A. You know, we're on set last season, and Eddie [James Olmos] says to me, "I hate to say it to you, but your character is the hardest on the show." And he's right! I'm barely keeping my head above water. I've got Sharon on the ship, who’s trying to kill herself, and then her alter-ego is a Cylon, which we had to create as a separate personality. I had to figure out -- I still do -- how to integrate that into an experience the audience can buy into.
Q. Well, if you had all the power, what would you most like to see happen to any of the Sharons? I mean, screw the show, just selfishly?
A. Hmm. That she would destroy everybody and everything. She would just obliterate the universe. She’s always struggling between bad and good, and she’s tired of it. I'd just have her go kamikaze.
... had the opportunity to ask Grace Park a few questions in preparation for the mini-series. A few of those questions (click on the link to read the entire interview) include:
Q. Are you related to Linda Park from Enterprise?
A. No. I think there are six Park clans. I'm not sure which one Linda Park is in. Q. How do you see Boomer developing [if the series continues]?
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. Q. ...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?
A. In [a boot camp the cast attended prior to production] we established relationships between pilot and crew, soldier to soldier, so even though I didn't have to have a scene with Katie [Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck], it felt like the bond was there anyhow. Among all the cast, the bonds are so familial. It was so much of equals -- not "rivalry equals", but just, 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 want to contribute?"
...spoke with Grace Park on January 3, 2005. Here are a few questions from their interview. Click on the link to read the full interview.
Q. ...You have a degree in psychology, and once danced for twenty straight hours. That's a pretty odd combination. Obviously, you have the energy to handle the schedule for working on a weekly television series, but does your degree inform the way you choose your roles, or your performance once you've been cast?
A. Psychology's given me a perspective of and fascination with people's behaviour and what motivates us. But when it comes to performance, though psychology will help, often the best things will come up organically and my job is then to get outta my own way and let things happen. That's not so easy as it sounds! Q. Now that 'Galactica' has gone to series, I see, from the screener, that there will be multiple arcs involving copies of Sharon - one on the Galactica, and one on Caprica. Obviously, the Sharon on Caprica must be aware of being a Cylon, but the one on the Galactica is a sleeper. Are you enjoying playing the differences between these two versions of the character? And how do you keep them similar enough to work in each context, but still acknowledge their differences?
A. I love having the challenge of playing the two, it keeps me on my toes. It should not be evident how different the two characters are, because the one on Caprica should appear just as the one Helo came to know. Boomer's programming is naive and unaware, but the cylons are very good at what they do. They didn't get to where they are from nothing. It wouldn't work if I was all 'Ooo here I am evil, Mwah ha ha, Ooo - here I am good. But on set that's what we all refer to them as, good Sharon and bad Sharon. It's just that I don't know if it will be that simple for long... Q. Given that Sharon is a Cylon sleeper agent, one of at twelve models of human-like Cylons - each with many copies - it would seem that you have a fairly certain gig for as long as 'Galactica' airs. Given that possibility, what most excites you about playing the character, in all her possible forms?
A. The range we can take this girl to, how dark she can get, vulnerable, finding out how her life will unfold and how she'll grapple with the insane challenges that'll come her way. Isn't that what's exciting about life?
...Interviewed Grace Park in January 2004, just after New Year's. We're including a few questions here. Click on the link to read the entire interview. This is one of the best interviews done with Grace.
Q. ...We were just talking about how strong your performance was in the miniseries, and what did you think? Did you enjoy your experience a lot?
A. Oh my gosh, I loved it. You do a lot of shows and you end up, it just ends up being work, it's work but sometimes you do some work and it really seems a lot more like play and it was totally a blast. I have to say that there are...you always want to go back and re-do things... I mean acting wise, but I have to say quite a few of the scenes I'm pretty damn happy with. Q. Which [scenes from the miniseries would she want to redo]?
A. Oh, I think there are certain takes like, when we touched down on Caprica and I had to leave without Helo, there was one turn-around shot where I was lifting off and supposed to be crying but it took like half an hour to set-up. And two minutes before we went to camera, I shut down emotionally. Totally. Or so I thought I did. And brutal cuz I remember Michael [Rymer] telling me on the third take, "You're just gonna have to act."
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Fans outside of Canada did not get to see much of Grace Park prior to the onset of Battlestar Galactica, but for four years she shared small screen time with Kristin Kreuk (of Smallville) in the hit show Edgemont.
