Nathan Fillion

The actress who gives Starbuck her skills talks about season three of Galactica and her role in White Noise 2.

October 5, 2006 - Hardcore fans of the original series may have been aghast to hear that Starbuck was being turned into a girl on the new incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, but since its debut, Katee Sackhoff has made quite an impression in the role.

Sackhoff’s character, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, is an amazing pilot, tactician and soldier, and she can play cards and brawl with the best of them. But thanks to the combination of great writing and Sackhoff’s believable, nuanced performance, she’s hardly one-note, and we’ve learned about a lot of Starbuck’s personal demons as time has gone on.

During her hiatus from filming Battlestar, Sackhoff also kept busy with her lead role in White Noise 2, opposite another science fiction icon, Nathan Fillion (Firefly). With Battlestar Galactica’s third season about to debut, I spoke to Sackhoff about her feelings on Starbuck and to learn what’s in store for her as the show continues down its fascinating and dark path.

IGN TV: Coming up you have White Noise 2. Can you talk about your character in that?

Sackhoff: My character is Sherry. She is kind of like the light hearted hope of the movie. She gets saved by Nathan Fillion’s character, Abe. And the whole script has to do with the devil’s plan, but I don’t want to give away too many things, because then you know too much. But they have kindred spirits, because they’ve both lost people that they love, and they gravitate towards each other. There is a tiny bit of a romance there, but never really fulfilled... consummated. It’s PG-13! [Laughs] And it was great. I think it is testing really well and fans of and of Battlestar and Firefly are going to get their money’s worth. They should enjoy it.

IGN TV: How was it working with Nathan Fillion?

Sackhoff: It’s pretty funny, because Nathan and I are just the biggest kidders, I don’t know how we got anything done. We would just be making each other crack up, like during people’s big dramatic death scenes, and we are just over there laughing in the corner. I had the best time ever. I honestly didn’t want to leave that show, at all, and I wanted it to just keep going. I was like "Seriously, Battlestar is great and all, but I’ll just stay with you guys. Can we make this a year long?...no? Okay, back to my day job then."

IGN TV: Did you have much down time between productions?

Sackhoff: I had none. I had four days that overlapped, and I didn’t sleep for three. So that was interesting. I have never been so tired in my entire life. I was actually crying in my trailer on the last day, because I hadn’t slept at all. It was the craziest experience I’ve felt in my entire life. I mean that has to be what drug addicts feel like; that awake feeling. I had so much caffeine. I would do Battlestar during the day; I’d work till 7:00, I’d show up at White Noise at 8:30, I’d work till 4:00, and then I’d be back on Battlestar by 5:30. My poor mom flew up to take care of me. And my intention was to have her sleep, to keep me straight when I fell apart. But she decided to stay awake with me, so she would be able to experience the pain and actually be able to relate, and she stayed awake the entire time. Towards the end we got giddy. There is a picture of us on the set of White Noise, sitting in two chairs next to each other, and I’m asleep with my head on my mom’s shoulder, and then she’s asleep on my head. White Noise was amazing through the entire thing. Anytime they had ten minutes, they would yell, "Katee, go to sleep!" Seriously, they would yell at me, "Go sleep somewhere; anywhere!" I was like, "Okay, okay, I’m going!" So I would fall asleep sitting up in my chair... with my mom!

IGN TV: When Battlestar season three wraps, are you going into another project or you looking to take a nice break?

Sackhoff: No I am going straight in. I’m not going to say [what it is], just because I don’t want to jinx it. Until it’s in the can, you never quite know! But I am going in straight in to work. I took my three-week hiatus, just a month ago, so I’m ready to be somebody else beside Starbuck for awhile. I’m very excited.

IGN TV: How has season three been going for you, compared to the other seasons?

Sackhoff: Same. You know, nothing crazy happened. The scripts are amazing, and it seems every year to fly by a little bit faster, which is kind of scary.

IGN TV: Looking back at the finale last season, what was your reaction when you got the script that had the big one year jump ahead?

