By Marilyn Beck and Stacey Jenel Smith
What with "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" having breathed their last, Beau Bridges considers the 9-year-old "Stargate: SG-1" the best thing in production, science fiction-wise. That's only natural considering he's now leading the troops on the show that launches its new season mid-July.
Beau is bracing himself, well aware he'll be under major scrutiny by fans of the Sci Fi Channel series who've been uneasy about its future in the wake of Richard Dean Anderson's departure.
"Of course we have not only me coming on, but Ben Browder of 'Farscape,' a much-loved sci-fi show. He's doing the young hunk thing," points out Bridges, whose character is a general. "I kind of order him off to the mouth of the dragon. And we have the regulars, Michael (Shanks), Amanda (Tapping) and Christopher (Judge), who have been really wonderful in welcoming me. It's been a smooth ride so far."
The three-time Emmy winner tells us, "One of the things I was really impressed with when I started watching 'Stargate' episodes was that they have been trying to keep the essence of the real military - even though it's science fiction with aliens and the rest of it. The real Air Force signs off on all the scripts. I like that. Whenever I play something, I like to be as true as possible to the real-life elements. Since I'd never really played a general before, I started researching generals all the way back to George Washington. I ended up with a very interesting 40-page document, which I gave to the writers."
They're using it, he says, and have given his character a penchant for quoting his military heroes.
ET TOO BRUTAL: British actor Jonathan Cake, one of the stars of ABC's ambitious $32-million "Empire" miniseries that premieres Tuesday, deserves to reap the benefits of success for his role as a gladiator who becomes embroiled in ancient Roman political intrigue. At least he deserves props for taking a licking and keeping on ticking.
For Cake, the job of playing Tyrannus started well before production began. He prepped for weeks with one of Oscar De La Hoya's trainers, who "put me through considerable hell - at the same time I was learning to sword-fight as authentically as possible."
Then shooting began. "We shot for such long hours. To shoot an arena sequence, you have to fight as a real gladiator - in heavy armor. Our director liked to use layers of sand, too, so it was like moving through treacle in several hundred degrees of heat - fighting people who insist on fighting back," he notes dryly. At one point, "I got a spear through my hand. It left a scar is all. We were filming in this temple nobody had ever used for a movie before - actually pre-Roman, incredibly old, and filled with the dust and grime of centuries. I was constantly getting dirt in this hole. It was in the webbing between my first and middle fingers, and after a few hours, my hand was three times its normal size. So at 2 in the morning, I was getting an injection in my buttocks in this Roman hospital."
CLASS ACT: Model-cum-actress-cum-businesswoman Kathy Ireland gets lots of invitations to speak at commencement ceremonies - having built her lifestyle design product line into a $1 billion-a-year grosser. But the one she chose to accept? Kathy will address the 300 graduates of the relatively little-known American Intercontinental University this weekend and accept the school's honorary master of fine arts degree at L.A.'s restored old movie palace, the Orpheum, a short distance from Skid Row.
Why? "Because these young people inspire me," she says. "Every one of them will have earned his or her master's, bachelor or associate degree under the most challenging of circumstances. These are students who have worked full-time jobs, even multiple jobs, and taken as many as four busses to get to school every day, supporting themselves and their families ... those are the real heroes for America today."
THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: With series production for a lot of network shows on track to resume next month, now is the time when producers start adding new characters to existing shows, if they have a mind to do so. On "Numb3rs," they're looking for an attractive 30-year-old to play a recurring character who'll work with Rob Morrow's FBI agent character. She's in the behavioral science unit, the last of three daughters of a father who only wanted sons, who tried to make up for Dad's disappointment by achieving perfection in every way.
"Without a Trace" has plans for its own new FBI gal, meanwhile. Theirs is an ex-NYPD officer who is a sexy, tough, energetic and ambitious Latina, whose street sensibility makes her seem out of place among some of her fellow agents.
