 
GW:: Right, I can see your perspective on that. But had I not known you, and known who you were, and heard the title I would not have seen this film. But had I seen the trailer without seeing the title I would have been one of the first people in the door, because it's such a central and ...it's a movie for our time. It's really talking about something that we don't talk about nearly enough.
MG:: I don't know that that's true by the way. The life of a movie is very long. You kind of have to be true to it, so you maybe wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't have known me, but maybe in 10 years from now you thought you'd see an actor that's in that movie that's in another movie, or maybe I make another movie, or whatever, and you go back and you go "What else have they done?"
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Actor Aaron Abrams co-wrote "YPF" with Gero. |
Movies get seen. I'm certainly not saying everyone in the world will see this movie. I'll just even go right down to this. IMDb, which is a big Internet movie database, a lot of people know about it. It's kind of an industry standard, and they track buzz for movies, basically. Not only on their site, and they have this thing called the Movie Meter.
So, our little movie, our little tiny Canadian movie, the second it got a DVD rip was one of the most downloaded films that week, period. Now, that's given its name. And we shot to number 11 on IMDb. We were ahead of giant movies that were out in the theater.
GW:: You were number 11, Martin?! I didn't know that.
MG:: Yeah, we were number 11 on IMDb.
GW:: That's extraordinary!
MG:: The title is the reason all those people saw that movie. Now, whether they watched the first ten minutes and just turned it off, that's my fault. But that title got them to the movie, and it was, I think, a lot of them watched it.
Our message boards just exploded. Listen, I'd rather do something that people had an opinion about than no opinion at all, so there are people that hate it, and think it's crass and don't think we should be making movies about sex, then fine. But at the end of the day I stick by the title.
GW:: But at least they care. They certainly didn't have to. Have you always wanted to direct, or was this something that you told yourself, "Look, if I never do this I'll always regret it," and you found that you loved it? How did this work out for you?
MG:: No, I always wanted to direct. That's kind of why I got into everything. I mean, I originally started out -- when I was a kid and I thought I wanted to be an actor, and let that go.
GW:: Yeah, we saw what that looks like in the Stargate special feature!
MG:: Yes, exactly! I'm not very good! I get very uncomfortable. I'm a fine actor, I think. I can do a very limited area of "fine." But at the end of the day the whole "being out of control your entire life" is just not something that appeals to me in any way. So I started directing when I was in high school -- plays -- and then I thought, "Well, I'd like to obviously be a movie director. How do I do that? I don't know anyone who will write me a movie."
Paul McGillion coaches Gero on a Scottish accent. | |
So I just started writing, and by pure coincidence -- it's a lot easier to take a risk on someone as a writer than it is to take a risk on someone as a director. I was just fortunate enough to have the crew that I've had, which has been all because of writing. But at the end of the day, producing/directing is kind of what gets me up in the morning.
GW:: Some writers feel, and I've talked with a couple about this, feel that directing should be left specifically to trained directors. Do you ever get the feeling that some of the directors, not necessarily at Stargate, but directors that you've met are saying to themselves, "Uh oh, here comes another producer to take my job." Because everyone wants to direct. I've directed, and I love it, man. [Laughter]
MG:: Everyone does want to direct, but all that means is everyone wants to be in charge. Which is fair! [Laughter] I think really good directors, and I hope I'm one of these -- learning from guys like Andy and Will and Martin -- they're very much in charge but it's a team effort, and the whole team feels like they are playing an integral role. They're not just a cog in the director's wheel.
I've been dealing in metaphors. The best ship captain in the world can't win the America's Cup if they haven't got a crew that's motivated and feel like it's their boat too. That's, by the way, my first professional sailing -- that's the first time I've used professional sailing in a metaphor!
GW:: [Laughter] First time for everything!
MG:: Just saw the movie "Wind." Good one. Anyway, go ahead.
GW:: OK, you told us a while back about your Atlantis directing debut. You told us "Slot 16, be on the lookout for it!" So, we've been looking forward to "Brain Storm" for some time.
MG:: It was probably a tremendous let down … [Laughter]
GW:: Oh, hey, just stay away from podcast 20, that's all I'm gonna say!
MG:: Alright, will do now.
GW:: No! No. There were things about it that I loved, and things about it that I didn't like, but I think that's pretty fair. What started you off on the idea for this episode? Did you create a story you specifically wanted to direct or was it simply that you found yourself directing one of your own stories, and it just fell into that slot?
MG:: No, I knew I was going to write the one that I directed only out of the kindness to my other writer friends. I did not want to screw up one of their episodes. [Laughter] I felt like if was going to screw one up it may as well be mine, and then no one would be, "That's not how it should have been!"
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" I always picture [Rodney] as a lonely guy, but that couldn't have been true forever."
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So no. I really wanted to do something with Jewel and David, because they are two of my favorites, socially outside as well as professionally.
I wanted to do something that potentially was Earth based, but I didn't know. I had a[n] inkling that this would be my last episode as I was thinking about it. Whether the show was going to get picked up or not, I wasn't sure whether I was going to come back. I wanted to do something in my never-ending quest to flesh out McKay's character, I wanted to see him with his friends, or old buddies.
I always picture him as a lonely guy, but that couldn't have been true forever. He must have had college buddies and stuff. [I was] Just thinking about that and then I was like, "Well, I don't want to do a reunion, because we did that already in 'Bounty,' and it wasn't such a great episode."
So I just kind of shelved it, I didn't know necessarily what it was going to be, and then this whole thing came out where we had to do an episode about the environment. We were like, "Well, how the s**t are we going to do that? We're on another planet!"
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