![\"Vancouver2009-Joe-Flanigan-01\"](\"http:\/\/wormholeriders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vancouver2009-Joe-Flanigan-01-576x321.jpg\" "\\"Vancouver2009-Joe-Flanigan-01\\"")
<\/a>Every time you think, \u201cstick a fork in him, he\u2019s done,\u201d he shows up practically unscathed. He\u2019s always prepared for an attack, but he never sees the women coming after him. His team is made up of the most assorted personalities possible, but he still has a knack of finding common ground with each. John Sheppard is one heck of a lucky guy, and so is Joe Flanigan.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nJoe told us that he hadn\u2019t been back in Vancouver since the show wrapped, and hasn\u2019t been to a convention since then either. After that, Joe was pretty quick to start taking questions, which was good because there were plenty of them! Right off the bat, Joe was asked if there are any future plans for him and Davit Hewlett to work together. \u201cI had lunch with him not too long ago, and we definitely have a few things we\u2019d like to do, and I\u2019m not sure exactly how those things will take shape, but we\u2019ll see. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll work together many times in the future, David and I. I\u2019m going to miss smacking that guy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As per Paul McGillion\u2019s request, Joe was asked to explain the rocks-in-the-bag prank he played on Paul. \u201cYeah, what a sucker. <\/span>That\u2019s like the oldest lamest trick, and it works. (Shrugs) It works on suckers. <\/span>We\u2019re sitting out there one day \u2013 it was one of the first times that we\u2019re in an exterior location. I like exterior locations. I like to get outdoors and stuff. \u2013David Hewlett and Paul had to carry stretchers. Which you know, that\u2019s a big deal. After take ten they\u2019re like, \u2018We have to carry a real <\/em>body? Can\u2019t we carry a fake<\/em> body? Can somebody else<\/em> carry it?\u2019 I was amused at that, so they\u2019re b^#%&ing together, kinda at each other, trying to see who can whine more. And while they\u2019re doing that I\u2019m just filling up Paul\u2019s backpack, filled with rocks. I don\u2019t think he even figured it out til the next day! It was hilarious.\u201d At some point, Joe said incredulously, \u201cPaul? Got me back? (Laughs)\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Joe was asked what he thought of how Atlantis ended. \u201cThis is something I talked to Jason [Momoa] about. We always thought that perhaps Atlantis will or will not continue as a TV show, maybe just as a movie, I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t think anybody knows, but I think that I thought a good place for use to end would be Jason and I are bounty hunters in space. And we\u2019re just kicking @$$ and (pretends something is exploding in front of him) Whoohoo blowing things up, and chasing Wraith . . . and other bad people <\/span>. . . guys in suits, maybe. We thought that would be fun, and we still think that\u2019s a good idea. It\u2019s a good kinds of evolution of the show, and (looks out at all of us like he\u2019s just realizing how many people he\u2019s actually talking too) I should probably pitch that idea before I share it with 2,000 people!\u201d Well, so much for getting serious answers out of him on serious questions!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Someone asked a question about Jason Mamoa that prompted Joe to tell this story. \u201cI met him in L.A. because they brought me down to audition with those guys, (chuckles) and when he showed up on set what was funny was it was the first time he had talked in years,<\/em> apparently, according to the story line. Which is totally possible with Jason. So Martin Wood goes, \u2018you know, you haven\u2019t talked in along time, right? Just remember that.\u2019 So (laughs) Jason is like (mutters something in a deep tone, mouth barely moving, impossible to understand). Next thing you know, Brad [Wright] and Robert [Cooper] are like, \u2018You\u2019re friend doesn\u2019t know how to talk, for Christ sakes!\u2019 I was like, \u2018Wait a minute, that was the direction that he was given, that he hadn\u2019t talked in a long time!\u2019 I thought it was really funny. It was one of those classic cases, and I think he learned<\/em> a lot also, which is when you come on a show it\u2019s important to own<\/em> the character, and to not necessarily dictate everything they\u2019re going to do, but to spearhead things and just say \u2018this is what the character would or would not do\u2019. And he started talking a little bit better after that, actually. But it was fun having him show up and I immediately was like, \u2018Chewbacca!\u2019 it was a good dynamic, it was fun.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What did you think of \u2018Vegas\u2019?