Exclusive Interview with Jamie Bamber (Lee "Apollo" Adama)
Source: caprica-city.deCaprica City: Jamie, I'm glad we have the chance to talk to you. We're from Caprica-City.de, Germany's biggest news site and fan community for all incarnations of Battlestar Galactica. The majority of the following questions was submitted by our readers. First of all, how does it feel to be back in London for a couple of weeks?
Jamie Bamber: It is lovely. We have decided to move to LA/Vancouver on a more permanent basis so it’s also a bit of an au revoir which makes it an even more special time. Seeing friends and family is great when we spend so much time so far away and London is an amazing city with a spectacular immediate future now the Olympics are coming. I have actually just bought a flat in the East End near the Olympic Village. I am sure we will come back here eventually. It is home. Theatre, pubs, rugby- all things I will miss...
CC: Speaking of your last days, how did you spend Valentine's Day?
JB: I spent Valentine’s Day watching my wife sing at a big gig in a local Jazz Club. She utterly amazed me. She is extremely talented and moved me to tears when she sang AND I LOVE YOU SO directly to me in front of the whole place... The most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me... and all I did was give her flowers...
CC: I know that you and your family relocate twice a year, you live in London when you're not filming Battlestar Galactica, and in Vancouver when you're on set. How do you manage that?
JB: With great difficulty! It is extremely stressful uprooting a family of five twice a year which is why we have decided to settle in LA. We need to make a home with all our books on the shelves and the kids in their own, especially decorated, bedrooms. And as long as we are filming 8 months of the year in Vancouver Lodon can’t be that.
CC: When filming in Vancouver, how do you spend your free time? And what other projects are you involved in at the moment?
JB: I play with the kids, go running along the beachfront pushing my young twins in our off-road buggy. We play golf, ski occaisionally, visit cousins and enjoy the West Coast cuisine and lifestyle. It is a stunningly beautiful part of the world.
I just finished an episode of a British drama called THE LAST DETECTIVE starring ex-Doctor Who, Peter Davison. Cela Imrie played my Mum as she did in Daniel Deronda. She is a wonderfful actress.
CC: How did you get the role of Lee „Apollo“ Adama? Was there some kind of key moment or key experience for either you or the producers?
JB: It came at a key time in my life. I was doing an English series that I didn’t like. My then girlfriend was pregnant and the future was a bit scary! I went to LA for two weeks and it was the first script my manger gave me to read. I cringed at the idea of the remake but the script knocked me sideways. Five auditions later, on the eve of my flight home I had the part. Best night of my life, almost!
CC: Your wife Kerry Norton is working on the show, too, her role being that of paramedic Layne Ishay.
JB: I love that Kerry is on the show. She has sacrificed a great deal to have three kids, to follow me to Vancouver and I loved that she was made welcome by the crew and is now a part of it in her own right. She is also a recording artist in Europe so she has been ridiculously busy!
CC: With whom of the characters – main cast or recurring – would you like Lee to end up?
JB: Layne Ishay of course!
CC: It is rumored that the Starbuck-Anders romance results from ideas of Katee Sackhoff. Do you have any wishes or ideas for your character's storyline in season three or later?
JB: Just that he continues to experience things as deeply as he has. I don’t have any particular wish list of twists. A scene with number 6 might be nice though!
CC: I've been wondering about how actors and directors deal with situations where the actor is supposed to react to something that will only be added in the post-production stage. Can you tell us something about that?
JB: It is very hard and takes conviction and imagination. You have to be specific. But the VFX guys are very sensitive and observant. They help make the show.
CC: Along with your colleague James Callis – who happens to be a native Englishman, too! –, you were recently nominated for a Saturn Award. How has that changed your or other people's perception of your work on the show?
JB: I have always thought awards are stupid but now that I have been nominated for one I must admit it gives you a boost. It is very nice to be appreciated. But beyond that it changes nothing. I am just lucky to be doing what I am doing it. James will win it. He deserves it.
CC: Is there something else you would like to share with your German fans?
JB: A glass of beer and some sauerkraut. Yum.
CC: Jamie, thank you very much for this interview. Keep up the good work, good luck with the Saturn Awards and please don't get yourself killed in season three!
JB: Thank you very much for responding to our show. I will try to dodge the bullets!