Battlestar Galactica's Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber).
Once again, I have decided to open up the interview vault and revisit some of the many interviews I have had the pleasure of writing over the years and that just appeared in-print and not on-line. In today's interview, talented actor and all-around nice guy Jamie Bamber chatted with me on the Vancouver, British Columbia set of Battlestar Galactica about playing Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama in the popular re-imagining of the original series. Enjoy, and keep coming back for more familiar faces and shows!
As Battlestar Galactica’s second season came to an end, the human survivors of the Cylon massacre struggled to rebuild their lives on New Caprica. Sadly, their Cylon-free days were numbered. After only one year, the planet was invaded by their enemy and the colonists were forced to live in fear under Cylon rule. At the start of show’s third year, a group of human insurgents take up arms against the enemy as well as those humans who are serving as collaborators. Meanwhile, the Cylons take drastic steps to quell civil unrest. All this is grist for the dramatic mill and the perfect way to open season three as far as Jamie Bamber, who plays Commander Lee “Apollo” Adama, is concerned.
“I’m extremely excited about this year,” enthuses the actor, sitting in his trailer on the lot of Vancouver Film Studios. “I love how the story starts off in a very sort of sociopolitical context on New Caprica. Honestly, I think the first five episodes of this year are some of the best we’ve done on Galactica. They’re a totally different style in that they’re planet-based stories with streets, homes, schools, etc. and focus on the fallout of the [Cylon] occupation and the [human] resistance. You also have the story of those humans who are collaborating with the Cylons. Their rational is that it would be better to work with than against the enemy because we have no means of really attacking or getting rid of them.
“So they acquiesce, and the most obvious parallel to me as a European is the Vichy, France situation [during World War II] with Nazi occupiers being aided by the French. They pretty much took the Nazi victory as a given and sought to make the best of the situation for them and their families, but there was a lot of hostility between them and those French who were more patriotic and wanted to get rid of the Nazis. That’s what happens on Galactica. Characters we’ve come to know are carrying out suicide attacks against not only the Cylons but also their fellow humans. So the core of these early third season stories is the social battle for dignity and humanity down on the planet.
“All this conflict starts to resolve itself around episodes four and five, and the story then moves in a different direction, which is more about the Cylons and basically working out in this chess match what they’re up to and what humanity is up to. There’s an opportunity for us to get rid of the Cylons with a biological weapon, which doesn’t work out for various reasons. From there, our heroes are back on course for this race to Earth, and that takes us to another planet that we haven’t seen before. The discovery of this new world confirms to our people that they’re on the right track to Earth. The other main thrust of our storyline is Gaius Baltar [James Callis], who, having been in the pocket of the enemy, is returned to the fleet as a prisoner and gross traitor of the highest order. I think the rest of this season is more or less tracking Baltar’s trial, which is a controversial idea insofar as whether or not he should have one.”
When the Cylons first arrive at New Caprica, Apollo and his father Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) have no choice but to jump away and save those humans who chose not to relocate to the planet. The Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus along with what remains of the civilian fleet spend the next few months alone in space. With no war to fight, Apollo slowly loses his edge. His marriage to Dualla (Kandyse McClure) begins to suffer as does his waistline, which expands due to inactivity and overeating.
“By far one of the biggest hurdles for me to overcome early on this season was wearing the ‘fat suit,’” notes Bamber. “Amazing as it looks, it has limitations when it comes to facial expressions and the use of camera angels as well as lighting. It’s like wearing a mask. I couldn’t use my face in the same way I would when it’s your own, if you know what I mean. So that was a technical challenge and one I had to find ways to overcome. There was also a story challenge involving Lee’s weight gain and how to resolve it. It’s still not quite resolved. In fact, we’re shooting some pick-up scenes to try to give it a bit more closure than it received in the original scripts. Fortunately, you can get Jenny Craig food in space,” jokes the actor.
