Pressures of Command
by Joe Nazzaro
Bruce Boxleitner has no difficulty remembering that day in August 1994 when he first stepped onto the set of Babylon 5 as Captain John Sheridan. "I was quite keyed up and ready," the veteran actor recalls, "and all the 'suits' came out to watch me in the first scene. I had lunch with the Warner Bros. guys the next day, and they sat there in front of me and watched my first day's dailies! I was under the gun, believe me. On that first day, I probably had eight or nine pages of dialogue, all very technical, but I had to jump in and swim. I had 'volunteered' for this duty, and there was no backing out."
Despite the emotional weight on his shoulders during those early shooting days, Boxleitner still felt somewhat like a big kid walking into an intergalactic candy store with a pocketful of change. "I walked around grinning the whole day! After the first week, I said to myself, 'I hope this goes on for a long time!' I haven't had such a challenge in a while. You can do anything in this show. It's a limitless storyline in terms of its situations."
Boxleitner was cast as the lead in Babylon 5 following the departure of its previous commanding officer, Michael O'hare, whose character, Jeffrey Sinclair, was transferred off the station. After an extensive search for a replacement, the producers chose Boxleitner as Captain John Sheridan, barely three weeks before cameras were set to roll on the second season. As the former star of such series as Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Bring 'Em Back Alive, Boxleitner seemed the perfect choice to play Captain Sheridan, a hero of the Earth-Minbari War, now turned reluctant diplomat.
Like his small-screen alter-ego, the actor needed a little time to settle into his new role. "I thought the language was daunting at first," he admits. "I had a lot of trouble with some of the terms, and whipping through things like 'the Earth-Minbari War,' and committing them to memory. I feel very comfortable with them now. At first Sheridan was totally bewildered on that station. This was not the Starship Agamemnon--I could hardly say that when I first started--it was a daunting experience for him to take over this command and as you'll see, it just gets more and more complicated as he tries to deal with it. It's the warrior vs. the diplomat.
"I think Joe has figured me out now, and I've figured him out. He has listened to the way I talk, and he's adapting the character more to me. In the beginning, they had this guy Sheridan, but they really didn't have anybody flesh and blood yet. It took a few episodes for them to start adapting him to my personality. That's a very important part of elevision, no matter what genre you're in. You have to really use the personality of the actor who's playing the piece, and I think Joe's doing that very well."
Duty Tours
For viewers who haven't yet caught up with the latest season of Babylon 5, Boxleitner gives a quick precise of his character: "Basically, Sheridan was born in the mid-western United States, and very much raised in an international setting. His father was a diplomatic envoy, and therefore he got around the world and became familiar with the various countries of the Earth Alliance. He's a guy who has the pioneer spirit, who wanted to go into space. He was a pilot then a Starship crew member, and went up through the ranks. I put together that he was a lower classman to Sinclair. I have a feeling that they knew each other, and I sat down with Joe one day and we talked about it. I said, 'You know, we could have a little background story in that he sort of admired Sinclair, that he was a younger classmate at the Air Force or Space Academy; whatever, so it's not as if Sheridan is in Sinclair's shadow, but maybe he's coming up after him.' Perhaps Sinclair was a year ahead of him, and then during the Earth-Minbari War, everyone was called into action, and that's when Sheridan showed his stuff. He was a young man and a fighter, and idealistic young officer. Sheridan has certainly made some enemies. That's something I tried to bring in, that there's a slight animosity towards the Minbari on Sheridan's part, because of losing friends in the war to them. The war doesn't just go away. Certainly, Sheridan's relationship with Ambassador Delenn is still changing. She's helping him open up his mind to new possibilities. He has never dealt with the Minbari in that way. That's an interesting relationship which is still developing."
According to Boxleitner, those scenes are made believable by Mira Furlan, the award winning European actress who plays Delenn, the Minbari ambassador. "We had a great scene in one episode where she talks about 'star stuff,' and that we were all from the same atoms, from the same place. You're going to be seeing much more of a relationship there. I think Mira is a wonderful actress. I love to sit and talked with her. Delenn, as everyone can see, is going towards a more human appearance, and now she's going to be forsaken by her own people. Most of the Grey Council think she's a traitor, living out some kind of fantasy. They have their own agenda, and she's still struggling to keep the peace. Mira is very aware that she's an inspiration to many of her countrymen. It's funny how the fictional elements here on Babylon 5 have echoes of the contemporary problems that are actually going on with the Bosnians, the Serbs and the Croats. She still grieves for her homeland, and I think some of that comes through in this show. There are many parallels to those civil wars underway, and those that will go on in the future. I know were going to be seeing much more of Delenn."
