Post by Niemmy on May 22, 2005 9:41:19 GMT -5
Preflight Interview with Wayne Pygram - Coming to A merica
By Monroe Reimers
Monroe: It’s 8 am. On the 22nd of January 2003, in three hours time you will be on a plane and tomorrow in LA. So did you really think when you went for that audition for Scorpius all those years ago it would come to this point?
Wayne: No. [Laughs]
Monroe: Are you surprised? Are you grateful?
Wayne: All of those things. Grateful. Certainly given me an opportunity to think outside of the limited box we have here. It’s taken me to a wider audience being able to work for a production company that has the credibility of Hensons. Certainly has allowed me to put my foot in a bigger pond. And I have some credibility which I …I’ve always had credibility, the fact of the matter is to go and attempt something like this…probably would never have happened without a job like Farscape. So it’s fantastic, very grateful.
Monroe: The Farscape job was actually more than a gig in a sense, because err...it was Scorpius that really made all this possible.
Wayne: That’s true, yes. The nature of doing something quite special something that stayed in people’s minds. Gave me the opportunity to show some other skills…you know…I increased my capacity because I was allowed to do things that normally I’m not asked to do nor expected to do, not expected to have the capacity to do, i.e. slapstick comedy. With the clone or playing a character that has such high status, a character that always wins. In doing that you always walk away in yourself a bit more powerful and certainly the character is going to be remembered as being potent because of the high status that you give it or the writers give it. And working in from behind the makeup, sort of a little bit of a sting in the tail when Wayne goes out there to knock on doors on a business level. But it hasn’t turned out that way…you know, such a human sort of performance and he was so available that they see the actors work even through the big make up…that was nice to have, it was a reassurance that the make up wasn’t an impediment.
Monroe: As far as this trip overseas the only thing they’ve seen of you is Scorpius.
Wayne: Pretty much, professionally particularly. But a lot of the fans as you know, they’ve found Fire and found bits and pieces, I don’t want to tell them too much.
Monroe: What I’m saying is there’s a whole body of work that’s been created up to this point…so do you think that Scorpius was the end result of all that…like the coming together of all that experience?
Wayne: Maybe it is Munz…but it certainly feels like starting again…like getting on a plane today and going over to LA…it’s like leaving all this body of work behind to create another one…that’s the idea. But yes, I think it’s a combination of many years work and struggle and experiment, you know, failure and success, trying different things being adventurous. Listening to peoples advice and ultimately trusting your own instincts which is where I’ve got to after many years of paying homage to people with more experience I’ve got to the point where I only listen to myself, only listen to my own instincts, my own sensibility and that’s great, I’ve learned to trust myself and err it seems to work. I’m certainly technically much more efficient and prepared to go to work as well. I’m very efficient at work and you get that through doing your time. Earning your stripes on the floor for many many hours. Not just a guest, the gutsy thing is er…high pressured. To go to work with a bit of continuity every week…to play the same character, that’s another thing about being in a series, which is wonderful. You stop thinking about character choices, they just happen., because it’s imbued in you. As opposed to being a guest, you have little bit on a film, you go in with all this homework and all these notes and stuff…by the time you finish that’s when you’re really starting to get it kicking in. Whereas series television, you do it over years it becomes subconscious. The characters subconscious…you don’t even have to think about it anymore, the character actually dictates, internally, your character choices are dictated without actually thinking about it. It actually happens on your feet. Without really intellectualizing or doing any dramaturgical work your characters choices become very very clear. A real luxury, to go to work and forget about the character. You are the character.
Monroe: So what’s your best case scenario? In terms of the next character you would like to take on? Where do you go from here? Because as fantastic as Scorpius was, it’s now over. Where would you like the next step to take you?
Wayne: I don’t see it as steps Munz, certainly would like to get into another area, to play someone who didn’t intimidate people, you know who didn’t have an agenda of intimidation. It would be nice to play a gentle character obviously, or a soft character…that yeah…um…again gives me a opportunity to go somewhere else again where I haven’t been…because in Australia I’m thought of as a certain style of actor who does certain characters, which is pretty limiting, they’re usually characters who are introverted, introspective, usually someone who might have a violent past or violent present or is intimadatory or er...whatever. So it would be nice to play something out of the box…maybe it’s a priest, I’ve always been interested in playing a priest, for some reason. But not your pedophile priest, someone who you know…anyway to do something soft would be great. To do someone who is, you know…average Joe. Someone who’s not necessarily seen as anything special or big military guy or anything like that, just an average Joe with a great story to tell. Umm…I was going to say something else about that…yeah getting on to the plane…that drives me on to the plane…I go out there and no one knows anything about me, they only know Scorpius. So I get to start again, to re-invent myself again…and that’ll allow me opportunities to go for…and get hopefully. Roles I wouldn’t necessarily be thought of for back in Australia.
