Amanda Tapping.com

As the mysterious Dr. Helen Magnus in the hit Syfy series “Sanctuary,” Amanda Tapping portrays a 158-year-old scientist who tracks Abnormals—humans and creatures with special powers—and offers safe haven in exchange for permission to study them. Immediately following up on her 12-year turn as the brilliant Air Force Colonel Samantha Carter in “Stargate SG-1” and various spinoffs, Tapping has achieved an unlikely double-play—creating two back-to-back iconic sci-fi characters. Add in memorable spots on “The X-Files,” “Millennium” and “The Outer Limits,” as
well as producer and director credits, and it’s easy to see why Tapping is renowned as both the Queen of Sci-Fi and the Hardest Working Woman in Sci-Fi.

But Tapping works just as hard off the set as on, leveraging her fame to extend the compassion of Dr. Magnus to those in need in real-life. In 2009, she founded Sanctuary for Kids with “Sanctuary” creator and co-executive producer Damien Kindler and teacher and social worker Jill Bodie. Sanctuary for Kids, or S4K, is dedicated to helping children in crisis around the world, raising money through online auctions of “Sanctuary” props and set tours as well as personal appearances. S4K distributes funds to small nonprofits and charities, including Next Generation Nepal, in amounts that will have a significant impact.

In conversation, Tapping is thoughtful, gracious and very funny, best summed up in her own Twitter bio: “Mama, wife, actress, director, producer, activist and general goofball” who lives in “Vangroovy, B.C.” NGN caught up with her to discuss the inspiration for S4K, what sci-fi fans and humanitarians have in common, secrets of new "Sanctuary" episodes, the future of Magnus’s love life and the very special sci-fi guest star she’s hoping to land. New episodes of “Sanctuary” premiere April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy.

How did the idea for Sanctuary for Kids originate?

The financial crisis precipitated it. We read so many articles about small charities that were being completely obliterated and larger charities having to fight for donations because people just weren’t donating as much. So we decided to form an organization that spoke to the need of really small charities with low operating costs—where a small amount of money makes a huge amount of difference. We made that our mandate, and we focused on organizations that assist children because Jill and I are both moms and realize the importance of protecting this generation.

It took us about a year to set it up because we did a ton of research on how nonprofits set their goals and intentions. When we launched we had no idea how well it would work out for us. We hoped to raise $100,000 in donations the first year and we raised $170,000, thanks, in large part, to the generosity and social awareness of sci-fi fans. Our first donation went to Watari, a local Vancouver organization that helps homeless teens transition to independence by providing support, education and vocational training. And a hundred percent of our donation went exactly where it needed to go—on the ground—which, we discovered, rarely happens with donations to nonprofits due to the costs of running the organization.

You were able to do that because you and your colleagues cover the administrative costs of S4K.

Yes. We cover all the administrative costs, legal fees and banking fees. So, if we raise a dollar, we’re able to give a dollar.

In addition to Next Generation Nepal, S4K supports two other nonprofits devoted to providing housing, healthcare and education to disadvantaged children in Nepal—the Nepal Orphans Home (NOH) and Asha Nepal.

How did Nepal come to be a focus of your work?

A young man, a fan, who started my website, AmandaTapping.com, went to Nepal to volunteer at the Nepal Orphans Home and came back with the most phenomenal stories and pictures and they just spoke to me. When we started Sanctuary for Kids, I said I wanted NOH to be one of our key
recipients. And then when we started doing more research on Nepal, we found out about Next Generation Nepal and Asha Nepal. We also liked the fact that a lot of organizations working in Nepal are connected. When we spoke with DB Lama at Next Generation Nepal’s local partner, The Himalayan Innovative Society (THIS), he said, “We all cross-reference each other. Many NGOs in Nepal are small and we couldn’t survive without working with each other.” We loved that. We loved the idea that when we give $5,000 to NGN or $5,000 to NOH, there’s a sort of trickle effect.

You and Jill visited Nepal in fall 2010. What were your first impressions?

I landed in Kathmandu at midnight and I just saw chaos! But what astounded me was that even in the midst of abject poverty the people had this sort of internal joy. You could tell people were poor, you could tell people were struggling, but there was something about everyone I met pretty much without exception—that spoke to this belief in hope. There’s a center of spirituality in Nepal that I think we’ve sort of lost sight of in the Western world.


What surprised you most about the children you met?

