Katie Sackhoff Dishes On Galactica In Wizard magazine... July 13th 2005 02:39am | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor In Wizard magazine #166, actress Katee Sackhoff, who plays Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace spilled some secrets on what to expect in season two, which kicks off this Friday, July 15. We caught up with Sackhoff during a break in filming on the Vancouver set, and here’s what else she had to say. On the scenes she’s been filming lately: I’ve been in bed for the last two days on the show, so my leg started to atrophy and I was like, “Holy crap. I need to go work out.” On the religious overtones of the show: There’s a lot of praying. A lot of praying. My character seems to get on two knees all the time. [Laughs]. Starbuck’s extremely religious and she believes in the prophecies, so I think she’s probably the one we see most on the show praying. She is extremely religious and she believes in what the President [Mary McDonnell] has said and I think that what’s also hard about it—she’s torn between her beliefs and her duties. It’s all very interesting. On meeting original Starbuck actor Dirk Benedict: I met him about two years ago, right after we finished the mini-series. We created a little teaser thing to show before the mini-series aired. And it was called, “Starbuck buys Starbuck a coffee at Starbucks.” And we went and sat at a Starbucks and had a cup of coffee together. I thought, you know, I thought he was a great guy, nothing bad to say about the man. But he talks a lot of s--t about the show now. I was really shocked. On a possible cameo by Dirk Benedict: I would work with him. But I think it’s really hard to offer somebody a job that has done nothing but criticize the work. On the initial backlash about Starbuck becoming a woman in the new incarnation: You know, I let it bother me at first, and I took a lot of it personally. I think what it ended up making me do in the mini-series was prove that my character was tough enough. I was so angry about it. And once they started attacking me as a person, that’s when I stopped caring. Now I’m just like, you know what, you don’t pay my checks. If you don’t like me, you don’t like me, there’s nothing I can do about it. They’re always going to find something negative to say and if they want to use me as a scapegoat to make their lives better, then go ahead, do it. On how her character is perceived now: For the most part now, I would say that 95% of the people I meet are extremely supportive and I’ve actually had people, most people, say they like this Starbuck better than the old Starbuck. And that’s what you try to listen to. But the problem is one negative comment overshadows a hundred positive ones, so you sit and remember the negative ones. At least I’ve stopped getting hate mail. On the show’s success: I’m still in denial. I think I’ve been on so many canceled television shows that I’m just kind of like, “Yeah, right. It’s not as successful as everyone says it is.” I think the moment for me when I realized we were actually up there with all the other shows on TV was when TIME Magazine said we were one of the top six dramas of this year, which for me was that validation I needed to settle in and be like, “All right, I guess this is good work that we’re doing, you know?” I always knew it was good work. But it’s nice to be acknowledged by the people in the business I guess. On her “Battlestar Galactica” contract: I’m signed for five years, so they’ve got me until the fifth season. You know, I’m not going anywhere for a while. And even after that, if the price is right, I’m sure I’ll be around a little bit longer. But you know, we have a weird schedule. We shoot during the off-season and then our off time is very inconvenient because it’s during pilot season, and the last thing you need to be free for when you’re on a show is pilot season. You want to be free for the movies, not the TV shows. It’s frustrating, but I just count my blessings every morning I wake up. I’m so grateful, ’cause this show is a playground for me and I get to go to work every day and pretend like I’m tough. I don’t know where I’ll be in five years. We’ll see. On life after “Battlestar Galactica”: I want to star in a couple of “truer” things. The reason I got into this business was to challenge myself and to play different characters and to take in as much as I could that this business has to offer. And I’m still young. I’m 25 years old. I’ve got a whole career ahead of me and I feel like it hasn’t even started yet. And for me to say stay stagnant on a show past its prime or past my prime in that character is just a mistake. On her audition for the show: Well, I got the script in December 2002 and they were looking for someone in their mid 30s and I was 22 years old, and I thought, “There’s no way I’m gonna get this part.” I had auditioned for the casting director, who I had known because he cast me in another show six years prior to that and one of the ones that got canceled. And he said before I auditioned, “Sweetie, you’re just not right for this.” And I was like, “I know, I know, but let me try anyway.” And I had long, blond hair down to my butt and I had just come from another audition so I was in a little skirt and a tank top. And he was like, “Yeah. Really not going to happen Katee, but go ahead and read for it.” And so I read for it and he was like, “All right, all right, I’ll take you to the producers” and I was like, “All right! Cool!” So I had all of Christmas break to sit on it and be like, “Come on, when’s my audition?” And I still didn’t have an audition when I got back from Christmas