Monroe: The massive fan base that Scorpius has built up…I mean it’s interesting to see how the fans react to Scorpius and how they react to Wayne…err what do you think the fans are more interested in, Scorpius the character or Wayne the person? Because that’s what obviously introduced you to them. Do they want to retain that interest in Scorpius or are they now interested in you?
Wayne: I think generally interested in me. Because of the sci-fi conventions and gathering and whatever you get to know people, the fans probably a little bit more than most people who work as actors, that have a, you know, a profile or anything. I have no doubt the fans are genuinely interested in people’s careers and seeing people going forward. They’re very clear about where Scorpius lives, he lives in the realm of Farscape. And you know…he doesn’t live outside of that. But having gone to the barbecue last weekend down at Maroubra, people are genuinely interested in, you know, Wayne moving forward, Wayne doing other interesting things, and they’re really…you know, they’re looking forward to the day when they can turn on their television or go to the cinema or whatever and see me doing something else. Because I think they feel as though they’ve had a certain investment in you, if you progress forward, they feel like they’ve been part of that journey, which is sort of true. It’s a good thing. There’s a level of connection and contact that you have with the fans that becomes a little bit you personable. I know lots of fans by their names, there’s many I don’t. Yeah I think there’s a definite sense of them having invested in your future. They want you to do well.
Monroe: Say you did another character which was completely different from Scorpius, when you go to a sci fi convention on Farscape would they be talking about the new character?
Wayne: Definitely. Obviously we’ll spend some time speaking about the show and everything because there’ll be some people there who wouldn’t have been to a Farscape convention before. But yes I think it’s an ongoing thing Munz, once the show stops what arwe you going to talk about? In a sense, let’s hope you’ve got something to talk about, you gone somewhere else you’ve done other work. But obviously something I haven’t done yet, I haven’t done a job since completing Farscape. Haven’t done any work at all apart from a play reading. So I would say yes, you would talk about whatever you were working on at the moment. Farscape is like the lens you look through you know, whatever you do in the future is going to be tinted by the past. But at the end of the day it’s pretty bloody dull if four or five years down the track or maybe three or four years after you finish the show you’re still talking about how long it took to put the make up on. I would like to think you’ve got something else to talk about. Like I say people are genuinely interested. It’s an investment in people as much as an investment in Farscape and the characters. People are eager to see me at Burbank at the end of the year and they’re going to ask you, you know, what have you been doing. We haven’t seen you, or if they have seen me do something they will want to talk about it.
Monroe: So when you actually go for these conventions you are introduced as the guy who plays Scorpius, is that right?
By Monroe Reimers
Monroe: It’s 8 am. On the 22nd of January 2003, in three hours time you will be on a plane and tomorrow in LA. So did you really think when you went for that audition for Scorpius all those years ago it would come to this point?
Wayne: No. [Laughs]
Monroe: Are you surprised? Are you grateful?
Wayne: All of those things. Grateful. Certainly given me an opportunity to think outside of the limited box we have here. It’s taken me to a wider audience being able to work for a production company that has the credibility of Hensons. Certainly has allowed me to put my foot in a bigger pond. And I have some credibility which I …I’ve always had credibility, the fact of the matter is to go and attempt something like this…probably would never have happened without a job like Farscape. So it’s fantastic, very grateful.
Monroe: The Farscape job was actually more than a gig in a sense, because err...it was Scorpius that really made all this possible.
Wayne: That’s true, yes. The nature of doing something quite special something that stayed in people’s minds. Gave me the opportunity to show some other skills…you know…I increased my capacity because I was allowed to do things that normally I’m not asked to do nor expected to do, not expected to have the capacity to do, i.e. slapstick comedy. With the clone or playing a character that has such high status, a character that always wins. In doing that you always walk away in yourself a bit more powerful and certainly the character is going to be remembered as being potent because of the high status that you give it or the writers give it. And working in from behind the makeup, sort of a little bit of a sting in the tail when Wayne goes out there to knock on doors on a business level. But it hasn’t turned out that way…you know, such a human sort of performance and he was so available that they see the actors work even through the big make up…that was nice to have, it was a reassurance that the make up wasn’t an impediment.
Monroe: As far as this trip overseas the only thing they’ve seen of you is Scorpius.
Wayne: Pretty much, professionally particularly. But a lot of the fans as you know, they’ve found Fire and found bits and pieces, I don’t want to tell them too much.
Monroe: What I’m saying is there’s a whole body of work that’s been created up to this point…so do you think that Scorpius was the end result of all that…like the coming together of all that experience?
