An Evening with James Callis - the Panel: Part 2

Part 1 here, video here at Scifi-trek.de and audio here at VDV Magazine.

OK, I promised more chest hair. I can't find the exact spot on the video, but at some point he apparently got hot and the shirt kinda opened a bit and you can see more chest hair, so before we go to the serious and intellectual discussions of BSG, let's just have some eye candy.

Thanks for the photos to the lovely René Kissien of Caprica-City, as always.




Mmmm. Oh, James. Sweaty AND hot, that's...

OK, minds out of the gutter, girls. Let's get to business. First a note: [ev] means Eddie voice. I.e., Edward James Olmos voice. He does that so much that I actually need tags. :D Which is all kinds of awesome.

Asked if he's doing any theatre work right now:

No. Um, no. The last theatre work I did was a play in London called "Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight". [laughter] Again it was rather risqué. Basically, I ... Beginning of the play, I'm having sex with my girlfriend and we're really going for it, and whereupon... when she climaxes, she ... envokes... it's rather difficult to say.. but she basically says a racial slur while we're having sex. And I'm like, "What did you.. what did you just call me?" It's a brilliant play but it's a bit like Friends, and we're having such a bad time in our relationship that she decides to ring up her friend to counsel us through the problems we're having. So we were on this side of the stage, she rings up her friend, the lights come up on this side of the stage and suddenly we're in the light of her friend, who's having an affair with a gangsta. So it's a four-way conversation.

(Aha! He's describing how the stage was divided into three parts :D)

And these two people then can't sort out our problems, so she rings up her shrink, and the stage then splits up into three parts, and the shrink is having an affair with a man, and it ends up this six-way conversation between myself and my girlfriend, her friend and her gangsta boyfriend, and the shrink and his boyfriend, and... There's a lot of um.. I say something that gets misheard or misconstrued, a lot of... I don't know what they call that, but I say something intended for somebody, and it gets heard by somebody else, and there ends up being a big row, but in the end, everything works out nicely.

A bit like Friends, maybe more like Three's Company though. Seriously, this sounds like a great play. Talking about it, James looks amused and like he's got fond memories of it. There's an article here that mentions the (pretty bad) racial slur - James sounds like he wants to say it but can't, either because it offends him, or he's shy to mention an anti-Jew sentiment in Germany, or he's just too polite. I do wish I could see him in theatre, although there's a very tiny chance of that ever happening. I understand some of the Unofficial Website people have been to see his plays, to which I can only say: lucky bloody Londoners.

That's the last play I did. It's rather difficult getting into, back into theatre cos it's such a huge commitment. Yeah, I haven't even read any... any scripts for going back.. Oh no, one thing was presented to me that I didn't want to do, straight after Battlestar. It was like, will you be a almost 50-year-old short order chef? And I said no. No. What would I do that for? How would I get.. they said, "It's a perfect opportunity for you to be..." I said, "Yeah, to be fifty years old, and then never get a job as a thirty-year-old while I am in my thirties." So... didn't seem like a great idea at the time. Not as yet. If the right thing came along I'd do it, that's kind of where.. that's my background in that way. You don't start out doing television and films, you start out doing plays and theatre and that stuff.

He sounds a bit like he misses the theatre days, but maybe I'm just reading into his tone. Also, late thirties, James, late thirties. Closer to forty. I can tease since I'll be (gulp) thirty next month. But he definitely doesn't look anywhere near fifty. On the other hand, he did go and play an ancient grumbly Merlin right after BSG, so if he only gets roles as old, bearded, grumbly men with Welsh accents, he only has himself to blame.



A fan begins by asking if he's comfortable standing up. "Are you gonna stand up..."

All the time? I might as well, you know, cos I've been sitting down on a flight, and sitting down in a car. And I suppose... this is the thing whereby one is peripatetic when one moves between the great seas, so... forever? I suppose ocassionally, I was thinking about sitting down on the chair here, but then half the people in the back would have to stand up. So it's absolutely fine. If it doesn't make you uncomfortable, I'm not uncomfortable.

Peripatetic. A person who walks around. I had to ask kixxa about the word. You know, it's nice and considerate of him to explain "risqué", but it's kind of telling that he doesn't even seem to notice all the other big words. I love how animated he is in this panel (and most panels I've seen). He's constantly moving, talking with his hands, walking around. He has all that energy. Is it the caffeine? Or just his natural thing? (I had written "hair" instead of "chair". And it took me three reads to catch that. Freudian slip?) Edit: and it's peripatetic with an i in the middle, thanks to kixxa for the correction. I'm apparently in the slow class this week. :D

The actual question is what parts of himself he brought to the character. (James' face: Hmm, I like this question.)

Everybody on the show brought large elements of themselves to the character. it's kind of... I don't kjnow... It's not a historical drama. You're not playing anybody who really lived, so you don't have to be real or true to anybody's image or idea in that way. Everything's up for grabs. And I think about.. you know, when you asked me that question, I think about everybody in the cast. What would Adama be like if Eddie hadn't done it? Or what would Roslin be like if Mary hadn't done it? Everybody brings HUGE amounts of themselves to the party. Um... I suppose I just came with, um... [laughter; a guy comes up and moves the chair James was just talking about closer to the table.]

I'm just trying to think of the words... I wasn't so concerned, you see, I'm not from America, I'm from England. I was doing, as far as I was concerned initially, a science fiction.. show. I was like, OK. By then everybody was going crazy: [crazy voice] "I'm doing science fiction!" [jumps around madly] Alright, calm down, it's just a TV show. So what I wanted to be was and the way I was, as well, is slightly... I dunno what the word is.. It's not necessarily unconcerned, but nonchalant. Nonchalant in a way that .. the rest of the ppl who were incolved with Galactica, it's about Galactica, in that fashion, I would say American fashion: Go, army! And there was, I suppose, myself with my own sense of humour that finds that slightly ridiculous. So that would come into the um... in the fray.

OMG, thank you for saying that. Because I found the army aspect very American also, watching the show. Sometimes it would annoy me, even the fan-favorite phrase "So say we all". It's this spirit... it's a bit hard to pinpoint, and of course it may be necessary at war, but there's something American about the spirit of fighting an enemy together and being so proud of your own nationality.



Also: I love how he spins his sleeve at the elbow while thinking of a response. It's like his hand is thinking with him. (L)!

If I had to do ... If I had any control at all about anything, one of the things I wanted to do was not come across as malicious, cos I was playing a monstrous character already. It would have been very... kind of? easy to not give out so much, be a bit colder and a bit... and that was something I desperately didn't want to do. So that it was surprising. It was surprising that Gaius should actually admire someone like Laura Roslin. I'm thinking of other conventional dramas, I'm trying to be out for her and get her! That's not really the way...

Another thing I loved about BSG. It's not about good guys vs. bad guys, and Gaius was never the typical bad guy who just wants to hurt others and destroy all the plans of the good guys. Gaius never wanted to hurt anyone, he just got caught up in it. The good side of his narcissism was that he was totally self-sufficient in some way; he was happy with the life he had, as long as he had women and money and fame.

I came across this idea that basically, if he was as brilliant as he was supposed to be as a scientist, then one of the things that he absolutely wouldn't do is play politics, you know. Politics for me on some level is a game of "how am I gonna screw you? But I've also got to look over my shoulder right now, keep all my bases covered." I was like, if you're extraordinarily brilliant, then you won't give a.. give a flying hell about that kind of stuff. I don't have to look over my shoulder, you know, I don't have to... Gaius of course is looking over his shoulder, but that was about his self-preservation, not about politics. So I tried to make him... very much like a square peg in a round hole. Everybody else on the ship would know what buttons to press and what to do, and they knew wehere they were going, I'm going to the bridge... [walks around a bit in determined steps] and Gaius would have no idea.

We actually filmed lots of stuff with Gaius getting lost. [laughter] With several directors and several episodes, and I just got back from the producers like, "It's not funny. So what, we've got.. whatever it was, we've got only so much like 42 minutes, we need to show the drama. It's not dramatic having you getting lost every week." It was one of my fine ideas, you know, just constantly getting... [looks around confused] getting lost and.. yes, I suppose as well, becasue I didn't take the genre very seriously before I came involved with it, I wanted to have a lugh. Let's do the thing that is possibly the most inappropriate thing to do, because that will get a reaction. So I remember there was one scene where Gaeta says something about, you know, billions of people have died, which is you know... what would you do? And it could be his fault. I remember making this face... [makes the face he made in the miniseries; shrugs shoulders and rolls eyes. It still looks hilarious. Laughter] I was like, who'd make a face like that? if you really were.. it was like.. don't do the thing that you would do.

