Production
"The Riddle of the Sphinx" was the directorial debut of co-showrunner Lisa Joy. She had been drawn to the script, written by Gina Atwater and Jonathan Nolan, as it gave them the opportunity to explore the character of William in more depth. [1] Her goal for the episode was to mix a number of different genres into the episode. [1]
The opening shots panning through James Delos' apartment were based on trying to capture "this mysterious, futuristic environment that you feel somewhat displaced in" from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey . [1] Some critics believed the introductory shot of this episode, which showed James starting his day in a closed room, was an homage to the first episode in the second season of Lost , "Man of Science, Man of Faith", which started with a similar montage of scenes. Joy stated this was purely coincidental as she had never seen the episode. Instead, she was inspired by the idea of circles, playing on the theme of loops that the hosts act out, from the room being circular to be watched from the outside, to a retro-inspired vinyl record player and an exercise bike. She also selected the Rolling Stones song "Play with Fire" for the first scene as part of a fire motif, while she allowed the actor Peter Mullan, who played James, to select Roxy Music's "Do the Strand" since he would be seen dancing to this song. [2]
Andrei Tarkovsky's films, particularly Stalker , was also a point of reference for this episode. [1] Jonathan Nolan had alluded to the film in an earlier Reddit "Ask Me Anything" as one of the references that fans of the show should watch for in the second season. For production, director Lisa Joy sent the director of photography John Grillo a number of stills from Stalker as to capture the state of James Delos' room after his fit of rage in the same manner. Joy described wanting to achieve this approach as "I felt like the mood of horror could be relayed in the suspense, and the kind of lingering on details as they crept into this place." Elements of filming also directly alluded to Stalker, including James' shaking hand while trying to pour creme into coffee, and the slow pan across the destruction of the room showing rotting fruit and other aspects relay a sense of time. [3]
Joy was also responsible for the direction used to film the various memory flashbacks that Bernard had within the lab, using slow motion and circling cameras to make it seem these visions were playing out in detail in Bernard's mind. She also selected the music used in these scenes to help viewers feel the uncanny nature of these memories. [1]
Joy wanted to continue to capture the western genre in the episode, and used the scenes with older William to keep this grand scope, and used camerawork to make the viewer feel the "visceral and immediate" tension of the situation during the gun battle scene. [1] In auditioning for the show, actress Katja Herbers was unaware the part was for Emily, William's daughter, and instead test-read a script that had her in confrontation with a separate character. After she was given the part, co-producer Lisa Joy took her aside and explained what her role and Emily's backstory would be. [4] Joy chose to have her introduced at the end of the episode by having her ride towards William backed by the setting sun, keeping her identity in darkness until the end's reveal. [1]
