IGN

One on one with the actress about Galactica season 3.
Eric Goldman

5-8-2006

It was just a couple of months ago that I last chatted with the lovely Grace Park, who plays Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, AKA Cylon Model Number Eight, on Sci Fi Channel's exceptional series Battlestar Galactica. That previous interview occurred at the Museum of Television and Radio's William S. Paley Festival, where Galactica received another of its many well-deserved kudos. But while only one episode of Galactica has aired since then, it was a huge one; A second season finale that left fans reeling after a one year jump forward in the show's narrative occurred in the last third of the episode.

Last week I had occasion to once again speak to Park at an NBC Universal Press event she and her costar Tricia Helfer attended to promote Galactica, which will return with new episodes in October, after a wait that's going to seem like torture to fans of the show. This time we discussed her thoughts on the season finale, along with where her multiple characters will be going in season three. If you don't want to know anything about Battlestar Galactica season three, tread carefully, as some basic storyline and character info is revealed, though little that would likely be deemed a major plot twist.

IGN TV: So the last time we spoke was at the Paley Festival.

GRACE PARK: I was so tired that day man! That's what I remember. I stifled like twenty yawns during that thing. Cause I was on a different time… I was on Rio time; Six hours off. Cause I'd just come from Carnival. So I was just really trying not to crash.

IGN TV: How is the third season going? You just started shooting, right?

PARK: We just started shooting. I think it's proving itself to be a little more of a wear and tear on some of the cast and crew, because we're shooting out on these sand dunes. And it's like as soon as you have the littlest bit of wind, you've gotta run for cover. And being out there, where it's not just like solid ground, it takes a little bit more effort doing all that kind of stuff. And it kind of lends itself to where the feeling from just watching it on the screen kind of spills over onto everybody. So I kind of like that aspect. Because the behind the scenes looks very much still like "on the scenes," you know what I mean? But it's very complicated right now. The first two episodes are a two-parter, and I've been doing a lot of catching up, because we had the one year break. And there's also a little bit more time that happens in-between. So you're catching up a lot with what has happened in that time. Like what kind of conspiracies have started; what groups are collaborating; what does it all mean; and finding out how do they communicate with each other?

IGN TV: So what was your reaction to the year jump? Were you shocked like the fans?

PARK: I don't even know [laughs]. What do you think?

IGN TV: I loved it and I thought it was great, but I was shocked. When it said, "One year later," I thought, "Is this a dream?" And then it kept going, and I thought, "I guess it's not a dream… I guess we really jumped a year ahead!"

PARK: I know! You know what? I think it's safe to say that most of the cast were not happy with that move, when it first came out.

IGN TV: Really?

PARK: Oh yeah. It's kind of like, "What? One year ahead?! Why? Already?!" It's like, "Don't we do that in season five?" Plus, like the spin off news that just came out, with Caprica… It's like, "What? Doesn't that also happen in season five or six?" But the cool thing is, everything keeps being unpredictable. So that's one of the things I really like that Ron [Moore] does.

IGN TV: Was the cast worried that by jumping ahead you lost certain dramatic beats? What was your concern?

PARK: For me, I thought it was a bit gimmicky or a bit cheesy. It's like, why do we need to do that already? And another major thing was that is happens within one episode. So you, as a viewer and as an actor, you want to feel a perceptible, organic shift. Like if you went to the washroom and came back, and miss that little thing, you should be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened?" If you don't get that, then it's just like everyone has to suspend their belief and it doesn't work, because then you've pulled them out a little bit, and everyone's struggling to try to believe it. So whether it be small things --like you can have people's hair longer, or they can be little things like people being married and stuff like that-- but you really need to have something different there. And I think [based on] the different way that people interact with each other, things must have happened. Like either relationships break down or get together in that time, and you need that to happen as well. And also another thing is, you saw everybody [after the time jump], so you kind of know where everyone's at one year later. And they actually cut Sharon's bit out, which I thought was good. Because it's like, you don't need to wrap it all up at the end of the season.

IGN TV: So can you tell us at all where she is at? Is she still in prison?

PARK: Hmm, what can I tell you guys? It's probably pretty safe to assume that she's still in prison. She's still in prison; she's not out of there yet. That's gonna be something that the audience gets to experience together. But certainly her having been there for that long and a lot of people having left; there's not as many people to interact with each other. And you know, Adama doesn't have that many people to interact with as well. He's a lot lonelier. His good comrades, his buddies and his officers are actually all down on the planet. So you actually find that their relationship has evolved. We don't know how it's evolved! It's weird. We would do a take, and there's a line that's like, "Yeah, a year is a long time." And it was always kind of really amicable the first couple of takes. And then all of the sudden, Eddie's [Edward James Olmos] like, "What happened in that year? I want to know what happened! How did we get to be at this point?" I was like, "I don't know!" And then the next take, he was like [affects a gruff, perturbed voice], "Yeah, a year is a long time." He was like, "You screwed me over." I'm like, "Well what did I do now!?" So I didn't really know, depending on which take they're going to use.

IGN TV: Do you know yet if we'll get any flashbacks to the missing year?

PARK: Yeah, there's an episode; I think it's called "Unfinished Business," and it's all flashbacks. Well, it's a lot of flashbacks.

