Exclusive Interview: GALACTICA'S JAMIE BAMBER AND WHY STARBUCK CAN'T COMMIT- PART 2
By: Sean Elliott, Senior Editor
Source: ifmagazine.comThe actor also shares his opinions of where the series should end and how
Jamie Bamber playing Lee “Apollo” Adama in SCI FI Channel’s hit series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is in his own words a sort of reactionary character that gets what he gives from the relationships he forms with the people in his storyline. Bamber explains to iF MAGAZINE in part 2 of our exclusive interview; how he feels about real fathers and sons, and why Kara “Starbuck” Thrace can’t commit to any kind of real relationship. Of course we also get to touch on his opinions of where the series should end and how.
iF MAGAZINE: Do you like the fact that Lee and Admiral Adama have a back and forth relationship which changes practically every episode?
JAMIE BAMBER: Yeah, I do, it’s a lot more interesting to play than if they stayed buddies all season. The other thing is that they are, more in season three and the end of season two, more as one and totally in accord. Even in that accord they quarrel and things happen; external things happen to act as a catalyst in their relationship and the old struggles rear their heads. Then they see that they aren’t as similar as they thought they think they or they think they have become and they have issues with each other. Personally, I find that very true to life. I don’t think there is a father and son relationship out there that doesn’t constantly reiterate itself, whatever the grudge is, it’s very hard to let it go. We look at our childhoods as such a formative period because we only have one and whatever happens in that childhood, if something between two people, it just gets dredged up again. The writers are to be applauded. I always kind of looked at the maternal figure, the latent mother, his wife and Lee’s mother as the “idea parent”, but the writers have flipped that on its head. It makes sense if you see what’s gone on between them, and play back every scene, it adds to the drama when you get the reality that Lee couldn’t stomach his mum and Adama. I had always thought that she was the perfect mother because she is never seen or spoken of, but the writers had other ideas for her.
F: Along the same lines, what is Lee’s status in regards to his relationship with Starbuck?
BAMBER: The bar is raised again in that relationship. More happens this year than has happened at any time in the past. We have indications of feelings between them that they can’t acknowledge and they kind of deny that and got he other way and go almost whole hog and become an item. One of them can’t deal with that and goes entirely the other way and gets married and now she can’t even deal with being married. Inside of both of their marriages is the idea that they should still be together and there’s a ton going on where you see the depth of feeling between them and also the fear about actually giving into the genuine feelings and Kara [Starbuck] can’t quite do it. It doesn’t really happen as a result and it’s just this combination of illicit infatuation. It is a fatal attraction. I think Lee has grown to a point where there is no reason why he can’t have what he wants and he really can’t get over how beat up she [Starbuck] is and how she can’t allow herself to get that level of intimacy.
iF: Of course, in terms of the character of Starbuck, she was tortured on New Caprica so that has to be a contributing factor in the romantic distancing equation?BAMBER: Exactly, she went through more than any other character in a way. She’s damaged goods. [Laughs]
iF: How has this season been for everyone to be back on one set filming instead of on two different ship sets?
BAMBER: The nature of the show is that the cast is quite broad, and even if you are on sets that are next each other, they tend to be mutually exclusive storylines. I rarely see James Callis or Tricia Helfer, the Cylons really, in any other meaningful capacity other than in the lunch cue for an hour. They’re off being naked together and sleeping in big beds, they’re welcome to that, I’ll let them have it. [Laughs] Meanwhile I’m making a gritty reality TV show next door with wounds and warts, and they [the Cylons] have the best of it and that’s fine! [Laughs] I have to say season three has had a funny feel. It’s our best season, and yet there’s a kind of security that comes with being around and wondering where we’re going to go and how long it’s going to go on for, or how many storylines they can come up with. There’s almost an itch, it’s like a seven-year itch, and it seems like to me that season three in television is the itchy year. I still think that this is the best season we’ve ever done, but at this rate it raises questions about what directions we can go. This season we went inside a base ship and spent time with the Cylons for a while, and I guess some people will like that and some won’t, but at least we’re always trying new things. The show has been a huge pleasure to do, and it just remains to be seen when and how and where we’re going to find Earth.
iF: Where do you see the series ending?
BAMBER: I really hope it does have a happy ending; there have been so many individually dark endings to episodes that it would be really nice to think that they will find Earth. I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody knows, that’s the difficulty of making these types of projects on TV is that you are balancing to someone else’s needs. We’re all working for big corporations and networks and advertisers and they’re all involved. I regard my employers as Ron Moore and David Eick, and I know that they have ideas of how they would like to do things, but even they don’t necessarily get to finish things the way they like. They have to read the financial and budgetary signals from the network and try to sort of mold their vision accordingly. My only hope is that we get to finish the story and don’t get the plug pulled before we do. I guess if I was going to pick I would rather we finish sooner than later so that we actually get to finish the story. I think the longer you draw it out, the more you expose yourself to someone just cutting the show. We are one epic story and we have one destination; it’s a road really that we are. If we got cut say at the end of this season there would be so much left hanging that I would completely identify with Richard Hatch and how he felt when his show got cut. I just hope we get to push this premise as far as it will go, and that we get to conclude it in some way. There will never be a complete conclusion, the only absolute conclusion would be to have the Cylons kill us all and its over [Laughs], but even if we find Earth that leads to questions of new beginnings and what that will go on to. It’s been a very powerful exploration to be involved in and I hope we get to have a full lifetime.