Caprica Rising: Report from the Syfy Set Tour

By WorldofHiglet
Last October I spent a day on the Syfy Digital Press Tour, that included a tour and Q&A on the Caprica set.

Firstly I’d like to have on record that I am a huge fan of the re-imagined BSG. I didn’t watch it when it first came out but bought Season 1 DVDs in March 2008 and quickly devoured that box set and all subsequent ones with relish, then watched the final season (both halves plus webisodes) on the Space channel. It was an incredible series with huge, overarching storylines, heartache, pain and a humanity that was grimed into every corner of that ragtag fleet – and beyond. There have been many discussions about the issues raised and the modern-day relevance. Heck – they even went to the United Nations.

When I heard about Caprica I was hesitant. I read that it was a completely different beast, made by some of the same team but a new series in its own right. I needed time for BSG to settle, but when I watched the Caprica pilot it sucked me right into the world and it’s people. The story was bold, exciting and fierce. It was heartbreak and loss and wonder and the dry-mouthed expectation of something unreal. The extended pilot airs tonight on Syfy and I can’t wait to see where this series is going to take us.

I arrived at the Studio (yes, I was late, the overriding theme of the day for me - see a previous post) and the tour had started and I joined them in the Adama residence. Production Designer Richard Hudolin and Art Director Douglas Mclean lead us through the sets. The apartment is set out with three levels of walls that can be pulled away for shooting purposes. The filming schedule is intense with one episode shot every seven days. There is no second unit filming but there are three cameras shooting simultaneously.

The lighting and orange/red palette made it feel warm and homely with rich colours and lots of lived-in touches like a coat-rack complete with warm leather jackets and umbrella and the signed football poster on young William Adama’s bedroom wall. Other accessories were also made by the designers, like the swanky answerphone. Ron Moore loves electronics so he agreed to that easily.

As we viewed the Graystone residence the contrast couldn’t be more complete. With huge windows, light-yet-muted colours and acres of space, it looked and felt like a show-home. A massively up-market show-home. Everyone wanted that pristine kitchen, everyone wanted that closet space and yet – the Adama home would be where I’d want to go at the end of the day, to sit in the kitchen and eat some homemade food, before relaxing on the sofa, catching up on everyone’s news.

Dr. Graystone (it’s important I remember he’s a DOCTOR – more on this later) also has his secret lab under the house. Okay, it’s not technically a secret, but since he is meddling in things he doesn’t understand, secret sounds better. The lab is suitably impressive and includes a beautifully scary cylon-prototype. And yes, I did have a picture taken next to it but sadly it didn’t come out. And no, it didn’t whisper “By your command” when I asked it for spoilers.

It is all shiny and neat, but there are human touches here, like the child drawings from Zoe on the wall and the pictures on his desk. And a stack of DVD-like discs. Yes. In the future they still use discs. There is also a substitute altar, complete with votive candles, a libation and a picture of Dr. Graystone with Zoe as a young girl. If I visit the set again I would ask about the significance of a man of science having such a set-up in his lab. Okay, it’s not outwardly dedicated to any gods, but why have it at all? Layers…

All the windows in the Graystone house look out onto an amazing backdrop that looks like the view from the ferry as you sail to Vancouver Island. It is huge. The scale is dislocating when you are looking through the windows – you know it’s painted, but it is so well done that your eyes are looking for movement and seagulls. The Q&A and wardrobe demonstration were held next to it in what would be the sea, which was an interesting experience.

The wardrobe demo was with Glenn Campbell, who was incredibly knowledgeable and actually made the clothes interesting and come alive. Now I am not a dedicated follower of fashion, but the clothes and look of Caprica are arresting. Ms Campbell calls the look a “vintage/retro fusion of modern and old”. Ninety percent of the clothes worn are created in-house either from scratch or by modifying existing pieces.

The women’s clothes are sumptuous and classy. There are strong shoulders and sweeping dresses with waistlines that are distinctly feminine. For each character there is a full wardrobe and each has a defined palette of colours that allows clothes to be mixed and matched as you would your own wardrobe (As you would. I grab what’s clean). The school uniforms for the girls were kept modest with longer hemlines. Apparently keeping them longer on the actors and extras is as hard onset as it is in real schools with the girls tucking over the waistbands at every opportunity!

For the men, Ms. Campbell had put a call out to all the tailors in Vancouver asking if they had any double-breasted suits in cellars, attics or store-rooms and received a haul of unloved suits. I think they add another layer of class and even menace to the men of Caprica – perhaps because of all the Film noir I saw as a kid. Dead men don’t wear plaid. Or hats. I have to admit to loving the hats and that’s one style point I wouldn’t mind coming back. Sourcing them has also been a problem with few firms actually making quality hats these days (I should really have told Glenn about the Hatworks Museum in Stockport! They would undoubtedly LOVE to help finding sources in return for an exhibit or two!).

The attention to detail in the wardrobe is apparent when you look at the clothes close-up. Little touches that might never be picked up by the camera but really add to the effect. And producing so many items is a huge business. Zoe’s trademark red dress with the jewels was actually fashioned from seven identical pieces with the spares parts kept in case they are needed in the future. And even the underwear is authentic. Getting into Adama’s boxers would be actually even harder than you might imagine, given the lace-up back to them.

