Adorably Dangerous: An Interview with Nicki ClyneSun 19th Mar
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Sci-Fi Brain @ IGNCute and confident are but a few words to describe Battlestar Galactica's Cally. Though, Sci-Fi Brain's Aeolus speaks with actress Nicki Clyne about why her character is adorably dangerous...
Adorably Dangerous: An Interview with Nicki Clyne
Don’t let those darling doe-eyes fool you, Battlestar Galactica’s Specialist Cally can be quite deadly. Although a supporting character on the acclaimed space opera, this Viper deckhand—portrayed by actress Nicki Clyne—has had enough story involvement to be a series regular. In the third episode of season one, Bastille Day, Clyne’s character is taken hostage, nearly raped, and shot in the stomach by her attacker. Though, in a brazen act of defiance, she bites off his ear!
"I was surprised in the beginning, but I was really excited," Clyne recalls with enthusiasm, "where Cally almost gets raped and gets shot, when she bites the prisoner, she has this cockiness and it comes through in all her scenes. Maybe that is me," she laughs.
When asked about the unexpected path her character has taken since then, she muses, "I really like the progression that it has taken and the evolution and growth of her character, because I think it is so much more interesting. No one has a ‘sweet girl next door’ attitude, everyone has issues and is dynamic and everyone has conflict in their lives. But, what is interesting is how everyone feels about it differently. So, I really and especially—as an actor—I really [like] dealing with the dirty stuff."
Undeniably the most shocking twist in Cally’s evolvement would be the Jack Ruby inspired scene from Resistance. As Commander Adama’s would-be assassin, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, was marched through public humiliation, Cally appears from the crowd and guns down the Cylon infiltrator.
"I think it is deceiving in that way. I don’t think it is necessarily right, but I think it was absolutely supported after what she had been through."
At the end of season one and the beginning of season two, Cally and a group of deck technicians—including Chief Tyrol and Dr. Gauis Baltar—were trapped on the mythical home of the Human race, Kobol. In constant pursuit by Cylon centurions, the lines of life and death were never so apparent. "I think with what she had been through on Kobol [it] was really traumatizing, and I think she was still in a state of shock, because when your reality is invaded by something you thought totally [seemed] threatening to your life and to your world, it shakes you. Like the things you thought were important might change." Nicki said believing those to be the deeper motivations behind her character’s reasoning for killing Galactica Boomer. "I think Boomer represented all the things that were wrong for her at that time, including her relationship with Tyrol. So, I think she just saw Boomer as this symbol of what was wrong for her at the time. She couldn’t see any other way to deal with it."
What came after was just as equally perplexing. In the episode, The Farm, Tyrol distanced himself from Cally, yet still pleaded with Commander Adama to show leniency. Adama sentenced Cally to thirty days in the brig for misuse of a firearm, though seemed saddened at the death of Valerii.
Clyne’s character was absent in the following three episodes. But, in that time, the actress believes Cally’s character took deep reflection on what transpired. Whether or not she actually felt guilty about killing Tyrol’s lover remains to be seen. "That is a tough one, and I think about that a lot, because I don’t think it is right to kill anything. I don’t think it can ever be a positive feeling. At the time, she felt like there was no other way, and that was her only option, but I am sure upon reflection in the brig, or when she got back to work, that she saw how it affected Tyrol. That she, she shows a lot of wondering. There is actually a scene that got cut, but she finally approaches the Chief, when she is finally sick of him ignoring her, after she has gotten out of jail, she says, ‘If I had a chance, I would do it all over again.’ "
Crewman Cally’s strong affections for Chief Tyrol have never been overtly subtle. Whenever someone badmouthed him, she was the first to jump to his defense. Nicki felt that their eventual coming together was beneficial for her character’s development. "I think it made a lot of sense for my character," a pause came, "I think that Cally has been in love with the Chief from the beginning and looks up to him so much, because he is such a wonderful person and always has [been]. Not only that, they have shared such a traumatic experience and that they have gone through so much together, the bond they have is so strong. And, I think it makes sense."
