Stargate SG-1/Farscape: Claudia Black: ScapeCast: Audio Interview

[morjana]

From ScapeCast:

http://www.scapecast.org/

PART ONE


http://media.libsyn.com/media/scapec...eCastS2E34.mp3

Hosted by: Kevin Bachelder and Lindy Rae

ScapeCast Crew: Kurt Armbruster, Kevin Bachelder, Brent Barrett, Wendy Hembrock, Sammy Mohr, Lindy Rae, Hank Shiffman, Kimberly Thompson, and Nicola Wood

Additional writers: Julie Marino

Edited by: Brent Barrett

Additional Editing by: Sammy Mohr

Running Time: 01:18:12

(00:00:33) Our hosts Kevin and Lindy welcome listeners to The ScapeCast
(00:07:32) Ben Browder says hello
(00:33:12) Interview with Claudia Black (Part 1 of 2)


PART TWO

http://media.libsyn.com/media/scapec...eCastS2E35.mp3

Hosted by: Kevin Bachelder and Lindy Rae

ScapeCast Crew: Kurt Armbruster, Kevin Bachelder, Brent Barrett, Wendy Hembrock, Sammy Mohr, Lindy Rae, Hank Shiffman, Kimberly Thompson, and Nicola Wood

Additional writers: Alyrenee Greaves

Edited by: Sammy Mohr

Additional Editing by: Brent Barrett

Running Time: 01:09:48

(00:00:38) Our hosts Kevin and Lindy welcome listeners to The ScapeCast
(00:31:15) Interview with Claudia Black (Part 2 of 2)

[Jades]

That was a wonderful and candid interview. I transcribed a couple of the questions recently for a friend and thought some people here may be interested:

Interviewer: You’ve been very gracious with your time tonight Claudia, we really appreciate it. Is there anything else you wanted to share with the fans?

Claudia: Oh, I miss them, I’m sorry that I’ve been so out of contact but it’s for a very good reason and I’m sure I’ll be forgiven. It was the toughest year of my life last year working on… First of all relocating with a two month old baby to a different country with no real friends or family around to support us and shooting for what turned out to be for the most part 15 to16 hour days for the longest time, though I was only really getting three hours of sleep. I got very ill and my baby got very ill and was going to require hospitalization if we weren’t careful and the doctor gave us sort of special dispensation and said ‘Alright I trust you, you look like you’ve got your head on your shoulders because I’m going to let you administer this medication at home on the machine and if his condition worsens you are going to have to bring him into hospital’ and this when I’m trying to exclusively nurse him onset when we’re off on location in the boondocks.

It was a very stressful time, my husband got pneumonia and this all happened all at the same time and I actually for the first time in my career went to the producers and said …I went to Rob Cooper and said, around the time of the 200th, ‘I know this is bad timing, but I’m actually dying’. I was waking up in the morning and sort of having… I couldn’t breathe, I’d have to lie on the floor and sort of have to put my head down and gasp for air and my husband would say ‘Oh my God! Are you alright? Do you want me to drive?’ and I’d say ‘No!’ *gasping* ‘I’m fine, I’ll get through it!’ and then I’d bundle the baby up and get into the car and off we’d go. It was horrific and when I spoke to Coop about it and said can you lighten my load in the upcoming episodes because I’m really dying, he said he can’t, we’ve already written them. Which is a very different experience to Farscape because *laughs* nothing was ever written. So I really shut down, I had no spare time in which to get online and say ‘hi guys, I’ve had a baby and I’m well’ and whatever, that would have been a lie anyway *laughs* I wasn’t and the baby wasn’t at that stage.

Thankfully he’s flourishing and is such an extraordinary gift and my husband and I are completely besotted and we’re very grateful that we’re out of that. That was really the nadir of our lives probably last year, trying to just get through it and get through the season and it was horrible for the three of us to be so sick all at once with no one around.

On a personal level, I had what fun I could on set. But I think anyone who has followed my work over the last few years, just looking at me in the 200th, I was so emaciated, I just looked terrible and I think anyone who knew me would be able to look at that and think I was probably quite ill. So I really do apologise to all the fans for not having any contact, I couldn’t attend any conventions, I couldn’t even get online and say hello and I really do apologise for that because I know how much you guys care about your actors, and I know you wished me well when you heard that I was pregnant and having a baby and I know your thoughts were with me and I genuinely, genuinely, thank you and apologise for not maintaining any thread of contact, but for the above mentioned reasons I’m hoping I shall be forgiven…


Interviewer: Absolutely, I think I can speak for everybody there.

Claudia: *laughs* Thank you, the fans really have been in my thoughts and I appreciate everyone who has crossed over to Stargate because I have to say it’s such a different show and has such a different sensibility and creatively such a different experience for us working on it. Although I got to work with my beloved Ben again we seldom really got to work together and to those fans that crossed over in the hope that there might be some glimmer of what we’d done before, thank you for doing what you guys do, you know, keeping the fires burning for us and for our careers because we can’t do this alone. So I hope to see you guys at a convention soon or in some capacity somewhere. I know most of my fans would know that I tend not to attend many (conventions) terribly frequently but when I do I really look forward to it and I tend not to go, to great extent, unless I think I’ve got something new to say *laughs*. I abhor the idea of attending the same sort of conventions for a decade if the show itself hasn’t changed or continues, because then your just blabbing on about yourself or about politics rather than about the thing that has brought you together, that you’re so passionate about. That’s my take on it anyway.

