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| Written by Katharine Shade | |
| Monday, 04 May 1998 | |
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Page 2 of 2 Have you got any good roles coming up? I’m doing the lead in Disney’s new film Atlantis with Michael J. Fox, which is an animated film, and I’m just off to Ireland to do a movie with Michael York who will play my father. It is based on a Henry James story and takes place in the eighteen hundreds. Those are two projects that I’m doing and I have another one that I’m committing too - it’s between two others so I don’t want to talk about it. Tell us about the Highlander work you did recently. I did a pilot for a potential spin-off for the series, but they did not decide to do the series. But it was enjoyable. I shot in Paris so it was great. You’ve done a bit of travelling around the world to film... Yes, Paris, I did a film in Mexico then I came back to the States, then to Australia, back to Ireland and England and then wherever I’m going to go next. It’s a crapshoot, but it’s fun... roll the dice! Do you have a strong connection back to where you live? Do you have family and friends there that you find hard it to leave for months on end? I’m a bit of a gipsy so it doesn’t really kill me, but I miss my dog and I miss my friends. My family’s kind of scattered so I don’t see much of them anyway. Yeah, I miss my home, I miss the people that I care for, but it seems to make me appreciate it more when I come home. So I think that’s the best thing about going away - coming home. What are some of your favourite places to go to? I love Paris and Vienna. I love Italy and I speak a bit of Italian, so that’s very helpful. I’m looking forward to spending more time in Europe. I’ve never been to Ireland and part of my family is from there, so that’s going to be nice. I’ve spent a bit of time in Scotland. It’s just great, it’s such a great job to have the opportunity to see a bit of the world. What does your family think of your fame? I don’t really think they think of me in any other terms than “Claude”. That’s about it - “Hey, Claude”. I have two brothers, and they get a kick out of it. They actually watch the show pretty loyally - they did when I was on it, and they keep up with my career, it’s nice. But to them it’s something completely different - they’re both doctors. It’s rather exotic - “What do you mean you’re leaving the country again?! What about your dog, what about your mortgage payments?!” I’m like, “I can find someone to take care of them you know!” They’re constantly worried about the dynamics of being an actress, and I think their major concern is whether I will keep working. Because as much as they think that you’re good or they love you, it’s a frightening job to have a sister or a daughter being an actress because it’s so unreliable. Luckily for me it’s been reliable, so that’s good. How do you find watching yourself on screen - do you go back and watch the programs you’ve been on? I don’t tend to watch myself, I do have somebody that would tape the show [B5] and has given me a bit of a collection of the tapes. I don’t find it uncomfortable watching myself, I don’t even think it’s me when I’m watching it. In fact when I start to cry on TV sometimes I get a little moved, I go, “I’m crying because I’m crying?”! What is all that about, it’s kind of bizarre. I don’t feel like I’m watching myself, I just watch the character in whatever movie I’m watching, it’s just part of the grand scheme of things. I’m not really critical about myself. A lot of actors do have problems with watching themselves on screen. I hear that some people can’t even watch themselves in dailies, and I just look at it as a learning lesson, for instance I say, “God you’re really using your hands too much in that,” or “Gosh that’s a bad angle on your face!” It’s not criticism, it’s just learning, it’s learning how to work the camera. It’s not uncomfortable in the least bit. On the set of Babylon 5, who did you hang around with the most? I socialised with Mira and her husband Goran, who just directed an episode this season. They’re a wonderful couple and I enjoy their company. I socialised a little bit with Jeff Conaway, he came to a few parties, Bruce [Boxleitner] and Melissa [Gilbert] a little bit - Peter Jurasik I enjoy a lot. I think he’s just a wonderful man. I was pretty much friendly with everybody, it’s just the only people I really socialised with were Mira and her husband, outside of work. We had dinner parties and just enjoy hanging out. So even though you’ve seen them for hours on end... Yes, absolutely. I’ve always invited most of the cast in the first few seasons to my birthday parties, Christmas parties, whatever. And that was enjoyable. Richard Biggs was always a kick to hang out with, and I think I’ll be working with Billy Mumy on a recording project in the future, so that’ll be fun. We get along - nice group of people. Do any of them stay in character, especially with all the make-up on? Andreas [Katsulas] is the only one who was kind of withdrawn when he was in G’Kar make-up. He was probably also in a bit of pain because of the contacts and everything so he would just basically sit to himself. It adds to the anguish and the angst of the character. But the rest of us were, “Blah blah blah”, “Action”, “Anyway, the Balosion freighter is going to be docking in....” “Cut”, “Anyway, as I was saying...” We were always fooling around, it was fun. With Ivanova being a very strong female character, how did you balance being a strong female role without becoming just another one of the guys? I think her femininity was simply in her vulnerability, her inability to let people in. I don’t think that was masculine in this sense, I think it was rather sad. There were a lot of times when she showed her sexuality, I think she seduced a couple of aliens, as