 
GW: So you're going to continue to wear the wig throughout the year?
JM: Yeah. SCI FI won't let me cut it.
GW: Really?
JM: Until it comes to a point where it's going to hurt my neck. That's one reason why I wanted to cut it. It's going to get to a point where physically I'm going to have to cut this thing off. Because it weighs just as much as the other one.
The whole point of cutting it was to get rid of that. But it's nice that I can go home at night and not have it. It takes 40 minutes in the morning (to put it on).
GW: So all of Season Five?
JM: This whole season is all wig. It's funny ... all the aliens have wigs.
GW: So that scene in "Broken Ties" where he gets them cut is not going to happen?
JM: No. I was hoping for it, but SCI FI said no. Which is funny, because they didn't want Ronon to have dreads in the first place. So it just goes to show you ... the tastes change.
OK, whatever. You think I can't play this character without the hair? But it's fine for this season. OK, I'll do it. It cost them $10,000 for this wig. I'll wear it. As long as nothing medically happens with my neck. Then it comes into that whole thing -- if it starts hurting me.
"It cost them $10,000 for this wig. I'll wear it. As long as nothing medically happens with my neck."
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I had it for seven years, and they were getting pretty heavy. Because I have to do stunts where I'm whipping my hair everywhere, and it's causing me whiplash. I wake up the next morning and I'm having minor neck problems. I don't want that.
GW: Tell us a little bit about "Broken Ties."
JM: It's awesome! It's probably the best episode -- the hardest thing as an actor [for me] to do. Because even though not a lot is scripted, for Ronon there's not a lot of dialogue. It's his looks and a lot of pain that he goes through. Just a lot of pain.
The fight was great. We worked really hard on it. I almost feel sorry for Mark Dacascos ["Tyre"]. He's great to work with. We have really good chemistry together. I feel bad for him because we spent four days training with it, and two and a half hours of shooting. So we kind of got screwed on the whole fight. And the fight in my opinion came out really crappy.
GW: Last year's fight?
JM: No, this year's. Because once again, we didn't have time to shoot it. It's ten pounds of "shoot" in a five pound bag. It's like we're stuck, and we have to shoot a lot of stuff. And fight scenes take a lot of time. It's just something that should have been done second unit.
It just sucks because you put a lot of time and effort into something. It was a big fight. It goes from swords to guns to hand-to-hand. To get a really good fight, you have to cover it properly. It sucks because the director didn't have time. Because we didn't have time.
I'm sure the fans will love it. On a personal level, it's a little unfulfilling. Not when you put that much time and effort into it.
GW: Character-wise, do you think it's a good one for Ronon?
JM: Character, it's great. There's a lot of pain. I get to play a heroin addict times ten. I've never gotten to play that kind of role before, where I have to be all jacked up and hopped up. The most that anyone's ever been hopped up. So I've got to dig deep in my imagination what it would be like -- that pain, to have every muscle ache and every fiber inside of me just screaming, on fire, just boiling. And actually having to cry for someone to kill me.
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The Satedan Tyre returns in Season Five's "Broken Ties." |
Just to the point where he's like, "Just f***ing kill me. Get this over with." And then not. So it was pretty heavy. And I spent a big part of the day ... it was the greatest acting experience I've had so far. The end of the episode -- I don't want to revisit it ever again. It was a pretty dark place to go to.
GW: Last year, you told us you thought it would be awesome if Ronon got to go "Dark Side."
JM: It was! That was funny, because it was so quick. It's hard because we normally make a problem and then we solve it within the episode. Unless it's a two-parter. It would be nice to eventually switch over for a while. But it's such a very small ... there's a lot of stuff in that episode. And so it's very small. And what we decided to do was not make it too dark.
As far as the Dark Side, I find really [that] is when he's recovering. You really see this different side to him. But it would have been nice to cut the hair off and see a whole different character for ... maybe go a couple episodes with the dark side of the character.
GW: That would be interesting. The hair goes off and his personality changes, too.
JM: Yeah, well -- who knows?
GW: It could be a real good metaphor.
JM: Samson! [Laughter]
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