fter just a few minutes in the company of actors Richard Chevolleau and Robert Leeshock--stars of Earth: Final Conflict--it's clear that the easy rapport they exhibit on-screen stems from their friendship off-screen. Though they may come from different backgrounds--Leeshock hails from Clifton, N.J., while Chevolleau's roots are in Toronto, Canada, where Earth is filmed--both actors are similar in their exuberance and love of humor. Chevolleau exhibits the same self-confident cockiness that his computer-hacker-turned-rebel character, Augur, does.
Similarly, Leeshock's relaxed intensity in real life shows in his character, Liam, a man whose mixed Taelon-human heritage puts him a unique position as he walks the thin line between his roles as a leader for the rebellion and employee of the Taelon Da'an. As Earth wraps up its third season, Chevolleau and Leeshock sat down with Science Fiction Weekly to talk about the show's past, present and future.
Do you have any idea what's in store for next season?
Chevolleau: I wish I had more information just for me, the actor, but we're still negotiating contracts. ... It's possible that I may not even be part of the show; it's possible that I might be a bigger part of the show. ... According to sources that are very reliable, they've changed the writing staff. Not so much the staff, but the guy in charge. Therefore the show will be more character-driven in the fourth season. What does that mean? I don't know. ... [This writer] was responsible for writing some of the better episodes in the third season.
It sounds as if you appreciate well-written scripts.
Chevolleau: You know, you're only as good as your writing.
Really. That's the key to everything.
How much of yourself is in your character, Augur?
Chevolleau: Augur could have been played a lot of other people.
I just did it my way.
Are you surprised by the intensity of the fans?
Chevolleau: Oh yeah. They're crazy.
Leeshock: Categorically speaking.
Chevolleau: I don't know about Robert. But I enjoy it. I'm a fan too. I'm a sci-fi geek. I love sci-fi. I don't dress up but I understand why people do. That's just not for me.
But I totally understand. I don't think it's that weird.
The comedian at the end of Trekkies said it best: You could dress up in your team logo in full uniform, paint your face, and walk on the street screaming and you're normal. Put on an Ensign uniform and you're wacko. When he put it like that, I thought it's just something people do. Who cares if this person wants to dress like a Klingon? It's fantasy. I applaud them because they have the guts to do it. That's the truth. Soap opera fans sit on the couch all day and do nothing. To me that's worse. I'd rather get out to cons. A con is the only place where mother, father, daughter, son, son's girlfriend, daughter's boyfriend all [can be] at the same place together enjoying themselves. What's wrong with that?
Leeshock: I like just the look in people's eyes because you know that you see this sort of commitment. It's like anything. It doesn't matter if it's tiddleywinks or astrophysics.
Chevolleau: It's your thing.
Leeshock: Whatever your thing is. I feel that this is like the pure side of [the business]. Everything else is kind of watered down--whether it's for economic reasons or creative differences.
Chevolleau: I love the fact that when I talk to Babylon 5 fans, the show is like a part of their lives. It's so real, and there are so many layers. That's what I like about B5. At the end of it when you walk away from the TV, you're still thinking about the concepts that were presented to you. That's what I want our show to do.
How has the relationship between your characters developed on-screen? When Liam was first introduced, he was a newborn who grew into an adult seemingly overnight. And Augur saw him through that transition--and more.
Chevolleau: What's funny is that it kind of mirrors the character because he was new, like a baby on our set. I don't think you had even done sci-fi before.
Leeshock: No.
Chevolleau: We had a lot of scenes with me and with Lisa [Howard, who played Lily] at the time. He was sort of mirroring what his character was going through at the time. Robert and I developed that relationship, but by no means am I a mentor. I feel like he's my buddy and he's cool. We think a lot alike. He's crazy. I'm crazy. We both like girls.
Leeshock: We started that where he was teaching me and showing me how to make my way in the world. It would have been funny because it would have been his way and I would have tried it his way. Then they stopped it like halfway through and it just kind of played out--especially the male-female dynamic. Because Augur was so busy trying to work his way inside Lily's....
Chevolleau: Sometimes the problem with sci-fi is that you can be funny. It doesn't always have to be serious. I love working with Robert. We work really well together. Hell, we want a spin-off [laughs].
Leeshock: That's right.
Chevolleau: Liam and Auggie dog.
Since this was your first science fiction role, how did you handle the
special effects and green-screen shots?
Leeshock: You have no clue. I was supposed to do this memory recall. I
have to think of something because I'm looking off into space. So I'm
thinking, "What's a black hole?" Some sort of visual, like a wormhole?
You try to come up with interesting, bizarre things to think about.
There's no gauge. Then they put you on this green screen, and you're out
at sea with no anchor. [He squints, trying to visualize something.]
"It's bigger ... smaller ... please don't make me look stupid." [The
movements for piloting the shuttle are] written in the script: "Liam
does the shuttle ballet."
How has the relationship between Da'an and Liam evolved?
Leeshock: As we look back on it in the two seasons, we get sort of misty about it because I used to look up to Da'an as this mentor, this benevolent sort of spiritual guide. He was going to show me the way. And now I'm in Da'an's face and the party is over. It's like de-mystifying almost a father-son relationship. You see the father as just a man with all the faults. But it's this whole accountability issue which I sort of hold the Taelons [to]: that they gave up their free will, but they still are responsible and accountable for their individual actions. You can't hide behind this Commonality. That's why I get in Da'an's face. It makes it juicy. I don't know how much further we can push it. That relationship is so ... I just cherish it.
