Monsters and Critics reporter Ben Rhudy joined a round-table of online journalists and spoke with Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica" star Katee Sackhoff about her character Starbuck and the hit series season four, premiering on Friday, April 4th at 10:00 pm on SCI FI.
01/29/2008 - Katee Sackhoff - © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
One of the most popuar figures in "Battlestar Galactica" is easily Kara Thrace, A.K.A. Starbuck.
Sackhoff took her balls-out, hard-drinking fighter pilot and made her a fan favorite. The actress also had a turn as Sarah Corvus, the villain on David Eick's recently canceled "Bionic Woman."
In preparation for the anticipated return of "Battlestar Galactica," Sackhoff sat down with journalists to talk all things BSG.
So Starbucks gets all kinds of action on the show. Which is tougher for you, a fight scene or a love scene? And is there anybody left among the cast that you really want to have one or the other with?
Katee Sackhoff: You’ve got to start out with a good one too. I’m sitting across the table from my boyfriend right now. I would say that the sex scenes are a lot harder than I think anything that I’ve ever had to do on the show. Because it’s not natural, it's just odd, it's very odd. It makes you kind of feel cheap. Like you’re being paid to or being allowed to in a sense cheat on your significant other. It’s very weird. It - so that definitely is weird.
But the fight scenes are really easy and they come pretty naturally for me to be honest. Who would I want to fight on the show? Still thinking about not wanting to do the other thing with. I don’t know. I think I’ve fought everybody. I can’t think of anyone. I haven’t fought Sharon so I’ll go ahead and say that. I think that a fight between Eddie and I would be pretty interesting.
How cool and gratifying has it been that you won over those fans who were first skeptical and negative and on a larger scale how has it been that this show, this version gained so many fans in general?
Katee Sackhoff: It is completely gratifying in a sense. I think for the full reason that it's nice to have people identify with the character that you’re playing and appreciate the work you’re doing.
I don’t think I went into this trying to win over the old fans because I think that you can’t ever please everyone... and I didn’t want to focus on people that were all ready in a sense spewing negative energy at me.
I just kind of did what I did and it’s nice to know that they’ve some of them have been converted and I guess it is a little gratifying to know that,
Audiences that were reluctant to accept Starbuck as a woman, what of the character do you think helped turn that around to make people accept Starbuck as a woman?
Katee Sackhoff: Honestly what made people accept Starbuck as a woman was that she was just such a interesting character.
I think once people put their guard down as far as the preconceived notions of what the show was supposed to be and just allowed it to be really good science fiction, I think that’s also probably the same time when people accepted Starbuck for being a woman was when they stopped thinking of the old show.
Which it’d be hard to figure out when that probably happened but, probably after the first season. That cliffhanger at the very end that probably got all the fans hooked.
What should we make of the positioning in that terrific Last Supper picture of the BSG cast? For instance, you’re with Anders and Lee is alone, Six is in the Messiah's position. Are there any hints there you can tell us about?
Katee Sackhoff: No. You know it’s interesting that everyone thinks that there’s something hidden in that Last Supper photo like if you look hard enough you can find there's hidden messages in it. To be honest I think we would have had to have been in on it to create a hidden message and we were all just there having a photo shoot.
Regarding the flashback to last season when Starbuck was temporarily killed off. It seemed like after that happened it was sort of confusingly handled in terms of your interviews, hinting whether or not you were actually gone and the show’s reaction to it.
Katee Sackhoff: I’m trying to figure out what, like as far as…
I think bringing Starbuck back in episode 16 kind of like, what the hell was that. Why not wait until 20. But I guess, in Ron’s mind he had a bigger cliffhanger and I guess to have a bigger cliffhanger than Starbuck coming back from the dead is only Battlestar Galactica could pull that off.
I would definitely have told the main cast from the very beginning having to deal with all of that with the crew and the cast and it’s not something that I’d like to do again. That’s for sure.
How are you’re feeling now that the show is ending?
