Date of publishing: 5th
May 2007
Michael Rymer is a film director and writer. He is
noted for setting the tone and direction for the entire
re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series in terms of
how the show looks on film, namely due to his direction
of both the Miniseries and various episodes for the
series itself. Rymer was born in Melbourne, Australia,
but completed his studies in film at the University
of Southern California, where his abilities in writing,
producing and directing short films earned him the
Warner Communications Scholarship for Directing in
1987. Following this, he wrote two plays, Darkness
at Noon and Ensenada before he returned to Australia
to work on a number of films, initially as a production
co-ordinator and as a writer. He made his directorial
debut in 1995's "Angel Baby", which premiered
at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, and won
a total of seven Australian Film Institute Awards
including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Rymer also won the Australian Film Critics Circle
Award for Best Director, and the Writers' Guild of
America award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1997,
he returned to the United States, where he wrote and
directed "Allie and Me", following it up
with two directorial stints with "In Too Deep"
(1999) and the less-than-stellar "Purfume"
(2001), described as an improvisational film. In 2002
he helmed "Queen of the Damned", the sequel
to 1994's "Interview with the Vampire" before
taking the director's chair for the pilot episode
of UPN's television series, "Haunted". From
here he moved onto the 2003 Battlestar Galactica production.
Biography from: Battlestar
Wiki
Gilles
Nuytens: How did
you get into directing and, more especially, directing
Galactica?
Michael Rymer: I wanted to make films
since I was about 12. So I went to USC, then worked
as a reader and a P.A. I studied acting for two years
and wrote a dozen screenplays until eventually I wrote
one that was good enough to get me behind the camera
"Angel Baby". When I was offered "Battlestar",
I had just done a big FX studio movie, "Queen
of the Damned". I was not happy with the result,
so my plan was to go back to basics and do a small,
character driven film. When my agent sent me the script,
I read the title and said "Are you listening
to what I'm saying I want to do." But I read
it, and put it down four hours later (this was the
250 page mini) and changed my mind. The reason I changed
my mind was because of Ron's script - which I think
is brilliant for the many reasons that have been well
explicated by the fans already.
Gilles Nuytens: Were
you a fan of the old show? What did you first think
about the idea to re-imagine the show instead of closing
the chapter of the original series like it was intended
in the first place?
Michael Rymer: I have to confess
I was not a fan of the old show. I was a big starwars
fan as a kid - lived and breathed that first movie
when it came out - I was in Australia and we had to
wait a few months so I read the novelization before
I saw the movie. When I saw the old BSG on TV, it
looked to my 14 year old eyes like a cynical and underbudgetted
genre show that was trying to cash in on Star Wars.
It didn't work for me at all. I preferred Star Trek,
Dr. Who, Space 1999, and even Lost In Space.
But the reason I loved Ron and Dave's take on this
material was because it didn't read like Sci-Fi. It
was just good character writing with a great premise
handled thoughtfully.
Gilles Nuytens: What
episode was your favorite to direct and why?
Michael Rymer: I think my favorite
show(s) were the last two: Crossroads, Part 1 and
2. I really enjoyed the writing: the courtroom scenes,
the four cylons, the shared visions: I thought it
was everything we do well, none of the fat. For me,
its about performance, so I have more fun working
with actors letting them try stuff and play - I've
had a good day when something exciting happened -
something beyond my expectations. That's when I get
to be an audience member, and be surprised by something
brilliant and talented one of the actors has found.
The least fun is the action stuff because it takes
a lot of time and you have to be careful - and its
hard for us because we don't really have the resources
to make these things everything they could be.
Gilles
Nuytens: Some people
criticize the second half of season 3 of being too
slow and less interesting. What do you say about that?
Michael Rymer: I tracked that response
and I found it very educational. We had always talked
about ways to do more "bottle shows" - stories
that were self-contained, that resolved themselves
with a beginning, middle and an end. What I didn't
understand until I heard the feeback was that our
show doesn't work like that. Its a piece of epic poetry
that meandres along like "The Illiad" or
perhaps more relavant, "The Odyssey". It
can have "cycles" of story that build and
resolve themselves, but the "bottle show"
is not organic to what we do well. I think "Collaborators"
is about as self-contained as we can go. I like that
show a lot. I'm very happy with "Hero" and
"The Woman King", but I can see why a fan
of the big story would be frustrated and pissed off.
Gilles Nuytens: Did
you have any say in deciding who the Final Four are?
What motivated the decision to choose those people?
Michael Rymer: There are always a
number of things that I rail against, usually to little
effect. One was making Tigh a cylon - as brilliant
as it is, we now have a Cylon who is either a clone,
or we have a Cylon who has aged like a normal person.
I have no idea how Ron deals with that - I'm sure
I'll be blown away as usual. The others make sense
to me because they don't have history on Caprica.
Tyrol's already had fantasies of being a Cylon. He's
also imagined killing himself which echoes Sharon's
attempted suicide in Season 1.
Gilles Nuytens: How
did you choose the direction to take to unveil the
four new cylons in the season finale?