Sackhoff: I thought it was extremely creative. It was such a great way for the writers to have this huge dramatic event happen and not really have to figure out yet how they got there. They could have the ends before the means, so to speak. It gave them a finish point, and then they could go back during this season and figure out what exactly happened to get certain characters to where they were, which was very, very interesting.

IGN TV: And for you as actors was it completely strange to be told that "okay now your character is like this, and your life is completely different"?

Sackhoff: No, because I don’t think anything was so far fetched. We didn’t make anybody completely different from who they were to begin with. Jaime’s character gaining the weight was a little extreme, but Jaime seems to be always eating, even if it hasn’t made it into the script I guess. So they were like, "Yeah, lets make Jaime fat!" And I was like, "Okay you guys... but you’re not making me fat, right? Okay, good."

IGN TV: Are you surprised that Anders became such a pivotal character in Kara’s life?

Sackhoff: No, not at all. It’s what I wanted. Michael Trucco is a great guy and he gets along so well with the cast and I think that having him around provides much more interesting story lines for Kara, so it only makes sense to keep him around.

IGN TV: What is your take on Lee and Kara, because it is an interesting dynamic in that sometimes there is a major vibe there and sometimes they seem more like siblings.

Sackhoff: You know, I don’t think anyone knows, and it is actually kind of annoying, because you sit there and think, "What is going on?" You have no idea what is going on, and you get frustrated because it’s like one writer will go this way and another writer will go that way. I guarantee you there is a general consensus and they have sat down and talked about it. But it seems like you are being pulled in two completely different directions, and it is like when are these characters going to make up their mind and go one way or the other, because you can’t do this for seven years, because the fans are going go, "Enough already!"

IGN TV: Was it strange for you to get that script last year where you get drunk and you made a big move on him?

Sackhoff: No, I was like, finally! Seriously, it’s about time! This is crazy! So no, not at all.

IGN TV: So what can you tell us about where Kara is as season three begins?

Sackhoff: We pick up with Kara being held captive by Leoben. The first episodes are really about the different forms of torture that the Cylons are using on the humans, and what lengths the humans are willing to go to get people back and to get their freedom back. It is an interesting couple of episodes because the tables are turned a little bit. It is interesting to watch because it is a little disturbing, and kind of speaks to what goes on in real war, which is hard to watch. And you see these characters go to great lengths to find their freedom again and what they are fighting for, but then you see the other side doing the exact same thing. We see a bunch of that at the beginning... And then I really can’t tell you much after that! We have a little surprise visitor that comes into Kara’s life, that will be very interesting to see what she does with that. And beyond that it’s just Kara and Anders and Lee all hating each other and loving each other, and you know, occasionally we throw Dualla in there. And episode eight explains a lot of what happened in that lost year, which is really great. That was really fun to shoot.

IGN TV: At Comic-Con, Edward James Olmos said this season is the darkest stuff you guys have ever done. Would you agree with that?

Sackhoff: Very true, very true. What I have seen so far, up to episode four, is extremely dark, and a little unnerving. There are moments where you’re like, "Oh, my god!" You see characters going through certain things, and characters dying, and characters just at utter loss; they are at a breaking point, or they might have past that breaking point, and now they are trying to hold on to their sanity. Which might be the only thing that they have left!

IGN TV: What are Kara’s feelings on the Battlestars having left New Caprica?

Sackhoff: I don’t think she cares. I think she is so happy to have a different life, and to be able to forget all the things she did, and all the things she hade done to here, all the mistakes she made, and start over. She of course misses Admiral Adama, but the rift between her and Lee is so big, that she has moved on. There is nothing left there.

IGN TV: When you guys filmed the finale last year did you guys know exactly what had caused the huge rift between Lee and Kara?

Sackhoff: No, we had no idea. So I was making stuff up in my head. And it didn’t come close to what they had! What they had was so cruel, I was like holy s**t, no wonder he hates her! I get it! And no wonder Col. Tigh is saying, "Nice move, kid!"

IGN TV: That was a fun change to see you and Tigh being so friendly. What was it like to play that after all the times you guys had to play such animosity?