Katee Sackhoff: It’s interesting. There’s a selfish side to me that wants to go on and play different roles so there’s an excitement, that kind of, I think brewing for everyone in a sense, we kind of, get to go off and play these new characters or hopefully and that’s why you became an actor is to not play the same character for ten years.
So it’s kind of nice, the work environment on Battlestar Galactica is absolutely amazing and I don’t think it’s something that comes along a lot and I’ve done so many canceled television shows I can tell you that it's not normal to enjoy going to work and to enjoy the people you work with.
So chances are I’m never going to find that again, so that’s sad as well. But you know as far as moving on with the show, I’m really going to feel the pain of it until the very end.
What do you feel like the impact of the show has had maybe on the SciFi genre for the channel?
Katee Sackhoff: Well Battlestar Galactica did for SciFi was, they treated it like a reality, that what was so interesting about our show is that we never relied on the science fiction of the show to drive the show.
We relied on the drama and the human condition and those really important questions. That’s what we depended on for the show and because the show could move it along and most science fiction shows rely way too much on the the bells and whistles.
I think that it kind of opened doors in science fiction to realize that regardless if it's - science fiction is just a setting, It’s where something takes place, it's not, it should never have been what the show is. And I think that finally for the first time what the show has probably done is that it proved that that could be done.
How has your life has changed since then?
Katee Sackhoff: Since I won best character on RedEye? That’s funny. It’s changed my life drastically. I can’t go anywhere anymore, everyone recognizes me. And they constantly walk by me and they go congratulations on beating Kiefer Sutherland.
Seriously did you know that Starbuck would become such a popular and kind of an iconic character when you signed up to do this?
Katee Sackhoff: Oh of course. I didn’t even know the show, would become as iconic as it is. It’s become - it’s taken on a life of its own and become something completely different than what I ever thought it would.
I thought was it was just going to be a paycheck. I didn’t know Starbucks would ever become what she’s become. I think that so many things had to come together to make that a reality. I think that the writing was perfect and the way that they wrote Starbuck was perfect and so all the planets had to align to get this to be perfect. A very interesting question, yeah.
At the end of last season a couple of the actors playing the final five Cylons weren’t too happy at least initially to find out that they were Cylons. But if Starbuck turns out to be a Cylon or an agent of the Cylons, will you be pleased or displeased or indifferent?
Katee Sackhoff: Well I think the reason the four actors were upset about being Cylons is that I think, you know, you play for years making choices as a character and then to realize all those choices you made would have been different had you known. It’s interesting, it’s kind of like, you know, you get the wool pulled over your eyes for four years and then lo and behold, you know, your character’s something completely different.
I would be completely indifferent. I have love for this character and I think we all do as far as everyone for their character on the show, but they were pretty angry. I still think Michael Hogan hasn’t come to terms with it. I don’t think he’s ready to accept it yet.
How did you juggle these two great characters (Bionic and BSG) at the same time and what do you like about these action heavy sci-fi roles?
Katee Sackhoff: I always had to remind myself of who I was, because I think that the two characters were so different but could have been played so similar. I always had to make sure that I knew where I was and let go of the other story line, even if I was working on both shows in the same day.
Starbuck comes so easily to me now that even the lines and the dialogue, I don’t even memorize the dialogue anymore. I show up to work, I talk to the writers but now they know my way of speaking so well, or so much, that Starbucks dialogue is just so easy to memorize, and it's - that’s the writing.
But Bionic Woman, I always had to talk myself into it and make sure I was where I was supposed to be. And as far as the strong characters are concerned - I have this deep affinity for these characters.
I think that I’ve reluctantly turned into the go-to tough girl in this business and I’m ready to do a job that requires no blood and guts and ghosts or anything. So, a nice little romantic comedy with James Mcevoy would be fantastic.
Could you talk a little bit about how this season we’re going to handle the marriage between Starbuck and Anders?
Katee Sackhoff: If I knew, I would tell you. I have no idea. You know, we are at episode 14 right now in shooting - in our shooting schedule and I am no closer to being able to have any questions answered from last season than I am now.
It’s not really being played up then?
