Please be patient. Video might take a few minutes to load.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Friday, March 10, 2006
Grace Park Interview
ME: Are you related to Linda Park from Enterprise?
GP: No. I think there are six Park clans. I'm not sure which one Linda Park is in.
ME: In previous interviews with Katee Sackoff and Jamie Bamber, we've been able to talk about the connections between their characters and the original versions with Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch. But your Boomer has almost nothing in common with the previous character by that name. How did that affect your approach to the role?
GP: I certainly felt freer. I do love having Boomer be such an original character. But then, I think the whole Battlestar as it's coming out seems so fresh.
ME: Do you share your fellow cast members' hope that this continues?
GP: Oh, completely. I would love it to go to series.
ME: How do you see Boomer developing, if it does?
GP: Well, she's the rookie, but she's come to see these people as family. She wants to carry on, and she has a lover and Boxey. There's an interesting storyline just with that.
ME: If you don't mind my saying, you're something of a rookie yourself, and the production has some pretty impressive veteran actors with Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnel. How's that feel for you?
GP: It's perfect that my character is the rookie pilot, and I'm probably one of the newest, youngest actors on the set. It doubles up on how much everything is new to me, and how much I have to learn, and how quickly I have to learn the ropes. I feel I have people to fall back on, in terms of being able to ask things.
The boot camp we did [before the filming] brought us all together. It really drove home how we're not separate people, but a team. We had to be there for each other. For instance, once a couple of the actors forgot to bring their pens and hats, and the rest of us had to do push-ups until they came back with their stuff.
ME: Highly motivational! I notice, though, that while Ron Moore's script includes a number of male/female friendships and romances, there's little emphasis on friends of the same gender ' male or female. Did you find that a problem in developing Boomer's character?
GP: In that boot camp, we established relationships between pilot and crew, soldier to soldier, so even though I didn't have to have a scene with Katee, it felt like the bond was there anyhow. Among all the cast, the bonds are so familial. It was so much of equals it didn't matter if you were a guy or a girl. My flight suit was the same as the guys, and so was what I had to do. They didn't try to make the girls look pretty, or any of that. They stripped it down to, "What are you doing? What do you contribute?"
ME: They were really stressing the whole team thing.
GP: Yeah. My biggest challenge with the flight suit was its size. I mean, it was for a gorilla, or something. They had to downsize it three times.
ME: And so how was it to see the finished product at the premiere?
GP: I was completely was into the story. Only once in a while did I pop out and think, "Oh, look at those effects, They're so good."
[The destruction of Caprica] felt so 911 -- the hopelessness of it. I remember back then watching the towers fall over and over, and I remember how odd it was that a non-organic object exploding and how painful it was. And then there I was watching this and I'm crying, and I had to remind myself this time there weren't really people dying. But it really took me back there.
ME: Now, I have to ask if you saw any of the original show on your own before shooting.
GP: No, but I really liked the episodes we saw in boot camp. I'm ordering the Battlestar DVD to see the rest.
ME: What did you like?
GP: Well, I see the history of the show. I realize the significance of, "By your command," the weight of the power struggle, and what the Cylons have meant.
The original is so different from what we've done, but I think it's really of the time. I know in the '70s it was a popular show, but TV is so different now -- cutting edge visual effects, with computer and CGI that have to be top-of-the-line, because everyone is looking to see if it's CGI or not. There has to be so much put in to it on that level.
But I also think the audiences then were much more innocent and accepting. I don't think we could get away with copying just the same thing. Instead, our version has much more emphasis on having the good guys with flaws, and the villains with good parts. It's meant to challenge the audience that's used to black and white.
ME: Are you a sci-fi fan?
GP: I wouldn't call myself that. There are so many kinds of sci-fi within the genre. I love the Battlestar approach. And while I'm not a Star Trek fan, if I do sit down and get into an episode, I'll enjoy it.
ME: I notice that your TV work is almost all sci-fi. I have this theory that sci-fi actors get tagged by the industry. It's as if once you prove you can act in front of a blue screen, sci-fi producers put you in the “sci-fi actor pool.”
GP: If you have to create a full reality in thirty seconds in an audition, then you can do it on the set. You have to place yourself into a parallel universe looking through the Stargate. There's that element of fantasy or pure denial of looking at what's right in front of you and making yourself believe something else. I think that crosses over between sci-fi roles.
ME: Hmm. How do you get into such a fantasy state when you're in front of the cameras?
GP: I just reach deep into my personal denial.
ME: Well, if this thing goes to series, are you prepared to be a sci-fi idol?