Sackhoff: It was weird! It was so weird. We hadn’t even been in a scene where we had smiled together, let alone hugged, and been like, "Hi, I miss you!" So we were both like, "This is weird..." It’s good. I actually get to have scenes with him now where we’re not fighting, which is nice, but it is definitely odd. Michael Hogan is an absolutely brilliant actor, so anytime I get to work with someone of that caliber I get excited. We’ve come up with some fun stuff this year.

IGN TV: In the first two seasons, was there a storyline Kara went through that really surprised you?

Sackhoff: Yeah, [the episode] "Scar." I didn’t understand "Scar" at all! I still don’t. [Laughs] I still don’t understand how a rookie pilot can all of a sudden just wake up one day and just be better then the best pilot in the Fleet. It’s just me; call me crazy! But that’s the way I work, I guess. If you sit here and think about what these characters go through on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, you want to cry for them. It’s really, really tragic the things that they go through, the things they are forced to do, and then they are actually asked to wake up and keep going. Which is hard especially when you don’t know where you are going to end up. You know what you are fighting for, because it is tangible it is right there; but you don’t know when it is going to end. Its like, "Is this my life?",’ which is really frustrating I’d guess. It’s sad when you think about that.

IGN TV: Because the show is so intense do you guys try to keep a light hearted mood on set and not let it get too down?

Sackhoff: I don’t really think about my job that much.[Laughs] I’m sorry, I guess that makes me a horrible actress, but I don’t think about it. As soon as the say "action" I do my job and as soon as they say "cut", I’m like, "What’s up? Who wants to go watch a movie in my trailer?" I try not to think about it too much. It’s what I do for my job, but I don’t want it to consume my life. It is very light hearted; that is the long answer to that question. Someone asked me that the other day; They had met me and said I was so different from my character in real life. And I was like, "Well, yeah!" And they asked if I stayed in character all the time [on set. And I was like, "Look, that would be so tiring, I think I would hurt myself." Because there is no way I could stay in that mind frame all day long, I would be miserable. So I think as a way to protect myself, I turn into Katee again, all the time.

IGN TV: You’d also have a lot more hangovers if you stayed in character...

Sackhoff: Oh God, could you imagine? I’d show up to work, and they would be like, "You’re fired!", and I’d be like, "No, no, no! I’m in character! What is your problem?"

IGN TV: So there is any chance you and Tricia [Helfer] might get a rematch this season?

Sackhoff: Tricia and I fight all the time at home. [Laughs] No, no chance whatsoever. I don’t think I have had a scene with Tricia this season.

IGN TV: Is that strange for you guys? Because many of the actors are pretty disassociated as far as their characters go.

Sackhoff: Yeah, it’s funny too, because Tricia and I are such good friends, that we actually see more of each other when we are not working; like when the season is over, which is quite interesting. Same thing with James. I don’t see James [Callis] unless we all go out to dinner together. Yeah, it is weird. Most of my scenes have been with Jamie [Bamber] and Tahmoh [Penikett] and Grace [Park] this year.

IGN TV: Do you guys ever quiz Ron or David about their long term plans for the show or the characters?

Sackhoff: No. I mean occasionally, like when "Scar" came out last year, I was like, "Where the hell are you guys going with this? Because I am so lost right now." But for the most part what is so exciting about this show is reading the scripts blind. That’s so fun. They are so good, it’s like reading a book and I don’t think I want to take that away from myself.

IGN TV: If you guys ever get to Earth, when do you think it will be? Will it be in our past, or our present or...?

Sackhoff: I have no idea. I mean there are so many different ideas as to what it could be, and the possibilities are endless. My brain does not comprehend that much creativity the way that Ron Moore does. I think that I would have an aneurysm if I tried to figure that out, because inevitably they will come up something that is so good that, it is going to shock everyone, and it probably not even a possibility that we have come up with. We are thinking about the most obvious possibilities. They are probably thinking up these crazy, random things, like we are the apes that the humans... Like we started the Darwin theory. I don’t know! Then again, they could go for the easiest thing, and be like "Look, we shocked you!"

