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SFX Magazine - December 2005
Claudia Black beams hugely. “It was seriously hard work but I
loved every minute of it,” says the ex-Farscape goddess of her
tour of duty in Stargate SG-1. “Robert Cooper [executive
producer] did warn me that Michael Shanks [Daniel Jackson] and I
would be very heavy in the episodes and as a story teller it’s
always great to be at the center of it all.”
Black plays Vala Mal Doran, a mischievous
minx, famous for slapping Daniel Jackson on the head before
clapping half of her handcuffs on his wrist. “It was great to
embrace such a character,” she says. “I knew it was only for a
short period as essentially everybody was just treading water
until Amanda Tapping [Sam Carter] was able to come back. So it
was nice for the writers to take the stories in a slightly
different direction.” Black also suggests the writers were
testing the water with the Vala character. “It was an experiment
and it was fun for everybody.”
In “Avalon”, Vala declares herself Daniel’s
unlawfully wedded wife before delivering a double whammy by
announcing their pregnancy. Asked what was going through her
mind when she first saw those scripts Black displays her wry
humor. “Well, I knew they’d need some sort of plot device to
keep Vala there, because she’s an irritant, so they endowed her
with the responsibility of brining the story forward. She
obviously brings the clue to the treasure and really the Avalon
segue way is another plot device to get them to the real crux,
which is the introduction of the Ori. I have to admin tot being
surprised the producers went the Avalon route, but I suppose
every show that’s been around for a number of years is going to
do their spin on each mythology that we have in our culture and
I think it is an interesting twist.
“It’s funny that they appropriated Merlin
and made him an Ancient. It made sense. At first I was
surprised they went there and then I thought, “Well, why not?”
and it pulled together. As for the bracelets, they say there
are only 13 original stories retold and it was just a fun way of
keeping Vala and Daniel connected. Plus it shows that Daniel in
all his curiosity is very gullible.”
Stargate sees Black’s character veer from
medieval peasant to galactic goddess. The actress laughs. “It’s
a great story about hubris,” she says. “I love the fact that
Vala’s had to survive. I think that it’s out of necessity that a
lot of the external parts of her character have developed. I
think it’s very hard to tell who she really is a lot of the time
and whenever she shows any shred of vulnerability it’s gone in a
second. You really do see that she is taking advantage and yet,
in her own way, she qualifies it and says, ‘Look I was a really
good God. I never took advantage. I did what I had to do to
keep up appearances.’ I think if you had to delve any deeper,
she probably suffered an incredible amount when they tortured
her thinking she was the God.”
Talking of torture, Black exclaims, “That
outfit, girl. I tell you what. I’m in this business for the
free food. I don’t know if you know that but I am. I had to
give up desserts for that one.” And though she looks fantastic,
she gives all credit to costume designer Christina Mooney. “She
was amazing. I was astounded by her capacity and her passion
for what she does and just her willingness to do whatever it
took. She would come to set so enthused after a shopping spree
or after she’d looked at some magazines and been inspired. That
she chose to include me in the design process constantly was a
privilege. Black also has high praise for the production team.
“The medieval village that they built – the production values
were phenomenal. You know there were actual buildings with
working rooms with hand-built doors. I think fans will respond
to that freshness and enthusiasm for the show this season.”
Black smiles when she’s told the reaction
from fans this season has been very positive. “Good,” she says.
“I know Vala is very controversial and it’s wonderful to be
playing someone who doesn’t have to be popular. It’s difficult
because she runs the risk of being a one trick pony. She comes
out with batty one liners and I said to the producers, “You
can’t keep pressing the reset button. And attracted as they are
to the Tracy/Hepburn stanza between Daniel and Vala it needs to
develop. Their relationship needs to grow, otherwise he looks
stupid and I refuse to let characters be dumbed down. If
characters use stupidity themselves as a device and you can see
that then that’s wonderful. We discussed the Daniel/Vala
progression and after ‘Avalon part 2’ I said, ‘Promise me before
we go into “Origin” that there is some form of development in
their relationship.’
“Thankfully, we were all on the same page
with that one,” Black says. “Vala obviously has to operate on
such a deep level of denial that she won’t let Daniel in for
very long so in each episode we tried to reveal one layer of
her. It will be interesting to see by episode six how it all
comes out in the mix.” –
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