Boxleitner says viewers will also be seeing Sheridan's relationships with Security Chief Garibaldi [Jerry Doyle] Commander Ivanova [Claudia Christian] and Dr. Franklin [Richard Biggs] continue to develop.
"Claudia and I already show a certain level of that. Because they've served together before, I think you see a friendship there from the get-go. With Franklin, yes, they occasionally come into conflict, and Sheridan is very hard on him sometimes, but that's because he likes him. In GROPOS, Franklin's father, General Franklin, comes on board with 25,000 ground pounders. That one is pretty incredible. Sheridan sees a lot of himself in Franklin."
Diplomatic Immunities
As for Andreas Katsulas, who plays G'Kar, the Narn ambassador, and Peter Jurasik, as Londo the Centauri ambassador, Boxleitner says both actors can easily steal a scene from their human co-stars. "When those two guys get on there, it's a fight for the camera; a fight to stay with in the scene and contribute to it. They're both exceptional. I just did a scene yesterday with Andreas, and at first, staring into those beady red eyes was a bit strange, but I don't see them anymore. I deal with him as a person and Sheridan does, too. They're both terrific, and you do have to fight for every frame in a scene with those guys! That make it fun. Like Andreas, Peter is one of the most giving people on the show. He has such a wonderful, flamboyant character to play, and what's marvelous about him is he doesn't try to take from you. He's so big that you have to work around him, but he doesn't do it in any malicious way, as many actors often do. They believe the whole object is to steal the scene. He plays the scene and it ends up being stolen. He's a very talented man; very giving. He'll stand there, and when they tell him to go home because they need him the next morning, he'll stand there and do his off-camera lines for you anyhow on his own time. He's just one of those types of guys. Almost everybody on the show is."
Boxleitner concede that a great deal of time has passed since he and Jurasik appeared together in Disney's ground breaking SF film, TRON. "One day, as we were waiting for an elaborate lighting set-up to be done, we just reminisced about our first days coming to Hollywood, what circumstances got us here, and so on. We both came out here around the same time, in the early '70s, and we've seen many things go by. Look where Londo is going this season; look at this dark side that's emerging, with Morden, who I always call 'the Mob Dude'. He looks like a young Mafia guy--'You do a favor for us, we'll do a favor for you.' Peter is wonderful He shows so many colors, so many sides to Londo. I know he's an audience favorite, and when he and G'Kar get going with each other I just sit back and watch and laugh. Once in a while I'm actually in the scene with them; remember that!"
Boxleitner's career has seen almost as many twists and turns as that of his Babylon 5 counterpart. A native Midwesterner, the would-be actor received his early training on stage. In 1971, he won an understudy role in Status Quo Vadis at Chicago's Goodman Theater, but a week later, the leading man walked out, and Boxleitner took over the role. A year later, he went to Los Angeles, where five lines in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show earned him his SAG card. He has worked steadily ever since. Besides How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive and the long-running Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Boxleitner has appeared in countless TV movies, including Down the Long Hills, East of Eden, Fly Away Home, Red River, The Town Bully, Gunsmoke V: One Man's Justice, From the Dead of Night, and four of the five Gambler films. The actor also has several feature films to his credit amount them The Babe, Kuffs, The Baltimore Bullet and Tron, which revolutionized the world of computer-generated FX.
Battle Plans
Now midway through his first season as Captain Sheridan, Boxleitner is settled comfortably into his role."Gosh, there's so much to talk about!" he enthuses, his excitement obvious from the steady torrent of words that continue almost without interruption. "This is probably one of the most pleasurable experiences I've had in my entire career. The people I'm working with make a lot of the difference. This is an excellent production team, and I'm not just saying that for publication; I would say that to anyone. [Producers] Doug Netter and Joe Straczynski have assembled a good bunch of people here, and I've never seen such enthusiasm for a project. For most crews, it's just another TV show, but here, everyone has an active enthusiasm. Maybe that's just because they're a young group for the most part, and they really like SF. I'm much more used to the old jaded crew hands, where it's just another show, and then they're on to the next one. This bunch generally has an interest. Rarely do you have a crew standing around in the corridor, reading the next couple of scripts just out of enthusiasm, not for 'What do I have to do in the script?' It's a great bunch of people. Jerry, Claudia; I couldn't asked for a better group to work with acting-wise. They welcomed me right in, and helped me out a great deal."
Boxleitner has happily shared that some hospitality with the series guest stars. "It was so great to work with Michael Ansara," he relates of the veteran actor who play the Technomage in The Geometry of Shadows. He was very gracious, and in fact, we sat down and ran the lines as many times as he wanted to. We had to use a few cue cards because he had such long speeches, and I had great empathy for him."