Katee Sackhoff: I think that - without giving too much away here, I think that there are more important issues being dealt with right now on the show for these characters than what Starbuck is and how her marriage is.
But as far as me handling it, if it ever gets broached, I think Starbuck is starting to feel compassion for the things she hates the most, I think, because she as everyone on the show is starting to realize and these are the major questions of humanity and what the show has always kind of asked, is that if you found out tomorrow that your best friend or your mother or something was a Cylon, say it that way, would it make your experiences that you had with that person or thing less important to you?
No, it’s the same emotion, the same feelings, the same thing that you had experiences with. They're just different than you always thought they were, it doesn’t mean that it is less, it’s just different.
I think that that’s something that they’re starting to remember. As far as Starbuck coming back to her family or my boyfriend died, I would do anything to have them back. I mean, do people care any more what you are as long as you’re there?
Your boss, Ronald D. Moore, is directing - and have you worked with him and how was that?
Katee Sackhoff: I’ve got to say he’s the first director I’ve ever worked with that after every take he says thank you. And I noticed that because it’s not something - I think what the crew does, what an actor does, at times can be overlooked because it’s what we're supposed to do and to have someone thank you after every take is very interesting.
I found that, after a take I stood a little taller, I was a little happier and I was like wow, that must have been really good. Even though I didn’t ask him because God forbid, he said 'no I was just saying thank you, but that was shit Katee. You’re going to have to go again.'
So he was a great director. Granted I only had one scene with him but one thing that I noticed that I’ve never had happen before and it goes to - speak to his character as a person. He’s a fantastic man.
After playing Starbuck for four seasons, have you picked up any of her hard core habits or anything like that? Or her love of poker or anything?
Katee Sackhoff: No, I still have never played a game of poker.
I still don’t smoke cigars. It’s - you know, I haven’t picked up anything from her I don’t think. I mean, if I was to say that I picked up something it would be that, I can’t think. I think that her strength and her conviction is something she believes in is pretty interesting.
I would like to be able to emulate that. And then just her belief in what she has to say is really impressive. I think so many times women in general, but people as well, apologize before they say things for fear, like we give a disclaimer, like this is going to sound stupid or - and I know there’s women do that all the time, like forgive me for asking this question but like the question doesn’t have any merit, well every question does.
I think that that’s something that I’ve learned from Starbuck is that, there really is and my mother used to say that as a teacher, like no question is stupid, there are no stupid questions, there’s only stupid answers.
That’s what my mom used to always say so - so that’s something that I hope to take from Starbucks.
As far as the fan base of the show goes, are you surprised by the number of fans that the show has gotten or have you received surprising fan mail from someone that you wouldn’t expect to like the show?
Katee Sackhoff: No, not really. I think the most interesting thing is when I get mail from high school or their parents or something and they're like, hi, Katee just wanted to say hi, we still live in the same house, you know, come on by.
Can you speak a little bit about Starbuck's sort of mental state going into season four and what finding Earth really means to her?
Katee Sackhoff: She’s very fragile, she’s extremely lost. We’ve never seen Starbuck so alone and so lost. And she's a little distressed, not only because of the way that people are treating her but because of the questions that her coming back has raised in her own mind.
I think it’s her revolution. I think it's her end. I think that she’s putting so much weight and so much weight on this one thing, this one task that she believes that is her destiny that I think she wouldn’t let anything stand in her way, anything, which I think when that is the case, you’ve got a very scary person on your hands when they’re unwilling - completely unwilling to sacrifice everything to accomplish something.
That’s scary. So I think that we’re going to see a lot from her this season that isn’t - kind of like a shell of her former self, at the same time a lot of her doing things that you don’t necessarily don’t agree with.
Have the producers told you what exactly happened to Starbuck during her supposedly dead time?
Katee Sackhoff: No, we’re on episode 14 and I've read 15 and nope. Yeah, I don’t think we'll figure that out until the last second.
When you saw the script for Razor at the end where the Silent Hybrid makes the prophecy that Starbuck is a harbinger of doom, what was your initial reaction and as the season has progressed, how has that reaction changed? Either strengthened, lessened or whatever?
