 
CR: Oh, really?
GW: Yeah, in preparation for this. I stuck it in and I forgot how charming a little story it was. It's kind of gross, Teal'c turning into a bunch of bugs. Teal'c has never been my favorite, but it's a good show. And this little girl, this little street smart kid is willing to trust this clearly, like, drug overdosed kind of guy. She doesn't know his story, but she ultimately is responsible for saving his life.
GW: The kindness of strangers.
CR: There you go.
Didn't Blanche Dubois say that? [Southern accent] "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers." [Laughter]
GW: And then of course, the role through Stargate that you are most well known for with "Rite of Passage." You came back as Cassandra who had already been established by Katie Stuart. Now did you know going in that she had previously been cast.
CR: I did. I think that there was a conflict. I think that she was working on something else at the time.
GW: "X-Men 2."
| 
Cassandra was originally played by actress Katie Stuart for two episodes. |
CR: Yeah. So she was unavailable. They had this story that they wanted to do and I guess enough years had past that the kid ...
GW: She's a young woman.
CR: Yeah. So I was really thankful to be brought on for that. I had a lot of fun in that episode. It was my first screen kiss. So, there you go.
GW: Yes, absolutely.
CR: There is some juicy information. And that guy, actually, I know him from Vancouver (Richard de Klerk). I know him from around and we did another movie together called "Exhuming Mr. Rice," and he's a great guy.
GW: Cool. So it wasn't uncomfortable or weird or anything like that.
CR: Well, you know, it was my first screen kiss, so a little bit of Column A, a little bit of Column B. [Laughter]
GW: Now had you seen either of the previous episodes which featured Katie or did you just jump right into this role?
CR: I just jumped right in. I think that we had ... It's amazing how hard it is sometimes to get -- at that stage of the game. That was before all this internet TV came out. I don't think I could find those episodes. I think we asked Stargate but it never ended up getting through.
GW: Wow. They're usually really good about sending out tapes.
CR: Maybe there was a glitch in the matrix or something happened. I don't know.
GW: [Laughter] I love it. Did they specifically call you about Cassandra or did you audition for it?
CR: They did. I think they called a couple of girls that they thought would be appropriate and then brought them in for meetings to see face-to-face if it was going to work, if the audience was going to believe that it was the same girl. And so I lucked out, I got it, it was great.
GW: I remember watching this episode for the first time. It opens with the birthday cake and we're thinking, "Oh, it's going to be Cassandra again." And you walk down the hall and it's like, "Man, she's gotten bigger."
CR: Yeah. Well, Katie actually -- I still know Katie Stuart.
GW: Oh you do?
CR: [I saw her] the other day at an audition and she is a tiny girl. She's always been tiny and I'm not. I'm like 5'6" and I am definitely not a wafe. I hope that everybody bought it.
I had a lot of fun doing that. It was Peter DeLuise that directed that episode and he was great.
Ally faces off against Colonel Maybourne in "Bane." | |
GW: He is a gas.
CR: I had a good time on set with him. With the chess pieces and the makeup and everything. It was really good. It was fun doing those scenes. They actually had those chess pieces -- that I was holding in the air with my eyes -- on a string. They did a couple of different things. They did one on a string and one where I think they just CGI'd it in.
GW: Yes. There was one where it was turning in such a way where I don't think they could've pulled it off with string. But there had to have been a couple of practical ones as well, and it worked. You can't tell.
CR: They're great on that show. They get really creative. All of the different techniques that they use. The props people and the set deck, they're just dynamite. They've really got a grasp on what they're doing and how to tell a story.
GW: They went on for five more years. They absolutely deserved it. Tell us about working with Amanda [Tapping] and Teryl [Rothery].
CR: They were so great. Amanda is such a joy to be around. She's such a "no-nonsense" kind of lady. She's just a real woman who's easy to talk to. And you meet a lot of really very vain people in the movie industry, and then television especially, if you're the female lead of a hit show.
I'm continuously very impressed every time I see her, even now. If I run into her, sometimes it will take her a second for her to register who I am, because I know she meets a lot of people. But she always is so warm and nice to me. She was really fun. In the makeup and hair trailer, [it] was a blast. And actually Teryl, I've worked with before. She played my mother.
GW: Oh really?
CR: Yeah. Actually it's really funny. The boy who played my boyfriend in that, the movie I did with him was also the movie that I did with Teryl.
GW: I'll be darned.
CR: Yeah. "Exhuming Mr. Rice." David Bowie was in that. She played my mom. So I knew her from before and she's such a sweet little lady, you know what I ,mean? It's so easy to have her as my mom because she's such a motherly sort of warm bubbly woman. She's so great. And also whenever I run into her in town, it's always a joy.
GW: I've talked with Amanda on several occasions. Because the character -- I'm not sure if you're aware of this -- but the character of Cassandra is very significant to Carter's story. This is a child from Season One that she rescued. And I asked, I think in Season Eight, if she wanted you to return as the character -- a couple of times I think -- and she always said "I would love it if Cassandra [ostensibly you] would come back and play again." But it never seemed to happen.
CR: Yeah. I don't know why that is. I would love to revisit the story, certainly. Because you would think that she would be around.
GW: She is mentioned every season.
CR: Is she? She's sort of "Stargate baby."
| 
"In my travels in the world, people really connect to this show."
|
GW: Yeah exactly. That's the truth. There's one episode where Frasier mentions that, "Cassandra and I are renting a row boat, you want to come?" so that was funny because they always kind of kept the character in the loop.
CR: In the loop yeah. Even if she wasn't seen, she was ...
GW: Right, and especially with "Heroes" in Season Seven the Fraiser character died. Were you aware of that?
CR: No I wasn't.
GW: Really?
CR: Oh, my gosh.
GW: Yes, she was killed.
CR: [Gasp] Oh?! I guess I got to get a TV!
GW: Yeah. Hulu is starting to air the episodes. I think they're at season Three right now. So when you get to Season Seven look for the two-sparter "Heroes" and it is intense. She dies in combat. The entire episode kind of centers on that.
That's one of the questions I wanted to ask because a lot of fans were wondering if you had a scheduling conflict because there's a memorial scene in that episode and it would make a lot of sense that you would be invited back for that.
CR: Yeah, n o. I was never contacted about any of that.
GW: It's a tear jerker, Colleen. It's considered by many fans to be the greatest two hours of television in Stargate.
CR: Really? You're getting me really excited about all this. I'm going to start getting on my Gate game here.
|
|
|