"It's wonderful to be working with some of these people. We had Jessica Walter, playing the Senator on a videoscreen I was talking to, and Robert Foxworth, who's playing a recurring role as General Hague. I don't think this fazes any of the younger audience. They might not know who some of these people are, but it's great to be working with them. Russ Tamblyn talked about acting in West Side Story, which is what most of the crew knew him from. He sat there and told stories about working on it.I enjoyed working with Walter Koenig, because he tells the greatest Star Trek and William Shatner stories. It's a wonderful bonus for me."
Some of the actor's favorite scenes were with Turhan (The Mummy's Tomb) Bey, who appears as the aging Centauri emperor in "The Coming of Shadows." "He sees something in me, and I see a father figure in him, and we have some real heart-to-heart talks about life. He's not like Londo at all. The emperor is a man coming to the end of his life, and reflecting on the past, on his glories and his failures. Ibecome an ear to talk to and help him with that."
Of course, Sheridan also has personal problems of his own to deal with. In 'Revelations' Boxleitner's second episode of the series, the arrival of Sheridan's sister forces himself to embrace his wife's death. It's an episode the actor feels he could do much better now, as opposed to that early in the season. "The episode was almost 15 minutes too long, if you can believe that, so a lot of the story had to be chopped," Boxleitner reveals. "I was very disappointed, because we had many more scenes, and they really flew through it. I wasn't crazy about it, but what can you do? The underlying thing with the wife, I wasn't happy about doing any of that stuff. I thought it was too soon for that. They were trying to show everything immediately, but I think they needed some more time with that, and I really wasn't given that time. This all happened before they had me, and the script was already in the works."
Just in case B5 boosters are worried that Captain Sheridan may be all talk and no action Boxleinter points to a few recent episodes that handily refute that claim, particularly All Alone in the Night. "It's quite a strange adventure. I'm captured by aliens, and have to fight my way out of their ship. Maybe this was a lesson that the captain shouldn't leave the station! All Alone was quite an exhausting one for me. I have scars all over my hands right now, because we had a big fight scene with a sword and a lead pipe. My very good friend Marshall Teague, who you'll remember from Infection, comes back as a Narn in this one, and he and Sheridan are thrown together in a Spartacus situation. It was a good one for me, because I really got to do some different things. I get tortured, and the two of us form this bond as prisoners of war, and we eventually do escape. It was shot in this very tight room; very veiny, as if we were inside the stomach of something. Our art director really went out there with this set. We were in it for two or three days, and I just about passed out once from lack of oxygen. That was an ass-kicking episode, and so is GROPOS, where 20,000 Marines descend on the station and Garibaldi has got his hands full, keeping order in the bars and saloons. We had a gigantic brawl, with 150 extras, and for seven days, we were in a massive crowd of olive drab uniforms. We had troops assembling in the parking lot behind the soundstage, going through drills with our military advisor. It was a fun episode."
Casualty Reports
Until recently the actor wasn't much of an SF fan, but working in the genre has compelled him to check out some of his competition. "This has caused me to watch all of the Star Trek programs," he cites as an example. "I'm not being critical, but I think we're up there with them; I don't care what anybody says. In the heyday of the Western on television, there were many Westerns, and I think SF is a big place. We can certainly hold our own there. I like the characters more on our own show because they're more flawed, more human. I've been watching more of Star Trek off and on. At first, I wasn't a great fan of it; that doesn't mean I hated it. I started watching it, and seeing the whole genre and what was being done on television." Although Boxleitner doesn't pay much attention to critics, there are two opinions he holds in high regard: "I go by what my sons think, and they both love this show. One is 14, and the other one is nine, so they're right at that age that Warner Bros. wants. My oldest was just a baby when I was doing most of my series television and the youngest one hadn't even come into this world, so they really didn't get to see Dad on a weekly basis on television. Now, they talk about it in school, and the kids really like it. In fact, my sons came down when we were shooting the second episode. Jim Johnston allowed them to 'direct' a couple of scenes, and say 'Action' and 'Cut.' Both of them had been on sets before, and the older one has had bit parts in things like The Gambler III. They both want to be actors, so who knows?"
Playing the lead in an SF-TV series may be earning Boxleitner a group of dedicated fans within his own family, but it has yet to duplicate the credibility previous network series earned him. "I've been scoffed at already by people in the business," he admits. "Syndicated television still has that stigma. To some people, I'm not doing good stuff here, but I think they're wrong. They have to broaden their horizons a little bit, because network television isn't what it used to be, either. These programs are starting to whittle them down. You see a lot of their programming, and much of it is low-budget stuff. These shows are also offering something that's not on the networks, and that's adventure. Programs like Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and Baywatch all have their own place in television."
