amberleewriter (amberleewriter) wrote in bail_lovers, @ 2005-11-11 12:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | audio, bail, jimmy smits, transcript |
SW Audio Cast
One of the most recent SW Hyperspace audio casts has excerpts of interviews with the actors that play Senators in RotS. Jimmy Smits has the longest bit at just around 1/3 of the audio cast. Genevive O'Riley, who plays Mon Mothma, is next followed by Christopher Kirby (Giddean Danu), Kee Chan (Mal'e-Dee), and Warren Owens (Fang Zar). Ren, since you mentioned you were having a bit of trouble with the audio, here's a transcript:
Jimmy Smits: "I knew going in that this character was a politician and that he would go through some kind of transformation and that he would, again, interface with all of the major characters and someway help to progress the storyline. So, that's always an interesting thing. And of course to be part of .. to be involved in something that I saw as a young person, in terms of watching the film, and having my children see the subsequent Star Wars films and to be part of that was really cool for me.
"So, in this particular film, this character has scenes that have that political kind of tenor with them but again now he is much more kind of conspiratorial, suspicious, and wanting to be more active in terms of doing something. And then the other things that have been great is that I actually get to play -- have actually gotten to play -- scenes with all the major characters which I didn't do before. So there are scenes with Padme. There are scenes with Obi-Wan Kenobi. There's a something with Anakin. There's lots of stuff with Yoda. And then, the bottom line is that I, ya know, I uh, as an actor if you are in a kind of movie that has this kind of backdrop [there's some squeaking/creaking of a chair and Jimmy's voice fades down a touch as if he is gesturing at the scenery behind him] -- all the blue screen/green screen stuff -- it's nice when you get to do some kind of action oriented thing. And I got a little taste of that too. It was quite fun to do some shooting with a laser gun and get squibed. And I'm happy to be a part of that.
"Of course you're wearing these beautiful -- BEAUTIFUL -- robes and Trisha Bigger is just, like, incredible. What she has done with all of the costumes on this particular film, and all of the one's that she's worked on...they make you FEEL regal and noble walking around in them, ya know? The gowns that just kind of have a flow and with the robes...it just totally puts you into what that character is supposed to be.
"Then the other fact is that you are working with this international cast. You have accents from different places, which is what you would probably find in another universe, right? You have all these people from different worlds and the CG characters. The painstaking time that they spend putting hours and hours of makeup on people and all of that kind of comes together and because I've had training in terms of theater and a classical theater background of course I have a respect for the language and the emotional tenor that you're supposed to have with what's on the page. And, you know, it just helps that kinda senatorial stuff that we deal with, it just helps it all out.
"But you know, in talking about that whole political backdrop, you know George is very quite eloquent, much more so than I'll ever be, about the whole demise of -- how you start as a Republic and then, without the proper checks and balances, total power can corrupt totally. And that's basically what happens. And that there are parallels to, you know, the Roman Empire and all that stuff and what starts out as a beautiful thing kind of gets corrupted to a dictatorship and what Bail Organa, Padme, and all the Senators want to do is try to get back to the pure thing that they started with. You can't let democracy and freedom get away from you you gotta keep the checks and balances going even if it means, at some point, you then become -- I talk about being a separatist, I'm not trying to be a separatist -- even if you, then, become the rebel to try to keep that purity that you started out with which is democracy. I mean those are real, I mean those are chords that kind of run deep in terms of the film without kind of hammering in that this is a kind of philosophical kind of point. Ultimately, this story is about the fall of Anakin. I think, again, that there are kind of like cords about the goodness in people. Padme has a line after she delivers the child to Obi-Wan about "there is good in him" and I think that a kid might not understand all of the political jargon that happens in the film or everything that Obi-Wan and Yoda talk about with regards to the Force, but they do, on some level, internalize that there are good people, that there are people that get corrupted, and start out good "oh I thought he is good but now he turned out to be bad." And I think that they do feel those chords in these films and they root and they're sad and they're happy for the characters and that's the beauty of cinema."
Genevieve O'Reilly: "I play the character Mon Mothma and she was originally in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and she's a Senator allied to the rebels. Caroline Blackstone played her in Episode VI and I take over now as her younger version. So, she's me in the future if you will.
"I guess I looked at Return of the Jedi a few times and saw where she was in the story, how important she was. Listened to her voice a lot. I was given a tape with one of her scenes in it that had all the other noise taken out so it was wonderful to be able to focus on her voice and I guess that was a really good way into the character through her voice. She's very strong and yet very -- she has a wonderful kind of emotional -- she really gives emotionally as well and I guess that let what, that was a wonderful thing to see and let me in as an actor, you know, so.
"I'm her younger version so I don't think I'm as experienced or as well trodden in the world as she is obviously. But, of course, Mon Mothma has the same principals. Myself, as Mon Mothma, I wouldn't have seen what she had seen, but I can take what Caroline Blackstone gave me and just use it as much as I can.
"She's a Senator, so she's intelligent [laughs]. She holds a lot of people in herself for her work. That's not explaining it very well. I think Mon Mothma sees herself as a crusader for her whole people. She's a real -- she's almost like a real suffragette if you will. She's a real, a woman that sees herself as a vehicle for a whole civilization and she really carries that on her shoulders and she, she really takes her job very seriously. Very passionate about it. And it's incredible as an actor to think that you're going to step into something that someone has already created. And it's, it's wonderfully liberating. You certainly move with trepidation, especially at the very early stages, because, as an actor, I completely respect everything that Caroline Blackstone had done and I just really wanted to do justice to her as well. But seeing her performance, and seeing what she had done, it was wonderfully liberating as an actor to see that and to have the tools to be able to give myself to that.