IGN TV: So at first you were against the year jump, but how are you feeling now?

PARK: I like the year jump, because what's important I feel is, you can do something like that, but then how you treat it is extremely important. Not just making sure that everyone looks, feels, acts, talks differently, as if a year has passed… not just that piece, but also, you know how a lot of times in shows, when there's a certain premise that's set, then for instance… like, there's a Pegasus. Everyone waits for the Pegasus to be gone right away. "Well, that can't last!" Or like a year jump. Everyone's probably waiting for everyone to get on Galactica again. Things like that. And I think as long as you're not making those things happen within one or two episodes, then that's good. You know, draw it out a little longer. That's what's really interesting, and you don't need to find the next gimmick right away. So I think seeing how they've treated it has made me feel better.

IGN TV: So here's a total fanboy question. Was the Sharon in the final scene of the finale that walked into Baltar's office the Sharon we know that was originally with Chief?

PARK: Yeah, that's "Boomer." We call her Boomer now; it's a lot simpler, because she was the one that was with Chief. We call the one with Helo "Sharon." And all the other ones, I like to call "Eight."

IGN TV: Ahh, okay.

PARK: It's nice and easy! It's Boomer, yeah.

IGN TV: I'm curious, and you may or may not know yet, what Boomer's reaction will be like to seeing the very different place Chief is in his life.

PARK: It's kind of funny, because I almost wanted to be able to experience that on screen and in a scene… But she sees Cally. It's very loaded. It couldn't be like she probably wanted it to be. Like we're used to seeing Sharon with her emotions right on her sleeve, where you get to experience it right throughout the scene, and there's other characters who are a lot more guarded. But in this scenario, with her having to be a leader and knowing the situation with her and the Chief… And just being in a leadership position, it's changed. And I wanted to almost go back into doing that, but we pulled away from doing that, because it wasn't… how would I say it? It ended up not being the right thing at that moment. That sounds pretty flat and boring, but…

[Editor's note: At this point, a large NBC Universal Banner we were standing near got untied and flapped up in the wind, knocking into both of us]

IGN TV: Whoa, we're being attacked by NBC Universal!

PARK: Whoa! The interview is over!

[Editor's note: After we both finished laughing and moved away from the banner, Park went back to pondering her last thought.]

PARK: I think what's happened is that because Boomer had those, I think three months previously, and then we find her in "Downloaded" doing chin-ups and all that kind of thing… She had to do a lot of figuring stuff out then, and she had a lot of rage and a lot of conflict, and denial and just unacceptance in general. So her having gone back and then seeing where Tyrol's at, was I'm sure quite devastating to her. But at that point I think she's done some growing up. So maybe she cried by herself, but she wasn't gonna kind of blather all over him and Cally. Plus they have a child, so I think for those reasons, she held back a little bit. She's starting to grow up!

IGN TV: So at the Paley Festival the finale hadn't aired yet. Did you have to work hard not to give anything away about the jump ahead?

PARK: Oh yeah.

IGN TV: Was Ron like, "Make sure you don't slip up!"?

PARK: He doesn't say anything! Like we went to Comic Con, and him and David [Eick] were the ones that spilled that we had a Pegasus!

IGN TV: Yeah, I was there sitting in the audience when they said that!

PARK: I was shocked!

IGN TV: Yeah, I was shocked too.

PARK: Exactly. It's like, "What are you doing!? Okay, I guess there's no problem with spoilers!" But none of us wanted to give away the fact that there was a year jump. That was too big. How do you just let that slip out?

IGN TV: So are you getting to have different interactions with the other character's and cast members than before?

PARK: A little more scenes with Number Six; Caprica Six. We didn't really get to work together before very much at all. Or if we did, I couldn't see her; that type of thing. So it's been really fun, because also that version of Caprica Six seems to be a lot fuller and more humane and human in general and vulnerable, and I think it's easier to access that character. So yeah, we get to work with her a little more. And with Lucy Lawless. Definitely a lot of the Cylon thing happening. But with Sharon back on Galactica, it's like it's Helo... It's Her. I don't know what's changed! [laughs]

IGN TV: One other thing Ron gave away about next season in an interview is that he said we would see the Cylon home world. Have you been filming any of those scenes?

PARK: Not yet. I don't know what that stuff looks like at all.

IGN TV: Have you read any of the scripts that will take place there?

PARK: No. I talked little bit to Ron about it, but I don't know exactly what's happening.

IGN TV: Was there anything in that 10-page Cylon document he gave you that was surprising to you?

[Editor's note: During the earlier Q&A with Park and Helfer, the actresses discussed a write up Ronald Moore had given them about the Cylons and how they function and also revealed that we will be meeting a henceforth unseen model of Cylon in season three; the hybrid.]

PARK: Well I thought the whole hybrid model thing was weird! I felt kind of betrayed, like, "What hybrid model?! Aren't we enough? Aren't we like the humanoid version? Why do we need a hybrid model?" But there's other things, like how the Cylons take in nutrients, and how the Cylons take in information. I knew that at least I figured that there was a decision that had to be made of whether or not the Cylons chose to download and chose to upload, and that was just all confirmed. But it kind of showed us a little bit more how they do it. Like a nutrient bath; that kind of thing that was happening. Yeah, there's some weird very Cylon type things that are going to be showing up.