Colonel Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) in Stargate SG-1. Photo copyright os Syfy.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, actor Ben Browder talks about his early days playing Colonel Cameron Mitchell on Stargate SG-1.
He hung out with the Party of Five, played Farrah Fawcett’s ex-hubby Lee Majors in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels, and spent a few years lost among the stars as Astronaut John Crichton in Farscape. Nowadays, actor Ben Browder is back exploring outer space as Air Force Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell on Stargate SG-1. With the SG-1 team short a member since Colonel Jack O’Neill was promoted at the start of the show’s eighth year, Mitchell has been assigned to fill the opening left by O’Neill’s departure as well as take charge of the team in season nine. Sitting in his Bridge Studios trailer on this Friday afternoon in May, Browder smiles when asked about his first day of work on SG-1 back in March.
“It was a real shocker because Chris Judge [Teal’c] did a lot of the talking, and having watched every episode of Stargate I actually think the guy crammed a whole year’s worth of dialogue into that one day. It was unbelievable,” jokes the actor. “So that morning it was Chris and I doing a walk and talk scene as our two characters on Dakara [the home of the new Free Jaffa Nation]. I was thrilled that he had most of the lines because I was fighting off a cold, so it meant I didn’t have to say very much.
“In the early afternoon we moved over to another soundstage to begin filming on the Prometheus spaceship set, and by the end of the afternoon I was completely lost, physically not professionally. That’s happens to all actors when they first arrive on a new set. You’re like, ‘Excuse me, where’s the bathroom? Which way to craft services?’ Just getting out of the building becomes a critical issue,” laughs Browder.
“On a more serious note, we’re filming on HDV [high definition] instead of 35mm, which is technically a shift for me. Also, every film set has its own culture, and learning the names of the people who you’re directly working with as well as those who are making everything possible – and then putting names to faces – is a challenge at first. At the same time, you’re trying to figure out your character. Another thing, everyone here has been doing this for eight years, and while I may know some of the details, the actual methodology by which they make a scene happen is often radically different from one set to another. Yes, you’re still lighting the lights, pointing the cameras, hitting your marks and all that stuff, but it’s nonetheless a headspin coming onto an existing show. Fortunately for me, the cast and crew of Stargate have made that as easy as possible.”
While year nine of SG-1 marks Browder’s debut as Colonel Mitchell, the character’s roots can, in fact, be traced back to the show’s seventh season ender, Lost City. The colonel took part in defending Earth against an attack by Anubis, and his F-302 was shot down during battle. He nearly became another casualty of war, but much to the surprise of many people, he survived. Upon returning to duty, Mitchell was assigned to Stargate Command and SG-1, which is a dream come true for him. As for Browder, he’s having the time of his life working to flesh out his character, and his creative process is a very personal one.
“I had a raging debate once with a director who wanted to know what I was thinking as an actor,” he recalls. “He asked me, ‘What are your objectives? What do you want out of this scene,’ and I refused to tell him. He was livid. The two of us are good friends now, but at the time he was livid at me for not telling him what I was thinking. I explained to him, ‘I don’t want you to judge what my intent is. I want you to judge if what you’re seeing is interesting, funny, sad or otherwise. If I start to explain what I’m thinking as the character, then you’re going to be judging whether or not I’m achieving an end, and that’s not what I’m after. I’m interested in if it’s a compelling story and is my character helping make it so.’
“When it comes to Mitchell on Stargate, without having seen him within the context of the program, it’s difficult right now for me to tell people what this guy is all about,” continues Browder. “By that I mean, you pick up a script and in reading it you get what the writer’s intent is, but as an actor you might choose to go in another direction with the material. Something else might then happen in the editing process, so your character doesn’t truly exist until that final cut and the audience has seen and digested your performance. I hope that makes sense. Once this new season of Stargate begins airing and people start to react to Mitchell, I’ll have a better handle on who he is, and where I may want to take him. All I can say at the moment is that I’m doing the best I can. Really, I promise, I’m trying. You have to remember, though, I’m working with limited goods here,” jokes the actor, pointing to himself.
Given Browder’s enthusiasm for his craft, it’s a sure bet that SG-1 fans will embrace him and his character of Mitchell, especially those who remember the actor from Farscape. He still speaks with great fondness about his time on that series.
“I’ll always be extremely grateful to the people who hired me and all those who helped me along the way just to have that much fun playing the part of John Crichton,” says Browder. “Everyone who worked on Farscape put a tremendous amount of love and care into it, and it was terrific to be part of such a community. The show was not everyone’s cup of tea but it never was meant to be. It was definitely a strange brew and the world is better for having such a strange brew in it. And by God isn’t that what Sci-Fi is all about anyway.”
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Browder attended Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina and, after graduating, went on the Furman University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology. It was also where he was seriously bitten by the acting bug.
“Although I had done some acting prior to college, I never thought of pursuing it as a career,” says Browder. ”Growing up in North Carolina you can’t exactly go to your school guidance counselor and say, ‘I’m thinking about becoming an actor, what do you think?’ They’d look at you as if you were crazy, and understandably so,” he laughs.
“I’d been doing a play a year while at university and one semester I took an acting class. They needed some guys to do scene work so I figured, ‘What the heck.’ I ended up working with some members of the Royal Shakespeare Company and I was like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ I had never met ‘working’ actors or anyone who did this for a profession. At the end of the week I asked these actors ‘Do you think I could make a living at acting?’ and they said, ‘Yes.’ So that’s what I decided to do, and here I am today.”
Steve Eramo
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