 For some reason, it popped into my head the notion that a lot of the Next Generation cast in the long run of that show managed to step behind the camera. |
| So already, you go from not having a job and thinking you're going to get fired after the pilot, to knowing that you've got a guaranteed job for 4 years. |
| It was nice, though, to have the long term benefit to be able to pare away those things and eventually make the character my own and put my own unique stamp. |
| It's fun to play the character and then watch him later. |
| There's a way about it: tearing people down, but not tearing them apart. |
| But I don't bet the farm on any of those possibilities, either. I'm also preparing, intelligently, to walk away from this, and walk away from it happy to have had the experience. |
| You know, if it doesn't work, we can always cut it. |
| With network shows, writers can be so protective of every syllable. |
| I think the writing on the wall is definitely there this year that this is probably our last year. |
| There was concern whether SCI FI would want the show back with all the recent changes. But now, the changes have made it feel fresh, like starting over. |
| I couldn't be playing him for this long if I didn't like him. |
| I've always found ways to bend the rules. |
| By the end of last year we solved a lot of threads, and it's really good for this new way we're taking the show to really have these new people and these new energies, frankly. |
| I think that you can take things personally or get hurt feelings as a result of something not working out just because your psyche said it should or you deserve it, or whatever it is. |
| We never thought the show would last this long. |
| It's absolutely true that it's almost impossible to play a character without having any affection for him. |
| The environment on set is very encouraging. |
| I was doing Hamlet in the off-season, and I had a specific idea in my mind about what I wanted that character to look like, and because it's going to lead into the next year, I knew that it was going to have to be established somewhere in the show. |
| In the meantime, I just have to create those realistic goals about the fact that I don't have a ton of options as an actor who's been on a science fiction show for 8 years. |
| I find directing more satisfying. |