Easy relationships, just like in real life, aren’t common in the world of Battlestar Galactica. In the episode, Lay Down Your Burdens, Part One, Chief Tyrol has a violent nightmare and takes out his repressed anger on Cally when awoken by her. It was so graphic, that for the first time, the show had a parental advisory for younger audiences. When asked about the scene, Nicki took it in equal parts seriousness and hilarity…
"It was difficult for people to watch. Even when we were filming it and it was difficult to do. Not only physically, but I had to make it look real. Actually, Aaron (Douglas–Chief Tyrol) actually punched me in the face!" She chuckled as she continued on, "And, it’s really difficult, but the funny part about it is that he and I were trying to be brave, but whenever you get knocked in the face I think the instinct is to start crying. I was laughing at the same time, trying to persuade everyone that I was fine, but there were tears streaming down my face. And, Aaron was all, ‘But it wasn’t me.’ I was like, ‘Ok, ok, I am not blaming you, I know it was an accident, but I don’t think I punched myself in the face.’ He felt terrible about it happening. It was fine. Luckily, I didn’t get a bruise and slow everything up.
"But it was difficult and I am trying to block the punches and then my own hand was going into the whole scene and realizing what he had done. It was pretty emotional."
When asked about her professional relationship with Aaron Douglas, she said they shared a great friendship that translated well on and off screen.
"With Aaron? Absolutely! Mostly because we work together, I think he is a great actor. He is really a generous person. Really fun to work with!" Nicki continued by saying she didn’t have a favorite actor to work with, but Aaron was the one she worked with the most. "I wouldn’t say I have a favorite to work with, because everyone is so different. He is definitely the one I work with the most, so I know him the best. We have a great time together, but I think everyone on the show is so great and has something to offer that I really appreciate.
"When I got to work with Eddie (Edward James Olmos—Admiral Adama) [it] is really amazing. When I had this scene with James Callis, who plays Baltar, it was great! Because, I think he is such an amazing actor and loves his character."
Which was yet another groundbreaking scene for the mousy character. After Dr. Baltar shot Crashdown, a crazed Lieutenant in the episode, Fragged, Cally threatens the not-so-good Doctor by exposing him if he doesn’t help clear Chief Tyrol’s name as a Cylon supporter. Even though it was an act that saved Cally’s life, she still blackmailed Baltar into doing what she wanted.
"They really are terrible people," Nicki joked about her co-stars. "No! I think this is the most amazing cast that anyone could have…they are so nice and friendly. Funny, great to be around! It’s interesting, because we often just spend time with the same people and there are some people with the show, which I barely work with, which is unfortunate, because I think everyone is so great…I mean, Aaron and I work together all the time, so obviously we have a really close relationship and always play jokes on each other and gang up on the other people. We try and make it as fun as possible. We try and have a good time together."
As with all actors, Nicki Clyne took much of herself and put it into her character. She believes that she shares her character’s cocky and confident nature. "We are totally alike in that way! I think it is hard for any actor not to bring themselves into a role. This especially since there is nothing about Cally, except the reality that she lives in is not that different." On how she believes the two of them are completely different is where the actress in her comes into play. "I am not very mechanically inclined. I don’t know how to fix my own car and I think I would like to, because I have an old motorcycle. And not have my friends fix it.
"Though, we do have a similar sense of humor!"
That likeable sense of humor came through when asked about her favorite and least favorite episodes she has done in her three years of being involved with Battlestar Galactica.
"I would have to say my least favorite ones are the ones I am not in," she humored. "Or if I am in it or if I am just standing around fixing something or not doing much, because that is sometimes more exhausting then when you’re filming the scenes all day.
"My favorite—I just think it is getting better and better, honestly." Determined to get an answer, I joked that she gave the safe answer. She gave a good chuckle, and continued, "I’m so evasive! My favorite Cally episode, it would have to be the last episode coming up [Lay Down Your Burns, Part Two], because I think there is a really interesting thing that they are going to do with the character. So, it was really different for me. It is always exciting!
"I really like watching the stuff that we did on Kobol when we were running through the forest and shooting guns. I am really excited about those episodes for Cally and when she almost got shot by Crashdown (Samuel Witwer), I thought that was really cool. It was difficult to film at the time, because it was freezing cold and we were running through the forest, but I think that the end results were great. I think it was really fun."