Katee Sackhoff: I think that when I read that very end I went of course she is. Like what else could happen to Starbuck, I’m like, come on, lay it all on me. The worst possible thing and there you have it, fantastic, she’s going to kill everybody, great.
What is the best memory or experience that you’re going to take with you from your time on Battlestar and then also what one physical thing or prop or piece of the set would you take with you if you could to remember the show?
Katee Sackhoff: That’s easy. I’m getting in my flight suit with my helmet and my gun belt and driving home. I’m going to bronze that f***ing thing,
Best Memory - the cast and the crew. I have made so many friends on the show, , I mean, Steve McNutt our VP has been like my dad for five years and constantly telling me to be safe when I’m with Michael, constantly.
I haven’t spoke to Richard Dreyfuss or Marcia Gay Harden. I did a show with them for years so, it's, you never do. Unless you find a common ground outside of the show, those friendships don’t last.
When you and the cast are sitting around, do you ever theorize on who the final Cylon is going to be and also will we find out before the end of this first run of episodes?
Katee Sackhoff: No. Maybe. No, no, maybe, I don’t know. Does that help you at all?
And whichever character doesn’t get (death) they should just make that the final Cylon. It’ll be like some random character from the first season that had one line.
Okay, so it won’t be in the first run then?
Katee Sackhoff: No. I don’t think so. I haven’t seen the episodes though and I don’t pre-read scripts so I couldn’t tell you. I personally don’t know who it is, no.
How do you think your character's journey or as well as the other character's journey of this drama parallels to the reality that people live that everyday and what things might people learn from watching it?
Katee Sackhoff: I don’t know, you know. People always ask me this question how she’s evolved and she has. I think that she’s finally someone you can depend on and I don’t think she was before. But I think what keeps her going -- and if this is what people can take from her -- is her desire to love and her desire to have people love her keeps her going.
Her relationships with Adama and Lee has really kept, has really kept - probably kept her alive and I think that that’s something that’s very important. I think that that’s extremely important. You know, I’ve talked to a lot of soldiers who say that, you know, what keeps them going is that they get to come home.
It's that go to speak to any relationship that, you know, we’re happiest and most willing to accommodate I guess life and all its ups and downs when we have love in our lives.
Ron Moore has said that he’s not interested in doing a Battlestar feature film. Do you think you could change his mind and if so, would you be interested in doing that film?
Katee Sackhoff: No, I wouldn’t want to change his mind. I think he’s right.
I mean, how do you pick which two characters and when you pick those two characters are you going to flip off the other 17 main characters on the show, like how do you define what to do.
I think he’s right, plus at the same time as a performer -- when I even actually am done with the show, I’m done with the show.
As much as I love the job or don’t love the job the last thing I want to do is come back and do it again, when I’ve already done it. Granted, you know, talk to me in five years if I haven’t worked. We'll see. But, you know, as of right now I have no desire to do a movie.
Just think of sort of the tail end of season three it seems as though Starbuck was sort of moving more towards being a spiritual figure instead of a more action oriented figure. You were having visions, you - a more spiritual experience. How does that affect how you play the character and do you think that that’s something that’s going to be developed in the new season?
Katee Sackhoff: It doesn’t affect how I play the character to be honest. She’s always been religious and it's not that she’s changed, it's that she’s opened up her eyes and allowed something else to come into her life, she’s the same person. It’s just another aspect of who she is, but she’s the same person. It really hasn’t changed the way I play her at all.
If you were in total control of how your character ended up toward the end of this last season, what would you have your character - how would you have your character go out if you don’t know…
Katee Sackhoff: Die.
Ben Rhudy (M&C): You’d like to have her die? How would you like to have her die?
Katee Sackhoff: I don’t know. Maybe something will blow up again on the ship. I don't know. I just, I don’t that there is anyway to end it with her being happy.
Throughout your work on Galactica - what have you learned most as an actor?
