It's a hot and sunny Sunday outside, but were not interested. We're at the London Film and Comic Con, in the air-conditioned cool of the Earls Court exhibition center. And more importantly we're sitting down to lunch with Claudia Black. Apparently the star of "Farscape" and "Stargate SG-1" is a master of multi-tasking - while she calmly eats a wrap and responds to frantic text messages from her husband Jamie, who's taken the kids out for a walk around London ("He's asking if it's OK if one of them's on fire," she quips), she's also happily agreed to answer the questions that you really wanted to ask. Let's get cracking.
You mainly play Qetesh in "Stargate: Continuum" rather than Vala. Was it more fun to play the evil character or the trying Vala?
"It's fun to mix things up. Playing Vala I get to be this incredibly light, cheeky, irreverent soul, and Qetesh is evil and more arch. And surprising, in Continuum there was a nice twist with Baal. I really enjoyed reading the script, I thought it was a great tale. But on the whole, I think I would rather turn up to work every day and play Vala than to be quintessentially evil like Qetest."
Have you done any godawful films/TV series that you wish you had never been involved in?
"I think since Queen Of The Damned was voted worst film of 2001 by an Australian film critic, it deserves a mention. I don't wish that I'd never been part of it - I loved working with everyone - I just think the result was a bit too much of a melange of a few books and I don't think it did Anne Rice any justice either. In terms of being respectful of popular work, it tried to be too many things at once."
You seem to have found a niche in science fiction. Would you like to break away and get back to mainstream or are you happy in the Sc-Fi space?
"I'm happy in Sci-Fi as long as I'm given the opportunity to play characters like the ones I've been playing so far. Aeryn Sun was an incredible role, and Vala gave me the opportunity to play the polar opposite. I would refer to myself as an artist, and this is a career I take very seriously. I need to be creativley stimulated and interested in what I'm doing and challenged. So if I can stay within the same genre an continue to be challenged then I'm more than happy. But I grew up as a feminist, with feminist ideals, and I feel that I have this sense of obligation to portray women in a particular way. If the characters are intelligent and interesting and flawed and vulnerable then I'm there."
What's your favourite sandwich filling?
"Ooh, good question! I'd have to say Italian-style tuna. The brand I use is Sirena - it's beautiful quality tuna that doesn't taste or smell like cat food. And I certainly don't mix it with mayonnaise. I'd probably put it with quite a garlicky aiolo, with some rocket, really beautiful fresh tomatoe, maybe some grilled halloumi, some good lettuce, maybe an olive tapenade as well. And I'd put that on a nice, fresh sourdough that's lightly toasted."
Got to know - who's the better kisser, Ben Browder or Michael Shanks?
"I shall never answer that! Kiss and tell once - not supposed to! Kiss and tell about two people? Get out!"
Are you superstitious?
"I'm a little bit superstitious, but I'm trying to train myself not to be. I think it's like addictions - I quit caffeine in 1994 because I didn't want anything to have a hold over me - I didn't want anything to have that sort of power, where I needed something to get through the day. I think superstitions are like that too - I don't want them, they're not useful to me, they just make me stressed and neurotic! I'm trying to think what superstitions I may have had... I don't want to jinx things by saying something! That's a big one. But actually, because it always seems to be that way!"
Recently your co-stars have sat in real fighter jets, clambered over mountains and been very cold in the Arctic. Do you wish you'd got to do any of these things? Where would your perfect location to shoot be?
"I'm not interested in being cold ever! It's a bit of a dampener on any performance. The experience itself of being there would have been incredible. Ultimate location... I have the feeling that the people working on 'Lost' are having a bloody good time in Hawaii! I'm a wee bit jealous. Somewhere tropical - I just love the tropics, I love a good, humid heat and I love warm water. I'm a little bit spoiled - I don't go into the ocean unless it's warm. I'd love to shoot something in Fiji or Hawaii."
Are you a cat or a dog person?
"I grew up with cats. I think dogs are more fun, but I'm allergic to them. My husband Jamie is allergic to cats though, so I think we're going to get a reptile!"