The writers of the show have taken the character to incredibly different and unexpected places. Though, one thing they have yet to show is where the character comes from. "I try my best to create her history and have reasons for where all of Cally’s actions [came from] and have subtext to her motives and goals. You will read a script, and it says that I signed up for the military to go into dental school," Nicki explains about the limited history we’ve seen of her character. "You know, which was a surprise to me, completely!" However, she isn’t privy to insider information about her character, since the writers themselves don’t exactly know. "I try my best to make up Cally’s history, but it is hard to take risks sometimes in case you’re wrong.
"Whenever I have a scene, I just think about motivations or the goal that she is going after. If I am doing a scene where I am working on a Viper, I don’t need to know if I like PE or art in high school," she jokes. "You know, so I just try and keep it relevant to the material, and think about what will support her cause in the scene."
With the show’s great popularity, also comes loyal throngs of fans. Nicki Clyne attended her first fan convention in Germany, with former Stargate: Atlantis regular, Rainbow Sun Francks. She spoke affectionately of how respectful and entertaining the fans were on her first outing.
"I recently went to a convention in Germany, which was my first ever convention! And, that was a really interesting experience and an eye opener. That was, for the most part, it was great to talk about the show with people who all are interested in all the layers and the complexity of it. Because, I don’t get to talk about the issues of the show, because my friends, not many of my friends watch it and don’t even know what it is about, but when they do, the cool part is they love it, they say, ‘Oh God that was so good!’ And, I am like, ‘Yeah, I told you!’
"Rainbow was at the convention in Germany, and we had a blast!" she says, exuberant. Nicki spoke earlier about how she’s been taking hip-hop lessons in Los Angeles on her off time from working. Of which, she used in her appearance. "We were supposed to give a workshop and we didn’t know what that really meant! Other people in the past have given a workshop on acting or stunt work and we just had no idea what to do! So, we put on some music and we taught all these Germans how to break-dance! We had all these Sci Fi fans doing the robot. It was so much fun, it was hilarious!"
Asked it she ever gets noticed outside of conventions, she admits she doesn’t. "Not really, I don’t know what it is, because my looks are different or the places I go people don’t watch the show, because, you think—especially in LA—but people would recognize me more than in Vancouver." Though, it does happen from time to time. In the most ironic of places, too. "But, just the other day, I was in Starbucks, and this person said, ‘Hey, aren’t you on Battlestar?’ "
On how it makes her feel, "Oh, it is great! I love when people watch the show. It is scary, I have never got any strange encounters before, so maybe it [won’t happen]. And, I might know what to say when someone is knocking on my door." She crossed her fingers.
She admitted she is grateful so many people put so much effort into the show. Though, she remains baffled why such a simple girl with the dream of having one-line on television has entire websites devoted to her.
"It is amazing that people actually appreciate my character and appreciate the show! It is so surreal, I mean, I don’t especially get the nature of the internet, it exceeds me," she giggles, "but it is hard to believe that people actually spend so much time talking about me. For the most part, everything I have read and experienced from fans has been so respectful and generous!"
In closing, I shared a story of how I visited Barnes & Noble before I went to work. The day I was going to interview Nicki Clyne, I noticed a small, smudged face on the cover of a magazine. As I came closer, it was the mud-covered grin of Specialist Cally on the surface of Kobol. Being on the cover of magazines and worshipped by fans doesn’t seem to have changed her all that much, she says.
"I actually had a similar experience. I was in a Barnes & Noble, and I saw a cover of the BG magazine, it was kind of cool! A friend of mine who works at the same store, who I see around, saw me and said, ‘Nicki! I was organizing the magazines and I saw your face on the cover! I read the entire article and I had no idea you were on the show.’ He had no idea and he was so excited for me. It was really great. It is an interesting thing because it really doesn’t change anything for me. It is just like, ‘Yeah, wow!’ Now I have a picture in a magazine and everything else is just the same and I am really excited. I love every part of what I do!"