New York Post- PopWrap

Grace Park: "This Can't Be The Way It Ends!"
by Jarett Wieselman
07-15-2008
 

"There's daylight! I'm on Earth! It's outside! It's present day!"

Those are just a few of the ways Grace Park says she can tell the difference between working on "Battlestar Galactica" and her new A&E series, "The Cleaner," premiering tonight at 10 p.m. As a longtime "BSG" fan, I was hesitant to watch Grace play an Earth-bound character - and just one of them at that since she had played multiple versions of the same character for the last five years.

But after checking out the pilot, I must say how frak-tastic it is to watch Grace laugh, have the wind blow through her hair and slip into some seriously sexy clothes that have nothing to do with criss-crossing tank tops to play one part of an intervention team that recovers lapsed addicts. I had miles upon miles of questions for Grace about "The Cleaner," her hot co-star habits, and more "BSG" questions that you can shake a raptor at - and I'm pleased to say that no topic was off limits!

Pop Wrap: What first attracted you to "The Cleaner" and your character, Akani?
Grace Park: A few things. As soon as they introduce Akani she had so much sass and attitude - in the script it said she's sitting on top of her car, drinking a Slurpee and eating a burrito. That instantly let me know she's not going to be a macrobiotic/vegan kind of person. She's a wildcard. I really just got her.

PW: Were you looking for a project that was 180 degrees away from "Battlestar?"
Grace: I wasn't actively looking for it, but when "The Cleaner" came about, it just fit the bill so perfectly. I knew I didn't want to do space - I mean, if it was something else in space that was incredible, I wouldn't have said no just because, but I certainly couldn't be playing robot twins.

PW: I can't imagine those roles come up often?
Grace: You'd be surprised. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting typecast in this show because I'm not playing a grocery store owner either (laughs). I mean, I still get scripts to play twins where I play both roles - it's so amazing that no matter what, they can typecast you.

PW: I'm sure every writer in town has been dusting off their robot twin screenplays for you!
Grace: They're just coming out of the woodwork. "Finally! We found an actress who can play this part perfectly!" (laughs)

PW: The pilot episode sets up a lot of history for your character both with her family and with William Banks (Benjamin Bratt). How soon will we get to find out more about her?
Grace: I would have liked to get to it sooner rather than later, but because I was filming "Battlestar" at the same time, they actually had to write down Akani's storyline a lot. We will get to that, but it will come into play more during the second half of the season.

PW: So you're no longer filming on "BSG?"
Grace: We wrapped last Friday at, like, 4 a.m.

PW: Was it an emotional day?
Grace: It was very emotional. As they were wrapping each castmember, no one was really crying, but I knew when it came to be my turn I'd lose it. But my last scene did not end how I imagined. It was a big special effects shot that took a while to reset so I knew I would only get two takes and I didn't like what I did in either, but they wrapped me and I was not very pleased.

PW: I'm sure you're just being a perfectionist.
Grace: There were castmembers on set behind the monitors and they said it looked great, but I just wanted to blow the top off of it. I tried to do the script as best I could, but I wouldn't have stuck to the dialogue if I did it my way, so I wanted to give them what they wanted first and then would have done it another way, but in between the two, they shouted: "Series Wrap on Grace!"

PW: Does it feel like an ending though since most of you will be back for the "Battlestar Galactica" TV movies? Grace: They're not fully etched in stone at this point. There's a rumored time table, which is really soon, but there hasn't been anything official yet. Everybody wants to do them but none of the actor's management have heard or been contacted, so it's like, are we doing it?

PW: Well there must be some cafeteria chatter...
Grace: Well, I didn't find out about "Caprica" [a "BSG" spin-off] until my manager called me after he saw it in the trades! I don't know how to take that because Ron Moore and David Eick [the producers of "BSG" and "Caprica"] were in the lunchroom with me, like, the day before that broke and they didn't say a thing! And it's not like that happened overnight. Communication is somewhat lacking.

PW: Well it's probably due to the intense fan scrutiny. Are you looking forward with "The Cleaner" to actually be able to answer fans questions?
Grace: No, I still won't spoil anything, but it does feel good to not have to shred all my scripts.

PW: I would imagine those puppies are under lock and key 24/7.
Grace: The most horrifying thing - we were shooting the last episode of "Battlestar" and we put three episodes together in one script and I lost it on location. We did, like, a full studio search for it because it was three episodes and, on a personal level, I had all my notes in it. I felt so sick because you can't just throw something like that away. So I nervously went on eBay to see if it was there, like, I don't care how much it costs, I will pay to get it back!

PW: It never surfaced?
Grace: I never found it. But I think if someone took it, the script would just spontaneously combust or something!

PW: Well, I think everyone will be trolling eBay looking for it now!
Grace: I will pay you a handsome fee if you get it!

PW: You had once said that you couldn't imagine a scenario where the identity of the final cylon would be satisfying. Now that you know who is the last hooded figure, is that still true?
Grace: I would say that I'm totally happy with the way it turned out. It's really great and smart, and kinda of one of those dangerous things because whatever I say will snowball. Like if I say it's really unexpected, or you would never think it's her, or it's right under your nose - it's none of those things.

PW: It just feels appropriate?
Grace: It's not necessarily appropriate, but I can really tell you only after you see it. I want to say all these things but don't want to even hint because it's so much more enjoyable for you to discover it on your own. I really don't think people would actually be happy if they found out - it's just something they think they want to know.

PW: If you take a look at your last two projects some might say that you're intentionally trying to work with hot guys - true? Grace: (laughs) You know what, that's how I steer my ship. I wanna know which hot guys are in my projects. I mean, of course I know that Benjamin has a following but people would be like, "ooh, Benjamin Bratt!" but I've never been a big Benjamin Bratt person.

PW: What about now that you've worked with him?
Grace: Um, even less! (laughs) No, he's a wonderful person and I'm really looking forward to working with him more because when we first started the pilot, I asked him if he wanted to go for coffee to work on our backstory and he said no and something about being married or whatever.

PW: Weird, did he think you were hitting on him?
Grace: No, I think it was like a "family first" thing. Plus, back then it was only a pilot, so you know, not everyone is into hanging out with their casts. But I brought it up to him the other day and he was like, "We'll totally go for coffee."

PW: Following up "BSG" in terms of the writing and co-workers must've been tough.
Grace: Definitely. I don't know what it is about me, but when we were doing "BSG" I told Katee [Sackhoff] or Jamie [Bamber] that I was really happy to be on a show that was really realisitc. I'm not wearing much makeup and the whole cast isn't good-looking and young and totally unbelievable as these people. Whoever I was with me shot me a look out of the side of their eye and said, "Are you crazy? Have you looked at our cast!" And I thought, "OK, well, Tricia [Helfer's] beautiful, and I guess Tahmoh [Penikett] is too. Oh and Jamie is gorgeous and Katee is pretty." It was like, "Oh s***! I'm on one of those shows!"

"The Cleaner" airs Tuesdays at 10pm on A&E