How open-hearted they were. I didn’t know what to expect because some of the stories we’d heard were pretty horrific, especially through NGN and Conor Grennan’s book, “Little Princes.” These are children who have gone through things that nobody in their life should have to go through, and to find the emotional vernacular to deal with such circumstances as a child is really difficult. These kids seemed—not unfazed by it—but still open and not closed off, still open to the experience of love and friendship. Every child we met greeted us with hugs and, “Hello, sister! Hello, sister!” It was beautiful.

These were children who probably had no idea of your professional life as an actress. How did that affect your interactions with them?

It was actually really liberating!

Did you eat any dal bhat?

Yes! I loved it! I went there with the attitude that I would be a big sponge: “I will try anything once. I will embrace it.” I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like. Except the last day when I brushed my teeth with unfiltered water. Except for that experience, which made the flight home really uncomfortable, I loved everything.

Do you think sci-fi fans and humanitarians have anything in common?

They absolutely have something in common and it’s passion. Sci-fi fans are passionate not only for the sci-fi genre and the shows and the actors they love but also for the causes and interests of the actors. My fans have always supported me. Present them with a really good argument and they just pick it up and run with it. The same is true of humanitarians. They look at this world and say there has got to be something we can do to make it better from our little corner of the globe. When Jill and I were in Nepal, we kept saying that the problems were so insurmountable and we
felt like little drops in a bucket, but our belief is, “From little drops big ripples emanate.” And I think that’s what all humanitarians have to believe that even helping one child is moving things forward.

Again, I think it comes down to that word, passion. If you’re passionate about something, you pursue it, and that’s what sci-fi fans do. They spend a lot of time on the Internet and they stay connected. All you need is one person in a forum to say, “Hey, check out Sanctuary for Kids,” and before you know it 100,000 people have checked out your website. That’s social networking at its finest.

What is it about Next Generation Nepal’s work that inspired Sanctuary for Kids to contribute?

We did a lot of research on different groups in Nepal and we decided to contribute to Next Generation Nepal not only because NGN’s people try to rescue trafficked children and reconnect and them with their families but because they do this so selflessly, putting themselves in danger, even risking their lives, for the greater good. It’s probably one of the most beautiful things that anyone can do. We saw it time and again with stories that came out of NGN and we said, “This is an organization that has its heart in exactly the right place.”

And then we went to NGN’s Karnali house and we met some of the first boys who had been rescued. And the house mother, and DB Lama. He took us to the office and showed us the binders on each of the boys. He said, “These are their school records, all their grades, all their accomplishments. Look at what they’ve done!” He was so proud. He had tears in his eyes. Jill and I left and literally burst into tears ourselves when we got back to our car. We were like, “Oh my God! We have to work with these people. They’re fantastic.”

You’re very active in social networking. Your official website launched in 1998, an eternity ago in Internet time. You participate in your Facebook page. You ask fans to submit questions on Twitter and you answer them every two weeks. Would you call yourself an early adopter?

I have to be honest with you about the website. That was a fan the gentleman I mentioned earlier. He sent me a letter, saying, “I have bought your domain name and I want to run your official website.” And I was like, “You bought my what?” I didn’t even know what a domain name was. Since then, I have tried to stay abreast, but I would consider myself more of a luddite than an early adopter. I’m lucky to be encouraged and supported by people who understand technology and social networking better than I do. I actually think it’s a great tool. I wasn’t on Twitter and our publicist said, “Why aren’t you?” She was the one who suggested Tapping Tuesdays, where I answer questions submitted by fans, and I said, “Yeah!” I think it’s very important that you reach out to the people who have supported you for so long, to take an interest in them just like they’ve
taken an interest in you. It’s only fair. You pay it forward and pay it back.

You’ve been called the Queen of Sci-Fi and the Hardest Working Woman in Sci-Fi. Are women in sci-fi still a minority?

Yes, although I think that’s changing. “Fringe” has a great female lead, for example, and I think lots more women are coming to sci-fi because there are a lot more female fans watching sci-fi. It’s not your grandmother’s sci-fi anymore. It’s not spaceships and aliens it’s whatever defies imagination and whatever breaks outside of the box. Sci-fi still has the geek stigma, which is a shame, because, ultimately, it’s just another way of telling stories.

Do you ever feel a little like an Abnormal yourself?

Yes! Except when I go to things like Comic-Con. Then I’m with my peeps and I feel pretty good. With mainstream media, it’s like, “So, you do a sci-fi show.” And it’s almost like they expect you to apologize for it. It’s not real TV it’s just sci-fi.

