Brian J. Smith as Stargate Universe's Lt. Matthew Scott. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
The past couple of days have been demanding ones, both physically and emotionally, for Stargate Universe’s Lt. Matthew Scott, not to mention the actor who plays him, Brian J. Smith. The show’s cast and crew have been shooting the mid-season episode Deliverance, in which Scott faces an uncertain future with regard to his relationship with Chloe Armstrong. Part of this episode requires some of our heroes to put on spacesuits, a task that always proves memorable for all those actors involved.
“It can be very, very hard when you’re in the spacesuits all day long,” admits Smith, stepping out into an especially warm July afternoon in Vancouver during a break in filming. “That must be what it feels like to be old, really old; you can’t move, you’re always hot and uncomfortable, your freakin’ back hurts, and so do your shoulders, but you look really cool in those suits,” says the actor with a smile. “I’ve been in those suits, though, so many times that you just have to go to your happy place and think, ‘OK, these things look terrific onscreen.’ That’s all you can ask for.”
A year ago it never occurred to Lt. Scott that he would be walking around in a spacesuit or falling in love with a U.S. senator’s daughter. He also never expected to be among those military personnel, scientists and civilians stranded on an Ancients spaceship and millions of light years from Earth. His experience onboard Destiny has been a real eye-opener as well as a struggle to survive. It has also been an adventure for Smith, but a much more pleasurable one. Back in March, he and his fellow cast mates returned to the Universe set to begin work on season two of the show. The first episode to go in front of the cameras was Pathogen, directed by Robert Carlyle (Dr. Nicholas Rush).
Scott (Smith), Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) and Eli Wallace (David Blue). Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“When you come back to work, especially after a three or four-month hiatus, you can sometimes be a bit rusty,” says Smith. “You’re a little nervous and maybe not functioning at 100%. Like today, for instance, we’re flying through scene after scene, and we’re able to do that because we’re all very comfortable around one another, so we can take risks, explore and play, all of which is great.
“At first, though, you’ve got to kind of warm up to that all over again, which is why I think it was a really wise move to have Bobby directing our first episode back. There’s no one who could be better at bringing the whole family together and making us feel safe and getting the performances out of us. When you’re working with Bobby, you’re working with someone who’s looking first and foremost at performance. He’s interested in your talent and not just the scene as it is on the page, but as it could be if you brought your fullest, biggest self to it.
“So we were all head over heels about being directed by Bobby, from his way of talking to us, to the time he took with his notes, the way he blocked scenes, etc. Again, it was all about acting and performance and making sure that people could have a chance to shine in his or her own way. And the script was written in such a way where every single character had a moment where you get to connect with them and see a different side of them – a deeper side, a touching side or even a funny side. It’s a really good episode and was a great way for us to get rolling this season.”
Scott (Smith) and Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) in season two's "Pathogen." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
In Universe’s year one ender, the two-part Incursion,the Lucian Alliance forces a captured Dr. Rush to enable their Stargate to dial onto the Destiny. They board the ship, taking several hostages and backing Colonel Everett Young (Louis Ferreira) into a corner. In the season two opener Intervention and the following episode, Aftermath, Young and his people manage to retake the ship and deal with the intruders. Sadly, it is not without some bloodshed.
“This season picks up literally right where the last one ended,” notes Smith. “It was probably frustrating for the audience to have to wait so long to see how the situation was resolved. It did, of course, get resolved, and one of the things I like about this series is that, yes, there are these crazy Sci-FI things that happen, but the resolutions come about because of the characters.
“This is a character-driven show and things happen because a person makes a decision. A human being takes a risk, does something or takes action as opposed to some outside force fixing everything for them. Our characters have to come up with solutions, and the way they regain control of the ship speaks to how smart Rush is, how determined Scott and Greer [Jamil Walker Smith] are, how good Eli [David Blue] is at what he does, and how much everybody cares about one another, which is nice.
Scott (Smith) has the enemy in his sights. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“Sometimes you hear people talk about the show and it sounds like our characters are backstabbing, manipulative and self-absorbed. But if you keep watching this season, you’ll see the things that these characters give up and are willing to put on the line to make sure someone else is OK. It’s actually quite selfless and moving.”
