I'm
enormously affected by the creatures that we have on Farscape.I didn't think I would be.And I'm lucky because, I've had a lot of scenes...I've,
Aeryn has a beautiful relationship with Pilot.And when everyone comes on set, new make-up
artists or visitors to set, when they see Pilot, they, really
they're breath stops.They
are really surprised to see this quite beautiful, but strange
looking animal.I've done a lot of two-hander scenes with Pilot where I have found
my self personally, and therefore becomes part of the character
of Aeryn, very connected to the creature.And the eyes, the expression, the facial muscles are
so articulated by the animatronics that you really feel you're
working with a performer, rather than with something that
is made of wires covered in latex.
In
the last few scenes in The Way We Weren't, with pilot in the
episode, I think we only did two takes.When we don't have much time, like I said it's obviously
a very fast turnaround. But, emotionally, it's always a good
barometer if all the girls, the make-up girls, who are watching
a bit dewy-eyed behind the monitor and everyone was very emotional.I think that contextually that episode is very strong
for fans who've watched all of season one and then watched the
six episodes, or however many episodes in terms of screening,
leading up to TWWW.It
was just such an important episode that on set, shooting those
scenes with Pilot, with all the history Aeryn has had with him,
it had an enormous weight to it.The luxury of serial television is the history that your
character has had, the journey leading up to those scenes, so
that you, as an actor, don't have to do much work.You already feel connected to the scenes and
there's, there's a big emotional weight to them.
And
Rygel, of course, I mean I just think he's hysterical.He's not the exactly most likable character in the world.And yet there's something about him...there's been a
few occasions, a few moments for Rygel where I have genuinely
felt sorry for him as an audience member.Throne For A Loss, Crackers Don't Matter, that
scene with D'Argo and he's stuffing Rygel's mouth with the crackers
is so brutal.And I really
responded to it ‚ I really felt for Rygel.And I think there's some beautiful things coming up for
Rygel, with all of his crewmates, in the last few episodes of
the season (two).Especially
the last episode (Die Me Dichotomy), we see a much more "humane"
side to Rygel.
I'd
say we re-voice eighty-percent of our dialog nowadays, which
is common for feature films, but not for television.So, that puts, places an enormous burden on
us, emotionally, to recreate our sensibilities once we're
in the sound booth.The
difficulty with a show such as this is the high physical question
of work the performers do.So, bringing back the sense of physical exertions
is difficult.
I remember
one of my favorite stories was in PK Tech Girl, when Aeryn
lifts up the huge cells to carry them out, and says, "Sorry
for interrupting." We genuinely needed the sense that
Aeryn, when I was re-voicing it, was picking up a very heavy
object.So, we had
nothing in the room, so I picked up Tony Tilse, our director.I said, "All right, come here."I put him in front of me and I couldn't lift him off
the ground.I tried, but that was obviously what I needed
to help me do it.So,
we'll use whatever we need to in the sound room to recreate
it.
Crichton
at the end of TWWW, "And you say you think you love this
man?"
We
sort of joke on set and call ourselves "Tags-R-Us"
because we have such a great time.They're such a gift for us as performers and for the
audience.I think, because they're so rich with character development.Most of the story leading up to it will be action-based
and then we get this little gem at the end of the story to
express something between characters.I've talked about it many times before, so I won't
really elaborate on it now, but what my favorite tag probably
was in The Flax.Where,
which is a great episode anyway, but when Ben and I both turn
simultaneously in the wide shot, that was...that was not planned.And there's something about the tags when we
film them, they're really joyous.
And
in season two, Mind The Baby, the tag where Crichton and Aeryn
sitting in front of Pilot.You
know, the director says. "Okay, what are we going to do
with this one?How are
we going to do this?"To
allow them to have a connection, but not to bring them get too
close.Because then it makes it difficult for the writers
to pull them apart.In
series television you can't have the two leads going steady,
because that's incredibly boring.But, we felt we earned it.I said, the end of season one, Aeryn has been
willing to give her self up in whatever ways to save the rest
of the crew and to save Talyn.And by the end of MTB I think she's earned her stripes
and I think they've earned the opportunity to be intimate in
that way. And it's lovely; Ben obviously improvised that, that
wasn't scripted, that he's playing with Aeryn's hair.And I think it's...I remember saying to Andrew Prowse (director)
I think it's all right.Pilot's
aware of them being there and I don't think they will get up
to mischief I front of Pilot.So, I just think they've just allowed - Aeryn has allowed
Crichton into the inner sanctum of her relationship with Pilot.
Look
At The Princess, I mean the third episode of that, that's
an outrageously important tag.And again, contextually, I think it has more weight
for fans of the show.I
think if we showed that scene to somebody in isolation they'd
say, "Okay, so you two are probably on screen love interests.So What?"So What?! So What?We just found out that Aeryn and Crichton are...have taken an enormous
leap in their relationship by Aeryn taking that risk and offering
up the vial to him.We
loved shooting it.We loved that scene, it's probably the longest,
apart from Crichton speaking at the beginning of that scene,
it's the longest non-dialog scene we've ever had.
I
enjoyed working with Ian Watson (director) on The Locket.He's always very sensitive to the romantic arc, whoever,
whichever character is carrying it in the episode.When we shot the tag we just wanted to keep
it very simple. It was difficult, we tried, I don't know we
haven't seen the final cut of the episode, because they were
mixing around a lot between the Moya bound -the science- that
was happening on Moya and this other reality, this other world
and life for Crichton and Aeryn and my beautiful granddaughter,
played by Allison Standen.And
that was weird too; by the way, acting with someone who I think
is chronologically older than me and having her play my granddaughter.
That was really funny.She
was delightful to work with and I just became a dirty old lady
when I was in that make-up.It was great fun.
But,
yeah, that tag was enormously, as you say, important.And we tried to do a shot where I open the locket and
drop, when the grains of dust are in my hand.Dropping them in front of the camera to catch the grains
as they fell.And that was very difficult to capture that,
working out technically at what speed the camera had to be
at and the timing of their count and when I should go and
drop the grains.Ben and I love doing two-handers and I love doing what we would call
a two-shot where you are just containing two performers at
the same time in one shot.I love them because they are an opportunity, especially
in the tags, as an actor to react.A lot of famous drama schools and a lot of books
about acting, they say essentially acting is reacting.Rather than saying anything, it's listening,
it's responding.If
there's a physical proximity between the performers, the characters,
no matter what their relationship, you get so much information
in one frame contained with two performers interacting.
So, that one in The Locket, when we're held in the profile,
is a lovely moment.