GP: I would definitely love to have an action figure made. A friend of mine has some and it's really a whole world. Other than the toy, though, I think I'm pretty nervous -- I have no idea what making those things entails for me.
I do know that some of the cast members are getting hate mail and even got some before we started shooting. There's that much animosity -- acting is playing, and we wanna just play. Meanwhile, you don't know what people are typing into their computer at four in the morning.
But you know, that's kind of how it goes. The [showbiz] industry is really fear-based. You're not really sure what everyone thinks about you, but you have to go out there anyway.
ME: Well, it seems to be particularly hard for women and minority actors in sci-fi. They seem to be expected to lead the way in social behavior to prove equality, or something.
GP: I think there is an inherent pressure to represent the population -- and for me, there's really that Asian pressure. You have to be PC, and all you want is for people to look at you as a person and as a character.
Now Boomer, she is the rookie and she's not as tough as Starbuck, so I don't have as much pressure to be...well, people want to see that my character would be strong, able, smart. But at the same time I'm starting to see that people's strength is also their vulnerability.
Taking acting classes, you go deep inside and you're crying and you hate life, but after a while it's not that bad. Sometimes I feel that calmness in that state, and then so I realize that everyone feels pressure to "be a certain way" to hold on their values, but I think it's because everyone's really scared. So if you get to that place where they're scared and live through it and be brave, because you can't have courage without fear, I think that's a kind of statement for humanity. It doesn't matter how you do your hair, or if we look like Playboy Playmates, or the other extreme. It's really good to show people you can go through your weakness and succeed.
I think that's what I like about Battlestar Galactica: everyone is the most scared they've ever been, and yet somehow they manage to make it through.
ME: You know, you're talking about Boomer, but that sounds so much like the President's character, her journey from being Secretary of Education on a PR assignment to taking command.
GP: Absolutely. You know, at the premiere, when she and Adama are vying for control, people recognizing her female strength -- not weaker, just a different type of strength. It's complex, but people can see what’s going on.
ME: Well, thanks so much for your time. I'll be watching it again on Monday, and I really hope it makes it to series.
GP: Me too.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
Get Your Arm From Around My Woman!
Why is it that everyone wants my woman!! She's mine dude!! She's just shacking up w/you while daddy is away! LOL!
Friday, September 09, 2005
Grace Park 1024x768 Wallpaper
Click on the pic and it will open in a new window. You can right click and save as your wallpaper. Have fun!!
Sunday, September 04, 2005
This is the interview from Maxin w/Grace!
Where you've seen her:
As the finest alien in the new Battlestar Galactica series.
Queen of the jungle:
"I had to do this one sex scene for Battlestar that wasn’t a bedroom scene. It was outside in a forest under a lightning-and-thunder shower. I was like, 'So you want some crazy forest sex? OK, I gotcha.' In the end, they had to totally edit it down and take out all my moaning."
Viva ass Vegas:
"It was in Vegas on New Year’s on the strip. It’s packed with 2,000 people on the street. Someone grabbed my ass, and I whipped around and there were 10 people. I picked one guy and I fuckin’ reamed him! I scared the shit out of this guy. It was the wrong guy, but I didn’t care…"
Amazing Grace:
"The craziest thing I did on a date was probably cutting through the lobby of the Wickaninnish Inn buck naked except for a yellow rain jacket and rubber boots, stripping down, and jumping into the ocean right in front of the hotel. Mind you, it was October and we were in Canada. Not only was it freezing; it was night and we couldn’t see our clothes."
Friday, September 02, 2005
Interview w/Grace Park
The Battlestar Galactica Fan Club Co-President Shawn O'Donnell "BGR" (bgresurrection_1999@yahoo.com) recently had the opportunity to speak with actress Grace Park, who portrays the character of Lt. Boomer on the new Battlestar Galactica. Grace has some interesting things to say about Battlestar Galactica, her career and her aspirations. A big Thank You! goes to Wendy Shobe at The Characters Talent Agency for helping to arrange this interview as well as to Tyman Stewart. Check them out at: www.canadafilm.com
BGR: How did you make your start in the acting profession?
GP: I did a bunch of commercials and thought being on set was the best thing in the world: you get fed, clothed, made over and then have a nap and goof off. I thought, I could get used to this and that's when the fun ended. After that, pretty standard, acting classes and auditions, and still going.
BGR: What do you consider to be your "break" as an actress?
GP: Battlestar Galactica, but at the time, I was trying to convince my parents that Edgemont, a Canadian teen series, was HUGE! Especially for a fledgling actress.
