Post by NieMMY on May 22, 2005 8:49:21 GMT -5
Random Questions and Answers with Wayne Pygram
November 24, 2002
Burbank, CA 3rd Creation Farscape Convention
MF Leopold (aka MissyKat)
With much thanks to Richard Manning for arranging this interview and to the dear Wayne Pygram for agreeing to meet with his most avid fan (or is that rabid fan?).
I was standing in the hall outside the main auditorium at the Burbank Hilton, chatting with Ricky M. when he began to motion to someone behind me. I began to smile and I am sure that by the time I turned around I had a doofy grin from ear to ear. Wayne was standing there and wanted to know if we could do the interview. I said yes, whenever was convenient. He said that now was fine and so I got my bag of stuff and off I went, following behind him to the back stage. Being the Australian gentleman that he is, he carried my bag for me. Score another one for WP.
Wayne was happy and healthy looking, and far more animated than the previous year. After hearing about his health problems during his Q&A slot, both the skin reactions and gluten allergy, I was so thankful that he had gained weight and looked robust. In fact, he glowed – blue, sparkling eyes and sweet mischievous smile. OK, so I have to admit that I was smitten. It is a thrill to actually get to meet someone (anyone, not just a TV personality) you have had a crush on for so long. He was wearing a medium blue button-up-the-front regular shirt and regular pants and moved with the fluid smoothness that fans have grown accustomed to with Scorpius.
We sat opposite each other at a long narrow table in a backstage room. I had heard that Creation security was tight for some reason and I did worry about being asked to leave at some point since I had no press badge or some such. We began with general chitchat. I thanked him for the opportunity to interview him, and told him a bit about his fans. We had talked a bit at the Saturday night Cocktail Party and I wanted to get a feel for what type of fan interaction he wanted to foster. He is so pleased with fan response to Scorpius and to him personally. And he does keep every present and note that he gets. And he shows his “treasures” to his relatives, esp. his dad. I could tell by his expression and constant smile that he really feels like the birthday boy who gets the most wonderful presents.
There was a stack of promo pictures next to him on the table. These were the Season Three cast photo and he had autographed them as had the other actors. Throughout out our interview, he would occasionally glance over at Scorpius looking up at him and he would seem lost for a split second in his fondness for his character. I noticed that he referred to Scorpius only as he, the third person, and never in the first person, as he had at the 2001 convention. I felt that he was purposefully detaching from his companion of the last four years and that he was morning the loss of such a fulfilling and challenging persona. I’ll go into this more in the “Scorpius” part of the interview.
So after a bit, I looked at the long list of questions and began to ask him for random bits of information.
*********I know that you played Australian League as a young man – what team and what position did you play?
He started at age six in the front row (he was large for his age) and by age twenty one had moved back in the line to full back. He spent most of his career on the second row, even making State in 1975 when he played for Riverina High. And later, he played for the Wagga Magpies and Turvey Park of Group Nine. Some of his mates from those days went on to be famous players throughout Australia.
I was curious about his list of injuries as a jock. He was almost proud of his broken nose and fractured cheekbone, touching his face gently as he spoke. Casually, he then mentioned the broken leg and dislocated shoulder. I asked about his knees since I had seen no scars from surgery (as I would have expected) but he said that he had been lucky. No back problems and with any luck, perhaps just a bit of arthritis in his shoulder as he aged. He swims and exercises to keep in shape now.
*********In the Aussie equivalent of Cowboys and Indians – which were you? a Cowboy or an Indian?
Wayne really looked confused at this question and I can’t say that I blame him. “Cowboy” he said. I was expecting Indian. He went on to explain that “Combat” was very popular on TV when he was little and that he and his mates played WWII war games, battling the Germans and the Japanese at every turn.
**********Dogs or cats?
He has had both. He can’t have a pet now because of the time constraints of acting and the travel but if he were to have a pet, it would be a dog, a boxer. He had two kelpies when he was growing up. One had died of a bite infection and the other was named Smith. Wayne’s dad had taken care of Smith after he left home but eventually Smith went to live on a farm where he could run about and enjoy life.
