack while trying to survive this whole new situation without getting killed. He's also realising that his past is full of violent indiscretions that Dolores was behind, and he feels eternally bound to this woman, so there's a lot going on behind his eyes. At his core, Teddy is a good man, and his challenge is surviving while maintaining and living by an ethical code. It's delicious stuff for an actor."
Chuckling, he adds: "And I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun putting on a cowboy hat and learning how to quick-draw."