Are there any women in sci-fi that you admire?

Definitely. Nichelle Nichols, for starters. Even though she still had to wear the short skirts as Uhura on the original "Star Trek," she broke ground, not only as an African-American woman on sci-fi but a woman on a spaceship with a bunch of dorky men. She was a huge inspiration when I was a kid. And then Kate Mulgrew, and definitely Gillian Anderson, because I think she broke ground in that she wasn’t what people typically expected a female lead of a show to be. She completely broke the mold. A short little redhead with a fiery attitude and super smart as opposed to a buxomy blond sidekick who couldn’t handle a gun. She was completely different and I think I remember reading an article at the time where network execs had said she wasn’t their first choice but series creator Chris Carter really pushed for her what a brilliant choice that was. I wasn’t the first choice when I got “Stargate.” It was my understanding that although I was the producer’s first choice, one person at the network said, “Nah, we need someone sexier.” But I fought and fought and fought, and people fought the good fight for me, and I ended up getting the part. Then I had to fight again. I said, “No, I don’t need a push-up bra and a tank top. I need a proper Army T-shirt. My character is smart, not sexy.” It was still quite the battle.

Do you think that’s a consequence of sci-fi being dominated by men?

Yes. And the belief that the demographic was different, even when I started “Stargate” in 1997. Producers felt there weren’t as many women sci-fi fans, or they didn’t see as many women sci-fi fans. And now they do. Now when I go to sci-fi conventions there’s anything from little kids to
83-year-old women and everything in between. It’s really blown wide open. But I think at the time, it was like, “This is a boy’s show and we’re hanging around with guns and aliens so you better show off her boobs.” It didn’t work, because I fought it. But I think the show was okay without it.

“Sanctuary” is in many ways about the very complicated and shifting relationships between a large group of people, a little bit like “Lost.” Will Magnus ever have a love life?

It’s so funny you should ask that because we’re just breaking stories for our fourth season and I was on a conference call with all the writers and everyone was wrapping up and I said, “Hey, wait a second. Can we please give Helen a lover this season? I don’t care whether it’s a male or a female. Just something. We need to show that she actually is a sexy, vivacious woman and not just this rigid-pole-up-her-bum running the Sanctuary with an iron fist—a huge heart but an iron fist. Can we show the feminine side of her character? Let her kiss someone!” And they all went, “
Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.”

So, it’s a possibility?

It’s a possibility. I asked for it. I said, “Seriously, all’s she had are relationships with terribly deranged men.”

In several episodes the characters have traveled to the Himalaya. What did it feel like to be in the real Himalaya as opposed to the green-screen version?

The entire time I was in Nepal all I kept thinking was, “I wish I had a film crew here.” There are so many beautiful ways to film it. We came back and asked, “Can we do an episode that takes place in Kathmandu?”

And maybe you have a ready-made plot: On “Sanctuary,” Bigfoot works as the caretaker and custodian of the Sanctuary itself. Was there ever any thought given to finding Bigfoot’s long lost yeti relatives in the Himalaya or making that connection in any way?

Absolutely. It’s very funny, because we sort of talked about it and we made some sort of really quirky passing reference to fact that he only has sex every five years and one of the other characters on the show said, “With whom?” And then it’s sort of left alone. So we have to send him off every few years.

He’s kind of like Spock.

Exactly!


At the end of the “Sanctuary” mid-season cliffhanger, Helen, Will, Henry and Kate were about to be executed for trespassing in the Hollow Earth city of Praxis. Can you give any hints about what’s ahead in the next 10 episodes of Season 3?

Well, we live. That’s a big spoiler! Basically, we come back up to the surface and try to maintain communication and at the end of the season things go terribly wrong. Adam, Ian Tracey’s character, goes completely off his nut. There’s a stand-alone episode that I directed titled “One Night,” about a date night gone horribly wrong. We go back in time a little bit more. We also have an episode coming up we’re all very proud of called “Normandy” that takes place during the famous battle of World War II. But it’s all interwoven with Nazis and Abnormals and this massive creature that could spoil the Allied Invasion. It’s revisionist history, which is my favorite part of the show. The monsters are cool but I love it when we take major historical events and turn them on their ear. We have fun playing with that.

You’ve signed on with William Shatner to voice a character for an animated sci-fi series called "The Zenoids" that will live on Shatner's social networking site MyOuterspace.com. Have you started working on that yet?

