Jason Momoa

Extensive New Jason Momoa Interview

CinemaSpy.ca has published an extensive, very interesting new interview with Jason Momoa, who doesn’t often get to speak so much. In the interview, he speaks of his close friendship with SGA lead Joe Flanigan, and his reluctance for Ronon to have any romantic entanglements. From the interview:

CinemaSpy: Are we going to see more conflict between you and Sheppard?

Jason Momoa: No. Not too much more. In “Broken Ties” there is a little conflict, obviously, because I got to the dark side. It’s funny, because I wanted to put in a scene in where I punch Joe [Flanigan] in the face, and I asked him – because I live with Joe – “Is it all right if I punch you in the face, bud?” He’s like, “Oh, yeah.” I was like, “C’mon, bud, this will be good.” So we put it in and I just look at him and – POP! – hit him in the face and he goes down. It’s a cool banter we have. In real life, he’s my best friend, he’s someone who you have arguments and you’ll have disagreements and stuff, but ultimately I just respect him as a warrior.

CinemaSpy: You say that you didn’t think that you’d end up becoming an action star. What kind of actor did you expect to become?

Jason Momoa: I just find myself a little bit more nostalgically tragic. […] Now that I have this role, it’s great, because Joe’s the number one. And you don’t find someone like me – big, tall – next to someone that’s the leading man on the show. Normally the sidekick’s going to be someone like David. It’s going to be someone funny. I play right next to Joe and it’s awesome. I’ve worked on shows when guys aren’t that cool with it. […] It’s interesting that Joe – he’s a Harrison Ford type of guy, super confident and with his own style and we work well together. I’d love to work with Flanigan for the rest of my life. He’s great.

Go read the whole interview, which is a fascinating look at Jason’s artistic inner core and passion. Beware of minor SGA spoilers.

SGA S5 to Start Shooting February 19

Listed under “TV Pilots” at the BC Film Commission website, Stargate Atlantis is documented by the Commission to begin its filming of its fifth season on February 19, 2008, and complete it on September 23, 2008:

STARGATE ATLANTIS ~ SEASON V
Pegasus Productions V Inc.
Exec. Prod: Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, John Smith
Prod: John Lenic
DOP: Michael Blundell, Jim Menard
PD: James Robbins
PM: John Lenic
PC: David Magee
LM: Lorne Davidson
ALM: Dominic Main
Publicist: Brigitte Prochaska
Cast: Joe Flannigan, Jason Mamoa, Ish Kabibble
SPFX Coord: Wray Douglas
Casting: Corinne Clark, Jennifer Page
Extras: Sandra Couldwell
Sched: Feb 19/08 – Sep 23/08
2400 Boundary Rd.
Burnaby, BCV5M 3Z3
TEL: 292-8500
FAX: 292-8550

Interestingly enough, “Ish Kabibble” is listed as a cast member, perhaps because the actual cast members for the new season have not yet been officially announced (note that Joe Flanigan’s and Jason Momoa’s names appear in the list, but are misspelled). Fans corresponding directly with executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog have been told that an official announcement is to be issued by the SCI FI Channel, rather than from him directly.

Joe Flanigan stated at his Burbank Creation Con appearance that he had signed up for Season Five, and Mallozzi has discussed continuity issues concerning Jason Momoa‘s hair after Momoa had a major haircut. Mallozzi also confirmed that Rachel Luttrell will be returning for Season Five, and Jewel Staite has mentioned returning to the sets in her personal blog, but hasn’t revealed for which or for how many episodes. And as for how Flanigan and David Hewlett will appear after seeing that they both were sporting beards for the People’s Choice Awards acceptance video, Mallozzi said, “The boys will be beardless for the start of the new season.”

