Exclusive: On Set With the Cast and Crew of 'Caprica' 
Roiz, Morales, Malcomson, Stoltz, Torresani, Apanowicz and Walker
By Robert Falconer | Thursday, October 8, 2009
The cast reveal their thoughts on Caprica
After our set tour, the press sat down for a Q&A session with the cast, specifically Sasha Roiz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Eric Stoltz, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz and Polly Walker. Also present was Syfy Exec VP of Original Programming, Mark Stern.
Fans who are wondering if Caprica will lighten up a bit after the darker themes of terrorism and death that were explored in the series opening, ought not to get their hopes up, as the show will still be dealing with the aftermath of the events depicted in the pilot.
"We have to take time with that, because we're finding these families post-trauma," revealed Paula Malcomson—who plays Amanda Graystone. "Their children have died. We don't want to sell those stories short, we want to let them breathe. So in some ways we're asking the viewers in the first 10 to stick with us. For my character it was difficult. I worried a lot about whether or not we could do this. Could we make people watch this woman in pain for so long? But what we're doing is ... our episodes [take place] a few days apart. It's not quite real time, but it's very, very close to that."
"I think that the back 10 are going to be a little bit different than what we've established in the first 10," she added, "in terms of we have to sort this out; the bombing, what comes from that, the fallout...we have to really make sure to do our due diligence with that. And these last 10, I think, start to pick up momentum for all the characters in terms of their M.O.'s and them being maybe more proactive."
"I will say that it's not 'bombing of the week ... let's watch al Qaeda now'," Mark Stern told the assembled journalists. "It is really about two families who are grieving, in very, very different ways...and that's very interesting to see. It's also interesting to see how that intersects. And then you have this whole other section of this world that involves Polly Walker and Sister Clarise and what she turns out to be, and where she's going ... So there's a whole other section of this world that we have yet to explore that the next batch of episodes really do start to delve into."
Asked about the overall complexities of working on Caprica, Paula Malcomson was blunt: "It's a shit storm," the actress said, prompting laughter from the room. "In the best possible way."
Esai Morales, who stars as Joseph Adama — father of Battlestar Galactica's character of William Adama — elaborated: "It's the growing pains of a show," he said. "People and characters we end up living with, we have to kind of iron out what makes emotional sense as well as what works for the writers."
Beginning 58 years before the events seen in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica tells the story of how Colonial humanity first created the robotic Cylons, who would later plot to destroy human civilization in retaliation for their enslavement. The series is preoccupied with a world intoxicated by success. The Twelve Colonies are at their peak, self-involved, oblivious and mesmerized by the seemingly unlimited promise of technology. Framed by the conflict between the Adamas and the Graystones over the resurrection of loved-ones lost in an act of terror, the series explores ethical implications of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.
___________________________
The series will premiere on Syfy Channel in the U.S. in January 2010.
The cast also discussed finding their characters in the context of a series format, beyond what was possible in the pilot.
"Certainly my character had quite a different ... we had many different things going on for her," said Paula Malcomson, "Amanda was initially having an affair with a character, and the relationship with her husband was certainly more strained. And the editors, in their wisdom, decided to take it out. So in some ways I was coming from what the show becomes ... so we were basically able to reconfigure these characters in our own imaginations, versus what we'd actually done with them. And it was really wise that they took out certain stories; it was an overload of information for certain characters. And we loved the idea that these people ... that my relationship with Eric's character of Dr. Graystone .... that they're very much together, that they've been through hardship — they've lost their kid — but as we start out this show, they've probably had these conversations—they've known each other 20 odd years. We just actually found that more exciting.
"It's been quite organic, how we've found it all," she added, "and I think the thing you hope for in a series is that the writers write to you ... and this is quite an interesting bunch of people ... and on further investigation you start to see how these pieces of information come out. It's a great cast to write for, I think ... so we hope they start writing for us [laughs]. I'm kidding. They are writing for us."
Eric Stoltz, meanwhile, was more circumspect concerning the evolution of his character. "To me, we haven't found it yet," he said. "It's a fluid process, and the interchange between us as actors within a scene, and between us and the writers...and with the directors, we're still sort of finding our sea legs. I can only equate it to a Dickens novel, where in each chapter you get a little more information, and you figure something out, and you try to make sense of a life, rather than having all the answers."