"I think the first day that we shot a scene there was about maybe four of us Senators and we were in Padme's apartment and it was very intimate. And it was lovely. It was a lovely days shooting. I think the second day we came on there were so many Senators! And I was like, Oh my God! They're everywhere! They're everywhere! And I didn't even know them. So that was, that really surprised me because you only really learn, I guess you really learn about your character as you go along. Like, it's almost as if, as an actor, when you get to the end of the shoot you wish you could go back and do it again because NOW you GET it. You know? [laughs] So, that did surprise me that day. Oh my gosh! It's a whole gang, a whole civilization and culture that I wasn't aware of!"
Christopher Kirby: (Giddean Danu) "Right. Well. My character, he's a Senator who, at one time, was -- had been through wars and had seen what battle can do. And basically made a decree on the planet that, basically, war was outlawed. Because, basically, we've come to, supposedly, a higher level. But now it, um, now he's sort of torn between two worlds because now he knows that he's sort of being drawn into a conflict that goes completely against his conscious. And so, he's very fair -- he's a very fair human being I think. I think much more fair than I could be myself. He's very, I think, wise beyond, beyond my own parameters I would say. And, uh, just a good -- I tell you I would love to see this character as a politician somewhere in my minds eye. Things have just really come to a boil where the Chancellor's every -- every step that we have for our democracy, for our way of life -- basically he has stepped on. And now he's taking it and just wiping away, like, you know, a thousand years of democracy in one fatal swoop. And so we're just angry. It's sort of like your way of life being, you know, the things that you know to be true have all been taken away. And it's really interesting to see the scenes, lets say, with Jimmy because Jimmy was sort of the spark plug in the whole scene sort of voicing many fears that we have and sort of running with it. And we all: "Ah, yes we think that to," and "Oh, yeah, yeah you got a point there." You know, that whole thing. But usually, sometimes, being a politician, you have to sort of ride the middle ground. And he was basically voicing all our fears and frustrations. And, obviously, Natalie, she's still loyal -- still loyal to the Chancellor -- and, uh, we're kind of going "ah, but you don't see what he's actually doing. Don't be blinded just because you guys have history. Something, something is going on with this guy.
"The thing that I connect to most in the stories, I would have to say, is standing up for what you believe. And sometimes, there's usually, there's a cost that's involved in that, you know, because obviously, sometimes you may not go with the status quo. But, yeah, going for what you believe and what you think is right and obviously there's a, sometimes there a great price to be paid in that. But I also think that, basically, that takes courage, like a deep, deep type courage. Yeah. I definitely can connect to that.
"My costume, um, and I guess it's interesting that you should mention that because I had a very pale pink long flowing coat. Yeah, and it forces you to stand up straight. I think, I was trying to figure out what she was trying to tap into with me. Obviously a gentle, like I say, he was a gentle sort of fellow. He the type of a Senator that basically he would be good for the ecology. Because, you know, if people are killing off trees or plants or animals of a certain nature he would be the first to ban it. That's the type of person he was, you know. I should say is. You know, can't start speaking in the past tense. And so I think she probably tapped into that and, uh, and just very, and with the tall hat, I don't know, cause I think I'm the last person on earth that needs more height [chuckles] but, it seemed to work. It seemed to work. Maybe I was connecting up to a higher power, I guess."
Kee Chan: (Mal'e-Dee) "The scenes I've shot in the past two weeks, were pivotal. I mean, had no dialogue, but even just being there and feeling the energy of the characters I knew so well was uplifting. It was energizing. It was surreal. And, in a strange sense, because of the way it's written it was deeply spiritual. It had a lot of values one could aspire to.
"I could hardly contribute to my character I had so little to do, but I hope I have imbued him with integrity, with vulnerability, with compassion, and a ability to listen. Because ultimately the essence of communicating with another human being is about empathy and most of all about listening and not doing the talking. What I do like about this episode I'm doing those is the representation of different cultural backgrounds -- Earth backgrounds, Earth cultural backgrounds -- different species of people, different human types. The deep message I perceive in that, I feel, is that it engenders global understanding."
Warren Owens: " I play Fang Zar. Zar being my father's name and my mother's name, naturally, the same. I consider Fang Zar a rather good guy. He is in a sort of a conspiratorial situation with some other Senators; trying to stop the impending war. He is a close liaison to Padme' and he seems to have an ear in certain aspects of the government. Apart from that Fang Zar is a genuine character of worry. He's worried about his planet and he's worried mostly about where the Jedi are going in this particular upcoming war. And through that, I consider his character rather a good character to play. There is no such thing as a small part, just small people doing them. No, Fang Zar is a wonderful part. You can't beef up Fang Zar. He's already got a pronounced lifestyle and a pronounced time limit and that in itself gives him a lot of credibility. He doesn't have to be right through any film. Fang Zar is there because he's part of an overall picture of people trying to save the universe, the galaxy you know, and in that much he's a good guy and that's all I really want, to be a good guy."