Interview - Stargate Archive

Jun 04 2010

New Film Role For Michael Shanks

Published by Stargate Archive Team under News

“Just landed a role in a new feature called Red Riding Hood directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman and Julie Christie. Will play a character named Adrien Lazar, local affluent blacksmith and father of Henri Lazar (love interest to Amanda’s character). Rehearsals begin in July, and filming starts July 22nd.”

According to IMDB, the film is being produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio through his production company, Appian Way.

Discussing the film, in an interview with Screen Daily, the film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke is quoted as saying:

“Leonardo has this idea of a reinvention of the fairytale. I read the first draft by David Leslie Johnson and loved it. I’ve worked for about five months with him and then a second writer, Rand Ravich, and now we?re back with David. We’re making it a wild thriller in this great Gothic fairytale world, very sexy, romantic and scary. I get to create a whole world.”

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May 30 2010

Brian J Smith Talks About Whats In Store For His Character And Much More

Published by Stargate Archive Team under Interviews

BRIAN J SMITH is best known for his role as Lt Matthew Scott in Stargate Universe, which airs on Tuesday nights at 8pm on Sky1.

The actor, who also starred in the 2005 film Hate Crime, was born on October 12, 1981 in Dallas, Texas.

So what drew him to Stargate Universe and what he can tell us about what’s coming up, for the show in general and for his character?

Here he opens a stargate into the show’s success and where it may be headed…

FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN STARGATE UNIVERSE YET, HOW WOULD YOU SAY IT COMPARES TO PREVIOUS SHOWS IN THE FRANCHISE?

I guess it would be hard to compare them. They set out to do something so new and so far out of the Stargate dock with this show, it’s quite hard to recognise the similarities with the franchise. Stargate Atlantis and SG1 have a very specific look and a very specific feel and tongue is very firmly placed in cheek, I would say that this show just isn’t. It’s much more a character drama. The characters are probably handled a little more seriously, but there’s still some of that great Stargate mythology.

HAVE YOU FOUND YOURSELF EMBRACED BY EXISTING STARGATE FANS?

Yes and no. Mostly, what I get are the people who say, ‘I’ve never seen Stargate before, I’ve never had an interest, but this show gets me interested. I tried to watch the other Stargates, but I couldn’t get into the Furlings, I couldn’t get into the Wraith. It was really funny, but I never really believed the stakes, I never really believed that the characters were ever in any kind of dangerous situation.’ So, I think we’re definitely attracting a new kind of audience and at the same time people who have watched Stargate for years, they love this show, and really wanted to see the writers go deeper with the characters and to not have really convenient fixes to situations and stuff like that.

THERE’S CERTAINLY A GREATER FEELING OF JEOPARDY THAN IN ANY PREVIOUS STARGATE SHOW?

That’s something we definitely set out to do, to really create an atmosphere where anything could happen. In the first episode there was a suicide, and it was Chris McDonald, who’s a pretty big actor. There was another suicide later on, there are going to be some surprising things happening, I won’t say who or what, that will come up in the latter half of the first season and certainly in the second season. So we’re trying to create a feeling of peril or danger, and that’s very, very hard to do when you know everyone’s going to be there and jolly and back to reading War And Peace next week.

WAS IT THIS MORE DRAMATIC APPROACH THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE ROLE?

Yes, for sure, if I’m going to wake up at 5am in the morning and go to set and really, really be invested there’s got to be something that interests me as an actor. And I don’t know if I would be interested in a kind of a light-comedy type show. Even if it paid really well, I don’t know if that would keep me going, I would get bored. This show, it’s very, very challenging, the stakes are always very high, and that to me is very attractive and there’s something about the character that is really interesting to me and really, really moves me and has from day one. And I’m certainly impressed to see where they’re going with the character and certainly curious to see what’s going to happen later on this year.

TIME WAS A HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON – DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE EPISODE FROM THE SHOW SO FAR?

Time is definitely one of my favourites. I also really, really like Life, which was a quiet show – there wasn’t a lot of people screaming and running down the halls with guns, but it was definitely emblematic of, “this is what we do too.” Like, we’d do the action and the adventure and then later on you’ll see the aliens and all that stuff. Anyone can do that, but doing a show that’s also about people and about sad, human problems, it’s completely in our bag of tricks as well.

