 
GW: If Teal'c had long hair those long shots would probably have his hair blowing in the wind.
CJ: Exactly! But you know what? I don't know if you've seen it yet -- what I said to Coop was "No one's not going to believe that this is not CGI'd. It's so beautiful that no one's going to believe someone didn't draw it!"
GW: "So we went all of this trouble for nothing!" But what was your opinion of those finished shots?
CJ: I did the commentary with Coop and [Cinematographer] Peter Woeste, and that was the first time I'd actually seen it. I could not believe the visual aspect of the film, how big it was. I said "Coop, this is a movie, dude!"
GW: It really is. You've got a helicopter, you've got wide shots. You're not in little rooms anymore.
CJ: Exactly. I was so surprised. When I read the script, and then I saw the shooting schedule, I think it was a 15-day or 16-day main unit shoot. I was like "Are you guys out of your mind? There's no way we can do this in this amount of time." And somehow we got it done. It was really amazing.
GW: How do you feel about your gray streak now? Has it grown on you or is just plain irritating?
Ronon and Teal'c relieve tension in the Atlantis episode "Midway." | |
CJ: It's now irritating. It's irritating. I actually did an episode of Atlantis. My hair's longer, so I went up to Joe [Mallozzi] and Paulie's [Mullie, Atlantis Executive Producers] office, and Carl [Binder], who wrote a fantastic script. The debate was I thought it was going to be whether I had to cut my hair or not. The debate was whether or not to keep the gray streak in. So I thought it was going to go away, and Brad and Coop said "No, no, for continuity for SG-1 we had to keep the gray streak in."
When I saw the Atlantis episode I really loved the episode, but the thing that bugged me was that damn gray streak. [Laughter]
GW: I figured out Teal'c's age and compared to Bra'tac. It's just one of those little things, I try to keep track of all that stuff. Teal'c is now older than Bra'tac is.
CJ: You're right, in actual -- because I was the one that didn't go back in the finale. Yeah. I actually caught that too and was like "Well, shouldn't I have some physical signs of aging?"
GW: "I'm perfect!"
CJ: Yeah. And then they said "Well, do you want to come in early every day and get aged?" And it was like "Maybe he shouldn't have any physical signs of aging!"
GW: Yeah. And I was thinking about it too. He's been on tretonin for fifty years. Who knows what that stuff does.
CJ: Yeah, exactly.
GW: In your opinion what are some of the film's most important messages? There's a big religious one there.
CJ: Well, I actually had a talk with Coop about this, about the religious implications not only of just the movie but of that whole arc of the Ori. Coop's a smart dude, and he knew exactly what he was doing. For me growing up religious and then turning away from any organized religion and just having my own individual relationship with whatever I believe in, for me, that was very powerful.
To me, any "religion" should not be about separating people. It should be about bringing people together in understanding and forgiveness and loving people. But so often when you get into the fiduciary aspect of religion it has to be about us being right, you being wrong. And I think fundamentally that goes against everything that religion should be about.
GW: Yeah. We get hung up on the little things.
CJ: Exactly. Exactly. Don't go blindly into something. Check it out. Do a little work. And if their doctrine is about separatism then maybe that's not the religion for you. If you really believe in the Almighty, His message is about loving people.
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The Priors torture nonbelievers with their psionic powers. |
The great thing, I think, about Stargate over the years, is that Stargate has always been, and hopefully always will be, a show with a message, but doesn't hit you over the head with an anvil with it. Hopefully The Ark of Truth, along with the whole Ori storyline, will at least give some of the fans pause about "Hey, because my neighbor prays to the East" or "Because my neighbor reads the Torah," whatever it is, who cares? He has his beliefs and I'm going to respect them, and hopefully he respects mine, and we just all get along.
GW: If you were in SG-1's position, would you use the ark if you had to? That was a big message from this film, right in the first opening scene. Do we have a right to do this? Ultimately to ensure our survival?
CJ: Right. That's a good question. I think man's quest for knowledge -- I would have to. I would have to. One of the great things, hopefully when we do meet our maker, one of the things for me is to learn all those things throughout history and our lives that have meant something to us that we'll never know the answers to. Where is Jimmy Hoffa? Who really killed JFK? Hopefully when our time is done on this earth we'll get to find those things out. So to have something that will give you answers it'd be very tough to not use.
GW: Right. "Use it on me!"
CJ: Exactly! [Laughter]
- D. Read
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