http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2017/01/ ... ant-roles/
Michael Fassbender Offers Insight Into His ‘Alien: Covenant’ Roles
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Warning: This article contains some spoilers about “Westworld,” “Ex Machina” and “Prometheus.”
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
That line, famously the title of science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s novel that inspired Ridley Scott’s film, “Blade Runner,” explores the question of whether androids (or “replicants” in the film) are more than just the wires and circuits that make them. Do androids feel emotions? Are any of their memories their own? In Scott’s 2012 film “Prometheus,” the synthetic android David (played by Michael Fassbender) is a blonde butler who serves the crew and maintains the ship. But as events unfold, David appears to have his own motivations and purposes for being there.
These questions circle other characters elsewhere on screen. At the end of the season premiere of HBO’s “Westworld,” the robot Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) kills a fly on her neck — much like a human would. In the film “Ex Machina,” human programmer Caleb believes his emotional connection to the beautiful robot Ava is real.
At the end of “Prometheus,” Fassbender’s beheaded David has “survived” the expedition (albeit with his body in two parts). And in the coming film “Alien: Covenant,” opening May 19, David returns as the sole inhabitant of a remote land — until the members of the ship Covenant arrive, thinking they’ve stumbled upon paradise.
Apart from the return of David, Fassbender also plays a second robot named Walter in “Alien: Covenant.” Speakeasy talked with the actor about these two roles; an edited transcript below. (Check back in this week for more with Fassbender on his other project, the film “Trespass Against Us.”)
Can you tell us about David in “Alien: Covenant”? Is there an evolution to him since “Prometheus”?
There’s a definite evolution there, yeah [laughs]. He’s been without maintenance for awhile so he’s a little kookier from when you saw him last time.
With the recent show “Westworld” and the film “Ex Machina,” the humanity of synthetic androids or robots has become a central theme pop culture, as these characters begin to question their own identity and fate. Was there something distinct about how you developed your character for “Alien: Covenant” compared with “Prometheus”?
David was there so I had something to go from. I knew that David was the idea of a prototype, and what would happen if you could have a robot that could essentially have human traits to it? That vanity was there with David, and that was an interesting characteristic to play with, within an AI or android or synthetic or robot. I knew that I could have a lot of fun with that. There’s also a neediness to him, there’s also very much a butler element to him, a need to please. There were a lot of things there that were ambiguous in terms of what his motivations were, and that’s always something fun to play with. So that now, as I said, he’s evolved. Those characteristics were set, so now let’s see what happens to them years later when they come upon him again.
That was definitely the upsetting thing for I think other members of the crew — the fact that he had these human traits as opposed to a very sort of logical, straightforward robot that is there to serve. There’s an element to David which is very self-serving.
You play another robot in “Alien: Covenant” called Walter. How is he different from David?
[Laughs] It’s a robot with a split personality. It’s a schizophrenic robot [laughs]. Walter is a different character. Basically, Walter is an updated model of David. So, because the David model freaked people out a little bit they developed Walter, who is just a lot more straightforward without those human kinks.
Alien: Covenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX