James Callis interview...and meta.
Here's a ramble that came out of me after listening to this new, fun interview with the wonderful Mr. James Callis from Battlestar Galactica.
So this inty is really fantastic if you like hearing from one of the many articulate, creative instincts in this fantastic cast of performers. Of greatest interest for me was hearing how Callis defends the Baltar character over the course of the series, to make sure they keep him always somehow sympathetic - or at least relatable. He rightly points out that if you lose sympathy for Baltar too drastically at any point, the complexity will be gone and he'd become simply a black hat. Callis mentions the death warrant signing as a key example - apparently it was written that he just signed it, without complaint, in the original script. He convinced TPTB to make the scene more complex, with the cylons forcing him to do it at gunpoint. One of the things I adore about BSG is its constant resistance to black-and-white delineation of...well...of ANYTHING. It's something you really hear any time a cast or crew gives a longer interview - the recent Concurring Opinions inty with Moore & Eick also comes to mind.
Another satisfying moment is when Callis compliments BSG fandom highly, by pointing out that this is a show meant for intelligent viewers, people who don't need to get everything spoon-fed to them and bring plenty to the table themselves. Apparently the cast and crew is quite aware of this, even though they rarely speak to the press about it. And isn't it nice to actually hear someone on the show finally say it aloud! Feels good.
Callis mentions that episode 13, the final one shot before the strike shut down production, was the only ep they’ve ever shot with NO WRITERS on set. No Ron Moore ringmastering the circus. It will be interesting for us fan(atics) to note if there’s any discernable difference when we see this ep. I suppose there won’t be, since any “issues” that RDM & Co. might have with this ep can be fixed via post-production, reshoots, ADR, etc. Something for the eagle-eyed fan to look out for though.
I could listen to Callis go on and on all day, really. I hope wherever he ends up after BSG, it's something accessible to all of his US fans. A film or TV show or whatnot - rather than some profound (and profoundly INACCESSIBLE/UNSEEABLE) theater project in Wales or Mumbai or something! He has said that it's important for him that his next project is NOT Sci-Fi/Fantasy - I'm sure most of the BSG cast feel the same way, as most good actors fear typecasting and boredom. Just hope whatever it is, we can see it. Love him to death.
Baltar & Head Six were actually the plot line that pulled me into the show right out of the gate. Right before season 2 was set to premiere in the USA, a friend insisted I start watching the show (mainly because BUFFY had ended, and I hadn't discovered ALIAS yet, and I was jonesing for kick-ass girls to watch on TV). She figured I’d fall for Starbuck - but when I started watching, the first thing I saw were the last 4 eps of season 1, which were being rerun on NBC over a weekend. When I got my head around what was going on with Gaius and Head Six, I just fell in love. ( The Starbuck love sank in later, when I rented season 1 in its entirety. :D )
If you are a long-term, in-depth fan of BSG, at this point we've heard most of the leads speak at length about the show and their character. So it's always refreshing to hear one of the cast who doesn't speak out that often. I'd still love to see an in-depth discussion with Michael Hogan sometime, and with some of the show's long-term directors, especially Michael Rymer. It seems like the writers are hesitant to do interviews, though once in a while Bradley Thompson, David Weddle and Michael Taylor get a chance to speak out - and those are always great, great things. Mark Verheiden and Jane Espenson throw us crumbs now and then on their blogs. The podcast commentary on SCAR with its writers Thompson & Weddle, and on THE SON ALSO RISES with Michael Angeli, are just fantastic.
We'll see what comes to pass in this final season - the BSG folks seem to enjoy keeping fandom fed well. There are those gigantic threads built up on the skiffy board for some supposed future Q&A with RDM - but if he never had time to deal with it, I'd love to see The Writers Room as a group take a stab at it. If they focus on the questions related to last year, they could avoid too much spoiler talk.
So this inty is really fantastic if you like hearing from one of the many articulate, creative instincts in this fantastic cast of performers. Of greatest interest for me was hearing how Callis defends the Baltar character over the course of the series, to make sure they keep him always somehow sympathetic - or at least relatable. He rightly points out that if you lose sympathy for Baltar too drastically at any point, the complexity will be gone and he'd become simply a black hat. Callis mentions the death warrant signing as a key example - apparently it was written that he just signed it, without complaint, in the original script. He convinced TPTB to make the scene more complex, with the cylons forcing him to do it at gunpoint. One of the things I adore about BSG is its constant resistance to black-and-white delineation of...well...of ANYTHING. It's something you really hear any time a cast or crew gives a longer interview - the recent Concurring Opinions inty with Moore & Eick also comes to mind.
Another satisfying moment is when Callis compliments BSG fandom highly, by pointing out that this is a show meant for intelligent viewers, people who don't need to get everything spoon-fed to them and bring plenty to the table themselves. Apparently the cast and crew is quite aware of this, even though they rarely speak to the press about it. And isn't it nice to actually hear someone on the show finally say it aloud! Feels good.
Callis mentions that episode 13, the final one shot before the strike shut down production, was the only ep they’ve ever shot with NO WRITERS on set. No Ron Moore ringmastering the circus. It will be interesting for us fan(atics) to note if there’s any discernable difference when we see this ep. I suppose there won’t be, since any “issues” that RDM & Co. might have with this ep can be fixed via post-production, reshoots, ADR, etc. Something for the eagle-eyed fan to look out for though.
I could listen to Callis go on and on all day, really. I hope wherever he ends up after BSG, it's something accessible to all of his US fans. A film or TV show or whatnot - rather than some profound (and profoundly INACCESSIBLE/UNSEEABLE) theater project in Wales or Mumbai or something! He has said that it's important for him that his next project is NOT Sci-Fi/Fantasy - I'm sure most of the BSG cast feel the same way, as most good actors fear typecasting and boredom. Just hope whatever it is, we can see it. Love him to death.
Baltar & Head Six were actually the plot line that pulled me into the show right out of the gate. Right before season 2 was set to premiere in the USA, a friend insisted I start watching the show (mainly because BUFFY had ended, and I hadn't discovered ALIAS yet, and I was jonesing for kick-ass girls to watch on TV). She figured I’d fall for Starbuck - but when I started watching, the first thing I saw were the last 4 eps of season 1, which were being rerun on NBC over a weekend. When I got my head around what was going on with Gaius and Head Six, I just fell in love. ( The Starbuck love sank in later, when I rented season 1 in its entirety. :D )
If you are a long-term, in-depth fan of BSG, at this point we've heard most of the leads speak at length about the show and their character. So it's always refreshing to hear one of the cast who doesn't speak out that often. I'd still love to see an in-depth discussion with Michael Hogan sometime, and with some of the show's long-term directors, especially Michael Rymer. It seems like the writers are hesitant to do interviews, though once in a while Bradley Thompson, David Weddle and Michael Taylor get a chance to speak out - and those are always great, great things. Mark Verheiden and Jane Espenson throw us crumbs now and then on their blogs. The podcast commentary on SCAR with its writers Thompson & Weddle, and on THE SON ALSO RISES with Michael Angeli, are just fantastic.
We'll see what comes to pass in this final season - the BSG folks seem to enjoy keeping fandom fed well. There are those gigantic threads built up on the skiffy board for some supposed future Q&A with RDM - but if he never had time to deal with it, I'd love to see The Writers Room as a group take a stab at it. If they focus on the questions related to last year, they could avoid too much spoiler talk.