The third, most recent season of “Westworld” serves as quite a departure for the HBO series, with the dystopian science fiction drama venturing outside the Wild West-themed android-run amusement park where it is centered and into the futuristic world of Los Angeles circa 2058. Executing the ambitious endeavor required a mind-blowing 3,000 special effects carried out by nine different specialty companies! As Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Worth explained to VFX Voice, “Every inch of every frame is designed. You can’t really point the camera anywhere in the [“Westworld”] world without [visual effects], the art department or costume having to touch it.”
Cast and crew also had to venture quite a bit outside the “Thirty Mile Zone” to create the heavily stylized real-world-ish backdrop of season three, visiting such far-flung locales as San Diego, Singapore and Spain. The dizzying schedule had production designer Howard Cummings telling Architectural Digest, “This year was really a global endeavor. I didn’t actually sleep very much.”
The exhaustive efforts were well worth it, though. In a show that has become synonymous with gorgeous settings, season three stands out, with episodes making use of such architectural gems as the City of Arts and Sciences complex in Valencia, the School of the Arts in Singapore and the Crescent House in Encinitas.
Purported to be located in Beihai, China, on the series, the latter actually sits perched atop a craggy cliff about 25 miles north of San Diego at 532 Neptune Ave. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.) And deep-pocketed fans will soon have the chance to turn all of their “Westworld” fantasies into reality as the dwelling is scheduled to hit the market in mid-May! Repped by Kelly Howard and Lisa Waltman of Compass, the trophy pad comes with a $23.5 million price tag. Both longtime Encinitas residents, the two agents describe the abode as “standing alone in terms of its uniqueness and quality.” A monument of concrete, steel and glass boasting an impressive 74 feet of Pacific Ocean frontage, the structure truly is unparalleled in virtually every way.