Once the wardrobe demo was complete we moved over to where the chairs were set out for the Q&A session. All the actor’s names were on the director’s chairs facing us except for the middle chair, which had ‘Mr. Graystone’ on it. Hmmm. (And yes – it said ‘Mr.’, not ‘Dr.’ FYI.) The names on the chairs: Sasha Roiz (Sam Adama), Esai Morales (Joseph Adama), Paula Malcomson (Amanda Graystone), Dr Graystone (Eric Stoltz), Alessandra Toreson (Zoe Graystone), (Magda Apanowicz), Polly Walker (Sister Clarice Willow), Mark Stern, (Exec VP of Original Programming).

Mark Stern gave an introduction and explained that the Graystone residence from the pilot is an actual house so they have recreated the set from that. And it is amazing. Caprica is it’s own show and they are very pleased at how well it stands on it’s own. As the actors came through and took their seats it was quite a thrill. We were sat with the phenomenal backdrop to our left, the Adama residence windows behind the actors in front of us, and the amazing glass-fronted Graystone house to our right. I was in the sea of Caprica and loving every moment.

Paula Malcomson broke the ice as they walked in, joking that that they had been practicing some karaoke singing and dancing for us. That didn’t materialize but not to fret, there was plenty of entertainment for everyone as the cast sparked off each other. They were all in high spirits and very engaged in the whole session, contributing to each others questions and taking time to answer questions as completely as possible.

When asked about how they are going about portraying their characters Paula was blunt: “It’s a $h!t storm – in the best possible way” to which Esai answered: “It’s the growing pains of a show…” He went on to elaborate about how they, the cast, have grown into understanding of the characters.

Others have reported the day so I’ve listed the parts that stood out for me. And I’ll start with my question to Eric Stoltz.

I asked him whether Mr. Graystone developed daggets. Paula immediately prompted him to correct me. He is actually DOCTOR Greystone, and I apologized for such a terrible lapse on my behalf and asked why daggetts hadn’t made it onto BSG. Eric, nonchalant, with his arm over the back of the chair replied that he had no idea. He was charmingly upfront about it and went on to state that Dr. Greystone does not develop foodstuffs (bless!).

Mark Stern then took the question with ‘…Okay, so what he meant to say was…”. Which was very amusing. I then asked if it was one of his competitors who developed them because they were an inferior product, which prompted a very long response from Mark. From what I can read between the lines things happen that may or may not be related to daggets. But it wasn’t a spoiler. I’m glad that’s cleared up then…

Snippets from the Q&A (mild spoilers for the pilot and series):

• Paula compared Ron Moore and David Milch by saying that they were both insane. But whereas Dave is outwardly insane, Ron is inwardly insane (queue lots of laughs from cast and journalists).
• Sylvia Bond asked Esai Morales a question from a PinkRaygun reader about how his membership of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts has informed his portrayal of Joseph Adama. After a little joke from Sasha (“You’re Hispanic?” Esai: “I’m Tauran!”), he drew parallels between the two cultures in terms of a sense of community and helping each other. Also in that where there are disenfranchised communities they will develop ways to get around things. This is something that will be developed throughout the series.
• The Tauran language in the show is…Ancient Greek. Obviously. Which ties in to the Rome thing.
• If the holoband was around today, Eric “…would do EVERYTHING. Every possible thing. Without hesitation.”
• Mark Stern argues with himself about money, because he is on the studio and network side now. When he was on the network side it was easy because he just said to the studio: you spend the money.
• The 2010 Winter Olympics have curtailed things in a big way in terms of time they have in production.
• Magda waited until after they had finished shooting the pilot before watching the final season of BSG and she said it blew her away. She also said it was easy to return to the character of Lacy even after a year.
• All the actors agreed that BSG was inspiring, and Alessandra found that she especially admired the female characters in BSG because they were not the usual female characters.
• Mark gave a shout out to Jane Espenson (yay!) and said that she had given Caprica a distinct character and personality “…when she gets her voice into this show and it really does take on a life of its own.”
• Alessandra said Caprica was a story of two families in space on a red carpet
• When asked why he wanted to work on Caprica, Esai said: “…A show that is not stereotypical but applies sterotypes and shows how they work…something that you don’t feel you are selling out…selling ideas? Something you can look back and say ‘wow I was part of something that meant something more to the people who follow it than the average fanbase. Helps you think about what the point is…why we are here and how we should treat each other.”
• Polly is finding out things about Clarice’s character over time – like the fact she is married to 10 men and women. She is getting to play all manner of things she had never imagined and there is lots to look out for as Sister Clarice.
• Sasha’s character, Sam, is gay and is married. Sam is a dark and violent character but he also has another, family, side. He strives to keep the family together and actually has a lot of stability because of it. Sasha: “In Caprica there isn’t any sort of prejudice or stigma attached to it…it’s introduced very subtly and normally….there is no issue.”
• Mark added that even though Sam is in what is a hugely masculine Mafia-type organization that here would be massively homophobic, it is just accepted and normal.

The cast, the set, the costumes, the stories, the writing – all are in place and all point to a tremendous new viewing experience. The extended pilot airs tonight on Syfy at 9/8 Central. I’ll be watching – will you?

WorldofHiglet is the online persona of writer Mary R. Higgins, a born-again geek reclaiming her heritage bit by bit. A youth filled with sci-fi, horror and adventure fare (TV, films, computer games and books) was crushed by years of office grind. Buffy brought her back into the fold after years of denial. Discovering Firefly sealed the deal. Now she geeks fulltime on her blog ‘the last geek bus home’ and her first novel ‘Turning left at Albuquerque” is currently looking for a home in publishing-land.

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