This leaves the status of Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett), Torri Higginson (Elizabeth Weir), and Amanda Tapping (Col. Samantha Carter) still in question. Mallozzi has reassured the Save Carson Beckett campaigners that the “door will be left open” for Beckett’s return in Season Five. Additionally, the new Weir-Replicator story arc that was started in Martin Gero’s “Be All My Sins Remember’d” leaves Elizabeth Weir fans wondering if Torri Higginson will be returning to reprise her role. Gero reassured them, “Weir’s storyline will be revisited in season 5.” And as for Carter, Mallozzi has expressed his desire to see Amanda Tapping return for Season Five. It should be noted, however, concerning contract negotiations and writing the new episodes, Mallozzi said, “It’s very rare we’ll write a script without having an actor commit beforehand.”

Join Solutions for production coverage of Season Five, and please continue to visit to keep up with Season Four as new episodes are currently being aired on the Sci Fi Channel on Fridays at 10pm Eastern.

SGA S4 Filming Wraps, Actors Find Projects

SGA Season Four Cast
Cast of Season Four of Stargate Atlantis

Introduction

It might seem a bit strange talking about the end of Season Four’s filming just as the episodes are starting to make their world premieres on the Sci Fi Channel, but it’s that time of year once again! Word still hasn’t come from Sci Fi about renewal for a fifth season, though, so whether or not the fond farewells the cast and crew bid each other on Friday, October 5, were to mark the end of a season of filming or the series as a whole remains to be seen. Executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi, looking back over the season’s development, stated in his personal blog, “I’m extremely satisfied with the end-product, and extremely satisfied with all of the hard work put in by the cast, crew, writers – pretty much everyone who stepped up and helped make this such a terrific year.”

As far as what everyone will be doing over the hiatus (the time between filming the seasons), here’s a quick run-down from what we’ve been able to gather from the Internet. If there are more, please add to them in the comment section for this blog entry. 🙂

Joseph Mallozzi

Season Four was the first for Joseph Mallozzi and long-time writing partner Paul Mullie as showrunners for the show. Since Mallozzi has been keeping his personal blog for about a year now, fans have had an exceptional peek into what goes behind such a position. It’s apparent from Mallozzi’s entries that he has many interests, including trying out various restaurants and reading science fiction novels. Concerning how he’ll be spending his time off, Mallozzi wrote, “Well, it really depends. If the show doesn’t get picked up, I’ll probably be working on pilot scripts are heading down to L.A. for meetings. If the show does get picked up, then we’ll be spinning stories and heading off to write – over the hiatus. So, time off in the long-term? No. Time off in the short-term? Sort of. I’m so exhausted that I think I’ll be sleeping straight through next week and well into word on the show’s fate.”

Joe Flanigan

Joe Flanigan will be making some convention appearances this month in Australia (October 13-14) and New Zealand (October 20-22). He revealed at the Comic Con in San Diego earlier this year that MGM has tapped him to star in the remake of the 1991 film Shattered, filming for which was last heard to be starting in November. According to IMDb, the tagline for the 1991 film was “A love he can’t forget. A murder he can’t remember.”

Amanda Tapping

Amanda Tapping has revealed in recent interviews that she’ll be making more webisodes for her on-line serial Sanctuary. She’s working with Stargate veterans Damian Kindler and Martin Wood to create another ten hours of entertainment, which equates to about 40 webisodes. Tapping said in a Sci Fi World interview, “Really, honestly, I just want to get Sanctuary up and going, that’s my main motivation right now.”

Rachel Luttrell

Rachel Luttrell is currently expecting her first child, so right now things are a bit quiet for her as she prepares for this momentous event. Her pregnancy was written into her character Teyla’s story arc for Season Four. Luttrell posted a note to her fans on her official website, “Another season has blown by. And it has been a wonderful one. I will endeavor to attend the party [wrap party held on September 29]…. but my first child may decide to make an appearance at any moment now. Exciting times!”

Jason Momoa is a new father! He and partner Lisa Bonet celebrated the birth of daughter Lola Iolani Momoa on July 21. According to one report, Momoa’s mother revealed more about the baby girl: “The middle name means royal hawk, and was chosen as there were hawks flying around [overhead] during the birth. The baby has ‘long legs, lots of black hair, and her lips are the perfect shape.'”