********Any unusual pets?
No, he had nothing unusual. We commiserated about the fate of Lizard Girl’s “pet” and I gleaned that he has a healthy respect for the “crawlies” of Australia and didn’t just go out in the backyard and catch snakes or such as a young boy.
NOTE: Lizard Girl (she went by several other nicknames at the Convention - all less flattering) was a younger lady from the UK who did not endear herself to any of the other con-goers. She did manage to get in a question for each actor and she usually babbled on a bit, much to everyone's annoyance. Moreover, she had a pet iguana that she had purchased just to bring to the Convention (seeing how she couldn't take it back to England with her - this seemed quite ridiculous). Rumor had it that she had taken a similar pet to Star Fury and it had died there. I am unsure what pissed folks off more - her belly or the iguana.
********Are you a nature boy? do you like camping? where are your favorite spots?
OK, so he isn't a gungho nature boy. He likes a good hotel and a shower every day. I smiled inwardly and racked up another point for the Pie-man. He mentioned two spots in particular that he liked: Jervis Bay and the Blue Mountains. Jervis Bay has "the whitest sand in the world" and requires a bit of a hike to get to it. However, when Paul (Simpson, co-author of the Illustrated Companion) came out for a visit, Wayne chose to take him to the Blue Mountains for the view.
He has been around the western US (Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California) and enjoys the flat, hot deserts in Arizona. He can imagine retiring there to a Spanish-style adobe house. He explained although most folks in Australia retire to the northern coast and the wet heat of the near tropics, he liked the arid flat land that was west of Wagga Wagga where he grew up.
*********How tall are you?
Six feet.
**************So tell me about your tattoos – (or did I say ‘show’ me your tattoos? )
“How do you know about them?”<br>
“Bill, at PulpExpo, has a picture of you, shirtless, up on the web and I saw the ‘bird’.”<br>
[Now, you would have to understand that at this point Wayne’s eyes were even more intense and he was really enjoying talking. He was fantastic to listen to. He made direct eye contact and his voice was resonant and deeper than Scorpius’ with a more natural breathing pattern. He was smiling, almost laughing at my string of questions, perhaps puzzled that a stranger would ask such questions. Perhaps, just tolerant of his fans’ attention. Still, I would like to think that he was enjoying this. Also, before I would let him explain, I said that it was a lark among his fans that he had been tattooed in prison one of the several times he was incarcerated for serial murders. We all knew he was innocent and he had never been convicted. Shout-out to Niemmey for that one. At least I think he knew I was joking with him.]
H has a Mexican “Aztec” eagle on his right arm. It represents freedom and flight. That is the one visible in the Armageddon picture. As for his left arm – he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it down so I could see his left shoulder. [note to self – dark-blue tank top undershirt] The upper tattoo was the Pi anagram of Pygram as seen in Home and Away (2001). “This is me – my name.” I saw nothing subtle there. Bold and distinctive – unique. And under it, two rectangles joined by a line. “This is my last one. This is Ned Kelly.” He then gave me a three minute history of Ned Kelly, Australian Iron Outlaw. He spoke with passion and conviction. Fierce as he spoke of Ned in his armor, guns blazing against the authorities. I thought that this might be Scorpius in a way but as Wayne spoke, I realized that he took this hero as his own, his own inspiration, a metaphor (perhaps) for himself as the actor. Behind the mask instead of behind the iron plates. “No one else has these [tattoos].” He patted his shoulder with affection and pride before he pulled his shirt up again and rebuttoned it.
I asked about the tattoos in Roar. Even wider smile. He enjoyed those tats, telling me a tale of the Gold Coast after a day’s shooting. If you haven’t seen the tattoos for his character in Roar, they went about his head and right shoulder in a Gaelic/Celtic type design. Stark and edgey against his pale skin. They lasted 24 hours so they were still on when he left the set. Back to the actors’ digs and off for a soak in the hot tub at the hotel. He was in the hot tub leaning back against the side with his arms up on the edge, completely relaxed. Two small young Asian women quietly came in to soak. He looked up and they stopped, just staring at him. One turns to the other softly “twitter, twitter, twitter.” Then the other replied with more of the same. They turned in unison and scurried away. So this is so much funnier when Wayne tells it… loses something in the translation.
