About.com Interviews David Hewlett

Mark Wilson has published a lengthy interview with Stargate Atlantis star David Hewlett in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of About.com. Hewlett discusses several aspects about his role as the “absolute arrogant jerk” Dr. Rodney McKay and states at the start of the five-page interview, “And my biggest concern was that they were going to soften him up, turn him into a nice guy all of a sudden. They’ve done a very good job of walking that fine line between making him — not more likable, but he’s sort of more understandable.”

Hewlett goes on to talk about McKay’s relationships with the women in his life — Katie Brown, Sam Carter, and Jennifer Keller — and how he is so clueless around them. “I’m really hoping it’s a defense mechanism. I think he’s in that interesting situation where as a scientist and a nerd he’s basically only ever objectified women. So to actually have to communicate with them — that’s the wonder of his relationship with Sam Carter, is that not only is she in his terms “hot,” but also just as smart as he is. He finds that both absolutely alluring and alarming at the same time.”

No interview about McKay would be complete without discussing his rapid-fire technobabble. “I’m a fast talker, and I’m getting help for that. But nerds — they don’t ponder their technical prowess, they rattle it off. Knowing a lot of nerds, and being one myself — I got into computers early, and I had a lot of friends who got much more into it than I ever did. And that’s what these guys are like, they just assume that everybody knows all this stuff. And if you don’t, then you’re an idiot.”

And speaking of fast talkers, Hewlett comments on the upcoming appearances of Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson set for Season Five’s mid-season two-parter, “Yes! We can both talk unintelligibly fast at one another.” Wilson ponders why Shanks would return to the role after playing Daniel for so long, and Hewlett elaborates, “Well, Stargate is this strange kind of family-like environment here. I think that once you’re in the Stargate fold, it’s all good — and you’ll never get out. It’s kind of like some kind of sci-fi mafia, and just when you think you’re getting out they drag you back into the galaxy somewhere.”

Working with the Stargate family in other projects was also covered, especially when it comes to Christopher Judge. “I never get to actually work with these guys. Chris Judge shows up — I had to put Chris Judge in my movie [A Dog’s Breakfast], that was the only way to actually work with him. When he does an episode of Atlantis or I did an episode of SG-1, he was always in a wormhole or [I was] stuck in a jumper, we never got an actual scene together. Of course, now that I think about it, I’m not sure what McKay would have to say to Teal’c anyway — how well that would go down.”

Hewlett talks about the Season Four finale “The Last Man” and goes into what he’s doing now for Season Five (they’re filming the second episode “The Seed” at the time of the interview). “Well, what can I say about season 5. We get off to a pretty rocky start. All I can say is, we’re going to be having a lot of fun with Woolsey. There’s definitely going to be some interesting little fights for power there.”

In addition to working on a sequel to A Dog’s Breakfast, currently entitled A Dog’s Breakfast 2: Heir of the Dog, Hewlett is busy with other projects outside of Stargate. “There’s a couple of other features that I would like to get at least rough drafts sorted out in the near future. I would very much like to be shooting something. And again, we’re talking to Sci Fi about Starcrossed as well. I try to keep as many irons in the fire as possible, so there’s always something to jump to.”

To read the complete interview, visit About.com: Interview with David Hewlett by Mark Wilson.