far as I remember - there’s the “boom shugga lugga” scene! I think that if there had been more off-duty scenes you could have seen that side, but most of the scenes were when I was working. There weren’t a lot of them in my quarters and when they were I think you saw a different side of her. You get some insight into the character off-duty - see them as real people... Just like in real life when you see somebody at work, they’re a little bit more professional and disciplined, then when they get off work they’re like, “Whoa!!! Let’s go get a beer man”, it’s totally a different person as opposed to somebody talking to their boss and somebody talking to their best friend. They are two different dynamics. You can’t expect somebody to be the same all the time. How do you find this whole convention business - speaking in front of all these people, and they’re all paying to come and see you... I enjoy it, I think it’s a good thing to do for the fans because they have been so loyal. They really are the most loyal group of fans in any genre I have seen or experienced. For that I think it’s important for us to continue going around, even if it means flying for 15 hours... So you see it like a duty... I think its part of the job. It’s the same thing as if somebody comes up to you in a restaurant and wants you to sign something, it’s part of the job. I don’t find it intrusive at all, unless they’re obnoxious about it. Have you had much of that (obnoxiousness)? No, I’m pretty lucky, ’cause I’m not in any way highly visible, I usually get people just coming up and saying, “Hey I like your work”, or whatever, or “I like the show”. It’s not like Tom Cruise, with 25 thousand people kind of thing, they don’t stalk outside of my house and hang out like with Sharon Stone, they don’t go through my garbage, that’s stalk-aratzy time, that’s horrible. The level of success that I have is much smaller and nice and kind and sweet and people are just generally pretty nice. I mean I get the occasional weirdo, but you know... Where would you like to go with your acting career? I’d like to keep working until I’m an old dame. I enjoy the process of it - I would certainly like to get financially secure just like any other human being, but I’m not in any big rush to get that flavour of the month kind of heat. I just enjoy the fact that I’ve worked for 13 years steadily. Some people know who I am, and some people don’t. What about getting all that pay? That would be nice, no I’m not going to stand there and turn down ten million bucks a picture, but at what price? I’d like to do more work in Europe actually, I think they “get” me a little bit more because I’m not quite the Pamela Anderson type that the US is used to. I’ve enjoyed working there. And then I could brush up on my language skills. What about the other side of the camera - are you interested in writing, directing or anything like that? I enjoy writing, but I’d like to leave the jobs to the people who have studied and who are really good at it and who have experience. I think as an actor you’re just supposed to act! I mean if you have the talent and the perseverance of course, but for me I think acting’s enough of a challenge right now. Who are your favourite actors? I love Robin Williams, Peter Sellers, I’ve worked with Michael Keaton a lot, he’s good. Women I admire - there’s so many nowadays that are so good - Liv Tyler is just exquisite, she’s beautiful, and a very natural actress. What movies do you like? Recently I liked Titanic, I thought Kate Winslet was really good, I enjoyed that movie. Are you interested in science fiction as a genre, or did you just happen to get work in it? I just happened to sort of fall into it, it wasn’t something that I was raised with it, nor was I really aware of it. I do like the “great classics”, everything from Planet of the Apes... Do you like Star Trek? I liked the one that Leonard Nimoy directed - the whale one (Star Trek IV) - I’ve seen some of those, and when I was a kid occasionally I’d catch a glimpse of the original cheesy series which I thought was great. “Whooa!” (Demonstrates moving around as the ship moves) And I find myself years later actually doing that and I said, “Wait a minute, these ships can deflect all of this power and do all of this, why are we still moving and shaking?”! It was really cheesy but it all comes down to entertainment, and people enjoy that part. Is it hard to do some of that kind of work? Like blue screening... Yeah, it’s definitely embarrassing at times, you feel a bit awkward acting to nothing, but I think it would be more difficult to do what Bob Hoskins did in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That must have been really difficult, acting to nothing, and all those incredibly vivacious characters that were drawn afterward. That must have been more difficult than anything we do. Do you have a dream role for yourself to do? Starring in a movie? What kind of character would you like to play? Othello, but I don’t think it’s going to happen in this lifetime! I’d like to do a costume drama, some period piece actually. That, and the female James Bond thing - who’s a total klutz and a liar, I like that. A sort of female Jim Carey role, that’s what I’d like to do. And anything Robin Williams has done I’d like to copy. Something wacky would be fun. But if not I’d like to do a real sort of some costume drama. Shakespeare? I’ve done quite a bit. How do you find learning Shakespeare? It’s almost a language in itself. It’s just like technobabble. (Demonstrates by reeling off a few lines of Shakespeare, then some technobabble) It’s the same thing! Same cadence, same rhythm. It’s just like learning technobabble. It’s just repetition, repetition, repetition. Any personal philosophies? Don’t give up. Don’t give up, just follow your dream! |
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