[dipsofjazz]

Thanks Jades.

Wow! Poor Claudia. That must have been such a terrible experience for her and her family. I'm glad to hear that everyone is okay now.

[the dancer of spaz]

Oh my gosh, that's horrible.

It just proves how little we know about these actors, when she was able to go to work each day, give 100% performances while being so ill and you really couldn't tell. I feel bad that she had to go through with that, but I'm glad they made it through that ordeal.


It's too bad she wasn't able to work something out with Cooper though... OK, nope... Not gonna go there. Whatever.

[morjana]

That was a wonderful and candid interview. I transcribed a couple of the questions recently for a friend and thought some people here may be interested:

Thank you so much, Jades, for the transcription!

Morjana

[Melora]

I haven't been able to listen to the second part of the interview b/c I am once again on dial-up. So I really appreciate your transcription, Jades. Thank you.

I was so impressed by everything Claudia said in the first part of the interview and it is depressing to hear how hard it was for her last year. I remember an earlier interview with her mentioning how tired she was during the filming of the 200th, but I don't think anyone could have guessed it was this bad. At least in my opinion, her acting this last season was always wonderful.

I am very glad everything seems to have settled down and she and her family are doing well now.

I am also very happy she is feeling up to traveling to Dragon Con in September. I know her fans appreciate it.

[jckfan55]

Oh my gosh, that's horrible.

It just proves how little we know about these actors, when she was able to go to work each day, give 100% performances while being so ill and you really couldn't tell. I feel bad that she had to go through with that, but I'm glad they made it through that ordeal.


It's too bad she wasn't able to work something out with Cooper though... OK, nope... Not gonna go there. Whatever.

glad Claudia's ok now. What a pro. I find it appalling that they didn't try to work something out for her.

[LaCroix]

I too agree that was horrible. I'm glad to hear that all is well with her, husband, and the baby.

Trying very hard right now not to go there with Cooper.

[ForeverSg1]

Poor Claudia.

No one should have to work under those kind of conditions.

Hopefully she and her family are much happier and healthier now.

[Mandysg1]

OMG that's just horrible! What a trooper Claudia was, but to think Coop wouldn't listen to her and try to accomodate her...Just makes me loose what ever respect I had left for the man

[PG15]

I feel for Claudia, I really do, but I really don't think Coop had much choice in the matter. If the stories were already written it would mean a massive overhaul in the scripts (especially since Vala is usually featured a lot) that would cost them a lot of time and money. It's no reason to dislike the man if he's stuck like this.

But of course, CB was also really stuck between a rock and hard place, much more so, in fact. Glad to know she's getting better.

[Deejay435]

Thank you so much, Jades, for the transcription!

Morjana

Yes, thank you for the transcription! I always have such trouble just listening to an interview. My attention span doesn't allow for it I guess! (I would have given green by way of thanks, but I'm locked out.)

And poor Claudia! What a trouper she was. Way beyond the call of duty. But don't actors have any labor rights? It's terrible she couldn't take time off to make sure she didn't wind up in the hospital herself!

I didn't realize she was going to DragonCon. I really wish I was going this year.

[Melora]

Yes, thank you for the transcription! I always have such trouble just listening to an interview. My attention span doesn't allow for it I guess! (I would have given green by way of thanks, but I'm locked out.)

And poor Claudia! What a trouper she was. Way beyond the call of duty. But don't actors have any labor rights? It's terrible she couldn't take time off to make sure she didn't wind up in the hospital herself!

I didn't realize she was going to DragonCon. I really wish I was going this year.

There have been times when the producers have made changes b/c of illness. At the end of Season 3, MS had to have an emergency appendectomy and they accommodated him by rewriting the script on the spur of the moment. In that case, it was more a matter of having no choice but to rewrite it b/c there was no way MS could have been there. “Nemesis” also happened to be a team episode where other characters could be assigned Daniel’s dialogue and his absence could be easily covered. It was also the last episode filmed for that season, so MS had lots of time to recuperate during the hiatus.

It seems Claudia was in a very different position. If you look at the eps that were probably filmed after 200, there was Memento Mori and Counterstrike. Both were episodes that really required the presence of Vala and the character couldn’t be easily written around. I do wish they could have figured something out for Claudia’s sake though.

Re: DragonCon - I believe she was added to the list this last week. She is going to be on the SG panel with MS and CJ. I wish I could find the time to go.

[ShardsofGlass]

I am appalled that the producers wouldn't lighten Claudia's load when she and her family were so ill. I don't care how much the eps centered around Vala, you don't work someone into the ground like that. Shows have to accommodate illness all the time. It's a part of life, for heaven's sake. I don't understand why the SG PTB couldn't rewrite a couple of eps for her. WOuld it have been a lot of last minute work for them? Sure, but that's what you do when someone is ill.

[PG15]

I supposed it just wasn't possible to write around her illness in this case. You shouldn't start blaming people when you don't know everything.

This was just a series of unfortunate events.