TV Verdict

While Comic Con tends to be kamikaze journalism for those of us foolish enough to throw ourselves into it, some of the hidden gems are the small interview opportunities that pop up throughout the weekend, and this is a perfect example. Best known for his work on Battlestar Galactica, a relaxed Jamie Bamber was tucked away in the Genius Products booth at the back of a manic Saturday morning convention floor doing small press for Pulse: Afterlife, a film he shot during hiatus last season, and arrives on DVD September 30. But as these interviews often go, the conversation strayed into some fascinating areas.

TV Verdict: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse (Kairo)…

Jamie Bamber: Thank you for mentioning it.

TVV: Of course. The film was a fascinating J-Horror metaphor for our increasing anxiety over technology dependence…

JB: You know, I loved it. I just loved it, from the very first shot of these people in this sort of plant nurturing place which is on a building… like a nursery within an office building… it’s just a patio… and they’re so distant from each other… and it’s just about how disconnected we actually are. We think we’re connected by this technology, and that’s an illusion. And then people get haunted by the illusion, and ghosts come through and it takes over their lives… I thought it was mesmerizing, really mesmerizing. I have to say that’s why… Pulse 2, a sequel to a film I really liked… that’s why I decided to do it. To see if we could do something a bit more faithful to Kurosawa’s piece. I have no idea whether it is or not. It probably wasn’t one of the aims of the producers to be honest… to be faithful… because foreign films that leave the camera rolling on wide shots and don’t cut into it every two seconds are just not particularly en vogue in America right now. But I think we’ll learn and we’ll wake up that that’s actually more dramatic than being slapped around the head with a bat and told you don’t expect this, but you do and here it is.

TVV: You’re right. And it’s only those people who appreciate someone like a David Lynch…

JB: Yeah! You know, my favorite filmmaker of this genre is Michael Haneke. Do you know him? He’s an Austrian filmmaker who made a film Funny Games which recently got remade shot for shot but that’s not my favorite film of his. He did a film called Cache with Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil and it’s extraordinary… extraordinary! And it’s a horror movie… a psychological horror movie… but… in Funny Games there’s a take in there that’s 12-minutes long and nothing happens… and it’s mesmerizing, terrifying, and you’re just like “that’s what life’s about.” It’s about the spaces in your imagination, rather than this construct of editing which I think filmmaking has been reduced to editing. Editing is an art… an interesting art form… but the editor does not make the movie, and should not make the movie… I believe.

TVV: Well, we’ve been so spoon fed by Hollywood that we’re not allowed to think in films anymore…

JB: Not allowed to think at all. Not at all. And you know, film has always been about being manipulated… to some degree. You know, the lights go down and you’re taken on a journey and you’re shown what to look at. But it’s nice occasionally to be able to decide what on the screen you’re gonna to give your attention to… and to be able to look at all the corners of the screen. Hollywood films are literally, at the moment, there’s one thing that you take in from every scene. One thing and only one thing, and any more than one thing is taboo. And I think that’s one way of going, but maybe not the most interesting way of going.

TVV: And it’s unfortunate, because directors like Hitchcock felt strongly that the mind could create much more fascinating things if you simply set up situation and let the imagination fill those voids.

JB: Exactly! And that’s what the theatre has always been. You know, the theatre sets up a tableau and there’s so many things you can focus on, from a prop, to a flat, to a… you choose which action you’re looking at. You’re editing the movie in the theatre. And movies have always been slightly more manipulative, because they tell the audience. But I think that the two can learn from each other. Theatre can be more filmic, and film can be more theatrical… and maybe discover good things. You know, Pulse for me, I was working with kindred spirits in (director) Joel Soisson and (producer) Mike Leahy and I really love those guys. You know, I was making a simple story about a dad who realizes that the Earth is falling around him and the only thing he can take charge of is what he has not been in charge of which is his personal relationship with his wife and his child. It was elemental and that’s what interested me in the movie, in the same way the original Kairo is about relationships and what you think you’re doing is being responsible for your friends and we realize that we’re not because we communicate in this really disconnected ethernet connection, which is no connection at all. And that’s what drew me to this thing, and I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t even say if I’m talking about things that we missed or whether we succeeded, but we certainly tried.

TVV: Will it receive a limited theatrical release or is it going straight to DVD?

JB: My understanding is that it was always meant to go straight to DVD. And for me, I have never fronted a movie before and I sort of embraced the idea of it going straight to DVD and not being overexposed too quickly with something. You know, you have to spar in the gym privately, and this is a bit of a sparring session for me.

TVV: How did the project come about?

JB: You know, just a break in Galactica and it was an offer and I thought, “Okay, I could go home and put me feet up or I could work out some more and try something else.” To be honest, work for me is more rewarding than so-called leisure, and I relish the opportunity to try and make this character work in this movie. And I watched Kairo and I really, really admire that movie. So I thought if these people are inheriting this legacy, then that’s something I want to be a part of.

TVV: You’ve already wrapped Galactica, correct?

JB: (Hesitant pause) Yeah, we finished a couple of weeks ago.

TVV: I was up in Vancouver on the Psych set and ran into Mary at the hotel and there was just a couple days left for her.

JB: Mary finished earlier than anyone. You know, you want this poignant moment to sort of live up to the expectation and it never does. Mary wrapped at four in the morning, and I wrapped at almost five in the morning on the second unit running around shooting guns. There wasn’t any poignancy, it was just grabbing shots. It was a strange ending… it was beautiful, you know the scripts are beautiful. But the final read through was the thing to be at, to be honest. That was amazing.

TVV: I’m a theatre actor as well and you don’t get that sense of closure with film and television as you do with a theatrical final performance…

JB: Exactly! You don’t get that curtain call, you don’t… unless that’s something that’s prioritized by the production, or you have time, or everything is under control. We weren’t under control, we were shooting some very ambitious episodes in not enough time and got them done just about… but it was sort of hell for leather at the end.

TVV: How did this experience change you as an actor, both personally and professionally?

JB: Oh… Battlestar has changed me… in every way! It’s five years of my life… I’ve had three kids and gotten married in that time… I’ve moved continents… I now live in LA. I’ve been awakened to what’s possible… I’ve been given a front seat at the best writing workshop you could be at… directing workshop, acting workshop. Eddie Olmos has shown me what’s possible for a creative actor to really forge your own path and create your own material. He is responsible for the tone of Battlestar Galactica. Mary McDonnell… extraordinary talent… the most embracing, eternal, giving, emotional human being. My wife has been involved in the show. My kids have lived it. It’s the single most formative experience that I’ve had.

TVV: Are we going to see any of these characters again?

JB: Battlestar? (Long pause) Yeah, I think so. They’re going to make a DVD movie in the mold of Razor, a sort of backtracking side story. But the story is done. You know, the epic poem is written, and now it’s sort of fan fiction time. I’m pretty confident I won’t revisit my character.

TVV: What’s next for you then?

JB: Well, I’m in talks to do an American-English co-production in London. A new Law & Order franchise set in London. It gets back to the original premise of Law & Order, but in the UK. And it’s the first time I know of an American property has been remade in England, rather than The Office or Life on Mars or whatever it is going the other way. You know, for me it’s going home, but it’s a departure from this genre as well, so there’s a lot of reasons to be excited.

For more information:

Read Judge Adam Arseneau’s review of Pulse (Kairo)

Read Judge Joe Armenio’s review of Cache

Read Judge Dennis Prince’s review of the Funny Games remake

Visit Jamie’s Wikipedia page

Visit SciFi Channel’s official Battlestar Galactica site