TORONTO — James Marsden tries to avoid slipping down the rabbit hole of emotional darkness in his career — and after the latest season of dystopian series “Westworld” the actor needed a palette cleanse.

It’s one of the reasons Marsden says he signed onto “Sonic the Hedgehog,” a live-action and CGI animated flick based on the popular video game. While his character in the film is veiled in secrecy, he insists it’s nothing like Teddy, the robotic gunslinger he plays on TV.

“I always try and do the polar opposite of what I just finished, and ‘Westworld’ is a heavy show,” he says of the series, which finishes its latest season Sunday on HBO Canada.

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The erstwhile Teddy Flood tells The Hollywood Reporter about the next few episodes: “If the curve is going one way, it’s only going up as far as the intensity, danger and potential for catastrophe.”

“That’s the last of my mercy. Better use it fast.”

With those words, paired with a single bullet, James Marsden’s Teddy Flood demonstrates just how much he’s changed — or been forced to change, more accurately. The gentle-hearted hero at the heart of Westworld transformed into a brutal killing machine midway through season two, thanks to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), who commanded the alterations in order to help Teddy survive their struggle. Even Dolores seems taken aback by how the changes have taken hold, caught off-guard in episode six, “Phase Space,” when Teddy shoots a prisoner dead in the middle of an interrogation. It’s similarly jarring to see Teddy offer a bullet to a man as a means of mercy, rather than save him from certain doom.

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Do Westworld robots cry real tears? That’d be a question for the bloggers and the Redditors who obsess over the hit HBO science-fiction mindbender. But right now, on a weekday morning in the Santa Monica Mountains, Teddy Flood is welling up.

James Marsden, the actor who plays Flood, has just shared some heartfelt thoughts about family and fatherhood, and his eyes are moist. “Sorry, I get emotional when I talk about this stuff,” he says.

He could blame the location—the small lake we just passed in Franklin Canyon Park is where the nostalgic opening for The Andy Griffith Show was filmed, with Opie and his Pa going fishing. We’re technically in the middle of Los Angeles but, as Marsden notes, it doesn’t look like Los Angeles. “That’s such an L.A. thing to say!” he says with a laugh.

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James Marsden is the poster boy for charming robots.

In Sydney this week to promote Westworld, he was on stage in front of a giant poster of himself playing sentient robot Teddy Flood in the HBO show. Marsden might have ditched the cowboy hat and stubble in real life, but he still looks like a theme park’s version of a perfect human.

But the good guy Teddy of season one (who died five times but was still so gosh-darn polite) has made way for a darker Teddy in season two. Now, his character is joining forces with other robot hosts on the show to rise up against the humans that run Westworld — and things are looking bloody. Hell yes.

Still, as his character rebels against his creators on screen, Marsden is hoping artificial intelligence doesn’t get that far in the real world.

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Westworld star James Marsden isn’t a fan of new technology, and prefers to use his landline.

The Enchanted actor stars as gunslinger Teddy Flood in HBO’s acclaimed hit series about a fictional, technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android “hosts”. The show questions society’s rising dependence on technology and it seems that James isn’t very trusting of the technological advances spawned by the digital revolution.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday (01May18), he explained that when it comes to tech he “likes to keep it simple.”

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James Marsden has had steady success since he left Oklahoma State University in the early 1990s to pursue an acting career. His work in projects ranging from musicals to action films to comedies has given him career longevity and kept him from being typecast in spite of his blue eyes and leading man looks. He recently talked with the Stillwater News Press about how he got his start in the business and his newest project.

Q: The story we hear is that you and your family were on vacation and you met Kirk Cameron and his sister Candace and that they encouraged you to come out and visit in L.A. and that was part of what got you out there. Is that correct?

Marsden: That’s exactly right. It was a sort of convergence of me discovering theater and what it feels like to be on stage at 15-16 years old, middle school, high school, and feeling pretty good at it, at least enjoying it and at the same time I was on vacation in Hawaii and I stayed at the same hotel as the Cameron family…We exchanged numbers, kept in touch and they invited me out to come stay with them and watch a taping of “Full House” and “Growing Pains” and I thought, “Wow, what a cool lifestyle this would be.” I already had the bug for performing and then on top of it that was my dream to be in TV and film. So I kept in touch with them and they encouraged me to come out and give it a shot…Otherwise I would have stayed in Stillwater and probably gotten my degree.

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Westworld hosts truly have the most.

The android denizens of the futuristic Wild West theme park have mental and physical skills superior to those of mere mortals, but they’re also subject to the whims — ranging from rudeness to murder — of the human guests who visit.

Actors in HBO’s sci-fi hit, returning for a second season April 22 (9 ET/PT), might wish they could use superior artificial intelligence when trying to keep up with the changeable personalities of their lifelike android characters, not to mention the varying timelines.

“I think we were all, after a while, just surrendering to the fact that we didn’t exactly know what was going on at all times,” says Evan Rachel Wood, who toggles between two host personalities, sweet Dolores and vengeful Wyatt.

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James Marsden is pretty hard to miss.

Some may remember him as Scott Summers/Cyclops from the “X-Men” movies, while others love him for portraying Corny Collins—and showcasing his singing talent—in “Hairspray,” and Prince Edward in “Enchanted.” This actor, who played the lead in the 1998 science fiction horror film “Disturbing Behavior,” is the same guy who now plays Teddy Flood in the HBO Series “Westworld.”

In an interview with Super, the 44-year-old actor enthusiastically talked about some of the greatest milestones in his career.

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What do you do when Hollywood hero James Marsden walks up to your table to say hello? Or better still, shakes hands as well as a cocktail for you? The big dilemma here is between pinching yourself into believing you are not dreaming, and admiring that stunning pair of deep-set light blue eyes (almost like jewels) and those chiselled cheekbones without spilling the drink or the food in your mouth!

Such a dream-like scenario touched base with reality when Marsden flew to New Delhi from Manila last week. “It’s my first visit to Delhi,” announced the affable actor who visited Mumbai for a few days in 2014 to promote his film The Best Of Me (2014).

Marsden, I discover during our chat, is blessed with a great sense of humour, the sort that instantly puts anyone at ease. Before you know it, you’re chuckling at his witty repartee. Add to that his love for spicy Indian food and desire to spend time in India, and you have the recipe for the perfect conversation in place!

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“My children are overwhelmingly underwhelmed that I have been in the X-Men series, or maybe they don’t want it to get to my head,” said Hollywood actor James Marsden, to the media in New Delhi. Marsden, known for his roles in the X-Men series, 27 Dresses, and The Notebook was on a two-city tour as Diageo’s global ambassador and was in the Capital for the International Scotch Day celebrations on February 8. With a career roughly spanning 25 years, Marsden, 44, spoke about choosing his roles, the TV drama Westworld, and how he isn’t smart enough to know if AI will take over. Excerpts:

You come from a middle-class family in Oklahoma, and began your career in the performing arts.

I enjoyed being on the stage, singing and acting in musicals. For me, it was more about self discovery. I loved that I could inhabit other characters. I know that acting is not typical Oklahoma profession — there is a big art scene there — but we were raised to think that’s not realistic. My parents were very supportive, and I moved to Los Angeles, kind of on a whim. I think I was naive to the point of being overtly confident to the point where you think that everything is possible and you want to see how far you can fall.

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