Katee Sackhoff: I think every day is a learning experience. Every day you learn something new and I don’t really think I’ll know the gravity of that until I’ve stepped away and taken on another job and I’ll do something that will just come naturally and I’ll go oh wow, I learned that on Battlestar.
What I learned from Marcia Gay Harden and Richard Dreyfuss and Peter O'Toole when I was working with them. I mean that was an amazing work environment when I did the show with them and I don’t think I realized what I had learned from them until years later.
The Admiral has basis for like a father figure for Starbuck for a very long time and in the previews that we’ve seen, it seems like the Admiral really doesn’t know what to believe of Starbuck upon her return and is initially very skeptical. How does that, from someone like him, affect Starbuck and her mental state?
Katee Sackhoff: I think that’s the worst thing that could ever happen, Here’s the person that she - depending on his attitude towards her -- I’m trying to figure out how to say this -- she gets her validation and she gets everything from him.
So with no Bionic Woman, what’s next for you? Are you looking for another action role?
Katee Sackhoff: Oh God I don’t know what’s next. That’s the joy of it. Do I want to play a character just like, Sarah Corvus or Starbuck?
Do the BSG cast members follow the online kind of buzz and what the fans are talking about with the show?
Katee Sackhoff: No, Aaron Douglas does. I don't think anyone else does.
So it’s a never ending cycle of reading about yourself and it never goes away. It’s horrible. So I tend to just not pay attention to it anymore and occasionally my mom will call me and go you’ve got to read this so which I find very interesting.Of all the Battlestar Galactica cast - who is it you most enjoy acting against? Do you have a particular favorite?
Katee Sackhoff: I love working with James and Trisha for sure. The two of them are so much fun so. James because you never know what he’s going to do.
What surprised you the most about Starbuck's evolution throughout the last three seasons?
Katee Sackhoff: That people consistently depend on her shocks the crap out of me.
In what ways can we expect her character to evolve this season?
Katee Sackhoff: I think that she will hopefully have a resolution of some sort. I think that that’s something we can finally depend on in a sense or, you know, that’s something she might actually finally get. But at the same time I really have no idea.
Can you just give us some more teasers as to what we’re going to see in this final season?
Katee Sackhoff: Well I think if Battlestar’s any indication at all in the last six - four - I think that, everyone’s going to be very shocked for sure. I think that there is probably going to ruffle a few feathers very well and I don’t think that there’s any way to make everyone happy.
I've always - I said to Ron Moore from the very beginning please don’t wrap everyone up in a pretty little box, put a bow on it - and he would never do that because that’s not real, and Battlestar has always been based on reality and so I think that he will give it an ending that is fitting of that, of Battlestar. And, , make it not pretty, which is hopefully what will happen.
In terms of the cast’s recent appearance on David Letterman, how did that come about and how did you feel about that?
Katee Sackhoff: I think with Letterman, my only concern was God dammit the first time I’m on late night television and they're going to make me wear my wardrobe. And I think Tricia they just said wardrobe and Tricia and I kept thinking well what if we switched wardrobes? They didn’t say your own wardrobe. I thought that would have been pretty funny if I squeezed into a little red dress.
How do you feel about the Oregonian?
Katee Sackhoff: I think that it's hysterical that the one bad review that I’ve ever gotten in my entire life comes from my hometown newspaper.
Was there any aspect or experience or recurring theme of growing up in Scappoose or around that area that in any way prepared you for playing Starbuck or really helped you in form your portrayal of Starbuck?
Katee Sackhoff: Wow, I think the only thing that prepared me for this role, I don’t really know, but as far as - I’ve never thought about it that way. But as far as growing up in St. Helens and in and around that area and then ultimately high school in Portland, was that I spent all my time outdoors as a child.
I was constantly running around with my brother and playing cops and robbers and we grew up in a place and a time when your parents said be back by dinner and they let you go and, you didn’t have to worry about your kids. You came back at dinnertime and it was fine and I think there was a freedom and a vulnerability and a sense of security that I had growing up.
