SOUL OF THE MACHINE
GateWorld talks with Michelle Morgan
The fourth season of Stargate Atlantis capped off a major story arc with "Be All My Sins Remember'd," an episode full of drama, villains, and fantastic space battles. But it also had something fans never saw coming: a captivating (if short-lived) new character, Fran. Actress Michelle Morgan helped to make that character compelling and memorable. Now, she returns to Atlantis for "Ghost In the Machine."
GateWorld caught up with Michelle on the set of the episode! In our interview, she talks about the role she was originally cast for (but had to back out), her introduction to Fran and the mythology of the Replicators, and the very unique challenges of playing Elizabeth Weir in this episode. She also answers the question, "Does Fran have a soul?"
GateWorld's interview with Michelle runs about 16 minutes. Listen online at your leisure, download it to your MP3 player, or subscribe to the iTunes podcast! The full interview is also transcribed [at the link above].
A brief excerpt:
GW: Who is Fran in your mind? Is she a combination of programmed Replicator nanites or does she have a personality? Does she have a soul?
MM: Oh, yeah! As far as for me as an actor, I try not to get too caught up in the fact that she's artificially created. She has to be a person. So, like I said, when I was playing the original Fran, I just wanted to play -- and I drew on different children in my life -- that she was just like a very straightforward, honest, pure person.
Actually my best friend in the world, this girl Sherry, is a lot like Fran. So she has a soul and she is a person. But it's different now because I'm essentially playing Elizabeth Weir. But at the same time, I'm not. Because the way that I'm thinking about it is that Elizabeth has been through something that we can't even imagine.
I'm essentially thinking of it as if Elizabeth has been to hell. Being a disembodied, essentially almost like an electric channel, going through Wraith tech and in and out of space.
She describes it as the worst migraine ever -- constant motion and horrible sound. It sounds like hell. And then to suddenly be in a body again. I think that Weir would probably have a sense of wonderment about being animated again. So ... is that like a long-winded way of describing it?
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