Star Trek Convention, Day Four, Part Three: Inside the Lair of the Actor

One last thing before I depart from Armin and Rene: Armin mentioned that he did double duty for a few months, working on sets of both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He was Principal Snyder on Buffy, of course. "In the daytime, I was Quark. In the evening, I was Snyder. It was like doing repertory theatre. Very hectic days. (I want to thank) two great line producers, who bent themselves into pretzels trying to make sure (I could do it)." He mentioned that doing both gave him a vacation from Quark. "Without Snyder, I don't think I would have been as excited to get back to Quark." He also told us that he never missed a DS9 episode, "but I occasionally missed a Buffy."

Sitting in general admission seats doesn't give you any real advantage anywhere, and your photos are certainly horrible, but there are two advantages: you're never forced to sit behind the tallest guy in the room, and you occasionally notice someone who's trying to slip in. We noticed Max Grodenchik sitting in the last row, listening intently to Rene and Armin. I thought it was very sweet.

Rene said that he had never met Bill Shatner until Boston Legal even though they appeared in the same movie together (Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country). "He was most supportive when I first came on." Bill was off-camera when Rene first performed his role. "He immediately took all the tension away. He is one of the most collegial, warm-hearted (people). You'll see him sitting there, talking to the crew, the guest actors, and he had genuine interest in them."

Rene was asked about Heath Ledger, with whom he worked in The Patriot. It was obviously a very emotional subject. "The irony and tragedy of seeing him in The Dark Knight was that he was on his way to becoming one of the great actors. I was deeply moved when I heard of his death."

Nana came on, surprising many with her ultra-blonde hair. She was dressed entirely in black except for a brown belt. "I feel more like me" with the blonde hair, she responded enthusiastically.

She did one episode recently on Battlestar Galactica, and told us it was a "deeply wonderful, mystical part."

She brought her husband, Matthew, on stage, and he sat down at the piano. Nana introduced her first song as being from My One and Only. She had understudied Twiggy in the stage lead, and because of Twiggy's "issues," "I went on a lot." It was a Gershwin tune, "He Loves and She Loves."

She has also recently been in the newest of the Friday the 13th films, as Jason's mother. "I got to watch them dunk my head time and time again," a reference to the head prop they used for her. Sounds gruesome.

She used to have difficulties getting out of a role after filming, she told us, but it gets easier as she gets older. "The older I get, the better I get at dropping that stuff," choosing to "slip in and out of the person fast. I used to get a hangover."

Right when Nana launched into her second song, "Someone to Watch Over Me," we slipped out the back and headed over to the elevator where we were told to meet Rene's fan club. I saw Marguerite, and recognized a few other faces. Stephanie Davis, with whom I used to email about collectibles and DS9 many years ago, was there and introduced herself to me; we had never met. I had heard she had gotten married, and she proudly introduced me to her husband, who admitted he wasn't a Trekkie. But I could see he was gamely along for the ride.

We all went up to his room (20 of us, in two elevators, and joined later by about 4 more), took chairs around the suite, and looked at one of our favorite actors. Rene mentioned that he was just off doing three months on stage in the Moliere play, and was still coming down from that.
Rene gave a fascinating countdown of the development of the play he just finished, including the difference between the previews, which one of our members had seen, and the final product. They changed the part where Rene, as Moliere, dies at the end of the fourth play, as he did in real life, and they decided to leave an uplifting ending instead of a downer.

Rene related to us that his daughter, Tessa, was due to play the maid, but she got pregnant. And the baby was born a month ago. "I call him the pink taco" instead of Olivier.

Rene told us that the play got great audiences, "very responsive audiences, standing room four deep." He plans to travel now that he has a break, take some time off. "You know what," he relayed to us, "I'm not looking for work right now."

It was just a pleasant conversation about movies, T.V. shows, indie movies, etc., over the hour-and-a-half conversation. And, of course, The Imaginary Invalid kept popping up.

"It required tremendous concentration. When you get to a certain age, you wonder, can I still do that? The way I played him, he was quite physical... I had tremendously quick repartee with the saucy maid."

We all rushed downstairs so that we could catch Alexander Siddig in his talk. We found that Avery Brooks was running long. And at the end, as he often does, he sang For All We Know to us. However, this time, due to the set-up of the Las Vegas Orchestra, he accompanied himself on piano.

Sid came on stage when Avery departed, and Sid referred to Avery when he said, "I can't and shouldn't sing. I am just going to answer questions."

He had short hair and a still-growing-in beard. The first fan asked him, What hologram program would you want for yourself? "Which one of my dreams shall I profess to you all? Something to do with a woman..."

In response to another question, he answered, "I have many fond memories of Star Trek. I remember a very bad earthquake -- Armin went home in his makeup and everyone thought aliens had landed. I remember trying to kiss Terry Farrell and falling off the bed because we were laughing so hard; no wonder the relationship never worked. I remember the people I worked with."

What's your relationship to Doctors without Borders? "I'm just an ordinary guy who thinks they do extraordinary work. I'm not involved with them. Literally, just my favorite charity of the day."

24? "Kiefer is an amazing actgor. He has an eidetic memory. He basically goes over the script and decides what he's going to say. Until 24, I pretty much didn't know who he was. I now think he's one of the finest actors in America." Apparently there was a mix-up and 24 officials didn't get the word from Sid's agent and Sid himself that he was leaving after a short time. They had written him into a long arc, and when they learned he was leaving in two weeks, they blew up his character. "But I had a good time."

"I died 11 times (in roles). I've only been in 12 projects!" Everybody laughed. "My brother and his friends are going to do a UTube video of all my deaths."

About Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien on DS9): "Colm is a funky guy. He's super political. We get into these arguments and I don't agree with anything he says. He's super Irish. We took a limo to all the Irish bars in L.A. on St. Patrick's Day. I think we drank more in the limo than in the bars. I ordered at the bar, "Guinness for him, bitters for me. The bartender said to me, 'We don't serve your kind in here.'" Sid went back to Colm to tell him that the bartender is racist and wouldn't serve him. "Colm replied to me, 'It's not because you're black, you idiot, it's because you're English!"