Ever wondered just what it takes to be an intergalactic Viper pilot? What about how it feels to be a time-traveling superhero? Geek Prime traveled to Dragon Con 2016 in Atlanta, GA to get some advice from our favorite stars on bringing legendary characters to life on the small screen.
GETTING CAST
1. Own the role for yourself. When asked about the pressure of playing Hawkgirl on Legends of Tomorrow, Ciara Renee explained: “I feel like what we did was so very different. I get that question a lot: ‘are you nervous that you’re gonna mess it up?’ Well, first of all, I’m already playing a different version just by who they cast.”
2. Know your limits. “Rip Hunter’s pretty obscure, but what I do know about him is that he’s meant to be an all-American hero,” Arthur Darvill explained about being cast in Legends of Tomorrow, “I sent a tape in an American accent when they first approached me, and they were like, ‘no, you can’t do that.'”
3. Forget the haters. Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff recalls logging online at an Internet cafe shortly after the show debuted, and seeing just how ugly the Internet can be: “I got death threats. The first time we were at Comic Con, we got booed. People went online to tell me just how ugly I was. It was really, really bad for a while.”
“I was absolutely terrified to play Hawkman.” Legends of Tomorrow’s Falk Hentschel admits, “After they announced my casting, I read fan commentary that said ‘that guy’s so puny’…and I already had body issues.”
GETTING IN CHARACTER
4. Fake it ’til you make it. The Battlestar Galactica crew had tons of difficult dialogue – mostly having to do with science. Alessandro Jiuliani, who played Lt. Felix Gaeta on the show, and who had the most scientific lines, remarked “I’m glad I can be the voice of science, having failed it in high school.”
BEING ON CAMERA
5. Don’t look at the camera. “I struggle with not looking at the camera,” Ciara Renee admits. “We’ll start filming, and there’s a good minute where I’m starting at the camera. And the producers are making a face.”
6. Deal with it.“The most challenging (of Carter’s deaths) was in Egypt,” Falk Hentschel says, “because they’re sprinkling dust and sand in our face.”
BEING IN COSTUME
7. It’s gonna get uncomfortable. “Whatever temperature it was outside, it was that times a hundred in the viper suit,” Katee Sackhoff says, “And then they leave you in there and they forget you and then you take a nap.”
8. But inevitably, it gets comfortable. “Carter loves to wear skirts,” Falk Hentschel says about his Legends of Tomorrow character, “I wore a miniskirt in Egypt and it was so comfortable.”
9. Then it gets uncomfortable again. “I remember in the earlier seasons I was at my smallest, but I had to wear the flight suit,” Kandyse McClure – who played Anastasia “Dee” Dualla on Battlestar Galactica – recalls, “then I got my ‘sexy blues’ and by then I had put on 5 pounds and immediately regretted it, because the first time I sat down, that seam went so far up my…”
10. But don’t be afraid to try and fix it. “They gave me the pants for the Flash crossover and they were 3 sizes too small,” says Casper Crump, who plays villain Vandal Savage on Legends of Tomorrow, “Normally I’m not a diva, but this was the one time I was like, ‘You have to fix this.’ I looked like a ballet dancer.”
MESSING UP
11. Work on your delivery. “There was one line of dialogue that I couldn’t say,” Katee Sackhoff remembers from filming Battlestar Gallactica, “and I was writing it in my Viper over and over to try and remember it, and I still don’t know what it means.”
12. Be honest. Casper Crump came clean to the Legends of Tomorrow production crew after a potentially costly blooper. “There was this once scene with all these special effects. So they yell action and explosions are going off – and it would be so expensive to reset – and all I’m supposed to do is stab this guy…and I dropped the knife. So I tell the crew afterwards, and I get silence. Then one guys says, ‘don’t worry, we can fix it with CGI.”
STAYING PROFESSIONAL
13. It’s not all fun and games. “There was no pranking on the set of Battlestar Galactica, because this was back in the days that they were shooting on film,” explains Katee Sackhoff, “And film is too expensive to burn.”
“No one pranks on our set.” Arthur Darvill said during the Legends of Tomorrow panel, “But I think I’m gonna start. Set someone’s car on fire. Dress up as their pet.”
AFTER GETTING WRITTEN OFF A SHOW
14. Always read ahead. Says Kandyse McClure about her charaacter Dee’s death: “Jared the hairdresser actually broke the news to me. When he saw my face, he slid over the script and said, ‘You probably should read that.'”
15. It’s ok to let your feelings show. “I threw a tantrum after the show ended.” Kandyse admits. “I was like ‘I’m never watching this show.’ And then I did anyway.”
AFTER A SHOW WRAPS UP
16. Feeling lost is normal. “After Battlestar Galactica ended, there was at least a month or two of ‘now what?'” Alessandro Jiuliani says.
17. Just don’t lose yourself. When an audience member asked how long did it took the Battlestar Galactica cast to re-learn the right f-word, Katee Sackhoff replied, “Oh, I had NO problem.”
18. Get closure. “We’re like a family, but no one’s dying to go back,” Katee Sackhoff says in response to the Battlestar Galactica movie reboot. “And you can’t go back.” Kandyse McClure adds.