WHAT IS THE MOST POSITIVE THING ABOUT WORKING ON THE SHOW?

I would say the most positive thing is just this group that we’re working with, it’s a very supportive group, it’s a very insulated group. There’s no real ego, everyone’s very much on the same page about what we’re trying to do here and we realise this is an ensemble show and my performance is impossible without someone else’s performance, and their performance is impossible without mine. We talk a lot, we hang out a lot, and also the crew as well.

HOW ABOUT THE MOST CHALLENGING THING? YOU DID SOME FILMING IN THE DESERT OF NEW MEXICO EARLY ON?

Definitely, New Mexico was a challenge. Again, it’s just one of the things with this show, you never know, you could be doing a scene back on Earth, finding your long lost son or something like that, and then you’re in the desert with other actors, looking for some chemical that’s going to save the crazy alien spaceship that you’re on. You never know what you’re going to be doing from month to month on this show, it’s challenging. New Mexico was very, very challenging, but also it was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my career. It was like shooting this big action film: They actually put cameras up on helicopters. It was amazing.

SO WHAT’S COMING UP FOR LT SCOTT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON?

I think we did a really good job of establishing him in the first 10 episodes. I think what the last 10 episodes of the first season are about is getting into situations, into trouble that really test these relationships that we’ve established. You’re going to see some of the relationships he’s in fall apart, some relationships are going to get closer together. I think in some way he might start coming into his own, but after a lot of struggle. It’s hard to say because so much of the second half of the first season is about, ‘Okay, this is who we are, let’s go out and get into trouble.’

IN THE FIRST RUN, YOUR CHARACTER LEARNED HE HAD A SON BACK HOME, WILL WE SEE HOW THIS COMES TO AFFECT HIM?

Yes, you will definitely see the toll that something like that has. You know, Scott, he’s a funny kid, he doesn’t talk much about his problems, he doesn’t sit down and burden people with the things that upset him. He really keeps a lot of things close to himself – you’ll see that too, which is really interesting. There’s an episode I’m thinking of in particular where maybe his not talking about the fact that he’s a father has created a problem for him, and it starts to have an emotional effect on him. It’s done in a really smart sci-fi way as well, so I don’t want to say too much to spoil it.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR CHARACTER IN ONE OR TWO YEARS’ TIME?

You know, I think he’s got a lot of potential as a military mind. I think even though he’s very raw right now, and he may not have the command presence that Young (Colonel Everett Young) has, this ability to make decisions and to lead a ship, I think this experience is actually in some way going to be good for him. I think it would be interesting to see him grow and to see him overcome things, and also to make a lot of bad decisions, and to make mistakes. It will be interesting to see him carrying out orders a lot less and start to become more of a person who’s really changing storylines, who’s really making decisions that shift how things proceed. I think he has that ability as he continues to grow.

HOW EXCITED WERE YOU TO LEARN THAT THE SHOW HAD BEEN PICKED UP FOR A SECOND SEASON?

Getting picked up was really, really great. It was awesome that we have such great support. I think there’s just room for a show like this on TV, I think it’s actually hard to watch regular TV after you see a show like SGU (Stargate Universe). I’m glad that it’s starting to find an audience, I’m glad that people are sticking by it – I think those that have are really going to have a major payoff and certainly, as we finish the first season, and well on into the second season, here’s hoping it will continue for season three.

LASTLY, YOU’RE ALSO POPPING UP ON BRITISH TV IN POIROT, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT?

That was an amazing experience. You go from a spaceship to this art deco jazz-age train with Hercule Poirot, it was quite a transition, but I absolutely loved it. I was in London for like five or six weeks, getting to see theatre and working with these amazing actors from Britain, Germany, France and the States as well. It was amazing, Philip Martin, the director, did a great job, and I really think this is going to be something special.

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Alaina Huffman On Stargate Universe Season One

Published by Stargate Archive Team under Interviews

Stargate Universe actress Alaina Huffman has taken time out of her hectic schedule to sit down with the guys over at the Sy Fy channel for an in-depth interview on Stargate Universe season one, being a full time working mum, her role on Smallville and much, much more.