break and I called and was like, “What’s going on?” and he was like, “Well they’re auditioning girls that are in their 30s.” I was like, “Well they’re supposed to bring me to the producers so when the heck is it gonna happen?” So it finally happened and it kind of went from there. I think five auditions later I was testing and I was testing against Grace Park [who was also auditioning for the role of Starbuck]. So, pretty interesting. I walked away from that audition and I called my mom and told her, “I’m gonna get this part, hands down!” I didn’t care that they told me I was too young for it—I was gonna get it. And I said, “But there was this girl that I tested against that if they don’t cast her as Boomer, they’re crazy. So that’s what ended up happening. And I was really happy when I found out that they did cast [Grace] as Boomer. I think it worked out for the best. I can’t imagine Grace and I switching roles. We talked about it. We both auditioned with Jamie Bamber [Apollo], too. They waited down to the wire, like they were supposed to let us know Friday at 7 o’clock who got the part, and it was like 6:59, and I was like, “F--k, I didn’t get it.” And I got the phone call at 7:01, and they said, “You got it!” so I was pretty happy. Yeah, I went out and drank a little too much. Story of my life. I think that’s what I did when we got picked up, too. On the show getting picked up for a full season: Shock. When we did the mini-series, I had no intentions of it getting picked up. I didn’t believe it would ever happen. And it was weird because they had called me and told me what the numbers were for the mini-series and I wasn’t impressed because I was on a show for CBS that had four times the ratings and that got canceled. For me, it was like, “We only got a 3? You’re kidding me! We’re screwed!” That’s what I said. We’re done! The day we were supposed to find out we were getting canceled I was in the middle of a massage because I just didn’t care. It’s just not going to happen, there’s no way, so I called my girlfriend and I was like, “Let’s go drink ’cause we’re both unemployed.” So we went out to actually drink away the pain and I got a phone call that we got picked up! And I was so shocked. I still didn’t believe it. How did they pick up a show that had a 3 share? I still don’t understand it; it’s so weird to me. But on cable that’s great. Yeah it’s great ratings, we’re one of the highest-rated shows on cable, which is amazing. I didn’t understand that. I thought we needed like an 11 share. I think I did the same thing when we got picked up for a second season too, so, I’m very jaded, if you can’t tell. I think I’ve been in this business for seven years and I’m already jaded. n Starbuck’s penchant for smoking cigars: I smoke cigarettes. Cigars make me want to throw up, though. They’re so gross to me. It’s really odd. People that smoke cigars don’t usually smoke cigarettes. In my experience, as the people who I know that smoke cigars can attest, I cannot stand them. I think they smell disgusting; they leave the grossest taste in your mouth. And, ugh, it makes me want to die. It’s going to be really interesting when Starbuck runs out of cigars. Wouldn’t she run out? I mean, we’re running out of toilet paper, we’re running out of water. When are we going to run out of cigars? Hopefully soon. On what is was like to film inside a Cylon Raider: It was absolutely horrible. Every time I climbed inside I screamed. I’m such a girl, like people don’t understand that, like I am such a girly girl. I have nails and wear stilettos and wear dresses and the last thing I want to do is go play in gook. And not only play in it, but also put it in my mouth! It was so nasty, especially because that day, we shot all the stuff on the planet before that. It was just the hardest day I ever had on the show because I had that pack on my back and it actually had 40 pounds of air in it. All day long, running around this planet. So I was getting sweaty, but the flight suits are made of rubber, so it holds the wetness in and then they were turning on this giant 10-foot fan and it was blowing cold air on me so at one point, my lips were blue. So when I did that stuff in the Raider, I had the flu. And I was putting it in my mouth, do a take, throw up, do a take, throw up. Which was not one of my finer moments. On what the Cylon Raider innards were made of: You want to know something really scary? The reason fast food chains don’t call their shakes milkshakes is because the base product in it is the exact same base product of that goo. Is that not the most terrifying thing you’ve ever heard in your life? Yeah. It’s so gross, too ’cause I love Jack in the Box milkshakes. It’s the same stuff they used in “Ghostbusters.” They just added more water in it I guess ’cause ours was slimy. Ours was stringier, which made it even better. It is edible. That’s what’s so gross about it. So, I probably ate a pound of the crap. On Starbuck getting beat up a lot this season: I keep joking with the producers ’cause every episode I seem to get my ass kicked and I ask them, “For once, can I not have a huge bruise on my face or something?” So I keep telling them I need hazard pay because I’m getting the crap kicked outta me by a Cylon, I’m getting cut open, I have gunshot wounds, like, I’m so beat up. Like me and Jamie Bamber [Capt. Lee “Apollo” Adama], we’re getting beat up every single episode, and supposedly, in [this season’s] episode 10, Jamie and I just get the living s--t beat out of us. We get jumped, so it’s gonna be like a huge gang fight with Jamie and me under the pile. More bruises. Yay. On her character’s