I kinda would have liked to see the bits where he gets lost. It sounds pretty funny. And it would have been a nice parallel to those later scenes where he walks around the cylon baseship getting lost.

I just had to make a few screenshots of him doing that face, and it probably looks crappy next to René's beautiful pictures but here goes:

This is actually as well, now you're making me think... Not just something I brought to the party, but [my family knew somebody] in London who I really respect. He's a brilliant writer, and he's a really briliant doctor. And he happens to be the worst liar I've ever met. So he's really brilliant but he's utterly transparent, and I really wanted to make Gaius a bad liar, so it's like "I'm sure this guy's lying to me", but there's nothing that they can do or say. You think, "If that guy were straight, would he really give me an answer like that?" And that's something I wantd to bring to the party, that he was a really bad liar. And I think he was, I look back at certain things and I'm like, "Oh *I* don't believe me, so how do they believe me?" Part of the fun...

I suppose as well to have as much fun as was humanly possible and as I could. You know, when Americans play the president, there's a big deal there, like they're taking on the mantle of something terribly important and very serious. It goes thru their history and the constitution, it's not to be taken lightly. When I played the president, I just drank a lot, slept with prostitutes and took drugs. [laughter] And it was like, "How could you do that, you're the president?" Yeah, you know... ok..[shrugs] So I suppose I took everything with a pinch of salt, which was quite helpful. Does that answer the qestion? I bet it's answered not just that question but loads of other questions as well.

Finland has a president, but s/he (right now it's a she) doesn't really have a lot of power. So maybe the idea of American presidents - which is like a personal cult more than just reverence - seems a little different from a Finnish perspective as well. The real power lies with the government and that's the whole "corrupt politicians" thing. It's interesting that while the Americans may think of politicians like James does - i.e. that it's a bit of an ugly, dishonest game - a lot of them think very highly of the president and his integrity. But come on, if Gaius Baltar were a president, wouldn't he do just that? Would his moral fiber suddenly add up 100 % and make him straight-backed and non-narcissistic? It's amusing really that they'd say that.

The lying aspect is really amusing and one of the things I enjoy the most in the earlier seasons. Why would anyone believe him? I guess he can, to some extent, fool the military types with his science babble and obviously invented words thrown in there, but still. His expressions give him away.

The next question is, what was Gaius' goal or aim? Did he have a long-term plan? (James' face: hmmm, I don't really know how to answer this question)

I really don't know. It's a good question, but I think in that way.. He never had a long term plan, he couldn't. His whole thing was like, how am I surviving from one second to the next? There was never anything that he could really put into action, some plan, a long way down the line. He was just flying by the seat of his pants every minute of every day, and I... I don't know wha the wanted.. I suppose... like anybody living in some kind of dreadful nightmare, what you want is on some level is to go to sleep, and then when you wake up, it will all be... like you will be back in Caprica and the bombs haven't started and you're not part of it. You want the impossible, and therefore you clog your mind and your life with everything you an do to.. it's about, on some level , it's about living in the now, living right now. Then you're less afraid about other stuff and your demons that are chasing you constantly.

I like this answer. I think he doesn't have any real answer to the question, but he still manages to make it pretty deep.

A question about Taking a Break From All Your Worries, and how that episode was shot. This is awesome.

("Must be clean-shaven, you'll look a lot nicer!")

Yeah, it was an amazing episode to do. It was amazing also because Eddie was directing it. What happened then? I think we filmed it after the summer hiatus, so we'd had four weeks away and... I'd come back with a thick beard that I wanted cos I was like... We weren't the first to the idea of you know... lifting things iconically from the headlines, and I was like you know, several people are like, what about Saddam Hussein when he got caught in his... I dunno what they call it, in his fox hole, or rat hole. So I was like, yeah, let's be looking a bit like this. And several people were like this, "No no no, mustn't mustn't! Must be clean shaven, must be! You look a lot nicer!" it's not about looking a lot nicer the guy's a war criminmal and.. so we really went there.

And I think we really, as well, we went to this place, this really dark place, in a big scene that they had written, where I'm confronted by Laura Roslin and she basically, in the script, BREAKS me! BREAKS ME! And I was like, excuse my French, fuck off! No, she's not going to break me. I've been thru hell and high water, I've tried to hang myself. I've tried to do so many... This woman screaming at me means nothing, so you try and break me. And then suddenly everybody's, "No! That's what it says in the script! We have to do what it says in the script!" I'm like, "No, I don't have to do whatever I don't want to do. I don't!" Mary was getting very irate, going over to Eddie going, [in American accent; the first part is a bit mumbled] "? ? it says in the script he falls down in the corridor and breaks down, he cries." I'm like, "Well, you do something then that's really gonna make me do that." And then Eddie was saying to me, [ev] "It's written this way, give us something, you've gotta break..." [/ev] So I said, Eddie, you're a man, aren't you? And I'm a man too. So if somebody comes up to you and they're giving you all this crap, what are you gonna do? Listen, I'll do it if you do it first. You break down like a little girl right now and like slide against the corridor. Let me see you go that way. let's see it.

("She just BREAKS me!")

He went, "OK. Give her hell!" [laughter] Which I'm not sure he told Mary. And we went for each other in this room, cos essentially what she wanted was... That's all that thing about throwing those photographs at me, have you seen this one, have you... What she was in, that... as it were, like a train on a track, she's following the lines of the script: the more I carry on this line, this guy will break down against the corridor and simper like a little girl. And what she got me was going utterly crazy back at her, to the extent of.. it was...possibly the closest thing to like a real row. And watching back that scene is an entry?. I can't hear what she's saying I can hear what I'm saying. And that's very interesting; it doesn't really matter. It's about the raw emotions kicking up. I'm not giving her the satisfaction, which is what she wants.. Just because it's written that way doesn't mean that it's gonna play out that way. I imagine in a lot of other shows, in a lot of other circumstances, that's possibly when I'd have got my marching orders. "You don't wanna say what we've written for you? Guess what? Meet hte airlock, James!" [laughter] "That's it, bye!" But we all had a lot of lee.. everybody wanted the best from one another. And... yes, I felt very much like, I suppose, that was one of my big episodes, big chances to really show...

I didn't want to cry like a girl in front of her, because she didn't actually get it out of me. I was like, you know something, this guy cries for himself because of what he's been involved with. It actually cheapens him in a big way, you're not going to get the sympathy for this man if he cries like a girl in the corridor. No. He actually has to shout and scream back at her and try to punch her face off. Then you might actually have some respect for him. Um.. And so ... That was actually the spring board for the whole of the episode.

He sounds very passionate when he talks about this. I love when he talks about his vision, his idea of how Baltar would react. He really thinks of these things deeply, and I'm always grateful and happy hearing about his influence. I'm trying to imagine the scene with him crying, and I think I would have felt the compassion anyway. It would still have been powerful. However, given his growth, the baseship, the suicide attempt... I think he's right: Baltar's already been broken, he needs to get stronger now and hold his own. Awesome.

The beard: honestly, I hate it. It ages him and makes him look not like himself. BUT I must grudgingly admit it fits that phase in Baltar's development. I'm glad it was only a couple of episodes, is all I can say.

Yes, Eddie wantd me to be in the shark tank at the Vancouver Aquarium. He was convinced, convinced, that he'd make one phone call and we'd be in. He was like, [ev] "Are you good with sharks? You don't have to worry bc I will be in th shark tank with you." [/ev] [he pretends to look at someone all weirded out. Guh so cute.] What are you talking about, Eddie? I'd actually just been to the Vancouver Aquarium, because like I said, we've got children and we take them there. You can't sneeze over the shark tank. If you do, you're like lifted out of there... "You're contaminating the sharks!" You can't put your hands over the barrier of the shark tank.

There was one lady who dropped, I think, a pair of glasses in like the dolphin pool. She was arrested. It was a mistake, but she was arrested! And the dolphins were siphoned out into another pool while their whole thing is totally turned over with.. whatever it is, chlorine or whatever.. and then they're allowed back in, because even like one pair of glasses [shows his own for emphasis] could contaminate the water. I told Eddie that. I said, that's one pair of glasses, Eddie. And now it's you and me and the film crew in the shark tank.[laughter] Are you nuts? It's never gonna happen! Actually I should have put a bet on it, because I would have won. It didn't happen.