It was notable right from the start of the second half of the season that the action and adventure element of the show had really been amped up. Was that a deliberate choice, you think?

Huffman: The season itself was completed almost by the time we aired. We wrapped October 28th, and it aired October 3rd. … So, yes, I think the intent was to introduce the characters, develop the characters, and then put them to work. And that seems to be the way that it’s gone.

Your character, of course, has had some really interesting developments in the last couple of episodes that have aired. There’s the pregnancy and some of the hard choices that she’s facing. Can you talk about that? As I understand it, you were expecting your own child when this storyline was created.

Huffman: That’s true. It’s not the ideal situation, but I got pregnant, like, shooting the second episode. And so I told the producers. I was like, “Hey, guys, uh, I’m pregnant.” And [executive producers] Brad [Wright] and Rob [Cooper], I called them into my trailer, and I told them, and we decided to keep it quiet for a while. And they said, “You know what? We actually thought it’s a great storyline. We kind of wondered. We didn’t really want anyone to be pregnant, but we did wonder what the circumstance would be, in a situation like this, if you’re pregnant. I mean, it’s a lot on the line.” And so I said, “Well, I’ll be the girl for the job.” But then the funny thing was, when Brad was leaving my trailer, he kind of shook his head, and he says, “This always happens to us.”

It happened with Amanda Tapping on Stargate SG-1.

Huffman: Amanda and Rachel [Luttrell on Stargate Atlantis]. I think all of the women of Stargate have had kids. … You know, when you’re in business for 16 years, … it’s going to happen. So, yes, I was pregnant in real life, and there was already an established sort of connection between Young [Louis Ferreira] and T.J., and it actually just kind of fell into place, and I’m very happy with the choice they made to write it in. You have to tune in to the second season to see what happens.

Well, without giving away anything, does that issue get resolved or does it develop further? How complicated does it become?

Huffman: It’s complicated. As complicated as being pregnant in space with your ex-lover would be.

Can you give us kind of a preview of the end of the first season and what we can expect, again, without giving any spoilers? Will there be a big cliffhanger at the end?

Huffman: Yes, there is a cliffhanger, of course. It’s a season finale. And, I believe I can say this, the Lucian Alliance makes an appearance. So that’s exciting, I think, for the Stargate fans. … It’s a big cliffhanger that does get resolved, obviously, because we’re shooting a second season now. But it complicates things, absolutely.

In the second season, do we have new characters or do you have some new actors joining?

Huffman: We do. And I think most of them have been, have been released, but I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to get in trouble. …

Michael Shanks?

Huffman: Not yet this season, no. … Second season. But I did just work with Michael the other day on Smallville, actually.

Oh, tell us about that. You’re reprising the role of Black Canary?

Huffman: Yes, I am, and that will be in the season finale. … Season nine of Smallville. Black Canary makes an appearance, as well as Hawk Man [Shanks], and that, I believe, airs on Friday. So, that was good fun, to work with Michael on that.

Do you have to wear the costume?

Huffman: I do, and it fit. Because I just had a baby, I was really nervous, I was like, “Oh, God, I hope this thing fits.” And it fit. … But, yes, there’s the Justice Society, and then they sort of join in with the Justice League. … I was asking for a hint from the producers of where they’re planning on going for season 10, you know: Is [Clark] going to put on the suit? We want to know! And hopefully, hopefully that happens. And I really love the way that the Justice League has been involved in the series, and I hope to make more appearances in season 10. I’m shooting Stargate in Vancouver, [and] the studios are literally 10 minutes apart. … And it’s always such a joy to work on that show. Everyone’s really lovely and pleasant, and it’s kind of a geeky experience, because it’s just really fun when we’re all dressed up in costumes. And the guys make me laugh. We have a really good time working.

What else do you have coming up?

Huffman: I’ve got my own project that I’m developing. I’m going to release it on Twitter, so if anyone listening wants to follow me on Twitter, I’m going to make a release of a little sneak peek of what I’ve been involved with in the summer. [@AlainaHuffman] …

It’s a multi-platform project, and I’m hoping to develop, starting small, we’ve got kind of an idea and we’ve got one little part of the project done, and uh, yeah. It’s along the same lines as sci-fi, and it’s got a strong female character.