What might you have become if you hadn't been an actress?
"I think I would have studied acupuncture. I really believe in it. And perhaps I would have trained as a chef. If I had the talent I would have loved to have been an artist.
Drinking contest between Aeryn and Vala. Who would win?
"Here's the thing - my first instinct is Aeryn because I think Vala is all talk, and she probably cheats when she's drinking. But my second thought is that Aeryn was really physically fit, and she may be more vulnerable because she hasn't kept up her drinking over the years the way Vala has. But in a fight Aeryn would win hands-down."
Was Ben Browder's role in "Stargate SG-1" a deciding factor in you joining the cast full time?
"No! I was there first! Was Claudia black being on 'Stargate' a deciding factor for Ben Browder?"
Is there any chance of you and Micheal Shanks working together again? The two of you have such amazing chemistry!
"I hope so, I really do! I'm writing a comedy pilot and I've written the male lead with him in mind, with his blessing. Provided the pilot comes out OK, I'd love him to do it with me - that was the original concept. That we would do it together."
Do you have any anecdotes of working with Don S Davis in "Stargate SG-1's" 'Prometheus Unbound'?
"Oh I was so sad to hear the news of his death. He was such an interesting person, with so many strings to his bow. And such a complex person as well, to be an artist and to have come from a military background... he was really mysterious. I didn't have the pleasure of working with him for as many years as everyone else, but it was lovely to meet him. He was very sweet."
The characters you play in "Farscape" and "Stargate SG-1" are both very different to each other. Which one is the closest to your real life personality?
"I'm a complex woman, and both of those characters are like me in equal measure. I can be moody like Aeryn, and cheeky like Vala. But both of them obviously were taken to the extreme that I don't experience, and that others around me don't experience. I think that you always put a little something of yourself into every character that you play, that's what grounds it and gives it some sort of realism. There's shades of both of them in me, for sure, but probably only shades."
You are being transformed into a super villain. Who do you choose to serve you as your minion pet?
"A killer possum. They're tenacious and they've got those claws that can cling to everything, kind of like a face-hugger. So, a killer possum, that maybe has its own sidekick, which is a killer squirrel. They get bad press squirrels - it's not fair. They shouldn't be underestimated. Tenacious little buggers - we've got an avacado tree back home in Los Aangeles, and every day I'll see a squirrel taking an entire avacado in its mouth and running along the fence. I'll stand in the exact same part of the window and it'll stop, clock me then keep running!"
Are there any actors that you would consider to have been an influence on you craft?
"I think this will suprise some people - Audrey Hepburn, because she had panache and elegance. She was irrepresively classy. So perhaps more as a person than as an actor - the characters I play tend to be so tomboyish and crass! In keeping with the genre I've been in for the last decade or so, I love Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. As a kid I had this sense, watching those two, that one day I would be doing similar work to them, playing strongballssy women. I think Lucy Lawless opened a lot of doors for women playing Xena. There weren't many leading ladies at the time, and it was her show, no doubt about it. That made a big difference for girls coming through. [more so than Buffy: SFX] Yeah, Buffy was more of a quiet achiever. She was kind of thrust into the limelight as a character. My take on it is that she was like Radha Mitchell's character in Pitchblack - she didn't ask to be a heroine, it was thrust upon her. I liked seeing these movie women who weren't 'girl next door' types. I think that's why I've followed in those steps, into action and Sci-Fi, because the roles allowed me to be that way and explore those territories."
Was it fun to work with Vin Diesel in 'Pitch Black'? Has he got a temper like he's rumoured to have?
"I never saw a temper. He suprised me, he had an interesting sense of humour. He definately made me laugh. But I was aware at the time that he was about to become a huge star. There seemed to be this massive ground swell around him. Vin definately had a presence. But he was fun, and very sweet. I did a screen test for 'Farscape', and when I got the job there was a present on my doorstep from Vin. So that was very sweet. [what was the present?: SFX] It was a book - 'The Colour Of Water' by James McBride. It was very interesting."