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20
DEC 02: RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON INTERVIEWED IN TV ZONE #158 BY STEVE ERAMO |
The interview was conducted on
28th September 2002. Richard Dean Anderson was preparing to shoot
what he expected to be his last scene as Col. Jack O'Neill.
“I
have some pressing issues on a personal level as well as career-wise that
I have to deal with that will affect my future on Stargate,” explains the
actor. “In fact, last night I jotted down some points in an effort to clear
my head as far as what my objectives would be with regard to a career move.
Because I tend to write honestly to myself, I concluded that the ideal
situation for me would be to stay on this show for a seventh season, albeit
in an abbreviated form. I’d rather do that than the alternative, which
would be to say goodbye and look for something else down the road. Honestly,
I’m not interested in doing that, and with good reason. In this cast and
crew of Stargate I’ve got a spectacular sense of community and virtually
a family. There really is a warm feeling on our set. So it would be great
to somehow work out an arrangement in which we do a seventh season."
“I’m very happy with how this
year went,” says Anderson. “We dealt with the introduction of a new character
[Jonas Quinn, played by Corin Nemec] as well as the loss of an old one
[Daniel Jackson, played by Michael Shanks]. Everything just seemed to fit.
It was a comfortable transition and, I felt, a credible one, too. I
got to work with Michael Shanks a couple of times this season, even though
he wasn’t a regular ‘employee.’ We had the opportunity to do some fairly
intense scenes where they threw our two characters together in a paper
bag and shook them up,” jokes the actor. “I really enjoy acting opposite
Michael, partly because of his awareness of rhythms coupled with his propensity
for speed and reaction. The relationship between Jack and Daniel has, I
think, found a really nice levelling off place this season."
Was the actor pleased with how
the relationship developed between his character and the newest member
of SG-1, Jonas Quinn? “I thought it unfolded nicely,” he says. “Certainly,
the seed was sown for conflict and distrust between the two of them. However,
throughout the season, Jonas proved himself to O’Neill, who also had some
revelations about Jonas’s relative innocence in regard to Daniel’s death.
Oddly enough, we’re shooting a scene today that I think further proves
that O’Neill has come to accept Jonas. My character actually says something
complimentary to him such as, ‘Get well soon, we need you out there.’ That’s
O’Neill’s mid-western way of saying ‘You’re OK, kid’.”
“Somebody recently asked me
about O’Neill’s sense of humour,” notes Anderson. “Believe it or not, it
was the first time I had really been pointedly asked about it. The thing
is I don’t think O’Neill has a clue that he might be perceived as being
funny or having a sense of humour. He
might try to be a little sly or sardonic but he’s not aware of the comic
manipulations that are involved in his manner. O’Neill can be a little
dense. Sometimes he doesn’t quite get it,” chuckles the actor.
“I think a lot of what the fans
call ‘Jack-isms’ stem out of my love of the absurd and the incongruity
of speech patterns and/or tenses. I’m a huge fan of British humour, from
Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers to Monty Python and right through to people
today like Eddie Izzard. I especially like Monty Python and their non-secular
style of humour."
“Martin [Wood] did a wonderful
job with Full Circle,” enthuses Anderson. “It was a big production and
we wanted to make sure that it was in the hands of somebody who’s used
to doing our show. I
really enjoy working with him and Peter DeLuise [writer/producer], who
also directs several of our episodes each year. Along with being great
Human Beings they’re also very talented and innovative people. Both Martin
and Peter aren’t afraid of exploring new ways of doing things and I truly
appreciate as well as admire that."
"I’m now on the verge of having
to take a big and very conscious step and really alter the course of who
I am in relationship to. the world. If there’s not a season seven of Stargate,
I’m not going to go out and look for work. I’ve said this before, I’m going
to take a year off and let the reins go for a while. My priorities
now are life and [daughter] Wylie. The two are inseparable. I don’t even
know what else to reflect on now because everything else seems to pale
in comparison.”
“I
haven’t really given it [Season Seven] much thought,” says the actor. “Because
I’m so trusting of the producers and writers to guide the series through
character and story development I’ve grown a bit lazy when it comes to
putting in my two cents, much to my discredit. In some ways, though, that’s
OK. These guys are so good at what they do that it makes sense for me to
leave them alone so that they can get on with it. I’ve received so many
compliments about the sixth year. The Sci-Fi Channel really lucked out
and got qualitatively a wonderful season’s worth of work. Hopefully, we’ll
be able to give them that again and more in Year Seven.”
(c) TV Zone, Visimag 2002.
All rights recognised. No copyright infringement intended.
Extracts from published interviews and features appear with permission.
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