BGR: What was the first television role you landed? As well as film role?
GP: Hmmm, no need to invite humiliation. For film, it was "Romeo Must Die".
BGR: Aside from Battlestar Galactica, what are you working on now?
GP: Sanity. Oh! You mean work, just reading scripts & stuff.
BGR: Again, aside from Battlestar, what has been your favorite project in either film or television?
GP: Well I'd say this very hush project with Ben Kingsley & Daniel Day Lewis but then people wouldn't believe me, so I'll stick to Edgemont. It was like school, going back every fall, but we never had to go to class! We could just hang out, have fun, and made some of my closest friends there. It was a very special time.
BGR: Any special film you'd like to work on? Essentially a dream project...
GP: I joke about Charlie's Angels, but I'm serious and "Memoirs of a geisha" would have been absolutely amazing. I would love to work with Wong Kar Wai or Ang Lee.
BGR: How about a personal project? Anything that you'd like to bring to film or television?
GP: I would love to one day be part of a project that would tell the stories behind the Japanese occupation in Korea, the struggles, turmoil and heartaches and especially the tragedy of young virgin girls forced into sexual slavery, aka "comfort women"...my mom told me some about it and it haunts me, I want to tell the stories that mean something to me, my culture and heritage.
BGR: As far as acting is concerned, do you have preferences? in other words, dramatic, action or comedy roles?
GP: Action, drama and comedy!
BGR: Any interesting or funny stories from the set?
GP: I like how Katee fell asleep in he viper during a take, there's this scene where I'm alone in the brig, hands and feet bound in hardcore metal shackles, and as the ship is being attacked I'm fighting to get free, and all of a sudden I break them open! But they weren't supposed to break, but I don't care and I just about ran outta the cell till the director yelled cut!
And last year for the big finale where Sharon sees 12 versions of herself, they had to do a huge 3 day casting to find exact look-alikes for me, it was a big deal, wigs, skin match, hair on the arm match. But on the day when I finally saw the girls, only 1 1/2 were asian! They looked nothing like me.
BGR: Getting on to a more Battlestar Galactica related question, you portray Boomer on the new show, which originally was played by Herb Jefferson, have you had an easy time making that character your own?
GP: Well, she's a Cylon, there's two of them, one is programmed to obliterate the human race, the other doesn't know that she's a robot and that she's programmed to obliterate the human race. One's having a human-hybrid pregnancy and has killed another version of herself, and is devoted to the Cylon plan, God and race, none of which really exists! So really, it's been a cake walk.
BGR: Do you feel you get a lot of fan support? There was a lot made of the fact that the Starbuck character is a woman in the new series. Do you think having Boomer as a woman has created the same "stir"?
GP: No, even changing Boomer to a cylon didn't create the same stir! The fans have been wonderful.
BGR: It does seem that your character has quite a pivotal role on the show, did you expect that going into the series?
GP: Hell no!
BGR: In terms of character development, where would you like to see Boomer go?
GP: I would like to see her strength, and how she'll deal with her anger and hatred of the oppression she's felt towards the humans, and how that will battle with her new feelings of experiencing love.
BGR: Any advice you'd like to share with the aspiring actors and actresses out there?
GP: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who, at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
*Theodore Roosevelt {1858-1919 26th US President}
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."
*Anatole France {1844-1924 French Author}
"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it."
*William James {1842-1909 American Psychologist & Author}
"No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning."
*Barbara De Angelis
Dare, believe, and search for that truth in your heart that you are special. when you find it, you will know.
BGR: Anything you'd like to say directly to the fans?
GP: Thank You!
Introducing Grace Park
You don't know who Grace Park is? Well, you will soon!!
Grace started her career as a model. Would you have ever guessed that? Grace loves extreme sports and travelling. Wow! A super athlete!! She speaks English and Korean in the family home, knows a little French (being raised and educated in Canada).
Unfortunately for every man (whether gay or straight) and every lesbian or bisexual woman, Grace is married. She married a Korean real estate developer at the end of last year (2004). Dated for about 3 years.
After graduating from college, she wanted to try acting for only a year, but ended up getting a teen show called '"Edgemont" (2000)' right away.
Grace was born in Los Angeles, but moved to Canada at 22 months. She considers herself a Canadian native, but always a Korean first. "Ooooooooh Canada!" and "Oooooooh Koooorreeeeaaa!"
As a bit of trivia, Grace was born on the same day and year as her "Battlestar Galactica" (2004) co-star Katee Sackhoff. (April 8, 1980 in L.A. ----GO ARIES!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)