SFX #88
March 2002
HERE COMES THE SUN

She's the feisty black-clad amazonian space gal who would give Buffy a run for her money. However, sometimes working on Farscape makes Claudia Black feel like "a glorified hooker."

"Oh, It Was Great!" Claudia Black Laughs, when asked how it felt to appear on "Farscape" as both Jessica Rabbit and Marilyn Monroe. In case you're wondering what we're on about, these versions of Aeryn Sun cropped up in the recent season three episode 'Revenging Angel', which boasted lengthy sequences animated in the style of those legendary Chuck Jones cartoons. And the cheeky animators had a great time drawing her, she's quick to point out.

"What I thought was funny was that I went to Andrew Prowse, one of our directors, and said, 'Who designed my outfit?' He said, 'l did.' I said, 'Nice choice, mate. At least I now know what you think I'm wearing when you look at me!'" At the time of the interview Claudia is on hiatus from the show. SFX was supposed to speak to both her and co-star Ben Browder a few months ago, but events in America on September 11th rather postponed the meeting, as Claudia and Ben were trapped in New York after attending a convention.

"It was such a crazy time," she recalls. She was so moved by the incident that she posted a letter on an Internet Bulletin Board expressing sympathy, as well as to assure fans that the actors were okay. "I didn't want anybody to be concerned, and what was very touching for me was reading some of the posts on the bulletin board, how open and how vulnerable the fans were who lived on that coast, and how much it was affecting them. There was one that I read that said, 'I'm scared, I can't go out of my house,' and it really touched me. It was amazing as we were all feeling the same emotions."

Claudia, unlike many actors, has a healthy regard for the Internet and the fans who use it. "I think it's stupid to ignore it. I think it makes enormous sense to acknowledge the people who support the show. Anyone who looks up "Farscape" and reads the Sci-Fi Bulletin Board will see positive, sometimes controversial arguments about the show."

Of course, it's not all good, such is the way of fandom. "It does become obsessive sometimes," Claudia admits. "I think they give our producers a hard time when the storylines don't go the way the fans are expecting. We have to allow room for fans to have their opinions. We don't want them to be obsessively positive about the show because it's a very intelligent demographic, and I would absolutely encourage people to debate the aspects of the show that they like or dislike, because they're going to be affected by it."

One of the most affecting storylines on "Farscape" this past season has been the relationship between Aeryn and Crichton, which, according to Claudia, is "something specific that David Kemper wanted to do from the beginning. He set out to have an action/adventure show but also to have a real heart at its core and have a real good relationship between the leads."

Sadly, Aeryn's romance didn't end well, with her Crichton dying from radiation poisoning. All of which led Claudia to possibly the best Aeryn episode yet, 'The Choice', which dealt with her reaction to the death of her lover.

"I'd actually begged them for it," she says, thoughtfully. "I said, 'Listen, I've really got to have a proper Aeryn episode.' As much as I knew that Aeryn was the most interesting character in the show when we started because there was such room for growth, I felt like creatively I needed to have a proper experience, something to sink my teeth into. And the reality of this business is that you need it to put on the showreel. It's very hard going through the episodes each year to find things for the reel when you realise that most of the story is told from Crichton's perspective. But with 'The Choice', the writer Justin Monjo invited me to discuss things on a regular basis. I would just be bantering and talking about trying to find the right sense of alignment and Justin would say, 'Yeah, that's brilliant, let's just pop that in.' And it got to the point where I had to do the 'Ophelia scene' where Aeryn speaks with Crais and Stark in the corridor with director Rowan Woods. I said, 'Well, I'm absolutely shiting myself because if I get this scene wrong, it's all gonna die, I've lost the whole episode.' And he said, 'Fine, you'll be fine'."

Filming her grief at Crichton's death might have been one thing, but their naughty scenes together were something completely different, not to mention all the other stuff Claudia's got up to as Aeryn.

