Giant
Talking With... Grace Park
Ethan Alter
01-15-2009
 

Battlestar Galactica veteran Grace Park tells all about bidding the good ship Galactica farewell, which keepsakes she brought home and where she wants her to career to go next.

For five years, Grace Park has juggled not one, but several roles on the beloved sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica.  And even though the show is heading into its final 10 episodes starting tomorrow night, her workload isn’t getting lighter.  On deck, the 34-year-old actress has a Galactica flick that will arrive on Sci Fi and DVD later this year, a recurring role on the Canadian immigration series The Border and just landed a role in the big-screen comedy Punctured opposite Eugene Levy.

GIANT: Congratulations on making it across the finish line in one piece.  Has it sunk in for you that the show is over?
Grace Park: That’s a multi-ended question, because we wrapped the series for the most part last July, but I still had a couple of re-shoots, as well as the movie and then some web episodes.  So I was sort of the last person standing.  In July it was great because all of us where there and we had two soundstages going until the wee hours of the morning.  When we ended it, we popped champagne and watched the sun come up.  Then everyone stuffed their souvenirs in their cars and drove home.  This time around it was quite different, because the set started coming down while we were there.  It was easier to end on a high note with everyone there.  To come back to the party and break the sets down by yourself and be the last janitor sweeping everything up is kind of depressing.  The last night I was there I found my last call sheet ever and wrote a little thank you note to Battlestar.  Then I started crying!

GIANT: What souvenirs did you grab from the set?
Park: I took my flight suit, a chair back and the sign for Eddie [James Olmos'] parking spot.  It was the last thing there, so I told my driver to wait, grabbed it and threw it in the back of the car.  There are a couple of other things that I took, but I can’t say anything about them because it would give away plot stuff.  Towards the end, it was a little weird because we would want a prop to work with and someone would have taken it!  We couldn’t even shoot because parts of the show were missing. [Laughs]

GIANT: Was there anything you didn’t get to take home that you covet now?
Park: Yeah, I really wanted those little wooden versions of the Raider, Raptors and the Galactica that are always shuffled along the war board.  I heard they were all taken on the day I had to leave early.  I’m sure I’m going to go online and buy some more things!

GIANT: The new movie is set before the show ends, but was filmed after you shot the series finale.  Was it difficult keeping the timeline straight in your head?
Park: Absolutely and not just because the show was over.  The film is set so far back [in continuity] and sometimes when you create the story in your head you fill in all the blanks yourself.  So when you go back and have to revisit those pieces, it doesn’t always seem to fit because it doesn’t follow the storyline in your head or what was discussed on the day you filmed it originally.  Fortunately, the movie does a beautiful job of filling in a lot of gaps and its quite seamless because they use pieces of what we filmed four years ago with what we filmed a month ago and it ties a whole bunch of things together.  I can say that there will be a few things about the movie that will raise eyebrows.  Like, I didn’t know there was going to be so much nudity!  It’s just blatant nudity, like Porky’s meets Battlestar.

GIANT: Like many of your fellow Battlestar actors—both male and female—the series has turned you into something of a sex symbol.  Has that been a weird experience for you?
Park: I’m happy that it’s happened to both Tricia [Helfer] and Katee [Sackhoff] as well, because it’s easier to have strength in numbers.  Someone did just send me a link to this “Hottest Women on Television” list and I started going through it.  Tricia was up there and then I found myself lower on the countdown and it finally started hitting me.  I think I’ve always done a decent job turning a blind eye to that stuff.  It’s fun, but it’s obviously not my whole life.  I don’t strut around out there in chaps and a bikini on my motor bike.

GIANT: How does your husband feel about it?
Park: He loves it!  He’s like, “That’s my girl.”  The only awkward thing is when I have a love scene coming up.  He always says “Who is it this time?”  So those conversations get weird.  I’m like “Babe, do we have to do something to even out the score?”  But he only works in business, so I’m not really worried. [Laughs]

GIANT: Battlestar is often praised for the way it tackles weighty real-world topics.  Did the series ever cause you to re-examine or change your opinion on a specific issue?
Park: Not particularly, though I do feel that by working on a lot of the hot topics, my opinions grew more defined.  It gave me a clearer outline of what I do thing.  Because we did have big issues that were thrown on the table, we’d wrestle with them and attack from all different angles, not just in terms of filming, but our emotional and mental approaches as well.

GIANT: Now that you’ve done sci-fi, is there a particular genre you want to explore next?
Park: I don’t have a super overall plan, but I kind of want to do features.  I didn’t realize how much Battlestar was a bridge between television and movies, because we had the luxury of doing multiple takes.  On the other shows I’ve been on since, it’s like bang, bang, bang.  One area I’d really like to tackle is comedy, because I’ve never really done it.  I think there is a definite art to making people laugh and it’s very challenging.  Personally, I like comedies that are on the quirkier side.  I enjoy Will Ferrell—I killed myself laughing Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory.

GIANT: You made a film about two years ago that I caught at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival—West 32nd, a crime drama about the Korean community in New York.
Park: That was one of those scripts that came my way that I started reading then and right off the bat I was drawn in.  I was like “Who’s in this thing?” and it was John Cho [from Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle].  And I was like “Oh fucking John Cho!”  I ran into him at a party one time several years ago and he totally dissed me.  It was one of those make-your-own-drama situations: go to a party, get dissed by someone and keep bringing it up over and over again.  I wish him the best now but when I used to see him I’d be like “Did you hear what he did to me?”  The first time we got drunk together while making West 32nd I told him about it and he was like “What?  No!”  I was like, “It’s true!  I almost didn’t do the movie because of you!” [Laughs]

GIANT: Do you feel any pressure to represent the Korean community positively onscreen?
Park: No, I don’t feel any obligation or pressure whatsoever.  When I started doing press for Battlestar, I was surprised how many questions were about Asian Americans and what I thought about them.  Part of it is that I didn’t grow up in the States where there is a strong Korean American contingent that’s very proud and vocal.  I get it, but that’s not exactly how I portray myself.  It’s great to get in touch with, but it’s not the only story I’m interested in doing.

GIANT: You play a Homeland Security agent on the Canadian series The Border. Have you ever had any rough border crossings?
Park: I’m a dual Canadian/American citizen, so every time I would go to the States, I’d be super cocky and whip out my US passport.  But one time I got in trouble because my passport had expired.  I was telling the dude, “Look, I’m a freaking American citizen!”  And the guy actually said: “There are two types of people in the world—Americans and foreigners.”  I bit my tongue because I knew he could delay me for two hours.  He gave me a speech and then typed an essay in passport.  So it’s always best to be wise about what you say at the border.

GIANT: What do you hope viewers take away from the last episode of Battlestar?
Park: I hope people take a glimpse at the other side are willing to embrace all parts of themselves and others, both ugly and beautiful.  That’s Battlestar to me.  Amongst all the ugliness is a lot of beauty.  You’ve just got to wipe away the dirt and the grime and the blood to find it.