Gray gives B5 details
The actor chats with AntonyF about what to expect in the upcoming telemovie
By MICHAEL HINMANSource: B5LR.com
Nov-26-2001
In just a little more than a month, "Babylon 5" fans will have a chance to see the resurrection of their series in the latest potential spinoff, "Babyon 5: Legend of the Rangers."
Mackenzie Gray, known to many science fiction fans as Venetri in the "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" episode "Forced Perspective," will be one of the new faces found on the show, and B5LR.com's AntonyF recently caught up with him over the phone from the actor's Canadian home.
"Science fiction is more a fan of me than I am of it," said Gray, who will play Minister Kafta from a brand new mysterious race in the B5 universe. "I suppose my tastes run to the fantastic, so science fiction accommodates that. I'm equally at home watching 'Blade Runner' as I am 'The Fifth Element.' Generally in science fiction, there's a larger message, and when it's good science fiction, it works on that plane."
Gray said he does try to follow science fiction, but despite his respect for Patrick Stewart's acting, he never got into modern Star Trek. But he said he did enjoy the movies, and learned through some of his friends in the acting business how much of an impact those shows made in fandom.
"I worked with Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Soran, 'Star Trek: Generations'), and we're good friends. He told me that when he did the Star Trek movie where he killed Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), he was inundated with hate mail. He had no idea there was such a fanatical following, and his own understanding of sci-fi was quite limited, even though Malcolm has been in so many sci-fi movies. It woke him up to the power of not just the fan base, but that people take it very seriously.
"It's like the Greeks where they would go to see plays and demand they have a certain truth to them, or be told a certain way. I think science fiction has probably taken that place."
Gray is no stranger to "Babylon 5," however, and it was another acquaintance that actually got him watching the original syndicated series in the first place.
"I like when there's humor, and I think that's why I like 'Babylon 5,'" he said. "It's so funny, there's a lot of humor in it. Ships break down, and people get fired. I had a friend who was in it, his name was Macaulay Bruton (Garibaldi's aide Jack from Season 1). I watched it because he was in it, and found myself enjoying it quite a lot."
To audition for the role of Minister Kafta, Gray said he had to rely on some of his previous stage experience.
"They were asking fr actors who had theater training -- that was a specific note to the casting directors," he said. "They didn't want people who hadn't done theater. I think that's because they realize that the series is a bit theatrical, and with all the prosthetics you need to be able to act through prosthetics. [Before] I went to the audition, I watched the series again as I hadn't seen it for a while. I looked at the costumes and things, and I always loved the Centauri. So I put on a British guard's tunic under a kind of Hugo Boss cape coat, and wore that so they knew at least that I dug for this series."
Filming for the telemovie, which many believe is a series pilot, is set to air in January on the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S. While Gray said some mysteries of his character will be revealed in the telemovie, he wouldn't go into detail about it outside of the program.
"I can tell you in only the vaguest terms, as to reveal anything about them would blow the whole story," he said. "So he's a big surprise. He's a new alien from a new alien race, so he's never been seen in 'Babylon 5' before. He calls into question all the wits that the new rangers have to draw upon. So it basically forces them to rely in their wits, by basically the problem he presents them with. So it really brings out their ingenuity."
"[Minister Kafta] is an interesting character who arrives in the middle of a rather routine operation. Let's say there's more to him than meets the eye, and he creates a crisis for the crew which they then have to overcome. That's about as much as I can say."
For AntonyF's complete, comprehensive interview, click here!!
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