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May 14 2010

Alaina Huffman Talks Smallville and Stargate Universe Season Finales

Published by Stargate Archive Team under Interviews

Actress Alaina Huffman is best known to fans for her role as crime fighter Dinah Lance, otherwise known as the fishnet-wearing badass Black Canary, on the CW’s hit series Smallville. The actress recently joined the cast of another long running fantasy franchise, Stargate Universe, a new series set in the extremely popular Stargate world where she plays Lt. Tamara Johansen. We recently had a chance to sit down with the busy actress to talk about her new show, which is currently finishing airing it’s first season on SyFy and has already been picked up for a second season. But before we asked Huffman about Stargate Universe we wanted to find out if the actress had shot any upcoming episodes for this ninth season of Smallville. “Yes, I do appear in the season finale,” she confirmed. “I was up there shooting a few weeks ago and I was kind of probing the producers to see what was going on with season ten?” she continued. “They weren’t giving me any information so I hope my character makes an appearance in the tenth season as well. I do have a nice hiatus over the winter from Stargate Universe where I could make a few appearances so I’ve made my pitch to them. I’m hoping I will get to go back because it’s a lot of fun to work on and Black Canary is just a great character.”

We pressed on to find out more about her characters role in Smallville’s season finale. “It’s the finale so it’s along the same lines of all of us heroes banding together. Hawkman’s in it, which is Michael Shanks, another Stargate alumnus, and then Stargirl is in it as well.” From what Huffman described it sounds like The Justice Society Of America, which was introduced in the extremely popular two-hour event episode Absolute Justice from earlier this season, will be returning and teaming up with Clark’s new team of heroes, The Justice League. “Yes and that is sort of the way that Smallville has really integrated or justified having the Justice League,” Huffman explained. “Not necessarily visually showing everybody on the episodes but having a few of the characters and then making it clear that we’re all working together. So it’s one of those situations.” Since the long running series has recently been picked up for an astonishing tenth season we asked the actress what she would like to see her character doing next year if she was to return to the show. “I definitely feel like aside from the Black Canary character that Dinah and Ollie have a whole history from the comics to explore.”

Fans of DC Comics and the character the Green Arrow know that the relationship between Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance is one of the most famous romances in comic book history. We asked the actress if she was aware of that history before she took the role or if she had to subject herself to a comic book boot camp? “Oh yes. I didn’t know anything about comic books at all, little alone Black Canary or Green Arrow or any of it,” she confessed. “Then when I got cast, first of all, I saw the costume and I was like, really? I have to wear that? I was like, I have to do stunts in that, right? But it was awesome and I love it. It still fits after having a baby and everything.” The actress continued to discuss the show and hinted at what she thinks could be a possible spin-off of the series after next year’s tenth season. “But the whole storyline between Ollie and Dinah, I think is a great storyline. It would be something interesting, if not to explore in the tenth season of Smallville, I have a feeling that they may do something after that. Not necessarily Smallville but they have all these sets and I think they may do something along those lines.”

Finally, since SyFy is currently airing the final season one episodes of Stargate Universe and the actress has already shot most of season two, we asked her to give us a sneak peak at what fans can expect going into this season’s finale and leading up into the second season of the show. “Right now I think Sabotage just aired and so every week is a big sort of, what’s going on?” Huffman explained. “Then we go to another planet and there is that subplot of all of us being on the ship, all of us getting along and living together. The first season was really about how do we get home? The second season is more involved with life on the ship and it’s not really about trying to get home because we don’t know if we are going to get home? So now we’re about a third through the way of shooting the second season and some great stuff is going to happen. The Lucian Alliance will make an appearance so we’ve got little hints of the Stargate past integrated into season one and going into season two.”

Interview Courtesy of MovieWeb

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Apr 11 2010

Watch Alaina Huffman Answering The Fans Questions

Published by Stargate Archive Team under Site Updates,Video Interviews

Alaina Huffman answers the fans questions in this Sy Fy exclusive interview in this latest video featurette to be added to the sites media collection.

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