Regarding reacquiring cast chemistry for the series, well after the pilot has aired, Polly Walker acknowledged that it's always daunting after having been away from a property for awhile. "For me, anyway, it's always terrifying," Walker said. "You slowly sort of grow the skin back on. The first day you turn up you feel — well, I felt — utterly out of place, trying to remember who I was and what was my specific journey that I was starting. And by now I feel very comfortable, and I'm not angst-ridden. I think it's just the normal process of an actor. And these characters are just newly born, so you're growing onion skins."
Walker was also asked about where the enigmatic character of Sister Clarise is headed. "I'm kind of just going with the flow," she said. "I find out things slowly over time. I thought at the beginning that I was just this sort of religious teacher that had this sort of terrorist activity going on. And then I found out that I'm married to 10 men and women, so I had to take that onboard. And then each episode something else... It's kind of exciting and a wonderful opportunity for me, because I'm getting to play all kinds of things that I've only kind of imagined. I get to be really, really bad...and really, really violent...and also I believe myself to be some sort of a saviour. So it's fun to play someone who thinks they're really, really good... [lowers voice] but is actually really, really bad.
More with the cast on the next page...
After our set tour, the press sat down for a Q&A session with the cast, specifically Sasha Roiz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Eric Stoltz, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz and Polly Walker. Also present was Syfy Exec VP of Original Programming, Mark Stern.
Fans who are wondering if Caprica will lighten up a bit after the darker themes of terrorism and death that were explored in the series opening, ought not to get their hopes up, as the show will still be dealing with the aftermath of the events depicted in the pilot.
"We have to take time with that, because we're finding these families post-trauma," revealed Paula Malcomson—who plays Amanda Graystone. "Their children have died. We don't want to sell those stories short, we want to let them breathe. So in some ways we're asking the viewers in the first 10 to stick with us. For my character it was difficult. I worried a lot about whether or not we could do this. Could we make people watch this woman in pain for so long? But what we're doing is ... our episodes [take place] a few days apart. It's not quite real time, but it's very, very close to that.""I think that the back 10 are going to be a little bit different than what we've established in the first 10," she added, "in terms of we have to sort this out; the bombing, what comes from that, the fallout...we have to really make sure to do our due diligence with that. And these last 10, I think, start to pick up momentum for all the characters in terms of their M.O.'s and them being maybe more proactive."
"I will say that it's not 'bombing of the week ... let's watch al Qaeda now'," Mark Stern told the assembled journalists. "It is really about two families who are grieving, in very, very different ways...and that's very interesting to see. It's also interesting to see how that intersects. And then you have this whole other section of this world that involves Polly Walker and Sister Clarise and what she turns out to be, and where she's going ... So there's a whole other section of this world that we have yet to explore that the next batch of episodes really do start to delve into."
Asked about the overall complexities of working on Caprica, Paula Malcomson was blunt: "It's a shit storm," the actress said, prompting laughter from the room. "In the best possible way."
Esai Morales, who stars as Joseph Adama — father of Battlestar Galactica's character of William Adama — elaborated: "It's the growing pains of a show," he said. "People and characters we end up living with, we have to kind of iron out what makes emotional sense as well as what works for the writers."
Beginning 58 years before the events seen in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica tells the story of how Colonial humanity first created the robotic Cylons, who would later plot to destroy human civilization in retaliation for their enslavement. The series is preoccupied with a world intoxicated by success. The Twelve Colonies are at their peak, self-involved, oblivious and mesmerized by the seemingly unlimited promise of technology. Framed by the conflict between the Adamas and the Graystones over the resurrection of loved-ones lost in an act of terror, the series explores ethical implications of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.___________________________
The series will premiere on Syfy Channel in the U.S. in January 2010.
The cast also discussed finding their characters in the context of a series format, beyond what was possible in the pilot.
"Certainly my character had quite a different ... we had many different things going on for her," said Paula Malcomson, "Amanda was initially having an affair with a character, and the relationship with her husband was certainly more strained. And the editors, in their wisdom, decided to take it out. So in some ways I was coming from what the show becomes ... so we were basically able to reconfigure these characters in our own imaginations, versus what we'd actually done with them. And it was really wise that they took out certain stories; it was an overload of information for certain characters. And we loved the idea that these people ... that my relationship with Eric's character of Dr. Graystone .... that they're very much together, that they've been through hardship — they've lost their kid — but as we start out this show, they've probably had these conversations—they've known each other 20 odd years. We just actually found that more exciting.