Michael Rymer: Shooting the cylon
material was great fun. The audience guesses pretty
quickly what's going on, but we played it very simply
- what would you do if you kept hearing this song
no one else could hear? For me its not the reveal
to the audience, its when the characters reveal it
to themselves in the gym - I love that scene. David
and Bradley didn't short-change anything, particularly
in that scene - so often, the time constraints make
it hard to pull off "big ideas". I think
this time we got it right.
Gilles Nuytens: Do
you know if the final Cylon has been already chosen?
Michael Rymer: I have no idea.
Gilles Nuytens: What
is the most challenging thing you have done on Galactica
so far? And the most challenging episode?
Michael Rymer: Challenging... well
the biggest challenges are when things aren't going
great. If the script hasn't come together or if the
script hasn't been scaled down to a place where we
can pull it off at the level we expect of ourselves.
So the four eps that were the biggest challenges are
my least favorite ones: "Eye of Jupiter"
and "Scattered" stand out in my mind.
Gilles
Nuytens: What can
you say about the upcoming TV movie, the storyline,
and the involvement of the series regulars on it?
There are rumors that you are directing it.
Michael Rymer: I really wanted to
do the opener for Season 4 and I couldn't do both.
Since it seems to still be a secret, I'm not going
to be the one to spoil it. I hate it when the story
twists get spoiled on the internet.
Gilles Nuytens: Do
you think that finding Earth at the end of the show
is a good thing or do you think Earth should be kept
a mystery?
Michael Rymer: No, no, lets get to
earth and spend some time there before we finish.
Our show is all about the real consequences of people's
actions. So what if they get to Earth and it isn't
"the end" of anything for them.
Gilles Nuytens: What
can you already tell us about the direction the show
is going to take in season 4?
Michael Rymer: All I know is what
is sort of obvious from the end of Season 3 - there's
a lot of shit to sort out... the four Cylons, Starbuck,
Baltar - it all likes juicy stuff to me.
Gilles Nuytens: What
do you enjoy the most about directing Galactica?
Michael Rymer: I enjoy everything
about directing Battlestar, that's why I keep coming
back although I probably shouldn't for my "career".
I love the cast, the crew, the "suits",
Vancouver, you name it...
Gilles Nuytens: With
such a long wait between season 3 and 4, even with
a TV movie in the Fall, do you think the show may
lose some of its audience?
Michael Rymer: No, I'd like them
to find a way to make BSG feel more like an event.
Make sure that people understand its a classy drama.
So anticipation is good for that. I worry more about
losing audience because of a weak episode. I've been
turned off shows I've liked, and never bothered to
go back and see if it was just one bad show. Hopefully
the characters and stories are compelling enough that
even when we slip a rung or two down the ladder, we're
still up there, and the audience loves the characters
and relationships enough to give us the occasional
pass.
Gilles Nuytens: Galactica
is really adult scifi, but when you say you like the
show or you like scifi to someone, you can always
notice a smile on their face: they won't take you
seriously. They have pre-conceived ideas about what
scifi is and that hasn't really evolved in years.
It's like we must produce extremely good stuff to
attract the attention of media--which is a good thing
in the end because it means having a good product.
What do you think about this situation and how can
we change the mentalities?
Michael Rymer: I have to admit I
was a little surprised at how hard it is to get past
the title - I argued from the start that the title
didn't help us, but I'm a filmmaker, not a marketeer.
Something about "branding" I guess.
Gilles
Nuytens: Do you
have any other projects outside of Galactica?
Michael Rymer: Yes, I have a number
of features I've been working on. A couple of Australian
movies. And I've just spent three months back home
writing a new feature screenplay which i'm excited
about, but I can't discuss that yet. I will say its
a period drama.
Gilles Nuytens: Do
you like when the actors you direct give you their
point of view on a scene or when they suggest you
something about how to play a scene?
Michael Rymer: Absolutely! I demand
it. I harange them to bring everything they can to
a scene.
Gilles Nuytens: There
was that scene during the Pegasus episode with Michelle
Forbes, when James Callis took the place of Edward
James Olmos and apparently you didn't realize it until
everybody exploded in laughs. Can you give us your
point of view on this particular "event"
(Note: Read the story on Leah
Cairns interview)?
Michael Rymer: I have no idea what
you're talking about. We have a lot of laughs, and
usually Eddie is behind it, but that one I can't remember.
Gilles Nuytens: Do
you have some special techniques for directing and
could you give us some insight of your directing process?
Michael Rymer: I'll just quote one
of my heroes Orson Welles who put it pretty well "Directing
is the presiding over accidents." I think the
most important thing is to be present and really "see"
what's going on around you - that's where all the
best ideas come from.
Gilles Nuytens: How
do you work with Ron Moore in general, do you have
a lot of liberty when you direct and produce an episode?
Michael Rymer: Ron is the boss, which
is as it should be. He created the show, its his vision.
And he can be stubborn, but I think that's a good
thing, because the show has to have a singular vision.
But Ron also gives me a lot of slack - he knows generally
I'm going to add value to any scene. If he doesn't
like a particular idea in the editing room, he kinows
he can cut it out.
Gilles Nuytens: Thank
you very much for this interview and continue to entertain
us with amazing new BSG episodes!
Michael Rymer: Thanks, any time.
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