I was very sheltered and so I think that I’m very naive. I think that I got all of that from growing up in St. Helens and I think that, you know, I moved to Los Angeles and I was like a fish out of water. I'm like, who are you people? So that, but also, there’s a lot of stereotypes from growing up in a small town -- which obviously I did -- that I think directly relate to Starbuck.
I think, you know, she needed to get out and she became the best at something to get out of her home environment, to get out of the town, so to speak, that she was raised in and education was never in the fore - in her forethought. She just kind of went okay, I’m going to be the best fighter pilot and that will get me out.
What do you think about Lee and Kara’s relationship in season three. So I’m curious what you think about them now is this something that could ever work out or are they in a bad cycle of repeating mistakes?
Katee Sackhoff: I don’t think that Lee and Kara will ever be happy together. I don’t think that - I don’t think they’re meant to be together, I think that they’re meant to be best friends, they’re meant to push each other, they’re meant to have those arguments that drive you, that’s the purpose that I feel that they serve in each other's lives.
I don’t think that they were ever meant to love each other. So, with that being said, I don’t think they’ll ever end up together, I never did really. I think I said earlier, I think it was in an interview yesterday, where I said if anyone is fitting for her and if there’s anyone that she would actually allow herself to be happy with and be with, it’d probably be Leoben, you know. Anders is too weak for her emotionally.
Lee is too much of a boy scout. He makes her feel guilty for her anger and her - who she is, her faults. He makes her feel guilty just by being who he is. And so if there was any person that she could let her guard down with and be happy with, probably Leoben.
The show is far too mature in theme for little girls. But as far as big girls go, what do you think your character gives them?
Katee Sackhoff: I think when this first started, I was 22 and I think Starbuck was comparable in age, maybe a couple years older than me. She was supposed to be 35 and then they cast me which was (a shame).
And you think she was a young woman who people could depend on ?
Katee Sackhoff: No, I think that she was so concerned with herself and escape in a sense, that - I think people depended on her just because she was so good at what she did, not because they actually trusted her. But I think that’s how she’s changed and progressed and grown as a person and as a soldier. And I think that now, she’s probably one of the most dependable people on the show.
I think it gave us a glimpse into someone - I’ve never really seen a strong female character on a show and whenever I did - especially a young one, and whenever I did they always needed a man to hold their hand and I think that that’s what’s interesting about this show is that everyone is equally vulnerable and equally needs help.
The nature of Starbuck's return is a big mystery this season. We don’t know if she’s the original, a clone, a Cylon or some figment of Lee’s imagination, so from an acting perspective, have you made an internal choice to play Starbuck as one of those possibilities?
Katee Sackhoff: No, I think it’s a strong enough internal choice, to play the fear, to play that she’s lost and I think that it leaves the door open to question what she is.
How is Michael? Michael really had a bad accident right before you came back to work right?
Katee Sackhoff: He’s fantastic, you’d never know that he got hurt and bounced back, you know. And as far as what happened to him and to what extent he was hurt, I don’t know if that is something I should talk about.
You were great as Sarah Corvus and as Starbucks, (producer) David Eick is making a TV version of the brilliant Children of Men, would that interest you or would you still rather do a romantic comedy?
Katee Sackhoff: Should I even know what the Brilliant Children of Men is?
It was a movie made by one of the Spanish directors and it was a science fiction movie people not being able to bear children.
Katee Sackhoff: Oh, really. So it’s kind of like that movie, what was that movie that just came out - oh, Children of Men. Oh, okay, I loved that. How women stopped being able to bear children.
Everything that David Eick does interest me. He is fantastic at what he does. He has a vision and he’s always successful at that vision, whether or not other people have a hand in the pot. And you know, I’ve always said that the main problem with Bionic Woman, is that if you get too many cooks in the kitchen, too many hands in the pot, no one can agree on what they’re trying to make.
So you have a stew that’s full of shit and, you know, whether or not David is given the freedom to do what he’s done with Battlestar is a complete different story. You know I think that you'd have to be on a cable network, I don’t know if you can get that from network television. No, I’d follow that man to the end of the earth.
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