promiscuity: Yeah, Starbuck’s either getting beat up or having sex. One of the two. At this point, I’m ready to line up all the male cast and say, “Let’s get it over with now and just stockpile the scene so we don’t have to do it anymore. I’m sure I’m gonna get a phone call at one point asking, “So how do you feel about Michael [Hogan, Col. Tigh]? Would you care to have sex with him? ’Cause we wrote it, so get ready!” On why Starbuck seemingly has it in for Col. Tigh: There’s got to be something more there and I think they just haven’t written it yet. Knowing our show, we’re gonna find out he’s her father or something stupid like that. I don’t know, something crazy. On any similarities between her and her character: Starbuck’s quick comebacks, that’s kind of me. That funnier side of Starbuck we started to see in the first season, that’s me because I’m just a complete jokester all the time. I don’t take anything seriously—we’re not curing cancer, we’re actors. I poured some of my lightheartedness into her which I think makes her move believable. I was a tomboy in high school, so I draw from that, but Starbuck’s tough and I’m not tough at all. I’m just a big wimp. On actors who say they don’t watch their own work: Oh, they’re lying. They’re lying. At the end of the day, we’re all egotistical. And we want to see ourselves on TV ’cause it makes us feel successful. At least that’s just my opinion. They may not watch the finished product because you know, there are a couple of episodes I haven’t seen the finished product of, but I’ve watched dailies so you get the gist of it. But you know, I’m a big fan of the show. I think the show’s really smart. It’s great action, great characters and I grew up on sci-fi, so of course I’m gonna like it. On her favorite sci-fi shows growing up: I was addicted to the original “Star Trek” when I was growing up, because of my dad. We grew up in St. Helen, Oregon and we weren’t allowed to watch a lot of TV. I don’t think we even had more than three channels, so it was basically watch “Dynasty” with my mom, watch “Star Trek” with my dad, or watch the mating rituals of beavers on OPB [Oregon Public Broadcasting]. So my brother and I watched “Star Trek.” On where she’s settled down: I was born and raised in Oregon but now I live in L.A. Yeah, very excited, just bought a house. Yeah, right, and my brand-new house is sitting there with boxes in it. I think I’ve slept there all of eight times. On what she does with her free time: What’s free time? No, um, I hang out with Tricia [Helfer, who plays Number Six], a lot. Tricia and I have become really close, which is kind of a weird mix, but she’s become like a big sister to me and we’ve actually got a lot in common. She’s one of the funniest people I know. She’s just crazy stupid. And she’s such a great actress, like no one would ever know. She’s amazing. But she’s a really good friend. She is honestly the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my entire life. But she’s so much more beautiful on the inside. She’s such a great girl and I don’t think she knows how pretty she is. I really don’t think she knows. I think she still thinks she’s a small town girl who grew up on a farm. I also hang out with Jamie, Mary [McDonnell, Pres. Laura Roslin] and James [Callis, Dr. Gaius Baltar]. It’s difficult because everybody else on the show is married. I also have a friend up here who works on the “Dead Zone,” Chris Bruno. He plays Walt, the police officer. And so through him I’ve met some friends he knew because he had been up here for a year before I was. So I find myself hanging out with stunt guys and makeup ladies. On her weirdest convention experience: I like doing conventions, but I don’t want to do too many of them because it’s too time consuming for me. But I do love going and talking to the fans because they’re just so supportive and they’re just really into it. The weirdest part was this guy came up to me and his hand was a little shaky and he shook my hand and took a picture with me and I was chewing my gum and he was like, “Is your gum losing its flavor?” And I was like, “Yeah of course, I’ve been here for like five hours, so of course it’s losing its flavor.” And he goes, “Can I have it?” And I went, “Excuse me?” And he goes, “Is that weird?” And I go, “Yeah. It’ll be on eBay right next to Britney Sears’ pregnancy test!” The last thing I need to do is give somebody my gum. It’s really funny. I just started cracking up, of course I said no. I think I might have even swallowed it at that point, like uh, not getting that piece. I had a friend of mine call me and he was on eBay and he just started cracking up. And he said, “You’re never going to believe this! I looked you up just ’cause I was on eBay screwing around, and there is a picture of your feet on eBay!” Yeah, and it’s actually selling. And I was like, “You’re freaking kidding me! My feet?” Granted I have cute feet, but holy s--t, like come on, you can have a picture of my feet, you don’t need to buy it on eBay. It was just crazy to me. And then he said, “You gotta look at this signature, I don’t think it’s yours.” And I was like “What? That’s so weird.” And I looked and sure enough it’s not my signature on the picture. This is a different picture. And someone had signed one of the shots from the show and it’s not my signature. Wow, that’s pretty interesting, taking advantage there. It’s weird, too ’cause I sign everything. I’m not one of those people that’s like, “I’m sorry, I won’t sign that.” Source: Wizard magazine In: Detailed Battlestar Galactica News |Visit the HNR Forums

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