What we then did was, he went like, "OK, what about snakes?" OK, snakes, [go and get a snake]. Surprisingly, or as if not surprisingly, we couldn't get any snakes. Nobody who was a snake wrangler actually wanted to use their snakes in this. So I don't know if you've seen this, but it was not a real snake in the tank. I don't.. It was so dark that you may not even have seen that that was what was going on, but it was really, I think, you know, am dram, amateur dramatic. It was like a few coat hangers stuck together with cellotape and like a woolly sock stcuk over them. And like this man in the tank very near me going, "oooo..." [laughter] Eddie went, "You're terrified, you're terrified! Scream!!" I'm like oh.. god...[amused voice] boohoo help me help me! So and.. I suppose that was.. That was a difficult day flming in the tank. That was finished when we didn't do the sharks and had this fake snake.. fake snake [smiles].

Edit: "siphoned" edited in thanks to kixxa, see comments below. :D An interesting word choice - I thought it meant fabric?

I love how much he enjoys word play. He has to stop and repeat "fake snake". Maybe he loves words, like me. These are the little things that make me love him more.



It's hilarious about the snake, and I don't think I actually saw it in the darkness. It's weird that the darkest, most depressing episode would be so comical to shoot. Maybe he also likes to talk about the comical aspects to keep the darkness and the memory of it all somewhat out of his mind.

I guess I could see how a pair of glasses would contaminate the tank, because glasses must have germs from behind your ears, as well as from your temples (sweat and all that). But arresting someone for that? What's the charge? Attempted murder of dolphins?

And the episode finished off with me being stabbed thru the neck by Alessandro. Where those really simple things... An interesting thing, they planned it, they said, "the plan is.." you know I had to write something for Alessandro, something about.. some algorithms.

Wasn't it his - or the cylons' - calculations of how they'd get to Earth? It didn't seem to matter very much in the end, did it?

I really love how he goes over the whole episode. It seems to have been a particularly meaningful one for him (and for good reason).

And they said, "Listen, the whole scene has to be on the floor. You have to be on the floor doing this." And uh.. This is an interesting thing about my acting or performing. If you get on the floor like this [gets on the floor] and having a conversation isn't civil. There's nothing civil about it. I look like some kind of cave man with drawings. What's really fascinating is if you're in a prison and it's like, I dunno, several prisoners spring to mind that are on the news all the time, at some high security thing.. that people still have the air of civility like they're in the outside world. You have a table and chairs. But it's all wrong. It's like at any moment, gods can come in and take the chair away, and you're back in your cell. I was like, if I'm going to give something to this guy, then there has to be some form of creature... I have to believe in my mind that there's some air of civility about it. If you want me to draw a map on the wall and you're not gonna see the connection.

A simple thing like that took something like an hour and a half or two housr discussion. [ev] "It has to be on the floor" [/ev] "I can't do it ont he floor. [ev] "No, it has to be on the floor" [/ev] "I can't do it on the floor." Little things like that and then you see the scene back, it's like.. I'm really glad we stuck up the table and chair.. the simplest thing like table and chairs can change practically everything.

So... It was a great episode to be directed by him cos he can really go to those places and he really.. We followed him to god only knows where, Eddie. Cos he really is quite amazing and a very powerful man. When he has an idea, when he wants us to do something, also he has this beautiful, artistic view, his mis-en-scene, the way he creates things. And he's very friendly and he's been schooled on some level by this guy called Bob Young, who's one of the first documentary makers. And this is a phrase I had never heard before Battlestar, but they were constantly talking about the psychological truth. The psychological truth of the matter. I know you've written this, but what's the psychological truth? Where's this one coming from, where's that one coming from? And that word was nearly always bounced around in any.. nearly heated arguments. And it would always be the decider, wherever the psychological truth landed is actually what we would film or what we'd gravitate towards.

That's very interesting. I think it's a way of making a show that is truly character-based, and this is one of the strengths of BSG. You can tell they really thought about these things before shooting them, and the actors were on board with giving the characters realistic and relatable emotions.

I suppose like anybody in that show, what you're trying to do... Cos you're trying to make it look as real as possible and not like acting. Being tortured like that was .. that was horrible for everybody. There are some of the scenes you love to do, you could do them again and again and again and again. Some witty line you have to say, something funny.. some clever thing you're doing with a prop and whatever... These are things that you just like, you know you're gonna do them again and again so they get the shot on me, the shot on Mary and Eddie and the ? and everything.. and it's like pulling teeth. It's a real... you're obviously not being tortured but you're going thru something that's like.. you're waiting for a bell to go on and them to say "stop" and that's the same for like.. everybody involved.

It's torture to watch it, too. I love those episodes in one way. They show James' range so well, and they're so ... realistic on some level. Yet I can barely watch them again, because I can't stand to see him in pain. It really becomes tangible and becomes my pain, and that's when I have to just turn it off. Torture can very easily be comical if the actors and directors don't know what they're doing. If the emotion is too overdone, the music is too loud and booming, the moral dilemmas are presented too obviously, it's just a disaster. I think this is something that only the most intelligent shows should attempt, in that way. BSG did it well and that's one of the great things about the show, even if I hate watching those episodes.

It's funny that he says "you're waiting for a bell to go on", because while he's saying this, there are church bells in the background. Maybe the same ones he heard on his way there?

[The next question is quite long. During it, James sits down, takes a sip of water and takes off his coat. Mm chest hair... He rolls up his sleeves as the fan explains that he was unsure at first about the new BSG bc he loves the old one, but he's grown to love it. James looks happy about the reaction.]

The questions are if James has seen the old show and if he tried to be like John Colicos while playing Baltar; and how he felt about playing the scenes on New Caprica in the beginning of season one.

(Adorable boyish smile, after the first sentence below..)

I'll answer the first bit first, if I remember it. [laughter] Of course I've seen John Colicos, he's like an icon, legendary. Who's going tgo forget John Colicos, if you've seen the original? What a mean.. like.. what a bad guy! And I always joke that there was practically no incentive for his character to want to sell out the human race. I used to joke that he'd ben offered a bathrobe by the cylons, some monogrammed bathrobe that said "Baltar", [laughter] He's like [silly voice] "OK, I sell out [?] but I do get this bathrobe, it's pretty nice."

So from the very onset I didn't want to be on Battlestar Galactica, I was surprised that I was given the scirpt. My first time in Los Angeles, I was like, "I don't want to do this! Why would I want to do this.. and it's for the part of Baltar? Why would I want to do that? That's revolting, this revolting man!" So I just wanted to be as different as I possibly could from... him. I was lucky cos the writers had written Number Six, and therefore they'd given Baltar some motivation in our show for why he'd sold the defense codes or.. what he'd done. Which is not there in the original.

I must say I don't think much of the original, based on what I've heard. Especially Baltar, I mean why would you just have a bad guy be plain bad and just sell out everyone for no reason? It's his world being destroyed too, isn't it? But I haven't seen it, so as usual, I'll try to be civil about the original. It did inspire the new show, and James sounds genuinely impressed with John Colicos' acting. And as always, I must mention how similar a name James Callis is to John Colicos. I also think it's amusing that Jon Cryer auditioned for Baltar. Is there some rule about initials JC?

And I also started off on the first day with an American accent. I decided it would be a bit more like everyone else in the show...
[in an American accent] Why should I be the only guy on the show who had an English accent? I started like this on the chair and I was doing that interview and I was like, "Thank you Kellen...Well you know, the thing..." The director Michael Rymer ran out, "What the hell are you doing?" I said, "Well, I've you know, it's months since the autidions, I've decided that I'm gonna be like everyone else." "Yeah well, decide again, you're not! We can't have that, can't have that at all!" I'm like, "It's gonna stick out like a sore thumb if I'm the only English guy." He went, "No no no, that's why we cast YOU. We want you to do what you were doing, that's why you got the part. And you won't have the part if you put on an American voice. I don't want your character to do any posturing, I don't want it to look like you're acting. I want it to be the most natural thing for you."

Because he knew even then, "The audience are going to see Galactica thru your eyes. You're like the touchstone. And if you're not on.. if you're too... much like something or like a stereotype, then suddenly you've become not real or natural and can't... we've lost all sympathy for you totally. I think it was a good decision.