IGN TV: We’ve learned a lot about Kara’s backstory as we have gone along, things like her religious beliefs, and her possible abuse from her mother. What was that like for you as an actress to incorporate those things as you go along, and learn them yourself?

Sackhoff: That was a really hard thing for me to play; the stuff about her mother, because I can’t imagine what mind set you have to be in to hurt a child, in all honesty. That is the cruelest thing, and completely mind boggling to me. I have never looked at a child and been so angry that I flipped out. So I was really pissed. And when I was shooting that, I kept picturing my mother in my head. And I was like, could you imagine laying there as a child and looking at this woman you loved so unconditionally, and having her break your fingers? It was just beyond me, so every time I focused or thought about it, I just started bawling my eyes out.

IGN TV: We also found out that Kara liked to paint. Were you surprised by that revelation?

Sackhoff: Yeah. I was like, "What? Really?" But is it really painting or is it like paint by number finger painting? To each his own, like everyone thinks art is different, but that to me, personally, is not art; it’s just a bunch of scribbles on the wall. But that would make sense for her. It is a very angry type of free crazy erratic art, I guess. What I liked more, which is something I chose to do, was the poetry. That made sense to me; that she wrote her feelings down in poetry.

IGN TV: That was your idea?

Sackhoff: Yeah I wrote the poems too.

IGN TV: And so you just went to the writers with that idea?

Sackhoff: Yeah I did. I just said that I wanted to go in and spend some time in the apartment and use some paint and paint the poems on the wall, so I think I did like three of them on the wall.

IGN TV: Are there other opportunities like that, where you are able to pitch an idea or make a suggestion that might make it into the show?

Sackhoff: Yeah. If you think about it, 90% of what we say is written. I think everything else [about the character] comes from us, personally. Even the way we dress is our idea. We get to kind of pick what we want to wear in the scenes. Everyone freaks out because my character is the only one who has shorts on the Galactica. Well, that is because I went and grabbed a pair of pants and scissors and cut them off and gave her shorts. It wasn’t a huge thing, but we do have a huge opportunity to do these little, subtle things that most people wouldn’t think about, that have become a major part of the character. Like the tattoo thing [Kara and Anders have] was Michael Trucco’s and my idea. The seed was planted by Ron Moore, but the actual artwork and the way it came together was done by Michael and I, and our friend, with a little bit of input from the makeup artist.

IGN TV: That has to be gratifying, to know that beyond your performance, you can leave these other physical imprints for the character.

Sackhoff: Yeah, because I think at the end of the day, if you had put someone else in this character from day one, the character would be so different, even if the dialogue was exactly the same. She is kind of a part of me now, and I don’t think that anyone could go in and do what I do and play this character the way that I do. So that might be conceited... Just because there are subtle things that aren’t on the page that I do that make her who she is.

IGN TV: Is it nice for you guys when you get to outside and film on places like New Caprica, or Kobol and leaves the confines of the ships and the sets?

Sackhoff: It was great when I was smoking, because you could just smoke all day long! You were outside and you were like, perfect, I am just going chain smoke all day. But now that I quit, I am like, this sucks! What am I going to do out here? Seriously, with nature... What? You want me to do what? I mean it is kind of nice, but nine times out of ten it is freezing cold and raining in Vancouver and we are usually on the side of the mountain with a wind chill and getting hypothermia, which is always fun.

IGN TV: What is it like filming the viper scenes? I’d imagine that has to be the most extreme, in terms of make believe.

Sackhoff: It is, because you have to completely suspend your disbelief and actually jump in there and be able to pretend that you are in a ship is the most insane thing in the entire world. It’s so crazy. It’s like sitting in a cardboard box when you were a little kid and pretending it is a race car. I used to do it all the time and that’s exactly what it’s like. It is like the ship is not moving and now, pretend you are going to die, and pretend that you are really good at it too. It’s like, okay, let’s see how I can do that....

