| INTERVIEWS |
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The following Interview was conducted with David by The Gateroom in July 2006 where David talks about his current project at the time and a whole host of other things! (Please do not reproduce without permission from The Gateroom admin team, Many Thanks!)
[David Hewlett] Well I've been writing on and off for years. I used to write with a partner, then we stopped for a while. I found writing very frustrating, because its only one piece of the entire puzzle. You can write these things, but then you have to wait for someone else to figure out that they like it and do it, so the whole idea now with video, and well in my case, with the show is that you actually have the ability to take it on yourself, if you’re foolish enough to do so. And it seems that we are! So yeah, there were a number of scripts that we'd written and were working on...I think in order to get to this script I wrote three different other scripts. Then as a sort of last ditch effort because we had so much...I mean we got these scripts that I'd love to do but they just...finding one that was going to be doable, in a very short period of time with a very limited budget, because there’s such a short window for us to shoot these things. January's really only the month we've got, unless you’re ready to go in October or November, but that means you have to be ready to go coming straight out of “Stargate”, and I'm usually up for a break around October! [TG] *chuckles* I can imagine you are! [DH] So we sat down and did a long list of what we had, and I have a sister, a house, and a dog...and, thank god, a girlfriend who produces, so that’s pretty much what we went with - that’s where the story came from. I'm lucky enough to have talented friends as well, not only from a crew standpoint but from a cast standpoint. I got my pick of the litter with the “Stargate” and “Atlantis” bunch. [TG] “A Dog’s Breakfast” features you and Paul McGillion, but I understand it features other “Stargate” actors as well. Who else can we expect to see? [DH] Hmmm. Good question. (Pause) More time, more money! No, I think the biggest thing that I learned was that people love making films. It seems silly, but you forget doing that. When what you loved doing as a kid becomes what you do for a living, sometimes you forget why you’re involved with it. What I loved and took away from this film is that there were people there who loved what they were doing! I mean, it was miserable – it was freezing cold, and it was pouring with rain, We were in this tiny little house, just filled with people, and we kept the days down to 12 hours. But still, it’s January, no-one’s getting paid, it was all deferrals, and people were having a good time! I was having a good time! And people would come up and thank you afterwards. I was like “why are you thanking me?? I’ve just ruined your January!” So I guess what I learned from that is to love what you do. I think there are two reasons for getting into the film industry: there’s the “instant fame lottery” quality to it, these people who think they’re gonna be discovered, that things are gonna suddenly take off for them, and then there’s just the fact that you just love doing it. And making this film… well, you talked about Vincenzo? Well, that’s what we used to do when we were 14 years old. We used to go into Hyde Park and make zombie movies, and alien movies. We’d spend our own money, and get all our friends in, and that’s how we’d spend our summers. That was our summer camp. It was just such fun to go back to that. We actually paid for that, thanks to working regularly on “Stargate” – I figured that we’d put some money into making a film finally, and that was the way to go. It may just turn out to be an incredibly expensive hobby! But I hope not! [TG] Have you actually got a release date yet, or are there any plans to show it at any of the festivals, such as Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver? [DH] Well, we’ve submitted to some festivals, so we’ll see what turns out. We’re still sort of planning our strategy on that. It’s an interesting film from a festival standpoint, because it’s actually fairly commercial. Festivals, especially in the independent film world, tend to shy away from the more commercial stuff. My reticence to submit to festivals was simply because this was a film that people could go and see in the theatres, so is it even something that’s going to work in festivals? Obviously, I hope it could work in either, so we’re not sure what’s gonna happen with that. We’ll see what festivals we get into, and play it by ear that way. I would really like to maybe just set up some screenings literally just for the “Stargate” fans. The convention thing is all very well and good, but I always feel a little odd about the conventions. You sign photographs all day for money, and then you go back to your hotel, and someone asks you for an autograph, and you sign it for free! So I’d rather that if they’re gonna spend some money, they can come in and see the movie, and then I’ll sign what they want, and give them something to watch as well! So I think it’s gonna come down to what festivals we can get into, and also, given the “Stargate” schedule, what I can go to. I mean, you can send the film off without everybody, but part of the fun of doing this is to work with Paul and Kate, and I want to make sure that they can come as well. I don’t think Jane’ll let me go by myself! [TG] Talking of conventions, you’re actually at the San Diego Comic Con again this weekend. [DH] I am indeed. [TG] What’s your actual motivation for doing conventions? [DH] Well, the San Diego one? It’s that we don’t have a choice! No, I’m teasing! MGM and Sci-Fi like us to