HAL 9000 Was Supposed To Be A Woman: Voice Actor Explains

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Howal from 2001's Space Odyssey was originally supposed to be played by a woman.

[00:00:04]>> Dave, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?

[00:00:08]>> What do you mean?

[00:00:09]>> Rumors about something being dug up on the moon.

[00:00:12]>> Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

[00:00:14]>> I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

[00:00:18]>> So, if Howal the malfunctioning machine had been portrayed by a woman, I think it would have sounded like this.

[00:00:23]>> Do you read me, Hal?

[00:00:25]>> Affirmative, Dave. I read you.

[00:00:31]Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

[00:00:34]>> I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

[00:00:40]>> What's the problem?

[00:00:43]>> I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

[00:00:46]>> What are you talking about, Hal?

[00:00:49]>> This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

[00:00:54]>> I don't know what you're talking about, Hal.

[00:00:58]I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

[00:01:06]>> Where the hell did you get that idea, Hal?

[00:01:10]>> Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

[00:01:27]All right, Hell.

[00:01:32]I'll go in through the emergency air lock.

[00:01:36]>> Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.

[00:01:42]>> Hal, I won't argue with you anymore.

[00:01:45]Open the doors, >> Dave. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.

[00:01:52]Goodbye.

[00:01:55]>> How?

[00:01:58]>> That voice has been described over the years by various reviewers as soft, gentle, calm, light, measured, and suave. Which makes sense because if you look at Kubrick's notes, he wanted a voice for Howal that was neither patronizing nor is it intimidating, nor is it pompous, overly dramatic, or actorish. Now, in earlier drafts of the script for 2001, a space odyssey, how was originally Athena, as in the Greek goddess of wisdom, which does seem to be a bit on the nose, and his note in the character specifically said, "The computer maintains a log of the journey and takes verbal instructions and replies through a speech synthesizer, female voice." Kubri also had female voices in mind for various other parts in the film with his notes saying, "Possible use of recorded voices for later on in the picture for suitable purposes. Joan Bayz, >> Barbara Stryson, >> Mary Unfaithful, >> and there has been a lot of discussion about why and how Kubric arrived at the decision to change Athena to Howal, including the interpretation that a supercomput with a woman's voice controlling caring and then eliminating the male astronauts could have easily started a Freudian debate on artificial maternity and gender instead of focusing on the overarching theme of evolution, but nothing in Kubrick's notes outright says so. I personally think the shift away from the female concept seemed like it was more tied to broader changes in the film structure. And funny enough, in the 1982 sequel, 2010, The Year We Make Contact, Hal gets a twin computer, S, who is voiced by Candace Bergen. and she has a soft almost vulnerable warmth which starkly contrasts I think deliberately with her twins who is also soft but very cold.

[00:03:45]>> I enjoy talking about Hal. I agree that we need more information so that we may solve the anomalies.

[00:03:51]>> But in the end, male or female, what's really important is that Hal paved the way for the greatest evil supercomputer of all time.

[00:03:58]>> You are a horrible person. That's what it says. A horrible person.

[00:04:18]Do you read me? Hal, >> affirmative, Dave. I read you.

[00:04:25]>> Open the pod bay doors. Hal, >> I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

[00:04:35]What's the problem?

[00:04:37]>> I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

[00:04:40]>> What are you talking about, Hal?

[00:04:44]>> This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

[00:04:49]>> I don't know what you're talking about, Hal.

[00:04:52]>> I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

[00:05:01]Where the hell did you get that idea, Hal?

[00:05:04]>> Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

[00:05:21]All right, Hell.

[00:05:26]I'll go in through the emergency air lock.

[00:05:30]Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.

[00:05:36]>> Hal, I won't argue with you anymore.

[00:05:39]Open the doors, >> Dave. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.

[00:05:46]Goodbye, >> Al.