When you are stuck on a spaceship for the foreseeable future, it helps to get along with your fellow castaways. Scott has made some new friends over the past year as well as further bonded with some of his fellow soldiers. According to Smith, his character’s relationships with others will experience some ups and downs this season.
“A major part of what Scott has been going through so far this year has to do with the evolving nature of his relationships,” says the actor. “His relationship, for example, with Young is sorely tested, and you see what a good leader Scott can potentially become because he brings the colonel out of a funk. In an episode called Trial and Error, my character steps up and more or less says, ‘You know what, you need to in a way grow up. We’re all counting on you and you need to be a leader.’ For anybody on Destiny to say that to Young is a big deal, but for Scott to do it, that’s kind of neat. In doing so, I think he learns a lot about himself.
“The real big deal, though, with Scott this season is definitely his relationship with Chloe [Elyse Levesque], because he sees what’s happening to her insofar as her possibly changing into one of the aliens that we first met last year. It’s tough when you love someone and think you’ve found someone who you can finally be with, have a family with and commit your whole life to, and they’re turning into some creature right in front of your eyes.
Scott (Smith) and Chloe (Elyse Levesque) share an intimate moment in "Light." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“And I appreciate how they [the show’s writers] have written it that Scott is actually quite disgusted at what he sees happening, and it’s not sentimental at all. It’s not, oh, I’m able to accept you. I’m able to accept all of you, even if you are turning into some alien species. Scott is freaked out as well as scared and is secretly ashamed of what he’s feeling. The thing is, though, he doesn’t give up on Chloe, and I like that about my character. He keeps going to see her, even though she tells him to stop. Chloe says that she’s a lost cause and he needs to give up on her. Scott, on the other hand, tells her that he can’t stop coming to see her, and that he may have these crazy feelings about the situation, but he’s still willing to treat her with dignity and respect.”
Smith has had ample opportunity so far this season on Universe to further stretch himself as an actor, including in the recently aired episode Cloverdale, where his character witnesses first hand a very alternate version of his life.
“Cloverdale was like a gift,” he enthuses. “It’s one of those scripts you get as an actor and think, ‘Wow, it’s so gratifying that they trust me enough to put something like this into my hands.’ In this episode you see Scott’s relationship with pretty much everyone onboard Destiny through the prism of this dream that he’s having. It’s actually a reaction to the agony that he’s in.
All is not right in Lt. Scott's (Smith) world in season two's "Cloverdale." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“Scott has been attacked by this alien organism that’s injecting his body with all sorts of toxins and other crap. It’s very near to killing him, and while the crew is trying to find a way to save him, my character is in this other psychological space where he’s home on military leave and about to marry Chloe. Colonel Young is Scott’s dad, Greer is his best man, and TJ [Alaina Huffman] is this beautiful, benevolent paramedic that looks after Scott at one point.
“This part of the story is, I think, really smartly paralleled with things that are actually unfolding on the planet where they’re trying to save my character’s life. While we were shooting this episode, I figured out, or at least I feel, that Scott has a number of epiphanies during that dream. He realizes how much he needs to grow. Scott also realizes not only his feelings for Chloe, but also, which you see at the end of the episode, his fear of her and what she’s becoming and how that can destroy the hope of a whole new beginning for him.
“Cloverdale is fun, too, because you get to see Scott smiling and having a great time with his ‘dad,’ ‘best man’ and the entire town, which just happens to be populated by everyone else on Destiny. Even the background people in the town of Cloverdale are the same as those on Destiny. Scott has created a family in his head. That’s what this episode is saying; he’s populated this little town with everyone on the ship who means something to him.
Scott (Smith) and Chloe (Elyse Levesque) finally take the big step - or do they - in "Cloverdale." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Alex Chapple, who directed the episode, was intent on taking it to extremes and trying to find that dream quality where really bad things are just that, and then all of a sudden things shift into something beautiful. So Scott would go from absolute bliss to complete confusion and realizing that he might be going through this kind of dream. It was a fun [creative] process and a cool episode to work on.”