Hee! His American accent isn't bad, but it always sounds like he's putting it on, and that would have destroyed Baltar a little, I think. Besides, his British accent is very sexy. ;) I do think they explained it well in the later seasons: he's from Aerilon and his accent is an imitation of a Caprican accent, not a real Caprican accent. It makes perfect sense to me now.

So that's the one-hour spot. He continues with the second question, which is very important stuff, but I'll divide the posts here. I'm actually almost done with the third post as well, so expect it soon.

More Interview Snippets From the Jules Verne Festival

This seems to be Mary, Jamie, and James answering the same questions.

Transcript (James only):

I didn't want to be the character. I wanted to be Jamie's character, but he'd already been cast as Apollo. I wanted to be Apollo. I was like hey, I wanna be the good guy, I don't want to be this douchebag. And they were like.. everybody [in America?] was like, but you'll be perfect!I'm like what do you mean, you don't even know me, what do you mean I'd be perfect for this guy?

Can you imagine James as Apollo? Honestly, I don't think he would have been suitable. No offense to Jamie, but there's something very... conventional about Apollo and his father-son relationship issues and his looks and everything. I think James is unconventional and has something different about him, and he suits the anti-hero role much better.

I'd done Bridget Jones' Diary. Funnily enough, just this morning when getting on the Eurostar someone came up, "Are you on.. you're on something, I've seen you. " I said, "Battlestar Galactica." She went, "Battle-what?"(befuzzled look) And I went, "Um, maybe you saw me in Bridget Jones." (acts excited) "Oh my god, yes! Bridget!" I was like, "Yeah, well, that's it."

I get that reaction from my friends too. BSG? "No, I don't watch that kind of stuff." Bridget Jones? "Oh, THAT guy!" It's a shame, because while BJD is a decent enough comedy and James did a good job on the role, Tom is not much of a character in the film. I'm frankly surprised people remember him by it - speaks volumes of how well he played the part.

So I'd done BJD. I don't know, a lot of people thought I was gay, cause I played the gay friend. I would get a lot of offers for... not a lot of others, that's not true, a few coming through: "Hey, you could be the gay friend in this show." And then I read this script, and it was like, he's in bed with this woman, he's kissing this one.. I was like.. I'll do it, I'll do this one right now.

*Tries to imagine James playing "the gay friend" on various shows.* OK, that was not a pleasant mental image. Sadly, the token gay friend roles mostly suck, and if he had done even one more, I suspect the British audience would have forever stamped him as the funny gay sidekick. I'm glad he had the sense to keep out of that.

It's a wonderful part to play. As an actor, you want to have on some level as many different... *I* wanted to have as many different... colors as I could have in this thing. And I also was... I'm interested in acting, not interested in being a hero or being a good guy, but I get to America sometimes, I know these people who are like.. I think they think acting is all about being... (poses with a stern look) No, that's.. So I don't mind going to those places where I think you as an audience... you're revolted by this man.

I wonder if this is one of the key differences between American and British films and TV. American films will have heroes and British films will have anti-heroes. Even within the same genre, you can see a difference. Take something like Sex and the City versus the aforementioned Bridget Jones' Diary. Somehow, British TV is full of loser protagonists. I should look deeper into this sometime.

I'm actually really impressed by some American shows recently though, because there's been a break from that routine. The Sopranos is a good example: a show with nothing but selfish, petty, greedy, lying, cheating characters. You despise them and yet you feel for them and even root for them when things go wrong. Because we're all pretty rotten inside on some level. You can relate to people whose bad sides are out in the open. And when people like that do something good, it has more of an effect on you as a viewer than when the heroes do it. You expect Apollo to help people and be courageous, but when Baltar does that, it really makes you think and question who he is as a character. Which is, I guess, what James was saying in some of the stuff in my previous post.

More Jules Verne transcripts coming soon!

James Callis at the Jules Verne Festival

Last updated on Saturday, 2nd May, at 7:05 PM Finnish time.

Photo by Benelie at 3xcusemyfrench. Click for larger size and see more pictures in the link. He is gorgeous!

Latest updates:

The press conference is online at 3xcusemyfrench! Great quality video with English subtitles for Jamie, thank you so much for that. Transcripts later.

Press photos at Cinema-France.

Photos, videos from the event and a transcript of the main event interview in French here.

And lots of more videos at my Youtube - I haven't made a playlist yet, they're all in my favorites so far, and there may be duplicates. There are also other videos, which are more like paparazzi stuff: James by the car, looking uncomfortable and wanting to leave as people push cameras in his face. I will not link to videos like that. I know it was in a public place and lots of people had cameras, but if it's obvious that someone doesn't want to be filmed, leave him alone. James is a nice guy and he wasn't rude in any of the videos, but you could sense that he wasn't comfortable with this. Not cool.

Thursday's photos:

More photos by Aurelianne!

Another picture at flickr.

And even more photos by Benelie at her gallery.

Transcripts of the Q&A bits that aren't transcribed below (see the bottom of the post - there really wasn't much missing).

Part 2 at the French site:
The question is what resources they used as actors, because the characters are so versatile: "Sometimes we think they are heroes, and sometimes there are so many weaknesses - (at James) especially you." (all the actors laugh)

Mary says it's on the page, in the writing, and since the actors were so incredible, it's not hard to lift yourself (se lever) on their level.

James starts in French: "Et moi, je n'ai pas des resources. Je me leve, je suis Gaius." (And I was able to parse this with a little help from Daniela. We're good!) I think it means: "As for me, I don't have any resources. I lift myself, I am Gaius." The audience applauds and laughs until James gestures them to quiet down. He looks happy with the reaction, though. I knew he knows some French! You can also tell he understands what Jamie says.

"What I would say is that.. to agree with Mary, it was on the page. But also, to extend also on what Jamie said, the family element of when we were working on the set. I've never had so much fun or been so supported by so many people. And the resources that we're drawing on, it's not just the script, it's the directors, it's the producers, it's your other actors, who are constantly wanting you to play your A-game and wanting you to get there. And the set and design and the CGI too, weave us into the fabric of the world. We have been buoyed up on air by a wonderful cast and generous wonderful people. That's all the resources, I think, that we have drawn on."

In the same vein, part 4, they are talking about how the cast became so close to each other:

"I must say I agree with Jamie, and the words of Henry the fifth echo in my mind about, "we band of brothers". The thing is, I think, initally as well, that when we set out to do this thing, I think a lot of people in America and perhaps around the world thought that BSG and the remake of it was a bit of a joke. Which we certainly didn't feel. But we were removed from the rest of the world, we were in Vancouver. And also we weren't doing it for the rest of the world, on some level we were doing it for ourselves, we acted with each other in this hermetically sealed set. And I don't think we necessarily knew that there was going to be a future of the show afterwards. But there was. And we are connected to each other in a very special way, because it's like now, being part of Galactica is a badge of honor, but we were all there from the beginning. And we were all there for each other from the beginning. It's just a tremendous [boom?]...and as they say [?something in French?] like the rest of the world has enjoyed the agonies and the extacies that we put ourselves thru, a special bond. I can only say like Jamie said, it's like soldiers coming home from the war, we'll be close to each other in a way forever."

It's funny to think of Galactica as war (even if the show was very much about war), but it does seem like the cast became unusually close to each other. It's a beautiful idea that they still like each other so much. Sometimes you hear of those shows where the cast really dislike each other and have to pretend to be in love and stuff. All of the friendships and especially couples on the show had great chemistry together, and I think that kind of thing comes only from the actors liking each other as people. It's impossible to fake something like that, and I believe it's part of the reason that fans also get that warm family feel and want to return to the show and its world, even if it's so bleak in many other ways.

Tuesday's updates part 2:

On this page, "Gonzo" has a few notes on the press conference. Mary apparently said that she saw James and Jamie become fathers to five children altogether, and she feels like the kids' grandmother.

James Callis rit et Jamie lui dit : "You told us in the miniserie that we must start making babies!"

"James Callis laughed and Jamie told him..." Hee :D

Out of the Jules Verne characters, James prefers Captain Nemo. There's something about Nemo being the son of an Indian raja, and James made some joke about that it seems, but I don't really get the French there. I also think it says that James can't keep serious for more than two minutes at a time. Hee!

More pictures here.

First Tuesday updates:
A photo with James, Jamie and his wife (whose name is actually Kerry, not Kelly), with a fan, here.

