Louis Ferreira: This has been a very different experience for me personally and I think, overall, this particular character has been a real … it’s not an easy mindset to actually be [in]. I’m kind of the joker on set, I’m called “Papa Smurf.” I’m sort of the larger-than-life guy, so to sit in the skin of someone who is the product of his own upbringing, the militant kind of “in a box” is really an interesting challenge for me, personally.
That — which was Brad and Robert’s pitch to me — that that would be the concept of the new Stargate, and the name Robert Carlyle, were the two things that drew me to the show.
GateWorld: You have done a decent amount of both mainstream TV roles and genre. Having spent so much time in Vancouver on the different series that you’ve been in besides Stargate, do you tend to gravitate either way in terms of the roles that you choose to do?
LF: I’ll be very, very honest. My career’s not been one of picking and choosing. It’s been about a kid who goes into an audition and gets the role. Very few things have been handed to me so I’m not in that position. I’m an actor trying to make a living.
My second thing is I try to find a thing for me personally, a humanity within the character — or I’m looking for something I haven’t done. I mean, that’s the ideal criteria. You know, Johnny Depp’s got the dream career, greatest actor job ever, you know what I mean. But for me personally, I look at it going, “Is this something that I’ve done or haven’t done?” and sci-fi was something that I really hadn’t done.
I did two days of Star Trek: Voyager and told myself I’d never do sci-fi again, but that was because I was a holographic tree with a latex suit on for 16 hours and I couldn’t use the bathroom. I was literally trapped and that was pretty insane. I’m not, with my ADHD, probably not the best guy for a four-hour sit-down makeup session.
GW: Not as a tree, at least! [Laughter]
LF: Yeah, exactly!
GW: Let’s talk about the SGU casting process. How did that come about?
LF: This came out during the pilot season and I got a call about it. I actually went into my first audition quite ill and thought, “Well, say goodbye to that one.” And then they said, “Oh no, we’re going to bring you back in.” I came back in for a second audition and then I tested. I tested with Robert Carlyle I guess against three other guys.
But it was interesting because I have a whole Vancouver story which is, I’m spiritual and I need some sort of sign. I had just spent five years in Toronto going through a custody battle for my son, who I now have full custody of. I had not worked in 2008. It was kind of a rough, rough year and it was time to go back to L.A. I had my son now and it was like, “This is where you’ve got to be.”
So I had just been down there for three months and then this audition came up. I was like, “I need some sort of thing. I could be here and do I want to stay in L.A. and take my son in school, and now move him?” All that kind of stuff.
When I first came to Vancouver — I did 21 Jump Street here, back in the day — as a city, I fell in love with it immediately. I was like, “This would be such an awesome place …” And it went right down to that Don Johnson character in Miami Vice, Crockett — if you had a boat you could live on a boat in this city because it’s mild enough. It’s certainly beautiful. It was just sort of in the back of my head, going, “That’s a dream,” and, along the way, you have your dreams. I mean, now, there’s no way I’d want that. But at the time I remember thinking that that would be an amazing thing to have.
And I’m not kidding you, the following day after I put that question out there in the universe, I wake up to find a boat that’s just been abandoned in front of my house, which is in the middle of Valley Village which is basically the Valley in L.A. There’s this boat just sitting there and I’m like, “That’s crazy!” and I told my girlfriend and son the story at the time and they’re like, “Ah, you’ve got to go test!” The question was, should I go test for it?
So I went in, had a great time with Bobby, and loved when they sat me down and told me the type of show they were going to do — the style of film-making and things. And I was like, “Yeah, that sounds amazing.”
I think I had to wait over a week before I actually found out, and it was around about Christmas time. It was great to be cast in it and my first reaction was, “Am I old now? Old enough to be a Colonel?” Which Brad Wright assured me, “Oh yeah, no problem!” I was like, “Really?” I think in my own head, I’ve got some other version.
But it was great. And I’ll tell you, this has really turned out to be — I’m sort of the veteran of TV series, I think I’m up to about 10 or 11 — and this is everything. More than anything else I’ve always believed that a set could be run, no matter how difficult the show, no matter how challenging, you can be on a set which is a family, which is no egos, which is people working together, enjoying themselves, knowing it’s not brain surgery and just doing the work. It really is the first time where, from every department, that’s the gift.
That’s something I actually believe in, because I’ve had experiences along the way where that certainly wasn’t the case. To have that all come together and to have this group of people has been like … I can’t tell you anything but just to say I know how blessed I am to be part of this family.
And I think part of that is that Brad and Robert had this family for a very long time. To have a franchise of any sort for 17 years in this business is quite the feat to begin with. So, there’s this built-in family that we were all blessed to come and be part of. And then this new group of people, this cast, are terrific. It starts with Robert Carlyle, number one on the call sheet, being the most humble, giving, thoughtful man — and from that he’s just the brilliant actor that he is. That’s a gift.
NEXT: Young’s layers and “hitting rock bottom”
Very nice interview. I’m only just discovering Louis Ferreira. I’ve seen him in a few things as Justin Louis. I decided to look at some of his earlier work – Pretender & Highlander – he’s so young (no pun intended). I enjoy watching Col Young develop through LF’s interpretation. Keep up good work and go to conventions – they are a hoot.