Jonathan
Frakes
aka
Commander
Will Riker
(He's
SO handsome)
Jonathan
Frakes Interviewed !
This
is a transcript from the Star Trek Magazine where they interviewed Jonathan
Frakes whilst on the set of Star Trek First
Contact:
STM:
You seem to be as happy as a kid on Christmas morning, Jonathan.
JF:
Its a dream come true. Its a great way to wake up in the morning, knowing
this is what I'm coming to work to do.
When
you came aboard at the end of January to direct this film, you had to hit
the ground running, right? You were well behind schedual at that point.
Yeah,
I was probably, especially not having directed a major motion picture before.
I'm told I was a month later than would have been ideal. I mean the
designer was on board already, sets were being
built and locations were being dressed, and there was a lot of stuff going
on when I moved into my office.
But
you've still gotton to put your stamp on all this, as a feature director?
Yes.
Also I'm working with a lot of people I've worked with before - (Designer)
Herman Zimmerman, who is invaluable - he builds things you can actually
shoot, and thinks about the story a he's designing the sets; it's great
to work with him again. And Matt Leonetti, the director of photography,
who though I've never worked with before I feel like his kid brother; hes
been nothing but helpful. The (live) special effects guys, Terry Frazee
and his team - you describe what you want, they say "Yeah we can do that!
you wanna see it?", you say sure, they test it, it works and when it comes
time to do it, it still works! Its really quite amazing.And I was lucky
enough to get Jerry Fleck as my assistant director, who's worked I guess
for five years on the series, and Judi Brown, whos the script supervisor
for Star Trek Deep Space Nine. So I have two people who I spend the whole
day with that I know, who know me, so alot of the shorthand was in place.
In
what way?
I
mean just communication: people whose opinions you trust and who know you
are going to give you what you need. Jerry and his team schedule and plan
so well that they are never hung out to dry if somebodys not ready when
they say they are going to be ready. Or we're going to shoot this much
today and how long it will take and generally thats the way it works out.
Television
was a great prepping ground, but whats been you're greatest challenge walking
on the feature plateau here?
Well
aside from the 'inevitable' pressure to deal with a feature film (he laughs),
the framing is different: you're working with an anamorphic (wide) lens
and you frame the shots differently than you do in television. You may
stage them in a similar fashion dramatically, but when your filling the
frame up for a shot theres more width, to emphasise the scope. So thats
been an education.
I've
seen some of the earliest footage cut together - our editor, Jack Wheeler
is another one whos been incredibly helpful and supportive. I've found
that I've surrounded myself, either consciously or subconsciously, with
people who have made a lot of films. And from that perspective its the
most logical I could have done.
So
despite the hard work and long hours, it seems you're really up for it
all.
Yeah,
well todays been a pain because the borg take six hours to get ready and
some space suits got an electrical snafu. But one of the things you are
told, in order to do this, is that the audience should never know what
you had to go through to get the shot, or what time of day it was when
you got that shot. Never let them have any idea! But really, its been great
- its exhilarating.
Rikers
part is mostly shot, fortunatly. I was pleasantly surpirsed how well Riker
did in the film! (He laughs) I was happy with the acotr - I thought he
did a nice job; he seemed very relaxed!
How
about the rest of your cast?
They
wrote a scene for Marina (Sirtis, as Troi), James Cromwell who plays Cochrane,
and Riker which is easily one of the best scenes in the film. Marina is
hysterical, Cromwell the consummate comedian, and it was just like watching
a tennis match with those two. I was very glad to be in that scene - and
very pleased how it turned out! Cromwell's a delight, a gentleman with
a wonderful devilish grin.
And
Afre Woodard - who plays Lily, Cochranes assistant - in addition to being
one of great living actors, is also my godmother. And when it worked out
- we hadn't spent time together for a long time - it was a gift to get
to work with her.
I've
never seen her in a role where she gets to play an action hero, and you
think of her playing more cerebral or earthy roles, though she certainly
has got the body and the range for it. In this one she not only dances
in a fourties nightclub; she fires a 21st century machine gun, crawls through
the ship and stangles Picard! You can't take your eyes off her. She and
Patrick look great together - theres something magical about the way the
two of them look. And they're a couple of pretty fair actors (he laughs)
which can't hurt!
The
hardest part to cast was the Borg Queen, and we saw more women for that
part than for anything else in the film. And Alice Krige found it.
Did
you get much input in on the script?
The
script went through a number of rewrites, but I didn't change any of the
structure; I thnk the story was very well told. Mostly I fine tuned moments
and framed things up. I think I suggested some dialoge changes and tried
to take some of the fat out. Lets be frank - this is an action-adventure
film and if things were overstated or long-winded I pointed out to Rick
(Berman), Ron (Moore) and Brannon (Braga), and in most cases they agreed
with me and pared it down - for the better I hope.
Is
there anything in particular you can lay claim to, apart from the collaberation?
I
remember when we were working early on I suggested some ideas for the armoury
set before it was even built, and Herman incorporated them. I also think
I had a fair hand in reshaping this deflector array scene so that it'd
be easier to tell.And I'm very proud of the scene that Patrick and Alfre
have near the end of the film. It was nicely written, I'm very proud of
it and what we all brought to the table.
Anther
common question, but we have to ask: what was it like the first time everyone
was back together?
The
only time we were all together was for one scene on the bridge - we had
six of us in the observation lounge, before Worf came back from the USS
Defiant. It was as if we had gone back in time, I think; it was the same
sort of fantastic, cynical fearless, take no-prisoner abuse that had kept
us together all these long years - and hours!
How
bad have the hours been?
Well,
the night stuff on location was limited by the sunrise; I mean, its hard
to get off onto a night schedule. And then by the time we got into it we
were back on days so the weekends were screwed. Last week we did some killer
18 hour days, but this week, the week before, we've done our standard 14
hour days. But compared to the hours we had on television we'd have killed
to get hours like these! Friday nights are almost always Saturday mornings
and have been for the almost nine years I've been doing it!
What's
next after this?
A
Vacation! I get a week after we wrap principal photography, before we start
editing, and then hopefully something will turn up when all this is finished.
I had to turn down some projects when this came along - but I wouldn't
have missed it for the world!
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