Hard-working actor David Blue is known to genre fans both as Logan, the vampire techie on Moonlight, and as Eli Wallace, the gamer who unexpectedly finds himself at the middle of the Stargate Universe mission (not to mention a compelling stint on Ugly Betty). The day before the premiere of SGU's season 1.5 (April 2, 2010, on Syfy), David talked to me about how the new half-season of SGU is going to be explosive, forcing Eli to step up and decide who he wants to be. Plus thoughts on how his characters fare in the romance department, being a fan and feeling the fans' expectations, the possibility of an SGU musical episode, and the last days of Moonlight (and whether it has a future).
Thanks for taking time out, this must be a crazy week for you.
You know, if you can believe it, I won the Christmas lottery of schedules. I actually worked my butt off for the past couple weeks [working on season 2], and now I have a lot of time off this week. I got a whole bunch of interviews -- I consider those bonus, those aren't work at all.
Let's start with the tee-shirt -- "You are here." Did that start from the idea there must be a lot of Elis in the audience?
You know I'd love to take credit for that, but early on I was at the Sundance Film Festival and I got a call from our wonderful costume designer, Val Halverson, and she asked me my favorite colors. Unfortunately I didn't know she was talking about what I'd be wearing. I told her that I love red and black. So she presented me for the costume fitting with a whole bunch of shirts, and one of them was the red "You are here shirt." And I really liked a lot of the other ones [laughs], I really liked some of the blue ones, the green ones, but they were all really, really cool shirts, very geeky and fun. I never in a million years thought that they would go for the "You are here" shirt. But I like it, and in a strange way it has actually affected some of the plots you'll see this season. I have a lot more respect for the actors on Lost now [laughs], wearing the same thing all the time. Anytime that there's even a hope of wearing something else, I'm like begging at Val's sleeve, "Please let me wear something else!"
I'm still lucky though, because all the military types are wearing uniforms all day. My everyday costume is a tee shirt and a hoodie. I could not be more comfortable.
Though you have suited up on occasion.
Yeah, I like those. I have to say one of my favorite things was "Earth," where I switch bodies with Ryan Kennedy [a.k.a. Cosmic Boy from Smallville]. His outfit -- he looks cool in a shirt and jacket. I was like, "Oh, can I keep this?" They're like, "No."
In terms of the "You are here" audience identification, you are actually a big sci-fi fan.
Totally, and it actually is a little -- realizing that Eli is the embodiment of the audience, "You are here" is a great way to acknowledge that.
What was your first love?
My first love? God, you know, my biggest was probably Star Trek: The Next Generation, but my first -- I can list a couple. I loved Krull [(1983)], when I was younger, that's more fantasy probably that sci-fi. I loved Krull, I don't know why because I rewatched it recently and I couldn't figure out why I liked it. The movie SpaceCamp [(1986)] inspired me to actually attend space camp -- part of me really wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger. Um, Solarbabies [(1986)], do you remember that one? It's a cheesy, cheesy movie but absolutely wonderful. And then the biggest one, Cloak & Dagger [(1984)], that was a great, great movie. I mean, all of them, all of them -- WarGames [(1983)], Weird Science [(1985)], all those little things that just the tone for where sci-fi was going to be.
David Hewlett was telling me about he felt like he was a fan who had somehow snuck into the party.
Hewlett and I would really get along. Well, we get along on Twitter. Actually when I first got cast in this, when I walked onto the set, a lot of the producers and a lot of the crew were like, "Oh my god, you're just like Hewlett!" And I really considered that a compliment, because I respect him so much. So maybe that's why, we speak the same language.
And you're one of the few cast members who's had a scene with Richard Dean Anderson.
Yeah! One of my first scenes actually.
That was the scene that sold me on the show, I think.
"We're here, that happened." I've probably told this a hundred times, but, seriously, he and I were in the same van driving to the set, and I had to pretend the entire ride that I didn't know who he was! I was so uncomfortable, because the geek boy in me wanted to talk to him about MacGyver, and talk to him about SG-1, and everything, and I just couldn't, I had to be the professional actor, and be like, "Oh, really, Richard?" But that's not what I was feeling at all.
But since then he talked to me multiple times on set, and in addition I went to one of my first conventions ever, and he was there -- Richard, me, Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Chris Judge, Connor Trinneer, David Nykl, and Dan Shea [Sgt. Siler]. And he's a very down-to-earth guy. Kind of like, seeing your boss outside of work. [laughs]