"I am constantly amazed how many illegal things actors get paid to do," she states wryley. "Kiss other people's spouses, sometimes even get naked with them, drive cars at fast speeds in chase sequences, blow stuff up with explosives, muck about with firearms. The illegal action stuff is always fun, the kissy stuff is a little bit embarassing and you always have to pray that the person has brushed their teeth. Ben always brushes and gargles because he is a Southern gentleman. Kissing someone who is not your boyfriend is a very strange thing because you don't feel anything so it sometimes makes you wonder if you are a glorified hooker. I think hooker's probably make better money and they get to wear those groovy knee high boots as Julia Roberts did in "Pretty Woman." And "Pretty Woman" is such a realistic representation of life as a sex worker." For anyone not paying attention, yes, she was being sarcastic there.

All the action between the show's two stars has certainly captured the attention of women viewers. "I think that we have always had a larger female audience on this show than other's," Claudia confirms, but she's shy when it comes to reasoning why. "I always turn to Ben and say, 'It's because of you, darling.' 'No, it's because of You!' I think this show would be very different if it was made in America. We're at liberty. And Australian women are quite" she thinks for a moment, "rambunctious! It's a great genre for women because the women often are warriors: there's the opportunity to take that role. In the first season it was definitely 'Crichton had to be the hero and he would solve the conundrum', and now it's getting to point where Aeryn's becoming a lot more emotional and in touch with her feelings."

In addition to her work on "Farscape", Claudia will be seen this year playing Pandora in Anne Rice's "Queen Of The Damned." I loved working with everyone on that," she tells us. "It's a small role. I imagine that the fans will be quite, quite surprised at how little screen time I have! It's a very rock 'n' roll vampire movie. They are very happy with it."

Claudia has another talent yet to be explored onscreen. She's a singer. "Well, I used to be when I was very young," she says, modestly, when we broach the subject. "I was 18 and singing in nightclubs, doing a lot of gigs around town. I had a very operatic voice with a great range and we had to wait for my voice to settle before we could do anything, and I never ended up getting any training. The acting interested me more because it was more of a challenge. I just love music so much. It affects me quite profoundly. I will use it when I'm acting, as a reference, I'll play some music before I go onto the set to get into a particular mood."

Suddenly, we're thinking of a musical episode of "Farscape", ala Buffy's recent effort. It's not the first time that Claudia's considered it either. "Well, there absolutely are plans for a musical episode, we've been talking about it" she muses, tantalisingley. "I mentioned it to David Kemper in season one, and he said, 'No, we're absolutely not going to do that, don't be ridiculous! We can't do it yet, anyway.' The core cast are all professional singers, we've all sung at one stage or another. Ben's got a beautiful voice, as have Anthony and Gigi, and Ben and I sing a lot on set together, just do little jazz duets as we're standing, waiting for the crew to set up. And Guy Gross is just the most phenomenal composer."

You can tell there's a "but" on the way. "Unfortunately, because Buffy has now put out its musical, it's going to delay our plans. It would be a bit 'me too ish'. But we have been discussing it for three years now." Oh well. At least when Buffy does an animated episode they can say, "We got there first!" So, there won't be room for songs. However, with Ben Browder having recently written an episode of "Farscape", would Claudia care to do the same?

"I have picked on the writing department so much that I think I would be signing myself up for absolute certain death! I love writing, I've had a couple of key people in my life, one is a writer, one was a teacher from school genuinely urging me to take the writing more seriously. And I don't know if I could really write for television because I haven't analysed a TV script enough to be able to deliver one quickly. You have to deliver to the minute, you have to write to the budget, there are so many factors that you have to take into consideration, and Ben was absolutely ready for that challenge. I don't think I really am. I need time. It would need to be an episode where I've got time to write it, over say the Easter break. I'm an absolute rookie."