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What with "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" having breathed their last, Beau Bridges considers the 9-year-old "Stargate: SG-1" the best thing in production, science fiction-wise. That's only natural considering he's now leading the troops on the show that launches its new season mid-July.
Beau is bracing himself, well aware he'll be under major scrutiny by fans of the Sci Fi Channel series who've been uneasy about its future in the wake of Richard Dean Anderson's departure.
"Of course we have not only me coming on, but Ben Browder of 'Farscape,' a much-loved sci-fi show. He's doing the young hunk thing," points out Bridges, whose character is a general. "I kind of order him off to the mouth of the dragon. And we have the regulars, Michael (Shanks), Amanda (Tapping) and Christopher (Judge), who have been really wonderful in welcoming me. It's been a smooth ride so far."
The three-time Emmy winner tells us, "One of the things I was really impressed with when I started watching 'Stargate' episodes was that they have been trying to keep the essence of the real military - even though it's science fiction with aliens and the rest of it. The real Air Force signs off on all the scripts. I like that. Whenever I play something, I like to be as true as possible to the real-life elements. Since I'd never really played a general before, I started researching generals all the way back to George Washington. I ended up with a very interesting 40-page document, which I gave to the writers."
They're using it, he says, and have given his character a penchant for quoting his military heroes.
ET TOO BRUTAL: British actor Jonathan Cake, one of the stars of ABC's ambitious $32-million "Empire" miniseries that premieres Tuesday, deserves to reap the benefits of success for his role as a gladiator who becomes embroiled in ancient Roman political intrigue. At least he deserves props for taking a licking and keeping on ticking.
For Cake, the job of playing Tyrannus started well before production began. He prepped for weeks with one of Oscar De La Hoya's trainers, who "put me through considerable hell - at the same time I was learning to sword-fight as authentically as possible."
Then shooting began. "We shot for such long hours. To shoot an arena sequence, you have to fight as a real gladiator - in heavy armor. Our director liked to use layers of sand, too, so it was like moving through treacle in several hundred degrees of heat - fighting people who insist on fighting back," he notes dryly. At one point, "I got a spear through my hand. It left a scar is all. We were filming in this temple nobody had ever used for a movie before - actually pre-Roman, incredibly old, and filled with the dust and grime of centuries. I was constantly getting dirt in this hole. It was in the webbing between my first and middle fingers, and after a few hours, my hand was three times its normal size. So at 2 in the morning, I was getting an injection in my buttocks in this Roman hospital."
CLASS ACT: Model-cum-actress-cum-businesswoman Kathy Ireland gets lots of invitations to speak at commencement ceremonies - having built her lifestyle design product line into a $1 billion-a-year grosser. But the one she chose to accept? Kathy will address the 300 graduates of the relatively little-known American Intercontinental University this weekend and accept the school's honorary master of fine arts degree at L.A.'s restored old movie palace, the Orpheum, a short distance from Skid Row.
Why? "Because these young people inspire me," she says. "Every one of them will have earned his or her master's, bachelor or associate degree under the most challenging of circumstances. These are students who have worked full-time jobs, even multiple jobs, and taken as many as four busses to get to school every day, supporting themselves and their families ... those are the real heroes for America today."
THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: With series production for a lot of network shows on track to resume next month, now is the time when producers start adding new characters to existing shows, if they have a mind to do so. On "Numb3rs," they're looking for an attractive 30-year-old to play a recurring character who'll work with Rob Morrow's FBI agent character. She's in the behavioral science unit, the last of three daughters of a father who only wanted sons, who tried to make up for Dad's disappointment by achieving perfection in every way.
"Without a Trace" has plans for its own new FBI gal, meanwhile. Theirs is an ex-NYPD officer who is a sexy, tough, energetic and ambitious Latina, whose street sensibility makes her seem out of place among some of her fellow agents.
http://u.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,211%7E34444%7E2935848,00.ht
ml