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Mackenzie Gray interview

J

Jomar

Beyond the rim
I can't find another thread on this subject so I just want to say what a great interview. I hope everyone will take the time to read it because it covers the wide variety of work Mac has done as well as B5LR.

Also we're lucky Antony had the opportunity to do this for us. So thanks Antony.
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I always seem to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
 
Agreed. It was an interesting interview, and very thorough. I don't know if I've ever seen an interview that long before!

Thanks again, Antony!
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"I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense,
reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."-- Galileo

"I think I speak for Mr. Bloom and myself when I say: you are the only director in the World who can do justice to 'Springtime For Hitler' " - Zero Mostel, The Producers
 
Thanks.

Yes, it was long for sure! Plus Mackenzie spoke quite fast, and I'm not a fast dictator! So it took a while.
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I always like to cover an actor's work before, after and outside of their latest role. They are more than their role, hopefully as this interview shows.

This one is light on B5 details for the reasons that Mackenzie discusses, but he still offers quite a lot to make it interesting when it gets to the B5 juicy bits!

Slightly funny story... the only thing I'd seen Mackenzie in was First Wave when I interviewed him. In that, in his very first scene, he snaps someone's neck. Nasty guy! And I had to interview this actor.
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But Mackenzie couldn't be nicer, he's really nice. It's always an honor to do interviews.

Next up: Enid-Raye Adams.

I have so many actors to choose from, I'm going in the order I "met" them online.
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Mackenzie was the first to email way back.


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"You're such a gentleman. Too bad I'm not a lady." - Max, Dark Angel

"X5-599. I've got a heart for you." - Zack, Dark Angel
 
Very good interview. This is one of the longest I've read - thanks to both sides!

I especially liked the part that said that only theatrical actors were considered for the heavy-prosthetic parts. Acting through all that makeup must have been quite a job! That's something we normally don't get to hear about.

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In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the grace of God.
-Aeschylus
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by channe:
I especially liked the part that said that only theatrical actors were considered for the heavy-prosthetic parts.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Jms generally prefers actors with theater backgrounds, since he often uses very theatrical dialogue.

Comes the Inquisitor is basically a stage play, and even though the writing is excellent, I doubt it'd be among my top 10 B5 episodes without the sheer force Mira Furlan and Wayne Alexander put into their performances.

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You are not entitled to your own opinion. You are only entitled to your own informed opinion.
-- Harlan Ellison quoting Gustave Flaubert

drakh@spamcop.net
 
Comes The Inquistor is my #3 favorite B5 episode. #2 is Severed Dreams and #1 is, of course, you guessed it, for the fifteen million dollar prize, Sleeping In Light.

As a theatrical piece, I also liked Intersections in Real Time, where Sheridan had been taken by Clark's men.

I always enjoyed B5's more theatrical dialogue. Not every show makes use of it as well as B5 did.

I hope to see some of that in Rangers.

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In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the grace of God.
-Aeschylus
 
I also have to chime in and give my compliments to Antony! Even though the interview was longer than expected, I thouroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Since I had no prior knowledge of Mackenzie before reading this interview (besides the tid bits of info here and there), I really appriciated learning more about his past work. I hardly noticed that it was "light" on B5 details!

I cannot wait to read about Enid-Raye since she seems to be a blast to converse with.
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PS: Also, great work so far on the web site! Can't wait to see it completely converted.
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PPS: Antony, when I read "I'm not a fast dictator", the first thing that came to mind was Stalin, Castro, etc.
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[Edit note: Seems the board/my profile is having difficulties with the umlaut in my last name ...
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]

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Monica Hübinette | http://abyss.hubbe.net/b5/

Our thoughts form the universe. They always matter. --G'Kar

[This message has been edited by Lyta (edited November 04, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by channe:
Comes The Inquistor is my #3 favorite B5 episode. #2 is Severed Dreams and #1 is, of course, you guessed it, for the fifteen million dollar prize, Sleeping In Light.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I'm not real good at putting episodes up against each other, but that ranking doesn't sound all that far from what I might come up with myself. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>As a theatrical piece, I also liked Intersections in Real Time, where Sheridan had been taken by Clark's men.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Intersections in Real Time. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I always enjoyed B5's more theatrical dialogue. Not every show makes use of it as well as B5 did.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yeah, too bad a lot of people don't get it, and keep complaining about how B5 had horrible unrealsitic dialogue. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I hope to see some of that in Rangers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Undobtedly. It was where he started (he sold his first play when he was 17), and it's been with him ever since. "Stage" episodes also make a lot of sense from a production standpoint, since they go easy on the budget and effects teams, allowing for extra time to be spent on making the next episode really spectacular.

Now, I wonder who'll be first Ranger to get one of jms' big, bad speeches...

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You are not entitled to your own opinion. You are only entitled to your own informed opinion.
-- Harlan Ellison quoting Gustave Flaubert

drakh@spamcop.net

[This message has been edited by drakh (edited November 04, 2001).]
 
Well, let's see. The logical choice, of course, would be the main character (Martel). But Londo had the first big, bad speech in B5, not Sinclair...

...G'Kar? We expect big, bad speeches from him...

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In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the grace of God.
-Aeschylus
 
I, personally, find the longer speeches More realistic.

How many people here know anyone in Real Life who speaks only in "sound bytes" of 6 words or less??

Yet, 90% of TV shows these days, that's all you get for dialogue.

This is the result of a trend started Way Back when Johnny Weismuller couldn't remember his lines while filming his first Tarzan movie.
Weismuller was able to get 99% of his lines chopped out of the script by reminding the director & producers that, according to the story, Tarzan was raised by Apes.
And that, since Apes don't speak English, Tarzan shouldn't be able to speak it either.

Thus, snappy dialogue like "Me Tarzan, You Jane?" was born.



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The 3 most common elements in the Universe:
Hydrogen, Greed, Stupidity!
 
It's great that Mackenzie is a B5 fan! We need as many fans for our favorite show as we can get!
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I like the fact that JMS likes to hire theater-actors because I love those big, dramatic scenes! I'm sure that we will see more of those great scenes in Rangers!

Tammy

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"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris O'Farrel:
Could someone POSSIBLY give me a link to this interview?
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<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's accessible through both the front page and the Features page of this site. Direct link is here.
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"Narns, Humans, Centauri... we all do what we do for the same reason: because it seems like a good idea at the time." - G'Kar, Mind War
Kribu's Lounge
 
If you enjoyed the interview, perhaps you could let SCI FI Wire know ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/ )

I've asked them to alert their visitors to the interview, but nothing yet. I wonder if, to be honest, there's a bit of snobbery going on. Because I'm unofficial they don't want to mention it. But it's for one of their own programs, so I think they damn well should. There might be other reasons, I'm just surmising. But I emailed Monday, and I see no news item yet.

Their email is scifiwire@scifi.com but please DON'T say I sent you. I don't want to seem like I'm setting people against them--I'm not. I'm just thinking if maybe a few fans let them know about it, and show an interest, they might want to link in. Might!

You think they'd be eager to link to something that promotes one of their shows, wouldn't you?


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"You're such a gentleman. Too bad I'm not a lady." - Max, Dark Angel

My other girlfriend is a crack whore.
 
WHAT a portfolio piece, Antony... *grins*

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In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the grace of God.
-Aeschylus
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gkarfan:
Antony, when will Enid-Raye's interview be up?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Around the end of this month, I want to pace them.
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"You're such a gentleman. Too bad I'm not a lady." - Max, Dark Angel

My other girlfriend is a crack whore.
 
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