"Tammy Maclntosh keeps asking me to direct," she continues, sounding surprised at the very concept. "Anthony Simcoe is an accomplished director and until they have given him a shot at it, I don't think I'll be standing in line for that. Ben hasn't directed an episode yet! I'll see how I go. The creative spirit in me is getting more and more charged. I know that I will dabble in things. I'm writing some short stories at the moment, they may one day be published, who knows?"

 

In the meantime Claudia is happy to slog on with her fellow actors on "Farscape", although because of plot constraints she was kept apart from certain team members during the course of this season. "I missed Gigi so much!" she says of her little grey friend, Chiana. "We had such separation anxiety we had to go away on holiday together."

SFX has heard rumours about their trip to Mexico. Gigi Edgely informed us that they ended up in bed together! "Don't believe any of it! She's pulling your leg!" Black giggles. "Actually, we really lucked out, we had an incredible apartment. We had a friend come to stay a few days into the holiday and Gigi was so sweet, and she insisted on taking the sofa bed. I felt really guilty, and I said, 'We could swap' but she said, 'No, I'm happy!' It was a fabulous place where we stayed, it was incredible to be on holidav after working so hard. It's nice to travel with someone who you work with."

Yet again, another television show where the actors form a happy band of friends. Doesn't anyone ever argue anymore? Still, at least they have fun whilst they're filming. "Anthony Simcoe fires everyone up," Claudia agrees. "To the point that, when we're on set together, we end up being like quite loud and obnoxious. We are a nightmare. We are like a bunch of siblings. We mess around on set and joke around and get really stupid. All the crew stand around and roll their eyes and say, 'We're waiting. Any time you guys are ready.' And so I'm always trying to be the serious, conscientious one. 'Come on guys, quieten down, the crew's waiting for us'"

It is clear who she feels closest to. "Gigi's got a really light, yet gentle spirit," Claudia says, with genuine warmth. "She's definitely from the fairy world. She writes me these insane text messages and emails, almost Ali G language that she writes with."

We suggest that perhaps she should impersonate him in the show. "Aye," returns Claudia, and Mr G would be proud of her attempt to master the staines dialect. "There's so many things that the audience don't see," she continues, wistfully. "Such as Anthony with his makeup on, a Luxan from his head down to his chest, then he'll be wearing boxer shorts with kangaroos on them, and socks, and flip flop shoes! And he'll be strutting about, sucking on a drink through a long straw, with the back of his head split open to reveal his real hair, and his lower tentacles are flapping about. There are so many surreal elements to our environment! What's more crazy is when you realise that you're accepting the environment for what it is, you are assimilated to the point where it's accepted that you're talking and emoting to a puppet. I mean, I do all these crying scenes with Pilot, and even though it's not necessarily scripted, I just cry, because there's so much expression in Pilot's eyes. It was weird, cos when I first saw Pilot I thought, 'Oh God,' and everyone was saying to me, 'Isn't he gorgeous? Isn't he cute?' and I thought, what are you talking about? He's just a weird, freaky thing. And then, ironically, my character was the one that developed the strongest bond with him. I think he's adorable!"

With "Farscape" approaching the end of its third season, we can't help but wonder what's going to happen. After all, last year Aeryn Sun met a watery end. How are they going to top that?

"Death is pretty hard to beat," Claudia agrees. "I recall David Kemper coming to set the day we were shooting the prowler crash sequence for the end of season two. He told me that Aeryn's demise was a gift to me, for all my hard work that season. He gave the nod, climbed down the ladder and then they dumped me in a tank full of water, chained to a weighted seat. I now get a little traumatised when people say they have a present for me."

This year sounds just as dramatic, although Claudia is tight lipped as to exactly why. "Andrew Prowse and I watched a scene from the last episode of season three and we were quite choked up," she reveals. "There are so many great stories I could tell you about the shooting of this episode but we have to remain tight lipped until it airs. Then I can spill!"

But what of the actress in the meantime? "I'm enjoying a long hiatus until season four starts shooting, and Aeryn is probably in bars hanging out with Buffy," she jokes.


BACK