This French site has videos of the entire Q&A (complete with French translations) and their arrival and departure on the red carpet. I'll be transcribing more this evening, there are some more quotes from James. I won't be transcribing Mary and Jamie this time, especially since Jamie speaks French throughout, and mine is a bit rusty. (See at the end of the post for the transcripts so far.)

In the first video, which is their departure, James comes out and signs some autographs. The handlers are rushing him to go, so he finally agrees to, but then shouts to the people, "Pardon! You're not gonna cry?" looking genuinely worried and sorry. Awww, our soft-hearted boy!

Some photos here, along with a blog post in French. I think it says they were very sympathetic, Jamie's French was great, and they offered some nice insights to the show.

Some photos on this forum page, again in French. They were very friendly, greeted everyone and signed quite a lot of autographs.

A huge picture and some more discussion in French here. Some stuff on James:

James Callis a ésquivé deux trois fois le micro. J'avais l'impression d'avoir le Gaius Baltar du début de la série. Sinon trés sympa et un peu fatigué.

Tout les trois ont recu un prix et ont posé pour tout le monde. Ensuite chacun a fait un ptit discour. James Callis a été interrompu par la traductrice qui ne suivait pas. Il avait l'air énervé d'avoir été coupé par la traductrice lol. Mais pas facile pour elle je pense donc quand meme chapeau a elle meme si j'ai pas saisi le message de James a la fin (qui avait l'air interressant).

My high school French fails me, but I think it says that James seemed annoyed to have to pause for the interpreter. You can tell in some of the below videos that it really didn't go seamlessly with that. James had to re-read the last line of his quote in the acceptance speech. I think he seemed unused to being interpreted and wasn't really sure how much to say at once, or was a bit nervous about the speech anyway and it threw him off. I don't think he was annoyed to be intrepreted per se.

Original post from Monday:

This past weekend, James Callis received the Jules Verne award for his work on Battlestar Galactica. Some time ago, James told us about this in a post at the Unofficial website forum, and he sounded genuinely delighted and excited. Mary McDonnell and Jamie Bamber were also awarded at the same event.

And James looked so damn gorgeous. His hair! It's fluffy again! And he's scruffy! Eeee! *jumps at James and licks him* Sorry. I just spent the weekend with my cousin and her very friendly and enthusiastic dog, so I've learned bad manners there. But I know there's been a collective heat wave on the fandom at twitter at least, so it's not just me.

So, before we go deeper into what he said, some photos to prove my point above!

James arriving at the festival on Friday, the 24th:
Pictures at Zimbio: here, here, here , here and here.
Photo at Flickr.

Photos from the press conference with James, Mary and Jamie.

There will be longer videos of the press conference, but there are two short ones here.
Thanks to Daniela and M for finding some links while I was out! :)

OK, then for the deeper stuff: there are already some videos up on Youtube. They are from the actual event on Sunday. You can check my channel for briefer clips, but I'll transcribe the James bits in the longer ones. His comments are very touching, and I (almost) forgot about his gorgeous hair while listening to them. I'm so proud of him for getting this award, and for his work in BSG, and most of all for his humanity. *sniffle*

This video shows them enter the stage, and some of the Q&A session.

"Myself, I'd just arrived... [There's a problem with the microphone or sth?] Somebody out there doesn't like me. (laughter) I'd just arrived in Los Angeles, and I received a script, and my manager said, 'You would be perfect to play Gaius Baltar.' And I was like, I don't know if he knows me very well, cos that guy is like a real douchebag. (laughter) So I kind... of resisted it, and then went to lots and lots of auditions. I was cast and... that's my story."

That's the short version at least - he's told the story many times, in many ways, so I pretty much know it by heart by now. Maybe he's a bit tired of telling it, as he cut it so short. Also in this video: Jamie Bamber speaks really good French. I'm impressed, and James and Mary look like they are too. I thought James knew a little French - he seems to sprinkle it here and there in his posts online - but apparently it's either not good enough or he's not confident enough to actually speak it in this setting. My French is a bit rusty, but I can tell Jamie's talking about the relationship between father and son.

"From the sublime to the ridiculous... Probably the most harrowing moment for me was taking somebody's knickers, I just can't remember whose they were. (laughter) No, that's a joke. The whole thing for Gaius has been... he's been through the mill, he's been through like, I don't know, an emotional, psychological obstacle course or missile course. I couldn't particularly draw out one moment in time that was more harrowing than the last. But I would also echo Jamie in saying that... The ending of the man, he finally became something that he had so wanted to be.

And also as acotrs, it was... I was discussing this just yesterday, we were finishing the show, and it was goodbye, and when I was standing in that field saying, you know, goodbye... It really hit me thru the head like a brick, and... The acting was, I don't know if that was acting, cos I just burst into tears, cos I was so upset to leave... leave this incredible thing that had enhanced and changed my life in so many ways."

If he's referring to the moment in the field when Gaius says, "You know, I know about farming" and Six just comforts him - best. Crying scene. Ever. Hands down. I'm not too surprised to hear it was genuine, because that was so beautifully done, subtle, and really felt real. It was one of the most touching and defining Baltar moments. And I also love that he became the man he wanted to be - a brave, respected, forgiven and loved man; a man who wasn't alone anymore.

In another video, James describes Gaius:

"I was just going to say, Gaius Baltar has an album coming out soon, (laughter) it's a remake, it's called Oh Lords of Kobol, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. (laughter, applause) You know, he's the wrong gaius at the wrong time in the wrong place. (laughter) And how would you describe this man? He.. (Mary whispers something in his ear) he starts... Thanks, Mary. (laughs)

He starts out with... Because he's so selfish, with very little idea of anybody else that, you know, doesn't hold up the mirror to his own reflection, cos he's so desperately narcissistic. And through his banality and his mistakes, he actually goes on an extreme learning curve and tries to find some of that humanity that, I don't know, the arrogance in his head could have obliterated beforehand. So he's in denial, he's scared, he's ashamed. He hasn't had the greatest time aboard the Galactica. And... I suppose he is constantly in search of some small kernel of redemption or salvation. If he could only turn back time, but he can't. Thank you." (applause)

I suppose he's said all of these things before, but I always feel like, when he describes Gaius, something new comes out, like a new angle to it or at least a new way of saying things. He captivates me, I want to listen and learn from his way of thinking and seeing the character. There's also the challenge of transcribing someone who uses pretty complex English. I really enjoy piecing together what he's saying. His accent and word choices constantly challenge me, and I think it's good for me especially now that I don't have a translating job to work on.

This video shows them receiving the statues, and some answers to questions.

"As far as I'm aware, I think that we're the only species on the planet that alters the environment to suit us. Every other species adapts themselves to the environment. So this is a problem that we have, a problem of our own ingenuity, and I think I said this yesterday, the problem with our progress... Basically, you know, on a really basic level, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing I can ever depend on is another human being, really. That's it. All we have is each other. And we have these discussions, as we did on the show for so long, that you know, governments all around the world are spending billions and billions of dollars making weapons, to protect ourselves from each other. This is raving mad. What could that money be used for? How can we [??] our lives [?] We've only got each other. Let's cut through the differences and let's find the similarities. And that's our future, hopefully."

Sniff! Sorry about the question marks - he sounds like he's very moved here, and perhaps some words become garbled because of that.

I'm always very moved myself to hear James talk about humanity: how we need each other and need to understand each other. It seems to be a very important theme for him; I remember he's brought it up many times before. He has a diplomatic outlook on life, and that's something I admire very much. I think fanaticism and trying to force everyone to think and live like you are things that breed war and oppression. On the other hand, trying to understand others and see our similarities as human beings will breed peace and tolerance. This is also, at least in my view, a very central theme on BSG.

James' acceptance speech:

"I thought I'd write something down. I'm actually gonna quote somebody else, cos I can't be trusted to be too serious for too long. So this ties in with our show and the extraordinary Jules Verne Film Festival, and what it sets out to do: on some level, to change the consciousness of the world. So I'm going to quote to you something from Robert Kennedy.

Each time a man stands up for an idea or acts to improve the lot of others
or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.
And crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring,
Those ripples build up a current
Which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

He's self-deprecating, as always, but I think he can be very serious and very deep, and usually is. He has a beautiful mind, and he thinks about things on a very deep level, and you can tell that in basically all interviews. Maybe BSG has been one of the things that has broadened his thinking and opened new horizons.

Sniff. I'm just so proud of him.

James on the TV Guide Cover!