"It's been quite organic, how we've found it all," she added, "and I think the thing you hope for in a series is that the writers write to you ... and this is quite an interesting bunch of people ... and on further investigation you start to see how these pieces of information come out. It's a great cast to write for, I think ... so we hope they start writing for us [laughs]. I'm kidding. They are writing for us."Eric Stoltz, meanwhile, was more circumspect concerning the evolution of his character. "To me, we haven't found it yet," he said. "It's a fluid process, and the interchange between us as actors within a scene, and between us and the writers...and with the directors, we're still sort of finding our sea legs. I can only equate it to a Dickens novel, where in each chapter you get a little more information, and you figure something out, and you try to make sense of a life, rather than having all the answers."
Regarding reacquiring cast chemistry for the series, well after the pilot has aired, Polly Walker acknowledged that it's always daunting after having been away from a property for awhile. "For me, anyway, it's always terrifying," Walker said. "You slowly sort of grow the skin back on. The first day you turn up you feel — well, I felt — utterly out of place, trying to remember who I was and what was my specific journey that I was starting. And by now I feel very comfortable, and I'm not angst-ridden. I think it's just the normal process of an actor. And these characters are just newly born, so you're growing onion skins."
Walker was also asked about where the enigmatic character of Sister Clarise is headed. "I'm kind of just going with the flow," she said. "I find out things slowly over time. I thought at the beginning that I was just this sort of religious teacher that had this sort of terrorist activity going on. And then I found out that I'm married to 10 men and women, so I had to take that onboard. And then each episode something else... It's kind of exciting and a wonderful opportunity for me, because I'm getting to play all kinds of things that I've only kind of imagined. I get to be really, really bad...and really, really violent...and also I believe myself to be some sort of a saviour. So it's fun to play someone who thinks they're really, really good... [lowers voice] but is actually really, really bad.
More with the cast on the next page...
In The Spotlight
This past Tuesday, CinemaSpy and several media outlets were treated to a behind-the-scenes peak at several Syfy Channel properties, including Stargate Universe, Caprica, Sanctuary and Alice. (Yours truly also detoured mid-afternoon to get a little peak at the sets of Fringe, including Walter's lab and the Massive Dynamic offices...though for the time being I've been sworn to secrecy about that).
Since CinemaSpy was already on the sets of Stargate Universe last month — and covered the series extensively (read more of last month's exclusive coverage here) — we won't be focusing on that element of the press tour in detail—though we will have an exclusive video interview with exec producer Robert Cooper for you in the next few days.
Have Your Say: Commentary, debate and opinion
(1 Comment)
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I still hope Ron Moore keeps writing his amazing scripts and that ex-BSG writers Toni Graphia, Mark Verheiden, Jeff Vlaming, and Michael Angeli come back. However, your piece gives me hope. Just hearing how the actors talk about their process and the fact that this season is building things slowly really makes me feel confident -- at least about the first 10 episodes that Ronald D. Moore said he's stay to oversee.
Much of Battlestar Galactica's decline in quality in the action-oriented episodes of Season 3 and all of Season 4 was due to Ron Moore writing fewer scripts from scratch and not rewriting people's scripts at all, allowing the quality to vary greatly. When Ron Moore stopped being as involved in the writing process and stayed with just editing, things got increasingly rushed with less and less space for the texture that had characterized Seasons 2 and especially 1. Season 4 was awful in places due to this fact and very much a lack of political commentary.
Reading that the first 10 episodes of Caprica are taking their time, I am filled with confidence in the series; that and Michael Taylor's involvement!
Thanks for interviewing the cast. Maybe do another one with the writers and SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS SERIES AMONG THE POLITICOS LIKE CHARLIE ROSE SO THIS DOESN'T GET CANCELLED DUE TO LOW VIEWERSHIP because the stereotypical sci fi fans (based on the success of crappy, dramatically weak shows like "Heroes", "Lost", and J.J. Abrams'"Star Trek") aren't big on drama. Let's bring in those who are!