The first thing a visitor quickly realises is how much Bruce actually identifies with his futuristic alter-ego by the number of times the actor refers to Sheridan in the first person. "Sometimes I say 'I' meaning "I as Sheridan,'" he admits, "and then I stop myself - 'Wait, I'm not the character I play!' That's the thing about a television series: you're doing this much longer than you would a movie role, so you start to live it. Look around; I've got Starfuries' - Boxleitner indicates the interior of his trailer, cluttered with bits of B5 memorabilia. "Maybe people think I'm going overboard, but it helps me stay in character."
In the two-part episode, War Without End, now-ambassador Sinclair returned to the station, and Sheridan finally got to meet his predecessor.
"Michael and I got along just famously," insists Boxleitner, "even though some of those fans were looking to find something there - 'Oh boy, they're going to fight!' Strangely enough, when Michael and I first met, I was coming out of this studio here, going to lunch. As I was coming out, this guy with a baseball cap with shaggy hair sticking out was coming in, and there were not two other human beings around within a 100 feet of us anywhere. I just happened to walk out the door, and Michael walked right into me as I was heading out, and we turned and talked. I said, 'Hi, great to have you!' and it never veered from anything but a good working relationship and a good time.
"It was a difficult thing for Michael to do, and I was very sensitive to that. I think it was very courageous of him also, because there was all kinds of crap being said about him, so he was a bigger man in coming back, and tied it up very nicely. Of course people were going to compare, but we laughed about all that. I told Michael, 'Do you realise you were 10 feet tall when I first started?'"
"Actually, [executive producer] Doug Netter was the one who pushed for me the most. Joe a little more reserved in my first meeting with them, but Doug really pushed hard for me, and I think Warners were supportive, because I had spent six years working successfully on that lot. I wasn't the number one choice, but Doug said, 'I want a cowboy in this role.' He wanted somebody who was the antithesis of Michael York, who is very British and would have been another Jean-Luc Picard [from Star Trek: The Next Generation]. Michael was marvelous in the Avalon episode, and I know he was up for the role of Sheridan, but whether or not he really wanted to do it, I don't know."
"They asked me if she would do it," Bruce recalls, "and Melissa didn't [want to], at first. Babylon 5 had been strictly my turf, and also, she doesn't generally do that type of guest appearance. Maybe in England it might be different, but Melissa has been the star of her own series, so it's really out of sync with careers in Hollywood that she would do an episodic guest shot. It would be like me going doing a guest shot - it's one thing if I did a 'special' guest shot on say, ER, but within the business, they'd be saying, 'What's going on?' Well, maybe not ER because of its calibre, but if I were to do a guest shot on another drama, it might be looked at by Hollywood as a step down. That's why I'm saying this didn't immediately appeal to Melissa, even though she liked the show. But then she said, 'I want to do this.' It really was some shameless exploitation, but there's nothing wrong with that!
"Everybody else had been wrapped for the hiatus, and we were the last cast members left. It was a very strange feeling, because we were doing those last scenes on the big Stage A., and we had this massive porch built over Z'ha'dum, which I thought was very impressive-looking. For the jumping out moment, I asked, 'How are you guys going to do this?' because I had to jump a good 10 feet straight down into boxes and a mattress, and I did about 11 takes, and I was padded up and everything else, but it was still difficult. I had to just fall flat over the side. I was getting a little tired and unnerved and I finally said, 'I've got one more, and that's it, folks!'
Of course, Bruce Boxleitner remains committed to B5, including its upcoming fifth season, a series of made-for-TV movies and even the prospective spin-off series. The Babylon Project: Crusade. "I'll do it as long as it stays on, if they'll have me," he promises, evidencing the same unbridled enthusiasm he's shown for the programme since the first day he put on Sheridan's uniform. "Why not? It didn't hurt William Shatner one iota, and if this has to be the one thing that will be my last calling card... well, I do series, that's what I do. That's been my career, and if this is the last character I'm known for, I wouldn't mind at all. I just like being a part of this.
"I like Joe, I like what he writes, I like his interests, and working with him and John and Doug; I would like to continue that relationship. the answer is yes: I'd stay with this horse as long as it rides."
DISCLAIMERS & COPYRIGHTS: The pictures and articles contained herein are copyrighted by the shows and magazines and photographers from which they came. Their use is in no way intended to infringe on the copyright or copyright holder. Babylon 5 logos and images copyrighted by TNT, PTEN, Warner Bros and Babylonian Productions.
Return to Library