Beau Bridges, who plays Stargate Command's General Hank Landry, spoke with me recently about Stargate: Ark of Truth, the first of two direct-to-DVD movies this year reuniting the SG-1 team. The second, Stargate: Continuum, is due out on DVD in July. Both are produced by Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright; Cooper wrote Ark of Truth, while Wright gets the writing credit for Continuum.
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It seems like Ark of Truth is a second series finale for Stargate SG-1 -- the finale they were on their way to, as it were, when they got trapped in the time dilation in "Unending" [10x20].
Well, sort of. I think that with these two two-hour movies that we made, Rob and Brad always seem to leave the door open a crack, in case we want to do any more. We'll wait and see how things go. If the people enjoy them and show enough interest, we may even make some more. I don't know definitively whether that's true, but they have such a loyal following.
As you know I joined at the start of their ninth year [in 9x1, "Avalon Part 1" (2005)], and a couple of the conventions -- which, I had never done anything like that before -- it was just amazing, the loyalty of these people who watch the shows. Who knows, I don't know if it will go on or not. I know what you mean, it did wrap up a lot of stuff -- the Ori kind of get their comeuppance -- but they've definitely left it open so that more stuff can happen.
You've been a sci-fi fan, but the fan phenomenon and being part of a sci-fi franchise is kind of new to you.
Well actually, I think one of the reasons I got involved with Stargate was that one of the founders of the show [namely, Stargate SG-1 co-creator Jonathan Glassner] had hired me, I don't know how many years before -- I did a two-hour movie called The Sand Kings for Brad [(1995)], he had actually written it, which kicked off The Outer Limits franchise. [Note: The Sand Kings is credited to Melinda Snodgrass, but Brad Wright was on the writing staff of The Outer Limits from its inception.]
I did that with my father, Lloyd, and my son, Dylan, who at the time was only ten years old. That was about -- Dylan is now 23, so 13 years ago now. So there were three generations of us in that show. It was an anthology, so that was the only one I did in the series, but that may be how Brad thought of me for this one.
But I know what you mean, I had never been in those conventions or anything. And what was interesting about it was, going into them I had heard all of these stories about people dressing up as the characters and this kind of crazy angle. But when you get into it, these are just loyal fans -- they bring their families, they get to know each other. So the conventions are not just a way for them to see the actors that are in the show. They come to see each other, the fans themselves, and they have relationships and friendships over years. I did this one convention in London, and the people come from all over the world. It's just incredible.
I was just talking to David Hewlett the other day, who said it's very much like a family for the performers as well.
Right, exactly. I must say they were really gracious to me coming in in the ninth season. I didn't really know anybody there. I had met Richard Dean [Anderson] years before, but he was not really doing them anymore. But the rest of the people, they were just so kind to me in welcoming me to the show, it made me feel really at home quite quickly. So it wasn't a tough transition at all. And Ben Browder, who also was new to the show with me, we happened to live very close to each in L.A., so we got together before I even came out, which was nice. And we've become good friends.
You mentioned once before that Chris Judge helped provide an anchor on set as things changed those last seasons.
He provided a lot of the humor. Chris is a wonderful guy, he's got a great sense of humor and he's a good actor -- all of those people that are regulars on the show I think are wonderful actors and really dedicated to the show. And that was important to me, because I like a real professional attitude on the set and people that work hard and they're bringing it.
I think it all begins at the top though, and I think Rob Cooper and Brad Wright are great show runners and really talented writers, and they had a really good team of writers. It all starts with the written word. If that's there, then it all falls into place.
These franchises have a way of evolving. Have you gotten a sense of how Stargate has changed even in the time you've been with it?
Well, sure. What was fun for me in terms of my own character, General Landry -- when Rob and Brad asked me to be a part of the show, that character wasn't even written. They just asked me if I would be interested in being the new general in charge of the Stargate, and I asked, "Well, what type of guy is he?" and they said, "Well, he's not really created yet." And so it was exciting because it was the first time I had been on a show where I was actually invited to help create the backstory for who this guy was.
So Rob Cooper, who had mostly to do with the Stargate part of it, he and I sat down and started fleshing out who this guy was: he was a decorated pilot from the Vietnam period and met a Vietnamese woman over there, had a child, then became estranged from his family -- we felt that it would be interesting to get behind the scenes a little bit, as exciting as it would be to see the generals in action militarily, that these guys are human too.
And I actually researched American generals, from George Washington all the way up to Tommy Franks, and Eisenhower, MacArthur, and kind of worked out a lot of the qualities that I liked in these guys and also a lot of the things that they said, the quotes, and I gave that -- it must have been a 40 page thing of research -- I gave that to the writers to help create General Landry. So we had a lot of fun. It was great.