IGN TV: Obviously she has a lot of angst in her background, but at the end of the day your character is an all around bad ass. Is that still fun for you to play?

Sackhoff: Always, and that’s what drew me to this character to begin with; I wanted to shoot a gun. Now, I have shot so many of them that I can’t stand it anymore! And you can’t take that away from this character; it’s all she has, all she knows how to do, and it is all she is good at. And that is the stuff I really enjoy. That is the stuff that comes the easiest for me actually, because I love being physical and running around and fighting with Tricia and shooting guns with Tahmoh. That is the best part of my job.

IGN TV: They took some of the traits from the original male Starbuck, so you have the cigar smoking, the hard drinking, and the occasional one night stands sometimes . . .

Sackhoff: The cigar smoking is gone. I didn’t think it was a very good thing to be portraying on television, especially when most of my fans are young girls. I think everything else can be explained away by a parent, that done safe or in moderation is great, but the smoking is the only thing that she does that hands down will kill you. And you can’t explain that away, and I didn’t think it was the responsible thing to do. So she quit.

IGN TV: Is there an on camera mention of quitting?

Sackhoff: No, she just quit; she just stopped. It is not to say that I won’t do it in a film someday; I am not against smoking on camera at all. But in a medium like television, where anyone can just turn this on and it is basic cable, you have a bigger responsibility than you do if you are in an R rated film.

IGN TV: What is it like to play a character who gets to subvert a lot of clichés?

Sackhoff: It’s nice, but at the same time you deal with a lot of scrutiny over it. If my character was a man no one would give a s**t that she is having one night stands, but because it is a woman, all of a sudden she is a slut. And it is like, no she’s not, she is just doing what everybody else is doing too. I don’t understand the problem with it. If she was a guy and he was beating everybody up, they would be like, "Oh my, god he is such a hero," but because she is a woman, everyone says "There is no f-ing way this girl is this good at everything," and that sucks. But that is society; there you go. I think enough women have proven that we can do it just as well, or better.

IGN TV: Obviously when the show began, you faced a lot of hostility from fans of the original. How much vindication do you feel, as the show now gets so much critical acclaim, with so many prestigious awards and honors?

Sackhoff: That’s not really, in my opinion, personal vindication, because all the accolades the show has gotten is a group effort, and the only validation I need is from the people that love me, meaning my family and friends, and the people that work for me, meaning my agent and my manager. As long as those people think I am doing a good job, then I’m just at a point now where I don’t care anymore. I learned a very interesting lesson when I first got the job, which is you can care to a certain extent what the fans think of you, but you can’t let it consume you. So I do care, and I haven’t heard anything negative, for probably a couple of years, which is really my vindication right there. But if someone doesn’t like me anymore, I don’t worry about it.

IGN TV: The show has a lot of really fascinating analogies in terms of our modern life, politics, and different arguments going on. Are you surprised by how much of that weighty stuff makes its way into the material, that might not if the show were a modern day set, network series?

Sackhoff: Oh, of course. I think that is why our show is so good. We are given the opportunity to discuss weighty issues that we wouldn’t be able to on network television, number one, and also on a show that wasn’t science fiction, because right there you are given an excuse. Because it’s science fiction, so it’s "not real," and then we are given a little bit more wiggle room on certain things. Which makes it more fun as actors, and makes it more fun as an audience, and more fun as a writer, because it means you don’t have to dumb scripts for an audience that isn’t going to figure something out. And I think that is why our show has maintained a certain level of intelligence for its entire run.

IGN TV: That being the case, do you think the Emmys can ever change its view on sci-fi and nominate a show like yours?

Sackhoff: No. Look, I would love for the show to win an Emmy. I think there are a lot of people on our show who work tireless hours who pour their heart and souls into the show, and we have the best crew I have ever met in my entire life. It would be nice, but at the end of the day, we won a Peabody. I am sorry, but that is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced, to win a Peabody Award... I’m good! I’ve got my Peabody and my Saturn awards right next to each other on my mantle, and that is about it and that is all that matters. It is what it is.