Looking to the future, Bruce Boxleitner hopes his assignment to Babylon 5 will continue for some time. While the actor isn't sure about the direction in which Captain Sheridan is eventually headed, he doesn't mind sharing a few items from his own mental 'wish list.'
"Don't shoot me," he laughs, "but I definitely think we should have a romantic interest at some point. That's important in all drama; you have to have a little of that in there to show the full man. That will happen. I also want to see more of the conflict of Sheridan's rawer nature and the man who is trying to fulfill his mission as peacekeeper. I would like to see more refining of that role. He can't be swinging and hitting people too much. I hope John Sheridan will become more seasoned as we go along."
FROM : STARLOG 213 **************************************************************
Q: Did he audition for John Sheridan or was he sought out for it?
A: "I was sought out for it. I'm sure there were a few in line before me, a number of 'name guys' who were offered the part and, for one reason or another turned it down. I did not know Mr. Straczynski, but I had worked with Douglas Netter and John Copeland on a Western back in 1979 called Wild Times and hadn't seen them since. I got this call from my manager, asking if Id like to go up to Babylonian Productions and meet with Doug Netter for the possible replacement of Michael O'Hare on B5. I went there and the role really attracted me.
Q: Were you surprised to be asked to portray the male lead on a TV science fiction series?
A: I was very happy about it; it answered a bunch of things in my life and career. I'd just returned from doing a four hour mini series in the middle of India for almost two months - I'd had enough of traveling, I guarantee you! I have two sons I'd like to see growing up and I've spent so much time away from the past couple of years because so many things are not shot in Hollywood anymore. It was really nice to know they shoot B5 in North Hollywood. I wanted to do a series again, not just movies of the week, and there's nothing else I was really interested in. I prefer the adventure genre, which I would put science fiction in, as well as Westerns, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Bring 'Em Back Alive.
Q: Overall, how would you characterize your Babylon 5 experiences?
A: "Oh, nothing but just wonderful. I really had no trepidation about joining the show. I met a cast and crew that were nothing but supportive and welcomed me right into the fold. I love working with Claudia and Jerry, then later on Jeff Conaway came on board, and Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are constantly entertaining and fun. It's just a great bunch of people and one of the better sets I've ever worked on, to tell you the truth, in all my twenty-four years of television. My first big break in Hollywood was a Western series with James Arness called How The West Was Won. I think Babylon 5 has a similar feeling of a family and everyone pulling together for the show and doing the best they can."
Q: That's a comment I've frequently heard from the regular cast and guest stars.
A: I think it has something to do [with the fact that] we're way out in Sun Valley and not over at the Warner Bros. Studios. Sometimes we wish we were, but I think what gives us that sense of family - and reality to actually being on a space station - is that we're all alone out there. We're in these factories and warehouses that have been reconverted to sound stages, so its not like we can go to the commissary at lunchtime and sit and talk to people on other shows - we're there in each other's faces every day! Our offices are all there, not on some other part of the lot, so if you have something you want to say, or if you want to talk to Joe, or any of the other writers, they're generally twenty feet away. It forms a real close-knit bond with everybody. The crew is a young, vital bunch of kids, and for some this is their first gig, so they're really trying to learn and do as best they can; they're giving all. They're not a bunch of jaded old veterans who've seen shows come and go. It's not just another show to them, they're very involved.; on how many other shows do you have crew members sitting around with a script, reading what's going to happen next week?
Q: Didn't you encounter some flak initially from fans who seemed to us you as a scapegoat over Michael O'Hare's leaving?
A: "You know, I think a lot's been made of that; there wasn't so much, just the occasional letter. It's been blown up because it makes good copy. The fans really don't know the machinations of television. There were reasons for Michael leaving and it was worked within the story. I know Harlan Ellison has said. "Well, it's all part of the scheme," and some of that is true. The possibility for him coming back in a two parter is very strong and I anxiously await working with him. It'll be great to see Sinclair and Sheridan meet."
Q: In real life, have you two ever met?
A: No, I do not know the gentleman at all. I'm told that when Babylon 5 first came on the air, Mr. O'Hare was shot at a lot and called wooden. I find it ironic that by the end of the season when he was leaving some of those very people were like, 'Oh my God, we love him!' [chuckles] He was playing a role that was written specifically in this way. This was a man with something missing, and his quest - all of our characters are on some kind of quest - was to find that missing part of himself. I think initially people were befuddled about Sinclair and what he was doing but if they watched carefully, they began to understand where he and the other characters were coming from. They same thing with Sheridan. I think the next four episodes, when American fans see them will show some big changes in the character which weren't there in the beginning.