So it's obviously Sexy James Photos Week. Sorry, Google blogsearch, that's Sexy James CALLIS Photos Week. TV Guide has him in the cover, looking awesome and intense with two very sexy ladies, and his hair is looking really good this time. It looks like a very recent photo, with a similar (but better-looking) hairdo as that to the MegaCon one. See also: video above (if you find embedded videos annoying, try the direct link here) and more photos from the shoot online here.

James is really good in these photo shoots. Not only does he look great, but he can really flirt with the camera. Tricia's a former model, so I'm not surprised she feels at home in these shoots, but she and James play so well together that you'd think they're both models. I will really miss their chemistry together. They obviously like each other very much and have so much fun together. Sniff, don't break up my favorite TV couple! Give them their own series!

Tricia, Katee and Mary are all looking very classy and sexy, and even if I'm no A/R shipper, Eddie and Mary's shots together are very sweet. But what's up with Eddie's mullet? (Have I really taken up calling him Eddie?) I'm also intrigued as to why these exact actors. Eddie and Mary, OK, Tricia and Katee, OK. But, even if I love James and I know he's top seven and all, is he now more central than Jamie and Grace? This is interesting. It might be a hint of "the shape of things to come" in terms of the conclusion of the series. Or it might not be. I'm hoping Baltar will be very important, but we'll see.

Movie Ideas For James...

Now that James is done with BSG, he's free to do just anything, and I have a few good ideas on how he can spend the rest of his career! These movies will surely make him the shiniest star in Hollywood or wherever. I have another idea which is a bit longer, so I'll make another post about it later.

Farmyard Follies - Depressed Dorset dairy farmer Willy Kunkel (James Callis) suffers from women troubles, money problems, cow ennui and unbearable ear itches*. He finds new meaning for his life when he expands his barn and gets sheep, pigs and geese as well as cows. The mysteriously sexy and likeable vet Emily Estrogen (Tricia Helfer) helps matters considerably. But just as things are turning around for Willy, his alcoholic uncle (Michael Hogan) and fussy aunt (Mary McDonnell) decide to come for a visit - that lasts the entire summer. How will the animals get their revenge..?

*= I love James' ears and this would allow for lots of dramatic and non-gratuitous ear closeups!

He's Having My Baby - Timmy Twat (James Callis) is an ordinary guy - except for one little detail: he is pregnant*. How will he explain this to his kind and incredibly sexy girlfriend Lucy (Lawless)? Before he can tell her the news, she has news of her own - she's pregnant too! How will they handle the pressure of twins and two simultaneous pregnancies?! Hilarities ensue as their doctor (Robin Williams) turns out to be a complete buffoon. From Russia*.

* = You can say what you want but this is NOT a rip-off, Junior attempted to explain away the male pregnancy in a scientific way but this time there'll be no explanation, he's just pregnant and no one questions how/why... Basically it'd be hilarious to have a fake belly on James, so this will work well.

*= You can say what you want but this is NOT a rip-off of Nine Months. You can have more than one Russian buffoon gynecologist, right?

The Chest Hair of Justice - the Honorable Conrad Conscience (James Callis) always knows how to rule - until his ample chest hair starts to behave in a very strange way indeed! Sometimes, when he acquits a criminal, the hair stands on end, piercing through the cape. And each time, the criminal ends up breaking the law again. When a mysteriously sexy and likeable young woman (Tricia Helfer) is tried for murder, Conrad really wants to acquit her - but his chest hair suddenly stands on end (as do some other, unmentionable body parts). Who will he listen to - his conscience, his chest hair, or some other body parts?

The Man With No Cheeks - Jimmy Jerkoff (James Callis) is a normal guy, except for one little detail: he has no identifiable cheeks. His chubbier-than-thou friends mock him, so he goes on a bet that he can gain half a cheek per week eating nothing but enormous burger meals.* Jimmy fails to gain weight and is depressed, but he's rescued by the owner of the burger place, a mysteriously sexy and kind woman (Mary McDonnell). As they get married, it turns out she's the richest woman in the world and thus Jimmy has something better than cheeks: money.

* = Say whatever you want, but this is not a rip-off of Super Size Me because it's not a documentary.

These are just some ideas - there's more where that came from! The best part is, I'm not greedy. I'd happily sell any of these ideas for only $ 5,000 - and write a full script for any of them for only $ 10,000! Anything to further James' career.

Inside the Secrets of the Behind the Making of the Music of Battlestar Galactica Revealed

So, I have obtained the Bear McCreary mockumentary, full title in this post's title. It. Is. Brilliant. It's on Youtube, but might be taken down soon. Watch it now. James appears at about 8 minutes and on.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I might have whined here about how little of it was on Youtube earlier, and how I craved to see the rest. I was a bit worried though. When you wait for something so long and build up expectations, it's often disappointing to see the whole thing, no matter how funny it is. But this time, the whole video was better than I had expected. It's so much funnier than the Youtube clip, which was already hilarious. Even the Gaius Baltar theme song is funnier when you see the whole thing. So now I'm glad I wasn't spoiled more than that. I cannot praise this thing enough. Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Bear McCreary himself blogged about it here. You can tell he had a blast filming the James bits!

So here's my transcript of the James part with commentary. Special thanks to M for all the awesome screenshots!

The basic premise of the video is that no one knows who Bear McCreary is. Throughout the "documentary", Bear tries to get invited into the BSG wrap party, with no success. Some writers and crew members are interviewed about the music, and there are many confused "there's no music on BSG" comments. The insanely long title shows up on screen one word at a time, to the rhythm of drums. There's also a nice parody of the "one year later" cut in the season two finale. It's all hilarious, but I will only transcribe the James bits.



James appears with his real name, but he's really playing a role here. Basically he plays Gaius Baltar - completely arrogant and rude, self-obsessed, childlike in a bad yet amusing way. And no, this isn't his real house either. While James pretends to be super rude, Bear plays the James part, being uber-nice and accommodating to his whims. I'm not sure how much of this was scripted and how much was improvised, but it's awesome. They have a great comedic timing together.

Also, I have never heard James swear this much. Just for the record: he says "fuck" 9 times and "shit" 6 times within ten minutes. Awesome.

Bear: (rings the doorbell) We're at James Callis' house, we're gonna talk to some of the cast and find out what...
James (through the door): Who is it?
Bear: James, it's Bear!
James: What?
Bear: It's Bear!
James: Who?
Bear: Uh, McC...
James (opens the door angrily, wearing sunglasses and a black bathrobe. Tries to control himself when he sees the camera.)


Bear: Bear! Bear McCreary! We, uh, we're doing the interview today about the music.
James (takes off sunglasses and stares): Music of what?!
Bear: Battlestar! (points to a Battlestar logo on James' chest)
James (looks at logo, then looks around annoyed) Umm...
Bear: We spoke on the phone about an hour ago?
James: (calm but threatening voice) How did you get my address? (forces a grin for the camera) Who gave you my address?

I must say, the captions make it look like a "serious" documentary, which makes me laugh even more. James really sounds threatening with "who gave you my address". He has this forced grin on that gradually fades off his face. I'd be scared to go in after that, but Bear's pretending to be a gleeful optimist here.

Cut to: sunny back yard, James' face as he looks incredibly bored. He's changed to his now famous suspenders outfit. Hee, suspenders! That certainly adds to the comedy.




Bear (setting up, walking around him): I'm actually quite a big fan myself.
James: (uninterested) Are you. How long is this gonna take?
Bear: Um, I'm not sure...
James (inaudible)
Bear: I really appreciate you taking a second to do this, James.
James (annoyed): Mmyeah.

Cut to: both sitting by the table. James tries to sound a lot more chipper and interested in Bear, but it comes off as fake. (Of course, he's only pretending to be uninterested, so uh.. this is gonna get really meta before I'm done with this transcript!)
James: OK, so it's Beer?
Bear: Bear.
James: (emphatically, to the camera) Bear. Bear. And you have something to do with the music of, mm, this show. You're involved in some...
Bear: I write the music of the...
James: YOU actually..?
Bear: I'm the guy behind the music, yeah!



James: Shit! (removes sun glasses to take a closer look)
Bear (nods proudly) Yeah!
James: Who'd have thunk it? You don't, uh, you don't look musical at all, do you? (chuckles) Isn't that funny. It's funny only because I actually, um, I think that that would be something I would be very good at.
Bear: I didn't know you played an instrument.
James (smoking): No, I don't play an instrument.
Bear: You must read music then.
James: Why would I bother with that shit?
Bear: What's your musical background?
James: I have no musical background. (leans closer) When you've got something inside of you, something...primitive, something... atavistic, your tubes are banging together, you've got something to give out, haven't you?



