(Please follow the link for the complete LENGTHY update. Behind-the-scenes photos of Peter DeLuise at the site.)
Peter De Luise and Shy One (Alex Zahara) from Stargate SG-1's 'Beast of Burden.'
April 22, 2009: Director Peter DeLuise Answers Your Questions + Another Upcoming Guest Blogger
Some of my fondest memories of my early years on SG-1 involve Director Peter DeLuise - his fast-paced style, his encyclopedic knowledge of the show’s mythology, and , of course, his unrestrained sense of humor. He occupied the office across the hall from Paul and I, a veritable Stargate shrine he decorated with the weirdest collection of curios imaginable: prop weapons, visceral alien design work, a rubber life cast of a swollen belly with a ready-made pocket for extruding symbiotes. A chamber of horrors to be sure and yet, whenever a cast or crew member would bring their child by, they would inevitably gravitate to his office, partly to check out the weird exhibit, and partly for Peter himself who would inevitably put on a private show for the kids. From my office, I would hear him chatting away with them, discusing their interests, after which the conversation would eventually segue into his “Pull my finger” request and cap off with his trademark Barney the Dinosaur impression that never failed to impress. Peter was (and still is) good for a laugh, but he’s also an incredibly hard-working, dedicated, and talented individual who has scripted and directed some of the franchise’s seminal episodes. As SG-1 drew to an end, a show that had been an important part of his life for many, many seasons, Peter decided to take a break from the franchise…
Well, I’m happy to report that, three years later, Peter is back in the Stargate fold. And, I’m even happier to report that he received nothing but raves for his work on a (not so) little episode called Fire. It’s been a great working with the guy again and I look forward to seeing much more of him in the months to come.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked him whether he might be interested in doing a guest entry for this blog. “It’s simple,”I told him. ”I’ll gather some fan questions and send the your way. You can feel free to pick and choose among them, send back your responses, and I’ll post the whole as a dedicated Peter DeLuise entry.” Sounds perfectly reasonable - unless you’ve never done one of these before and end up so overwhelmed by the fan questions that, instead of picking and choosing, you end up answering all of them. Suffice it to say he was impressed with the care and detail that went into many of your queries and took it upon himself to respond with equal care and detail. Oh, and humor. The practical joke he played on those poor Jaffa extras makes me chuckle every time I think about it.
Now, before I turn things over to Peter, I’d like to make another Stargate-related guest blogger announcement. Producer John G. Lenic has been with the franchise from the very beginning, starting way back on the Children of the Gods pilot. Over his many years with us, his duties have ranged from scheduling and budgeting to coordination and general troubleshooting. Every early call, he’s one of the first people on set, and every late wrap, he’s one of the last people to leave. John has kindly agreed to take part in a Q&A so if you have questions for him, start posting them! [NOTE: at the link above!]
And now, over to Peter…
PDL: First I would very much like to thank Joe for making this Q and A possible… and for making me feel so welcome when I found myself back across the hall from him at the Stargate office. Now on to the questions… I have tried to answer in the spirit the questions were asked. Forgive me if I took them too seriously… or not seriously enough.
A brief excerpt:
Jason writes: “Did you ever expect the character of Lorne to take off like it did when you first came up with the character and named him after your brother or father in law? Thanks for casting Kavan Smith in the role, he’s one of my favorites now.”
PDL: Major Lorne is named after my brother-in-law Lorne Loder in the episode “Enemy Mine”. Kavan Smith stood out from the get go. He’s very focused, handsome and talented. It was a no brainer to bring him back. I didn’t ‘expect’ him to work on Stargate as much as he did but I was not ‘surprised’ because he is so good. (He’s one of my favorites too.)
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