Wayne: Maybe it is Munz…but it certainly feels like starting again…like getting on a plane today and going over to LA…it’s like leaving all this body of work behind to create another one…that’s the idea. But yes, I think it’s a combination of many years work and struggle and experiment, you know, failure and success, trying different things being adventurous. Listening to peoples advice and ultimately trusting your own instincts which is where I’ve got to after many years of paying homage to people with more experience I’ve got to the point where I only listen to myself, only listen to my own instincts, my own sensibility and that’s great, I’ve learned to trust myself and err it seems to work. I’m certainly technically much more efficient and prepared to go to work as well. I’m very efficient at work and you get that through doing your time. Earning your stripes on the floor for many many hours. Not just a guest, the gutsy thing is er…high pressured. To go to work with a bit of continuity every week…to play the same character, that’s another thing about being in a series, which is wonderful. You stop thinking about character choices, they just happen., because it’s imbued in you. As opposed to being a guest, you have little bit on a film, you go in with all this homework and all these notes and stuff…by the time you finish that’s when you’re really starting to get it kicking in. Whereas series television, you do it over years it becomes subconscious. The characters subconscious…you don’t even have to think about it anymore, the character actually dictates, internally, your character choices are dictated without actually thinking about it. It actually happens on your feet. Without really intellectualizing or doing any dramaturgical work your characters choices become very very clear. A real luxury, to go to work and forget about the character. You are the character.
Monroe: So what’s your best case scenario? In terms of the next character you would like to take on? Where do you go from here? Because as fantastic as Scorpius was, it’s now over. Where would you like the next step to take you?
Wayne: I don’t see it as steps Munz, certainly would like to get into another area, to play someone who didn’t intimidate people, you know who didn’t have an agenda of intimidation. It would be nice to play a gentle character obviously, or a soft character…that yeah…um…again gives me a opportunity to go somewhere else again where I haven’t been…because in Australia I’m thought of as a certain style of actor who does certain characters, which is pretty limiting, they’re usually characters who are introverted, introspective, usually someone who might have a violent past or violent present or is intimadatory or er...whatever. So it would be nice to play something out of the box…maybe it’s a priest, I’ve always been interested in playing a priest, for some reason. But not your pedophile priest, someone who you know…anyway to do something soft would be great. To do someone who is, you know…average Joe. Someone who’s not necessarily seen as anything special or big military guy or anything like that, just an average Joe with a great story to tell. Umm…I was going to say something else about that…yeah getting on to the plane…that drives me on to the plane…I go out there and no one knows anything about me, they only know Scorpius. So I get to start again, to re-invent myself again…and that’ll allow me opportunities to go for…and get hopefully. Roles I wouldn’t necessarily be thought of for back in Australia.
Monroe: The massive fan base that Scorpius has built up…I mean it’s interesting to see how the fans react to Scorpius and how they react to Wayne…err what do you think the fans are more interested in, Scorpius the character or Wayne the person? Because that’s what obviously introduced you to them. Do they want to retain that interest in Scorpius or are they now interested in you?
Wayne: I think generally interested in me. Because of the sci-fi conventions and gathering and whatever you get to know people, the fans probably a little bit more than most people who work as actors, that have a, you know, a profile or anything. I have no doubt the fans are genuinely interested in people’s careers and seeing people going forward. They’re very clear about where Scorpius lives, he lives in the realm of Farscape. And you know…he doesn’t live outside of that. But having gone to the barbecue last weekend down at Maroubra, people are genuinely interested in, you know, Wayne moving forward, Wayne doing other interesting things, and they’re really…you know, they’re looking forward to the day when they can turn on their television or go to the cinema or whatever and see me doing something else. Because I think they feel as though they’ve had a certain investment in you, if you progress forward, they feel like they’ve been part of that journey, which is sort of true. It’s a good thing. There’s a level of connection and contact that you have with the fans that becomes a little bit you personable. I know lots of fans by their names, there’s many I don’t. Yeah I think there’s a definite sense of them having invested in your future. They want you to do well.
Monroe: Say you did another character which was completely different from Scorpius, when you go to a sci fi convention on Farscape would they be talking about the new character?
Wayne: Definitely. Obviously we’ll spend some time speaking about the show and everything because there’ll be some people there who wouldn’t have been to a Farscape convention before. But yes I think it’s an ongoing thing Munz, once the show stops what arwe you going to talk about? In a sense, let’s hope you’ve got something to talk about, you gone somewhere else you’ve done other work. But obviously something I haven’t done yet, I haven’t done a job since completing Farscape. Haven’t done any work at all apart from a play reading. So I would say yes, you would talk about whatever you were working on at the moment. Farscape is like the lens you look through you know, whatever you do in the future is going to be tinted by the past. But at the end of the day it’s pretty bloody dull if four or five years down the track or maybe three or four years after you finish the show you’re still talking about how long it took to put the make up on. I would like to think you’ve got something else to talk about. Like I say people are genuinely interested. It’s an investment in people as much as an investment in Farscape and the characters. People are eager to see me at Burbank at the end of the year and they’re going to ask you, you know, what have you been doing. We haven’t seen you, or if they have seen me do something they will want to talk about it.
Monroe: So when you actually go for these conventions you are introduced as the guy who plays Scorpius, is that right?
Someone who knows Wayne Pygram I think? I should google that and see