Battlestar Galactica - Media Blvd. Magazine: Alessandro Juliani Interview

At Media Blvd. Magazine:

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)



Alessandro Juliani on the complexities of Gaeta

Saturday, 28 February 2009

By Kenn Gold

Alessandro Juliani starred as Lt. Felix Gaeta in Battlestar Galactica from the start of the mini-series through the show’s four seasons. He was also the central character in the recent Galactica web series The Face of the Enemy. Gaeta earned the trust and respect of the Galactica officers, especially Admiral Adama, throughout the series. But on a recent run of episodes, Gaeta found himself the leader of a mutiny against the command crew, and would give the order to execute the admiral. In the end, however, it was Gaeta who met his demise at the receiving end of a military firing squad.

Juliani, who has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal/Opera Performance, got the chance to explore his vocal skills on the series in a recent episode after his character lost a leg. He recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about how Gaeta ended up at the head of the mutiny, and about the depths of his character that were revealed in the web series, literally the last film to roll on the Galactica series.

A brief excerpt:

MediaBlvd> In an interview a few weeks ago, when the series first came back from hiatus, Ron Moore said something interesting. It was an interview also with Kate Vernon talking about Ellen Tigh being the last Cylon, and he mentioned that both you and Kandyse, or rather Gaeta and Dualla, were considered for the final Cylon. Was that something that you were aware of on the set, or did everyone know that?

Alessandro> No, I wasn’t aware of that at the time. I guess he didn’t get my check. Or I didn’t write it for enough. No, that’s interesting. I’m not totally surprised. There were a lot of rumors going around and a lot of speculation among fans that I was a Cylon for a long time, and that may have been why it ended up that I wasn’t chosen. I may have been too obvious a choice. There was a funny moment, a few episodes before the mutiny when I lost my leg, and I had the now infamous “stump serenade”. There’s a bead at the end of the episode where Felix looks directly at the camera and sings the last line. At that moment, I have to admit, that I got a little excited and thought that maybe I was the final Cylon. It just seemed so kind of out of left field and out of whack to have someone do that. I, of course, fell for that red herring, like I’m sure a lot of audience members did as well. But ultimately, the choice of Ellen was bang on. I think it had far more a ripple effect through the fleet with the final five, for her to be the one. It made a lot more sense. But I was happy to go out with a bang in another way!