“Another [acting] challenge I’ve had this year, albeit an enjoyable one, is all the emotional and interpersonal stuff involving my character, which is par for the course with Lee. You have my character’s disastrous past with Kara [Katee Sackhoff] and how his marriage to Dualla starts from a negative place as opposed to a positive one. There’s a flashback in episode eight, Unfinished Business, where you see that Lee and Kara had a cul-de-sac moment which has kind of irreparably broken his heart. He subsequently marries Dualla, and by mid-season there’s a love triangle, or love square, developing with Lee, Dualla, Kara and Anders [Michael Trucco]. You have people needing to know the truth and plenty of slightly ignoble behavior going on. It’s all quite cool, and I enjoy piling on all this ‘baggage’ and playing out these relationships.”
If you are curious as to what caused Lee and Kara to fall out with each other, all will be revealed in season three’s Unfinished Business. “This episode works within the framework of a fight club that exists on Galactica, which allows people to let off some steam and settle scores in a legitimate way,” says Bamber.
“It’s basically a boxing night, and you get some fairly unlikely bouts going on. It ends up typically and, I guess, predictably, with Kara and Lee hitting seven shades of hell out of each other, all while flashing back to the fact that they got to together for one night only during the year’s gap on New Caprica.
“My character then got dumped the very next day, and Kara went on to marry Anders. Lee can’t deal with any of that, and this episode uses a present-day conflict to resolve a bigger one from the past, including a romantic conflict. Again, it’s all the emotional stuff of having your heart broken and coping with that. Through it all, Lee becomes a colder, somewhat harder and less demonstrative person, but it’s all a front.”
In the third season Galactica episode Exodus, Part II, Apollo sacrifices the Pegasus in order to save the Galactica and the New Caprica colonists. With that act, he gives up his role as commander as well. “There’s not really room on this show for two commanders, or a commander and an admiral,” says Bamber, “so Lee has to reinvent himself and he returns to his post as CAG [Commander Aerospace Group] aboard the Galactica.
“The thing is, I think Lee is competitive and ambitious, and I suggested to the show’s producers that he might be suffering from a bit of a Prince Charles syndrome and knowing that you’re not going to be able to do the job you’ve been born to do until the one person you love more than anyone else in the world dies. In other words, you need the death of the father for the son to become the father. In the seventh episode this year [Hero], Adama tells Lee that he feels responsible for the entire Cylon attack on the human race because of something he did in the past. The admiral basically breaks down and becomes in my character’s eyes not a father or leader but just a man, and a broken man.
“That’s when Lee realizes his dad isn’t the God that everyone, himself included, has always presumed him to be. There’s also a sense in which Lee is now looking for a completely different challenge career-wise, and I’m guessing that’s going to come with the trial of Baltar.”
With a half-dozen episodes still left to film for Galactica’s third season, Bamber can’t wait to find out what’s in store for Lee and the rest of the show’s characters. “It’s amazing to me that three years down the road we continue to be challenged acting-wise as much as we are,” says the actor. “We’re so lucky to have such gifted writers and I have high hopes for the end of this season.”
On the day of this interview, most of Galactica’s cast were just starting work on the episode A Day in the Life, which takes a look into Admiral Adama’s past, including his marriage. “I really like this script because it delves into the relationship between Lee and his father, but from a more grown-up place,” says Bamber. “Both men are much more equals now and they talk in uncomplicated terms about the past and what needs to be done in the present.
“In this story we also delve into Lee’s childhood, which we haven’t done in a couple of seasons, and what his relationship with his mother was like, which we’ve never touched upon. It’s not done in flashbacks or anything like that, at least not from my character’s perspective, but rather in unexpected chats with his dad on the day of Adama’s anniversary.
“You see, for example, the admiral poking his head into the Ready Room one morning when Lee is delivering his address to his pilots. You get the feeling that Lee has become a man that his father respects, and Adama has to deal with the fact that after all these years he still doesn’t respect many things about his involvement with his family and especially his son Lee.”
Steve Eramo
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