Sunday, January 18, 2009

Stargate - GateWorld: Andy Mikita Audio Interview - Part One

At GateWorld:



PICTURE MOVER

GateWorld talks with Andy Mikita

The Stargate franchise is at a critical crossroads. Atlantis is now in full-swing for its first movie, with promises for SG-1 movies to continue, and a brand new TV series is on the horizon. GateWorld felt it was high time to get the thoughts and opinions of staple Stargate director Andy Mikita!

His time with the franchise going all the way back to "Children of the Gods," Andy is moving full speed ahead with plans to direct the first Atlantis movie, and hopes to participate in Stargate Universe as well. In the first segment of this extra-long interview, we talk at length about his decade-long journey through the series, discuss favorite episodes like the "Heroes" two-parter, director gags, and more!

Part One of GateWorld's interview with Andy runs over over 25 minutes. Listen online at your leisure, download it to your MP3 player, or subscribe now to the iTunes podcast. The interview is also transcribed [at the link above]!



A brief excerpt:

GW: ...All the way back to "Foothold," I think "Foothold" was your first episode. What kind of got you roped in with these guys to become a mainstay in terms of your involvement with the shows?
AM: Well I don't know if you're aware, but I've been part of the franchise right from day one. I was the first assistant director on "Children of the Gods" with Mario Azzopardi. So I've been part of the group right since its inception. It was actually Jonathan Glassner who was the person directly responsible for having me come on board. I'd worked with him in the past. I had worked as an assistant director on a TV series called 21 Jump Street, which of course Mr. Peter DeLuise was a big part of.

It was Jonathan who made the initial contact with me. From there I worked as a First [Assistant Director] for the first season and then worked as a production manager and second unit director after that. I was doing so much second unit work that basically everybody supported the notion of having me direct an entire episode and felt that I was ready to do so. So "Foothold" was that first opportunity for me.

It worked out really well. I thought it was a pretty strong episode, and it certainly led to other opportunities for me within the franchise, which was great. That was what really got the ball rolling for me, doing the second unit work as I was working as a production manager on the show. I was just spending so much time on set. That was kind of my comfort zone anyway. I was never really good at the numbers part of things as much as I was with the daily operations out on the set. That was more where I grew up.

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