Stargate Atlantis - Playboy Magazine Online: Robert Picardo Interview

At Playboy Magazine Online:

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)



09.05.08

Raising Atlantis

The Stargate franchise has become science fiction’s equivalent of Law & Order. Now, with Stargate: Atlantis currently airing it’s fifth and final season (before moving onto made for DVD movies), I spoke to veteran character actor Robert Picardo, who joined the cast as Commander Richard Woolsey, the main in charge of the Atlantis expedition. He talked about being the first actor to appear full-time on both Stargate and Star Trek, why the key to good sci-fi is fast talking and his goal of breaking a highly unusual barrier in Playboy.

A brief excerpt:

Q: Do you think there’s more of an opportunity with the DVD movies now that Atlantis is wrapping up its regular run?

A: Well, the Stargate straight-to-video movies have been a big success and I know they’ve surprised the studio with their performance. My understanding is that Atlantis is even more popular than the original, so if we can hit a home run with our first movie, that there could be a regular future for Atlantis. That to me is the best of all possible worlds as an actor, because that means you could do a play every year or appear on other television shows or even do another series and still keep this thing that alive you can do with people you love working with.

Q: Has anything been scheduled?

A: Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie have the first movie planned, but they haven’t written a script yet. Beyond that, there’s nothing to read. They told all of us that it’s a go and we’d be doing it in the first third of next year.

Q: What’s your oddest fan experience?

A: At one of my early Trek conventions, I think somewhere in the south, a fan brought me a tombstone with my face carved into it. The fan carved tombstones for a living and took a three-inch chunk of marble and carved my face in it. My initial reaction was “uh-oh! Is this the death of my career?” On the back he had written Robert Picardo as Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. It more of a monument created by a guy who carved tombstones. And it was great, but the most difficult part of it was getting it through airport security. They want to know why your bag is so heavy and you open it up and there’s this tombstone with your face on it! They do look a little askance at you like, “Boy, you do believe in being prepared! Have you heard something about this flight we haven’t?”

Q: Where is it now?

A: It’s sitting at home in my garden!

--Ron Motta