Momoa’s family means a lot to him, as he recently got a large tattoo that represents his family crest on his left forearm that the producers covered for “Adrift” and “Lifeline”, but will reveal in “Reunion”. Momoa gave Flanigan a new guitar at the end of filming for Season Four that is decorated with the same pattern. Fans can see the guitar in a picture Joseph Mallozzi posted in his blog entry for October 1.

David Hewlett

David Hewlett saw his independent film A Dog’s Breakfast distributed on DVD on September 18 (see Solutions Blog story on the release). He’s already working on his next movie’s script, Design of the Dead, which Hewlett talked about in an interview at Eclipse Magazine: “I loved Evil Dead; I loved Fright Night. It’s just that I loved that kind of stuff. And then, strangely, I’m a fan of these Home & Garden kind of home renovation shows. In this bid to become kind of the Martha Stewart of horror, I’ve combined the two. It’s about a design show that goes into this house to give it a new life, and it ends up waking the dead. It’s a lot of fun to write. I’m halfway through it now, so we’ll see how much time I get to sit down and write the rest of it. Right now it’s called Design of the Dead. It just seems in keeping with the Romero films, and the obvious likeness would be Shaun of the Dead, as well. That was sort of an honest appreciation of zombie films — and I just want to make a funny one.”

Hewlett had also said in his blog that he was writing a part in the movie for Christopher Judge.

Hewlett and his partner Jane Loughman are expecting their first child very soon. While waiting, Hewlett quickly noted in his Twitter recently, “Baby really taking its time…going to do this “Helen” movie next week now!” This movie stars Ashley Judd and is scheduled to film from October 9 to December 11 in Vancouver.

Jewel Staite

Jewel Staite recently finished filming some scenes in Panama for her new movie The Tribe. In a recent interview at SCI FI WIRE, Staite revealed a little more about the film: “It’s basically about a girl who starts off as being very meek and kind of subservient and scared about life in general and then really has to step up to the plate and become the leader, become the alpha in the situation. So it was really fun to play. It was a really complex character, and, yeah, it should be coming out next summer.”

In her latest MySpace blog entry, Staite answered a few questions from her fans, one being about the roles she chooses to play: “I love that I get these smart women roles, but it’s also fun to play the helpless victim sometimes, when it’s written well. What’s really great is someone who starts out as helpless and grows into the hero. Or superhero. That flies. And kicks ass.”

Staite is scheduled to appear at the Collectormania 12 Convention in Milton Keynes, England (October 26-28).

Season Four Continues…

Season Four of Stargate Atlantis continues on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, October 12, at 10pm Eastern, with “Reunion”.

Creation Con Burbank: Con Report

Better late than never, I hope, I’ve finally finished my lengthy and illustrated report on the November 16-19 Creation convention in Burbank, featuring Michael Shanks, David Hewlett, and many more! The report also covers the screening of David Hewlett’s film, A Dog’s Breakfast. You can read the report here in our Features section.

Sci Fi Magazine Q&A Transcript

We’ve created a full transcript of the already-released February 2006 Sci Fi Magazine Q&A that used questions submitted by fans. Included in our article are all the print and on-line Q&A’s for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, arranged by cast and crew member.

Enjoy the Q&A here!

All Actors Return for New Season

Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis return with full casts, plus one

FROM SCIFI WIRE: SG-1 Adds Black As Regular

Claudia Black (Farscape) joins the regular cast of SCI FI Channel’s original series Stargate SG-1 in its upcoming 10th season, and the principal cast members of both SG-1 and its spinoff series, Stargate Atlantis, have signed on to reprise their roles in the recently announced new seasons, the network said.

Black, who plays the recurring role of Vala in SG-1‘s current ninth season, becomes a regular, joining stars Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks and Beau Bridges, who will all return.

Meanwhile, Joe Flanigan, Torri Higginson, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa will all return to Stargate Atlantis.

Stargate SG-1 becomes the longest-running SF drama on U.S. television and will mark its 200th episode in the upcoming season.

SG-1 wraps up its ninth season with new episodes starting on Jan. 6, 2006, paired with the final new second-season episodes of Atlantis and new episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

[Thanks to Aurora for the tip — DeeKayP]