<\/em> \u201cYeah, that was Robert Cooper\u2019s idea, and I liked it. I was all into that. I mean he had a lot of ideas, I had a lot of ideas, we were on the same page on that one. The \u2018Vegas\u2019 was a lot of fun to shoot, and I really wish we could have done a few more of those things. It was a brutal, absolutely brutal shoot. You know when you\u2019re crew, all veterans of 30 years of film making, are . . . (like it\u2019s the understatement of the year) really grumpy, saying this is the hardest shoot they\u2019ve had in 30 years, you can imagine how tough it was. We had dust storms, really long hours. The great thing about Robert is (laughing) a lot of directors come onto the show and they go, \u2018oh, I\u2019m on a timeline, I\u2019ve got to do this, and maybe I should skip the coverage here and go to this\u2019. Robert is the boss, right, so Robert is like, \u2018(muttering, looking around lazily) you know what, I don\u2019t want to shoot that, lets shoot this over here\u2019, and of course the AD and the DP are like \u2018(rubbing his face) Argh!\u2019 And it can turn into an awfully long shoot, but he gets a lot of good coverage. So ah . . . I guess the moral of the story is to be the boss.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Joe was asked a question about how he acts as a member of the US Air Force versus how Air Force members would react to conflict in real life. \u201cWhen I was in the F-16 for the first time \u2013 or maybe it was a puddle jumper . . . maybe it was my own car, I don\u2019t know. Martin Wood again \u2013 I love Martin Wood \u2013 said, \u2018these guys are always in control, they\u2019re always controlled, like (in a low calm monotone) they barely get excited. They\u2019re about to die but they talk like this. Yeah, we\u2019ve got an enemy engagement, 3:00.\u2019 You know, it\u2019s that type of thing. Where I was like, \u2018(fast, and if he wasn\u2019t whispering it to avoid defining us, he would have been yelling) Enemy engagement, 3:00!\u2019 They\u2019re like, \u2018No, they\u2019re not like that, they don\u2019t panic, they\u2019re cool heads.\u2019 And I know that for a fact, having flown with those guys too. . . . And yet it makes for really boring television. So you do take a little artistic license, but without one, well, I don\u2019t know what to say. Did I just get court marshaled? Wow!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I have no idea where this story came from, but it\u2019s funny! \u201cJason and I lived at Sutton Place (pointing as if it\u2019s nearby) and of course we had all sorts of visitors. I mean our hotel room was really very bizarre. And that hotel is also where everybody in the entertainment business comes. So you actually get some pretty interesting characters coming in and out of the place, and you end up in your hotel room playing guitar, and all sorts of crazy things. Sure enough Paul [McGillion] is up there one night \u2013 probably uninvited, but he was there \u2013 and he\u2019s talking about wrestling and of course I\u2019d had a few too many drinks and I was like, \u2018(talking like he\u2019s drunk, going into a crouch like he\u2019s ready) ya can\u2019t wrestle. Ya wanna wrestle, I\u2019ll wrestle ya.\u2019 Don\u2019t wrestle Paul McGillion. Oh, he can take Jason and I down with just \u2013 he\u2019s got some weird Scottish thing. \u2018(Talking in what I assume is his attempt at Paul\u2019s Scottish accent) I\u2019ll kill ya, I did!\u2019 and the problem is this, I kinda got him back though. He had me in a choke hold. Now, only I can turn this around. I\u2019m in a choke hold, I can\u2019t even breath, right? And he said, \u2018you\u2019ve got to tap out.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018(talking like he can\u2019t breathe) no I don\u2019t\u2019. He\u2019s like \u2018no, you\u2019ve got to tap out, Joe.\u2019 \u2018(Can\u2019t breathe) No.\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018no seriously, I can\u2019t hurt you, number one on the show. You\u2019ve got to tap out.\u2019 I was like, \u2018(can\u2019t breathe) go to hell!\u2019 So, I never tapped out, so I don\u2019t think he technically got me. But like the next week I was like (pulls up his shoulders like his neck hurts).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n How did you find out that Atlantis was cancelled? <\/em>They were very nice, I walked to my chair, there was a guillotine there. And I was like \u2018alright\u2019. No, actually what happened was, to me it\u2019s kind of funny because I would ask questions. I always want to know what\u2019s going on. I assumed that if they were going to do a third show, they would need the companion show. I thought that was logic, that that was pretty much a certainty. I think I even said something to that effect at ComicCon. And as I said that a few more times up in the office because we would speculate \u2013 it was the big sport to speculate what\u2019s going on. That\u2019s what you do. You get picked up and then you speculate for the rest of the time about what\u2019s going to happen to the show. So I said, \u2018well if they\u2019re talking about this third series that pretty much going to need a companion show, which would be ours,\u2019 and I was met with kind of a (humming noncommittally, shrugging). It was one of those (again, but with a waving I-don\u2019t-know<\/em> gesture thrown in). I thought that was a little strange. So I wouldn\u2019t back down, and I went to David Hewlett and I said, \u2018I\u2019m picking up on some strange juju up in the office here. It doesn\u2019t sound right, there\u2019s something weird going on here.