Q: At first, Sheridan seemed very cheerful and happy at his new posting on board the station.
A: Yes. They wanted a lighter tone, a lighter character. That's not to say that he was going to be light - they just wanted a different energy.
Q: Recently you got to see a different side of the fans at a Science fiction convention, didn't you?
A: Yes, I went to my first convention, Magnum Opus con, in Georgia. I was on stage for an hour and a half and could've kept on going. The audience was really into it. This is a really wonderful new world for me. The fans are very critical and hard to please - and that's good! That's what makes you do even better.
Q: What would you consider to be your favorite episode?
A: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum is one of my favorites. Sheridan had a wonderful speech concerning the dilemma Winston Churchill had to go through at Coventry, whether or not to reveal to the Nazis that they were on to the Enigma code. I like it when Joe brings those kinds of things to the show. I enjoyed working with Ed Wasser, too. Eddie has this very smug look and calm smirk as Morden and I damn near wanted to put a chair over his head! [laughs]
Q: And not to drag other SF shows down, but Sheridan's behavior in that story is the sort of thing that Star Trek would never do..
A: Right. And I love that. What I like about Sheridan is that I'm getting to play many different colors and I'm not always correct. There are flaws like crazy, very human flaws, in all of these characters. Sheridan makes lots of mistakes and bad judgments, he's a bit foolhardy and 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!' Here's this guy that's got this huge, amazing toy at his fingertips, with a lot of firepower and we're entering into a war where his finest qualities are going to come into great need. Sinclair became much more the diplomat - and is going to become evenmore so - but the times call for different characters, like World War II called for George Patton. He was disgusting to some people and an absolutely embarrassing person, but at the time, he was needed against the Germans. After that, he was discarded. Something like that is happening here. I don't want to say Sheridan's like Patton, but he has these certain talents and abilities that are going to come into great need."
Q: Would you care to comment on what direction Sheridan's relationship with Ambassador Delenn seems to be taking?
A: Like I said, we're all taking a journey. Delenn's is unpopular with her world and her people. You're seeing almost an Arthur and Guinevere thing that may happen. Mira Furlan's terrific to work with. There's a lot going on in Babylon 5 which is very relevant to her and her homeland. We're enjoying where the characters are going. Do you think that the fans were upset with Delenn becoming more human?
QQ: No, but because she seemed to make similar overtures to Sinclair, many people feel its as if Delenn's cheating on him...
A: [jokingly] They gotta get with it - Sinclair's not there anymore! He's on Minbar. Midway through this season we're going to go through a massive change that the fans are going to be excited about. Some fans don't react to change very well; its like sacrilege or something."
Q: Some time ago you did an episode of Tales From The Crypt with John Astin and Jon Lovitz. What was that like?
A: With those two guys, who could concentrate? What a fun episode - it was a laugh riot the entire week! It was nominated for a Cable ACE award, and I'm proud of that. Every take you saw, we had to do at least three or four times because we couldn't keep a straight face. Every time Astin bugged his eyes out I lost it. That was a terrific one; I loved Tales from the Crypt."
Q: How did you feel about TRON in retrospect?
A: It's almost the grand-daddy of Babylon 5. I was doing a Western movie in Tucson, Arizona, when they sent me the script, and initially I said no. When I got back to Hollywood, they wanted to see me again, so back to Hollywood, they wanted to see me again, so I met Steven Lisberger, the director, and found out that Jeff Bridges and David Warner were in it. Then I re-read the script and Steven explained the language to me; I was computer-illiterate at the time. After the first screening, I was so embarrassed to see myself running around in spandex tights. It was my first time working a special effects situation where I didn't see any of the things I was supposed to be looking at; they were imagined and spelled out for us all. It was a fun experience - three months on a black sound stage! I wish it had turned out to be a better picture, but Tron has grown with popularity since it came out. It didn't get a very big reception in 1982; it came out in a summer with STII: The Wrath of Khan and Blade Runner, a very seminar summer for science fiction films. I think the effects were certainly showing us where things were going because there were no miniatures, and up until that time even Star Wars used models. Tron showed us what computer graphics could do, creating images three-dimensionally which weren't there."
Q: Do you still get a lot of recognition from being in Scarecrow and Mrs. King?
A: Oh, yeah, because if anything that's probably what I'm known for the most. I loved that show, and I think a lot of that character is in Sheridan, the espionage end of it. You'll see much more of that, because Sheridan is a spy. Much more of a cloak and dagger thing will be going on this season concerning Earthdome, so my Scarecrow training is coming back to the fore!
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