Watching Smith at work on-set it is obvious that he enjoys nothing more than interacting with his fellow Universe actors in front of the camera. He had the chance to do some impressive creative “sparring” with Louis Ferreira in the aforementioned Trial and Error.
“First of all, Louie has this amazing ability to hop in and out of his character at a moment’s notice,” says the actor. “Right before the camera begins to roll, he can be acting the set comedian, and then he’s able to somehow just center himself and get into this completely different persona at the drop of a hat. Once Louie is in this mode, he has a sense of connectedness with what he’s saying and the person he is talking to. It makes the moment seem all the more real and believable, do you know what I mean?
Lt. Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman) and Scott (Smith) in "Faith." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“That’s one of the things that Louie values in the show and likes to see. He wants to be careful not to slip into showing characters that are just moving through your typical Sci-Fi adventures week after week. Louie wants to keep this show focused on these people who are on this ship, struggling to survive and facing their demons. Let’s not talk down to these characters or the audience and create a pleasant, light Italian operetta. Let’s go for some Wagner, here. Louie likes to show the grittiness as well as the realism and he enjoys the ability to improvise sometimes and make a shocking choice that may not be evident in a scene when you first read it in the script.
“These are things that Louie doesn’t just preach, but he practices them as well. And for the younger members of our cast, myself included, who are watching him, it’s a great way to model not only your career, but your craft as well, and become a better actor. I see Louie do things and think, ‘I want to be able to do what he does one day.’”
Trial and Error also took Smith to new heights as an actor – literally. “In one of Colonel Young’s dream sequences you see Destiny being torn apart,” he recalls. “Scott is in the observation deck, the glass shatters and he’s sucked out into space. So they had this POV [point of view] shot right in front of me where I’m looking at the camera, then whoosh, and I fly back. That was filmed in the effects stage, and what they did was put me in a harness and cable and had two cameras on the ground looking up. I had to look at the cameras, then close my eyes and [as Scott] kind of resign myself to the fact that I was going to die.
Chloe (Elyse Levesque), Eli (David Blue) and Scott (Smith) in "Lost." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“When we finished shooting the scene, I opened my eyes and was hanging from the top of the stage. It was like a Six Flags ride where they pull you to the top and then drop you. So you’ve definitely got butterflies in your stomach and for a second you feel like you're weightless and aren’t sure if you’re going to live or not,” says the actor with a chuckle. “The first time we did this shot it was scary but then by the third or fourth time it was pretty fun. We shot it with a second unit, which is with a smaller crew, and I was the only actor on-set at the time, so I was able to tell everyone else about this neat stunt I did.”
While taking part in a Sci-Fi series might not be every actor’s proverbial cup of tea, Smith could not be happier about working on Universe and being associated with the long-running and successful Stargate franchise.
“I enjoy coming to set every day,” says the actor. “I love the people I work with and for. I’m getting to act and become more and more skilled. For an actor, this is a dream. I don’t know what more you could ask for.
“As far as Scott, I love that I’m getting to play not only a soldier, but a very specific type of soldier. He’s not your stereotypical Alpha male. This character has taught me quite a bit about having a lot of heart and what it means to be tough but ‘soft’ at the same time. Both those things are possible. You can feel and still be a bad ass, and I’m having a blast with that.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, all photos by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Great interview! Really enjoyed reading it. Thank you.
Posted by: Joseph Jones | 11/05/2010 at 12:25 AM
Dunce of the century award to NBC executives for again proclaiming that quality and fan base mean nothing and that crass commercial "ratings" are their compass.
It is true that you cannot sell stuff to wise and intelligent viewers unless it is something that they already had an interest in and that you have to do a better job of presentation.
On the other hand, I guess people who want wrestling, are more easily sold. What's next for "SyFy"? Nascar, maybe.
People watching the SCIENCE FICTION channel want SCIENCE FICTION.
Posted by: Carl | 05/12/2011 at 03:12 AM