\u2019 So I asked them a few more questions and things got even a little more weird, and I think that they just finally thought, (chuckling) \u2018we can\u2019t just slip this one by them, and we\u2019ve got more weeks to shoot. Maybe we\u2019re just going to tell them and hopefully the rest of the season won\u2019t implode. They\u2019ll just charge on professionally.\u2019 Which is funny because of course we would. We always would. We shoot under any circumstance. And no matter what happens, whether it\u2019s a professional setback or personal setback, you shoot and you work. So that\u2019s how we pretty much found out. It was . . . it was a bit of a shocker, I gotta tell you. I was surprised. Having done a lot of different lpilots and a lot of different shows I thought that this was a surprising choice. I thought we had a couple years left for sure.\u201d I heard fans saying, \u201cI did too.\u201d I bet that much of the fandom feels that way.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Vegas\u2019 has become such a huge fan favorite that many people wanted to hear more about how that script came about, so Joe told us, \u201cI was just really jazzed because I don\u2019t think I was getting a lot of scripts written for me and I think Robert [Cooper] felt that. I want everyone to have their own episodes. I think it\u2019s a great thing for each actor and it takes a little of the load off the other actors scheduling wise, to have one person do an episode and another person do another. I didn\u2019t think I was getting a lot of episodes so when I read it I was just jazzed. I was also really happy to go on location, and to be on Earth, and play a character that was not set in space. I thought that was kind of refreshing after so many years of being in, you know, plywood spaceships. And we had fun shooting it. I think there could have been a whole series. I think that\u2019s a great feel. We could have made that a separate series connected to the Stargate realm of physics, but it\u2019s a parallel timeline, and everything else. (With a hand on his head) Oh, I\u2019m confusing myself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What did you do to do that kind of John Sheppard that was different but the same?<\/em> \u201cWell Robert and I had the discussion. We just said, this is interesting. We can\u2019t play him too different otherwise the joke is not there. It\u2019s not a joke, but the device<\/em> is that, \u2018that IS Sheppard. I am following Sheppard. Wait a minute. It\u2019s not quite Sheppard. Wait a minute. What\u2019s going on?\u2019 So it was just a fine balance that we had to strike where you could lead the audience in to follow Sheppard but then reveal that it was a different Sheppard. So we just struck that balance, it seemed to work, and we didn\u2019t want to make him too gnarly and cynical and eaten-up and alcoholic . . . like the other Sheppard.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The gentleman who asked this question, I believe, was from Germany. At least that\u2019s what his accent sounded like! That and the fact that he was having a little trouble with English made it difficult for Joe to get what the question was, but in a nut shell it was, when Teal\u2019c and Ronan were fighting and you were taking bets, who did you bet on?<\/em> \u201cI was kind of hedging my bets, playing it by ear, seeing who was really going to beat who. Actually it was funny. I, you know, Ronan. He\u2019s my boy, come on. I don\u2019t want to be hurt. But um . . . Teal\u2019c is big, man. I think that he in is prime, probably, physically, is stronger. But Jason\u2019s pretty nimble. He\u2019s surprisingly nimble for his size. So I was voting for Ronan, of course I was. I\u2019m not supposed to bet on my own guy in those fights, but we decided that that was kinda funny. At least I thought it was. They were really into it for a while. I meant there was a little competition going one, there was a lot of man<\/em> energy on set. A lot of starring down and stuff. It was pretty funny, I was laughing pretty hard. Once again, just gun (patting where a berretta would normally be holstered to his right leg). (pretending to be pointing it).Gun! (Changing fighting pose robotically to emphasize each word) This Is Too Much Work!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n How much did you bet? \u201cAs much as the props department would let me have. It was real money, and it did wind up in my pocket. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Someone asked about outside interests, and Joe told us that has is building a downhill mountain biking course at his house for the previous 2 days! \u201cI pursue a lot of different interests outside of acting, and I think that we all do, as a cast. There\u2019s a tendency sometimes on some shows and various places in Hollywood to just talk about acting, and this and this and that, and it becomes pretty dull after a while. Pretty self-evolved. As I sit on stage with my own microphone (shakes his head).<\/span><\/span>
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