[cut]
James: I was in bed with Tricia, and I thought of this great theme that would be (looks at camera) just... a knockout...
Bear: Wait... A theme for Battlestar?


James: Fuck Battlestar! -Actually, why not Battlestar! Why not! When you... Why not Battlestar, because you've got another... (lights cigarette) ...six or seven episodes to do, and this is (looks at camera) killer, I mean you would love it! (gets up) No, listen, listen!
Bear: You know what, I... (grunts)
James: Stop, listen! It's gonna change your life! Come on! (walks inside)
Bear: Aghh...



"So it's Beer?" Why would it be Beer? :D Nice little touch there, showing how little the meeting means to him.

I heard "not Battlestar" but it's apparently "fuck Battlestar", which is a lot funnier and works well with "James"' attitude. Who cares about Battlestar, he's so much better than that show! Great touch.

I remember James saying before that if you told Gaius, "I was in a car accident", he would reply with, "Actually that happened to me..." He has to relate everything to himself, and James is clearly doing that here. Of course, he's the natural talent in composing, nevermind that he never did any of that. I think he's also mocking the idea that art is all about inspiration and no hard work or training is necessary. And of course, as soon as Bear asks if it's a theme for BSG, he takes it as an offer.

The casual "I was in bed with Tricia" kills me every time. I'm not sure which is funnier:
a) that they were supposedly in bed outside the show, or
b) that it was as Gaius and Six, but the "egomaniac James" thinks it was real for her.
Maybe b), coming to think of it.

He even smokes cockily here. As usual, I'm fascinated by his smoking, and it seems like a pack of red Marlboro there. That felt really cosmic and meaningful when I first saw this late at night.

Also: atavism. Thank you, professor James. I love that even as he plays a clueless arrogant ass, he still defaults to big words.



"nnngaaaius baaaltaaar..." He both looks and sounds like he's having indigestion. It's... :D

Cut to: Inside, Bear is playing chords on the piano, James is "singing".
James: OK so... (terrible-sounding falsetto) Gaaius Baaltaaar... and then something really strong.
Bear: Like..? (plays a strong chord)



James (screams like a madman): HE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!! HE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!!!!!!! (pumps his fist)


Bear (shocked): I...really don't think you can... say that on TV, James.
James (leans head on hands and looks pissed off): Motherfrakking shit, how about that, again. So start over here. (forces Bear's finger on a key) That's the one, that's the one, do that one.
Bear: Oh, OK. (plays a chord in major)
James: That's like, that's far too happy. I need it sad, tragic!
Bear (plays the same chord in minor)
James (looks at camera excitedly, points at the keys) That... that's it there! Whatever it is. The black notes... they're sad notes.
[cut]
James: (testing the keys) What's... Why are the low notes down here... What kind of a fucked up piano is this? The high ones... Well how are you ever gonna do anything like that?

Bear: James, look. The bottom line is, your theme is nice. I mean, your theme is very pretty, I don't mean to, I just, I just, I just don't think Ron would ever let[?] something like that in the show.
James: Ron loves it! I've already spoken to Ron!
Bear: You what..?
James: Ron is gonna put it in the show! Ron is gonna, Ron is definitely gonna put it in the show! If not this show, then another one of his shows when I change the lyrics! Cos I just made up these lyrics cos, you know, cos you're here, you know. But let's just try it one last...
Bear: It's gonna be...on the show?
James: Yeah. Yeah.

I think James has a childlike quality to him, and the "James" he plays here does as well. It's a different kind of childlikeness though. The real James is amazed at the world and curious about things. The fictionary James here thinks everything revolves around him and that he can do anything he sets his mind to, with minimal or no work at that. And just as soon as he comes up with a theme (and all by himself too!), Ron already loves it and is totally willing to put it on the show.



[cut]
James: Let me get my pitch, please?
Bear (plays the chord)
James: Stop messing around there!
Bear (stops)
James: (focuses hard) Thank you. (falsetto) Aaaa... OK.
Bear (plays the sad, tragic chords)
James: (falsetto) Gaaius Baalt..aar..
(shouts) HE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING SHI... You're too late, your time's out...
Bear: Oh, alright.

James: Gaaius Baalt..aar.. HE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIIITT!!


James and Bear (in unison):
Best president since Jimmy Carter,
Banged more blondes than JFK,
Well not that many since they're all the same!

´
"Best president since Jimmy Carter"

"Banged more blondes than JFK"

"They're all the saame!"

James (forces Bear's hand to another key) Saame.. saame... That one!! Whatever that one is. For fuck's sake!




Heee! I've seen this so many times now, and the song and James' facial expressions still crack me up. It seems like they used slightly different footage for the final version, and James' crazy expressions can be seen better here. The second time he sings "Gaaaius Baalt...aar", his voice falters a bit, as if he's about to laugh. I do wonder how they got thru this and how many takes it took! On the other hand, it could just be that his throat was tired from screaming!

In reality, James actually composes music and plays the piano a lot. So this is just two talented guys fooling around with the worst possible song ever. I find it hilarious that he would have a piano, but never have used it enough to know that the low notes are to the left. I can see why the distance between high and low notes would be a problem with a song like this - his voice jumps an octave lower within "Balt...aaaar".

Bear: You know what, actually I think that works pretty well.
James: (bored again) Getting somewhere, okay. That's uh...
Bear: And Ron has heard this already..?
James: Ron is in love with it! Ron actually listens to this to get himself to bed...
Bear: In that case, I...
James: ...and to motivate himself in the morning to go running.
Bear: I think we've got a hit.
James: We've got a hit in our hands. Great, well... (glances at watch) Uh...
Bear: Now if you don't mind, can we talk about my music for a second?
James (looks at the camera)



Cut to: James pushing Bear out the door.
Bear: Well, sure, but I also wanna say...
James (to the camera) You as well. Thank you.
Bear: ...on a personal note, what a big fan I am of your work, I really appreciate what you bring to the show...
James (rolling eyes, closing door): Yeah, yeah.
Bear:... and I look forward to seeing you at the wrap party, my friend!


James: (shocked) What, you're going to the wrap party?
Bear: Yeah!
James: (rolls eyes) Right. Uh, yeah, I may see you there.
Bear: Great...
James (slams door in his face)
Bear: Uh... (excited, to the camera) James Callis, everybody!!


Bear is still so starstruck after James treated him like crap. James really nails the "arrogant actor" thing here with the eyerolls and looking at Bear with such contempt. Basically he has two moods: grumpily bored and childishly excited (over his own genius). Brilliant.

In the next segment, James walks around with a handheld camera and tries to interview other cast members, who all pretend they never heard of Bear McCreary. In this part, he's himself again - he's friendly, he's got that smile in his voice that he always does in interviews, and is very polite and calm with people. It's sort of in contrast with the other part, but it doesn't disrupt the "reality" of the mockumentary that much. It's a different comedic role - James goes from being the funny one to the straight man.

First up is Jamie Bamber. Their names are confusingly similar, but I hope it's still readable.

James: What do you think of the music in the show?
Jamie: We don't really have any music, do we? We've got those drums..
James: No, there's like a soundtrack all the way.. all the way htru.
Jamie: It's like documentary style, we don't do score.
James: Bear McCreary.
Jamie: Um... Irish bear.. big Irish bear.. McCreary.
James: Um.. he's, he writes the music for the show.
Jamie: Music? Mu...
James: Yeah.
Jamie: Oh, the Bob Dylan thing.
[cut]
Jamie: So pretend like I met him..?
James: Like you really love him...
Jamie: So this is gonna be shown at the concert to all the six people that come?
James: Yeah, actually it's sold out, just so you know.
Jamie: Small venue?
[cut]


James: And here we go! Jamie, go!
Jamie: (awkwardly) Bear! Bear, Bear, Bear! Listen, congratulations on the concert. You rock! You rock! Love those drums. (waves) Hi! God, I can't, I just don't know what to say.
James: (with contempt) That is just fucking pathetic. That is like...
Jamie: Let me try again. Bear! Thank you for all your hard work on Battlestar. We love... you, we love this show, you make this show, uh...thank you Bear. How was that, did that work? Oh, breakfast, lovely. Thank you. God, I'm so hungry.
(camera pans to "Troy Scott, 3rd assistant director" - it's too dark to really see his face though.)
James: Hello.
Troy: Hi.
James: You good?
Troy: I'm awesome.
James: Okay.
Troy: What is this for?
James: Um, this is for Bear McCreary.
Troy: Who's that?
James: Yeah, exactly!

