One of the major sets for ‘Westworld’ is just one of the casualties of the Woolsey wildfires currently blazing their way through the Los Angeles surrounding area. This was confirmed Friday by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Service’s Twitter account. The set in question was the exterior used for the show’s Main Street scenes. This set was first utilized for filming in 1927 by Paramount and served as a set for the series ‘Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman’ from 1992-97. It has also been used as a shooting location for the Bob Hope movie ‘Caught in the Draft’, ‘The Lake House’ starring Sandra Bullock, and TV shows such as ‘The Mentalist’, ‘Weeds’ and ‘Quickdraw’. For many years, it has been part of the National Parks Service and was open to the public.
In a statement, HBO said:
“Paramount Ranch was one of the locations used during seasons one and two of Westworld, in addition to the primary location at Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita. Westworld is not currently in production, and as the area has been evacuated, we do not yet know the extent of the damage to any structures remaining there. Most importantly, our thoughts go out to all those affected by these horrible fires.”
Here is the original tweet from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Service regarding the destruction of the ‘Westworld’ set.
We are sorry to share the news that the #WoolseyFire has burned Western Town at #ParamountRanch in Agoura. We do not have any details or photos, but it is our understanding that the structures have burned. This area is an active part of the incident and we cannot access it. pic.twitter.com/oC4n7KR8ZT
— Santa Monica Mtns (@SantaMonicaMtns) November 9, 2018
In addition to this location, ‘Westworld’ also utilizes locations in Santa Clarita and Utah.
The Malibu, Calabasas, and Agoura communities are under evacuation. The Comedy Central series ‘Drunk History’ shut down production as fires neared their location. Guillermo del Toro reported that he had evacuated his mansion, Bleak House, but that he feared that it and his massive collection of memorabilia may have been lost. ‘Doctor Strange’ director Scott Derrickson reported that his home had been lost but that he and his family were safe. Other celebrities that have posted messages that they had been forced to evacuate include Orlando Bloom, Cher, Melissa Etheridge, Mark Hamill, Alyssa Milano, Will Smith, Rainn Wilson, and the Kardashians, with Caitlyn Jenner reporting that even though she evacuated, her home survived. Perhaps most harrowing, Charlie Sheen had been unable to contact his father Martin and mother Janet for many hours during the evacuation process, posting frantic messages on Twitter in hopes of reaching them, which fortunately, he was finally able to do.
Prayers and good thoughts to everyone in the path of this catastrophe.
Source: Variety
