Westworld director on creating the 'best sex orgy you can imagine'

'I think all of us have a modicum of taste that keeps us from taking it too far into the pornographic world and keeps it in the sensual world. I think that's important'

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR WESTWORLD SEASON 1, EPISODE 5*

HBO's always boasted a pretty sordid onscreen history - but the most recent episode of Westworld may just take the cake.

'Contrapasso' saw William (Jimmi Simpson), Logan (Ben Barnes), and Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) encounter Pariah: a lawless city packed with outcasts, criminals, and some very heightened sex drives. In return for their aid in apprehending a stash of explosives for the local mercenaries, William and Logan were invited to a party, Pariah-style.

Westworld's own take on Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut unveiled a pleasure palace hosting one of HBO's trademark orgies, though this time everybody was painted head-to-toe in gold and crimson.

The episode's director, Richard J. Lewis, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the memorable scene; responding to a query as to why the moment steps away from the traditional Western feel and into something entirely alien to the show.

"I'm glad to hear you can't land it anywhere in terms of references," he replied. "Because it does feel like there are a lot of influences there, from Eyes Wide Shut and some Kubrickian stuff that's there, as well as the movie 120 Days of Sodom by Pier Paolo Pasolini — a '70s movie that's a crazy, orgy-tastic ordeal. We wanted to do something that's epic. [Westworld showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy] always wanted to do the biggest, best and most mind-blowing stuff, so we wanted to create the best sex orgy you can imagine."

"We housed this scene in a mausoleum in Compton. That's where we found this location: a very narrow building where essentially 40,000 bodies are buried above ground. It was a strange place to begin with," he explained; later adding, "We hired what they called 'special extras,' 'special background players,' who were willing to participate. We also had a sex stylist who made sure things looked properly choreographed in that regard. It was all hands on deck, to say the silly pun. We were trying to make things feel elegant and graceful and beautiful and strange."

When asked whether he was worried the scene might go too far; he responded with, "I think all of us have a modicum of taste that keeps us from taking it too far into the pornographic world and keeps it in the sensual world. I think that's important."

Lewis also described the new area of Pariah as, "near the edge of the park — not totally on the edge, but close to it. Sweetwater is central to the arrival terminals, but the further out you get — and we say this narratively — the more dangerous and perverse and derelict the action is. Pariah, we always wanted it to be a strange city that exists near the edge of the park where you can get into a whole lot of trouble."

"We wanted it to feel like a border town, so that there's a Tex-Mex feel to it," he added. "We wanted it to land somewhere between an American culture and a Latino culture. We were inspired by Buenos Aires and the really beautiful grave sites there. There's a lot of Spanish flavor to this."

He also promised plenty of new locations and "many different topographies" in episodes to come; teasing, "there are a lot of hidden treasures".

Westworld airs in the US on Sunday nights and follows in the UK on Sky Atlantic every Tuesday.