go to the Comic Con, because it’s a big thing. To me, it’s actually the perfect way to do a convention. It’s not a monetary thing. You go, you get to meet the fans, answer a bunch of questions, and you can put dark glasses on and try to sneak out and buy “Doctor Who” stuff! Generally, though, they don’t let you do that, because someone usually goes (puts on comedy voice) “hey, aren’t you…?”, and then you have to flee! [TG] On the subject of “Doctor Who”, actually… Cybermen or Daleks? [DH] That is such a hard question! I mean, Daleks would be the obvious choice, because they were the first things that terrified me. Actually, that’s not quite true, I can’t remember the one I hid behind the sofa for. It might have been the Green Death – that was a Jon Pertwee one. Yeah, the Cybermen were pretty creepy. The thing I always used to wonder about Daleks, though, is how they got up the stairs! Which I was disappointed to see answered in the new series. [TG] I can’t remember seeing that one answered, actually! [DH] They had the floating Daleks. They could hover, which makes total sense, but a floating Dalek doesn’t have the same kind of evil quality as the shuffling feet of the ones that I’m used to! So, I would say that the Cybermen really didn’t get the chance. But think about it. Cybermen. HOW far ahead of the times was “Doctor Who” on that? [TG] What? About… 40 years, perhaps? [DH] Yeah, and then someone else goes and “makes up” the word “cyber”. Apparently. No-one ever mentions “Doctor Who” when they talk about “cyberspace”! [TG] Your fans seem to particularly like your character in “Traders” – Grant Jansky. Did you find that character difficult to get into because of the illness that he had? How much research did you have to do in order to play him? [DH] Of what illness do you speak?? (chuckles) [TG] I believe it was schizophrenia? [DH] The funny thing about Jansky is that every season he had a different ailment! I think they changed their minds about 5 times! Actually, one of the people who created that show also created “House”! I just discovered that. Maybe I got that wrong, but I’m pretty sure that I saw his name on “House” the other day. He’s a very talented guy. Anyway, Jansky was a lot of fun to play. I don’t know whether he was schizophrenic – he was just a sociopath, really. He was almost autistic – he was like a highly functioning autistic character. He was so much fun to play, and he’s the best kind of role, because he lives in a closet, so just once a week, you could go and shoot a day in the closet, and then you’d be done for the episode! All the Jansky scenes were just fun. He never had to sit around just listening – he was always the centre of his scene, because he was just such an eccentric. I’d actually love to see a kind of dual universe where a Jansky-like McKay showed up. [TG] Actually, something similar was discussed with a friend of mine recently, and that was kind of scary. [DH] What, the idea of a Jansky-like McKay? I could see that, though! I could see Jansky saying some of McKay’s stuff, definitely. And I catch myself doing things, certain “Janskyisms” that I created when I was doing Jansky, that never left, that I do in my real life now. I have a little hand thing that I do that Jason (Momoa) is always calling me on. He goes, “what is that? What’s the hand thing you’re doing there??” And it’s just a weird little Jansky tic that is now part of my personality. So yeah, be careful what you do with your days! [TG] If you, yourself, had a chance to go through a Stargate to Atlantis, would you do it? [DH] Would I do it? In a second! Well, I’d have to see what the insurance was like! Actually, this brings us back to Kate on “Stargate”. One of the things I love about Kate’s episode, which I don’t know how much I’m supposed to tell you about… Well, one of the beautiful parts of it is her character learning about the Stargate. To me, the science fiction that I love, the science fiction that I loved growing up, like “The Tomorrow People”, was the idea that there was something better out there. Well, maybe not better, but something secret, something that you were meant to do that isn’t in your day to day life. The idea of stepping through something, into… like in “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe”, stepping through the back of the wardrobe, in fact any of the classic childrens’ sci-fi or fantasy stuff is all about escaping an unhappy world and going somewhere else, and I think that’s the appeal of “Stargate”, the entire franchise, for want of a better word, It’s about stepping out of this existence and into a new, fresh realm where good and evil is easier to distinguish. There’s something fabulous about knowing that the people who look ugly and mean are the ugly and mean people! It’s not as clear cut in our world, and I think there’s a sort of need to return to your childhood, before you’d learned about the grey areas of life, where there was just good and bad, where there were the things you did, and the things you didn’t do, and there was nothing in between. So yes, that was a very long-winded way of saying “yes, I would love to step through that gate!” [TG] What would you take as your one luxury item? [DH] (laughs) My one luxury item? I’d have to bring my Mac! I can’t go anywhere without my little PowerBook! Luxury item? If I said Mars, I’d be in trouble with Jane, if I said Jane, Mars would never talk to me again… [TG] Get a very big suitcase and fit them both in! [DH] That’s it, indeed! (laughs) Are you kidding? Jane would get invited through that gate faster than I would! (Both laugh) [TG] Well, thank you very much for your time this evening, David! [DH] Oh, a pleasure, an absolute pleasure!
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