The second stop on Syfy’s press tour was at Vancouver Film Studios, where we got to talk to the cast of Caprica, including Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales and Paula Malcomson, as well as walk through some pivotal locations for the Battlestar Galactica-prequel. Although the groundwork for the Graystone-Adama family feud has been laid in the already-aired Caprica pilot, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding what exactly we’re going to get when the show returns on a weekly basis starting in January 2010.
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Mark Stern, Syfy’s Executive Vice Director for Original Programming, said the first season will follow a trajectory where we definitely see how the Cylons “get their own will,” kicking off the beginning of the end for the 12 Colonies. But he also spoke about the behind-the-scenes obstacles that the sci-fi family drama has dealt with thus far.
The show’s mid-point hiatus, taken after the first ten episodes, was explained by Stern as a point where the writers and producers re-grouped to evaluate where the characters’ stories were headed. An episode featuring a torture scene on another planet was scrapped at one point as a sign they weren’t on the same page with the way each characters’ storyline had been evolving. Stern also attributed production stresses with trying to wrap production on the first season before Vancouver hosts the Olympics in February next year.
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When talking about the tone of the series, Paula Malcomson said her character Amanda Graystone will still be dealing with the fallout of the tragic terrorist attack in the pilot, so as to not sell the darker stories short. But she also hinted that in the last ten episodes there would be other storylines propelling the viewer into the world of Caprica.
Eric Stoltz equated the evolution of the show, as well as his character’s development, to a Dickens novel, “where each chapter you get a little more information, you figure something out, and you try to make sense of a life, rather than having all the answers…
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“It feel like it’s still occurring, which I think is what makes the work exciting. Once you feel it’s dead and set in stone, it’s time to look for your next job.”
Stoltz later added that he was attracted to Caprica because of the richness of the storytelling and the layered characters, saying that he feels the show is somehow connected to indie films of the 90’s that dealt with complex issues. (It was also revealed that the actor who-was-almost-Marty-McFly would be directing an episode in the first season.) Esai Morales echoed the statement, when he talked about how proud he was to be on a show that sold ideas.
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While the nerd-world probably won’t be set afire to hear the Tauron/Caprican dynamic compared to stuffy British show Upstairs/Downstairs, if anything, it goes to show that the creators are really pushing for Caprica to be anything but a BSG cash-in project. However, the cast expressed their gratitude to be associated with the BSG universe, as well as the built-in audience that comes with that.
Speaking of BSG, Stern spoke highly of ex-BSG (and Buffy The Vampire Slayer) writer and now-Caprica executive producer Jane Espenson’s work on the show.
“I do want to give a shout-out also to Jane Espenson because I think this show’s personality is distinctively different — and you only started to see it in [the pilot] — but you really start to see it in the series, and the episodes as well, when Jane gets her voice into the show and it really does take on a life of its own.”
Polly Walker’s Sister Clarice Willow seems poised to be one of the show’s more nuanced and interesting characters, and not just because it was revealed that she’s married to 10 men and women. (On the set tour, we got see the Sister’s bedroom – and the two beds inside it.) Walker talked a bit about the challenges of playing her character: “It’s kind of exciting and a wonderful opportunity for me… I get to be really, really bad and really, really violent, and also I believe myself to be some sort of savior.”
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The cast also talked about the staggeringly detailed sets, including the stainless steel-plated lab, where the Zoe-robot lives. Alessandra Torresani, who plays the robot, credited the set as an instrumental part to the development of her character, saying it’s become both her home away from home, as well as character unto itself.
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The million-dollar mansion that housed the Graystone family in the pilot has been impressively recreated on a soundstage, looking like a gigantic Ikea showroom from the future, complete with a painted backdrop of Vancouver’s coast that caused me to do a double- (or triple)-take.
Dr. Graystone’s office was another fun set piece, filled with Easter eggs galore. Oh, and also a big frakkin’ prototype Cylon.
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The Adama household by contrast was much warmer and homelier – a conscious design by the set designers. A couple items of foreshadowing to William Adama’s future rested on top of his bedroom dresser, including a cool-looking retro robot toy and a boat.
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Caprica is all about the showing off a materialistic society, according to costume designer Glenne Campbell, and it’s got the wardrobe to prove it, with items primarily going for a 50’s, 60’s and 70’s look, depending on the colony. A few uniforms worn by Pyramid teams were also shown off, as was a variation of Howard Cosell’s yellow Monday Night Football jacket, which will be presumably be making an appearance on a Pyramid commentator.
In just a few hours, I felt a little more light had been shined on the world of Caprica, but check it out for yourself when the beginning of the end of the 12 Colonies debuts on Syfy January 22, 2010.
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