I'm not sure which one of the guys says that last line. Both are off camera and both are British, so... I can usually tell apart their voices, but I had trouble with it here. Edit: Both M and Nicole hear James, so I'll go with that.
The Jamie bit seemed awkward in the brief Youtube clip, but it actually makes sense in context - he's just naturalistically pretending to be awkward, which actually works well.

Next, a brief bit with Mary McDonnell.


Mary: What is his name, Bear?
James: His name is Bear, and he is gonna do a concert.
Mary: He's doing a concert?
James: Yeah, I just wanted you to give like a little message to him and say you know, 'great concert and have a great time' and...
Mary: Okay. I want to wish you a great.. concert to... (puts her hand in front of the camera) I'm sorry, what was his name?
James: Bear, his name's Bear, yeah.
Mary: Bear... (smiles charmingly) Bear! I... I just hope it goes well. Is that enough?

I love how everyone keeps forgetting his name, even if Bear should be easy enough to remember. Actually, rewatching this, I've come to wonder if James isn't playing a role here also - a well-meaning, but bumbling guy who has no idea how to interview his castmates.

Katee Sackhoff is having makeup done (apparently that tattoo in Starbuck's arm isn't a real tattoo, they seem to be painting it on). James can be seen in the mirror, holding a camera. She laughs and points at something, I'm not sure if it's the camera or James' hair (which is cutely scruffy on top).

James: Wanted to ask you about um.. the music in BSG.
Katee: (confused) Oh, the drums? The drums!
James: Well, the I mean...There's more going on than just um, the drums..
[cut]
James: You get into character listening to those drums...
Katee (looks confused)
James: Um... Basically, just lie. I mean, in that sense, I can cut out this...
[cut]


Katee: (smiling sweetly) I love Bear's music. He's great, his music is fantastic. He's been such an instrumental part of this show for five years that we couldn't... We couldn't do without him, I love him. (blows a kiss at the camera) I wish I was there.
James: That's beautiful, that is, that is beautiful. Thank you. Happy, happy birthday...
Katee: Thank you. It didn't look too much like I was lying on that one?
James: No no no, I mean listen, none of us have heard the music, none of us care.
Katee: Cos in all honesty, I thought it was just Eddie, like, beating on shit on set.

I think "Eddie beating on shit on set" is one of the funniest lines in this video. I do wonder about EJO, because he seems like such a character. I don't know if that line would work with anyone else. And no matter how many times I see this, I still crack up at "basically just lie, I can cut out this..." and the cut there. :D Like James, Katee's really good at this sort of naturalistic mockumentary style (see the first David Eick video blog).

There's another camera in this bit, so you briefly see James walking with the camera. Jamie is having makeup done now.

James: That was pretty good, but I mean I'm just gonna.. you know, that's kinda got a bit more ... that's real here.
Jamie: You know, it's fucking hard talking about shit that you don't know...
James: You're supposed to make it up! That's what we do as actors, you're just making up, isn't it! You know...
Katee: It's really putting people on the spot, asking everyone to do this!
James: Well, I mean, but you know...
Katee: No one knows who the fuck this guy is!
James: I know! But that's whatever... Listen, it's just a favor to me, you know who I am, don't you, for fuck's sake?
Katee (looks at camera with disdain)
Jamie (unenthusiastically) Yeah...


I love how they're pretending to not even really like him. It's like "yeah, we know who you are..." You can tell James has a great chemistry with both Jamie and Katee though.

Edward James Olmos - who I will refer to as "Eddie", because everybody else does and it's contageous - and Michael Hogan are standing around an empty stage. Hogan is smoking. They're not looking particularly busy.

James: Guys? Guys, hi! Hi! Um, Eddie, Michael, um... Uh, sorry to bother you, um.. I'm doing, um, a little...
Michael: What?
James: Bear McCreary...
Eddie: Excuse me, who? Who's that?
James: Bear.
Michael: Bear Curtis?
James: The music of Battlestar Galactica.
Eddie (laughing) There's no music on Battlestar Galactica! Enough of you, get out of here!
Michael: We don't need no frakking music!
(James lowers the camera)
James: (in a low voice) There's a guy called Bear on the show. There's a guy called Bear, he does the music for the show.
Eddie: There's a guy that does the mu.. (empathically) There's no music in the show.
James: No there is, Eddie, there is!
Michael: Can I get a toke of what you're on?
Eddie (laughs)
James: (laughs) Yeah, very good. Listen, no, listen, OK? What I mean to do... He's doing a concert, this guy, and..
Michael: Oooh, I've seen his picture on the album cover, Bear. He's that... bluegrass guy.
James: OK, he's doing a ...


Eddie. But the guy's name is not Bear. What is it spelled, B-E-A-R? Is that how you spell that, B-E-A-R?
James: All I need you to say is like, Bear's doing a concert, you love this guy, and...
Eddie: Hah! (laughs)
James: ...good luck with the concert, Bear.
Eddie: Hey Bear! Rrrrrr! All the best at you! Rrrrr!
Michael (laughs)
James: (laughs) Uh... yeah.
Eddie: If there's anybody seeing this, you've been taken for a ride!
[cut]
James: Genuinely, you've never heard the music on the show?
Eddie: I'm sorry man.
Michael: There's sound effects.
Eddie: There's sound effects.
Michael: Like kshhhhhh! [imitates shooting a gun]


Eddie: You know, once in a while there'll be a radio, there'll be source, but...
Michael: Yeah, yeah. There's radio, like...
James: No, cos there's like...
Eddie: Does he look like one?
James (laughs) You know he's...Yeah...
Eddie: He's like seven foot, rrrr! Like a grizzly?
Michael: Anyway, man, we were talking here so if you...
Eddie: We were doing stuff, alright? Get out of here!
James: Thanks. Sorry, man. Thanks. Thanks very much. Thanks.

Eddie's just hilarious here, especially when he does the bear impression. Also - "You've been taken for a ride"? Hee! I love how James is politely trying to keep this on topic, while the two guys keep going off on tangents and laughing, like they can't focus on such a simple thing.

The following bits are from the credits. These are obviously stuff they cut out. First, we see James and Bear at the piano again. This would be from the "can we talk about my music" part.

James (mockingly) Bear! Bear, go on Bear! Show us what you got... let's see, let's see...
Bear: You wanna hear some music? I'll play you some music!
James: Whatever.
Bear (plays the cylon baseship theme, sways to the rhythm) You hear that James? Yeah! This is music!
James (gives camera a hilarious look of utter disdain)


James: That is awful.
Bear: Awful?!
James: That is like dog poop being stuck down my ears. Don't put that on the show mate, nobody's gonna want to watch the show if you put it in...That's awful...
Bear: (incredulous) That's already in the show!
James: What?!
Bear: It's in your scenes! Have you ever watched the show?!
James: (puts hand on face) Oh god almighty, this is getting worse and worse by the minute. I could, whatever... I've worked with more musical cats!

Dog poop *dies* Actually, looking at the picture, he looks like he's about to laugh. And when he says "dog poop", it sounds a bit like that too. I wonder if they burst out laughing after he said the last line, and that's why there was a cut. I do think it works better the way it's cut - "can we talk about my music" - cut to James walking Bear to the door. But it's still fun to see this little bit here too, especially with James so proud of his poor taste in music. Incidentally, this theme is one of my very favorite pieces. I'm not sure if it's because I love Baltar and the cylons, or because it's just so beautiful and atmospheric.

There's another very brief clip in the end, where James points the camera at himself and says, "Yeah, I was gonna tell them that I was..." and then suddenly breaks into this incredibly cute giggle like he's being tickled: "ehehehehehe... no!" The camera shakes and you can see a few brief clips of him laughing. M was able to get these screenshots from those couple of seconds (Edited slightly by my girlfriend) :


You can see Michael there grabbing him. You can hear Eddie saying, "He's just frakking with you guys! There ain't no Bear! There's NO BEAR!"

Every time I watch this, I just get so happy. I was just incredibly happy all week because I've seen this. I'm so glad it's on the US DVD's (also booo to the Euro DVD's for not having it). I'd like to thank Bear, James and everyone else involved. This was just awesome.