Mission Starfury – Sunday Q&A

It’s already three weeks since the Mission Starfury convention, but I still have something for you: The Q&A Luciana did together with Jaime Bamber on Sunday. While some of the questions were similar to the ones from previous conventions or  even the day before, it still turned out to be an interesting hour during which we found out some very interesting new details. I mean, did you know Luciana worked hard to drop her Canadian accent?

Luciana during the panel on Sunday at the Mission Starfury convention (photo by Marcel)

Here is my report from this Q&A. As with the Saturday Q&A, taking notes for Luciana’s answers kept me busy enough, so there is not much in there about Jaime.

• Luciana does get recognized on the street sometimes, which always surprises her. She remembered a day when she was driving her car and asked a man for directions. He recognized Luciana – and happily piloted Kat to her destination.
  Moreover, she gets recognized by producers who happen to be fans, too. She once met a producer during an audition who turned out to be a big fan of hers, but in the end she didn’t get the job. Jaime Bamber opined that actors never get the job when the producer or casting director is a fan, and he offered the following explanation: These producers and casting directors aren’t seriously interested in casting said actors, they just want to meet them.
• Jamie and Luciana agreed that Kat would win in a fight with Apollo.
• When asked if they ever had to sign strange items, Jaime said he is sometimes asked to to sign body parts, and so is Luciana.
• The actors’ accents were touched on as well. People often talk about the American accent Briton Jamie put on for Battlestar. A much less known fact is that Luciana trained very hard to not sound Canadian, because in acting school she was told: “If you want to work, get rid of the Canadian accent.”
• Luciana mentioned that she was up for the lead part in Ugly Betty. It broke her heart that she didn’t get that job. Luciana believes she lost against America Ferrera because the producers wanted a real Latina for the role. Jaime quipped that Luciana just wasn’t ugly enough.
• Asked on which shows she would like to work, Luciana mentioned House and The Closer.
• The panelists were asked whether they kept in touch with their former co-stars. Luciana had seen Mary McDonnell about a month before this convention in Chicago, and she went to a lot of conventions this year so she was able to keep in touch with many of her BSG colleagues.

Luciana and Jaime at their Sunday Q&A (photo by Marcel)

• The next question was which scenes she felt were the most difficult to shoot. Not surprisingly, the most heartbreaking was her last scene with Adama from “The Passage”, as this was the last scene she filmed for the show, and she was depressed during the entire shoot of this episode. She was crying through the whole scene.
  Another difficult scene was in “Final Cut”, right after the crash landing when the deck crew gets her out of the Viper. “That was really hard, I really went there.” Luciana  was really struggling and fighting them, she said there was a lot of energy in her performance.
• As before, Luciana stated that she was very upset about the notion of Kat stealing food in “The Passage”. She claimed Kat would never have done that, and Luciana was glad the producers cut this scene.
• Jamie and Luciana were also asked about their convention experiences. “When I first started doing conventions, you guys scared the shit outta me.” It’s still difficult for her to speak in front of so many people. But she’s grown to love conventions. Luciana said European conventions are much more intimate, which she really likes because she can hang out and party with the fans.
• Once again, the panelists recalled filming the Viper scenes. Luciana noted that Jamie was spoiled as he had the legs of his flight suit cut off for better ventilation. She emphasized how difficult these scenes were, and how sweaty it got in the suits during filming – and once she got out of the Viper, she was cold. “It’s very uncomfortable, there is nothing glamorous about those shoots.” Also, it was unpleasant when she got an itch and couldn’t get to it.
• Asked about the perks of being famous, Luciana mentioned that she gets free flights to Europe, thanks to the conventions.
• Luciana took two cubits from the set, which is something she hadn’t mentioned publicly before. Previously, she had mentioned her dog tags, which she got from the crew. She also told the audience of the prop auction in Pasadena where she was given a Viper nameplate and auctioned off the Top Gun mug, with the money going to an animal shelter.
• The final question Luciana got that day was about the differences between working on Canadian und US sets. She believes catering is better in Canada, and that BSG in particular had the best catering. When the caterers are good, the stars are happy and do better work.

Related link: Mission Starfury posts on this blog.