No. Bill is probably the busiest man in showbiz. I was supposed to go down to LA last month to do the voiceovers and then something came up for him. I was scheduled to go down again but then he had to go to Ottawa to host our Genie Awards for Canadian cinema. So, we’re scrambling to
figure out when the two of us can be in the same place at the same time. He may have to come up to Vancouver if I start shooting. But I’ve gotten the script, so, all we need to do is lay the tracks down.

In an online video interview with Shatner, you asked, not once, but twice, “Would you be on my show?” His cryptic response was, “I cannot see how I cannot do that. That’s a double negative!” To which you responded, “No, that’s a double positive!” Any chance he might actually appear on “
Sanctuary”?

Once Bill and I get into the sound stage together and I have a bit more of a relationship with him, I will definitely bug him. We already have the character we want him to play. We were talking about the possibility and someone said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we open the door and there he is?” So, really, it’s just a matter of the two of us being in the same room together and me buying him a few drinks and getting him to sign something that says he’ll do the show.

A couple of random questions: Are you a Mac or a PC?
Mac.

iPhone, Android or Blackberry?
iPhone.

Do you have an iPod?
Yes.

What would people be most surprised to hear you listen to?

I’ve been doing a lot of running lately so I have this crazy workout mix that has everything from Journey to Lady Gaga and a ton of stuff in between. “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” is how it starts. My husband is like, “What is on this?” It’s very funny. It keeps me going.



In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Amanda Tapping talks about her early days playing Sam Carter on Stargate SG-1.

In Stargate SG-1’s pilot episode Children of the Gods, the Stargate suddenly opens and the Goa’ulds’ guards, the Jaafa, attack the Stargate installation. The new commanding officer of the project General Hammond (Don S. Davis) brings Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) out of
retirement once again and orders him to take his team back through the Stargate and destroy the portal being used by the Goa’uld. The general also instructs the colonel to find Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) and bring him back with them.  He assigns Air Force Captain Samantha Carter
(Amanda Tapping) to assist O’Neill.

“I didn’t like my character that much in the first episode,” says Tapping. “I didn’t dislike her but I thought that her feminist diatribe was a little tiresome and I didn’t want her to be angry all the time. All I could see was this, ‘I’m out to prove myself,’ woman. I wanted her to be a well-rounded individual who is accessible and warm and someone who, especially young girls, could look up to and think, ‘Yes, I can relate to this person.’ Sam has become just that but she still has a ways to go. I think she needs to have a bit more of a personal life and maybe that will come in time, but right now she’s growing and becoming more fun.”

Although Hammond has every confidence in Carter’s abilities O’Neill is reluctant to have her on his team. The colonel tells her, “I like women, I’ve just got a little problem with scientists,” which relates back to his prickly relationship with Daniel Jackson. Carter, however, had been studying the gate’s technology for two years before O’Neill and Jackson first travelled through it, so, like it or not, the colonel needs her. The captain’s scientific background allows her to develop an immediate rapport with Jackson and, while it takes slightly longer, Carter and O’Neill eventually come to respect and trust each other as fellow soldiers and friends.

“General Hammond is very much like a great uncle to Sam because her father is very close to the general, but overall he’s the father figure of the show,” Tapping explains. “Daniel and Sam are more like brother and sister than any of the other characters. Jack is like, and I know this is going to sound really weird, the older cousin that Sam really admires and maybe has a small crush on, but I won’t dwell on that. I don’t want the viewers to think, ‘Oh, they’re sleeping together,’ or anything like that because that’s not going to happen, at least not that I know of anyway. I’m not writing the scripts, so who knows?” she chuckles.

The fourth member of O’Neill’s Stargate team is Teal’c (Christopher Judge), a Jaafa guard who rebels against the Goa’ulds and returns to Earth with SG-1 at the end of the pilot story. “The relationship between Teal’c and Sam is really interesting but I don’t think the writers have really
explored it enough and it’s something that I’ve talked about with them.  Teal’c is like family to Sam and she would do anything for him. I think you’ll see a lot more of their friendship in the next [third] season. She’s extremely loyal and protective of her fellow team members, however, and I think the feeling is mutual.

“It’s fun to come to work,” continues the actress.  “The cast and crew get along famously. I don’t want to reveal too many secrets but we are a wacky and zany group. Everyone in the cast has a good sense of humour and we laugh a lot, especially at the end of the day when it’s someone’s
close-up, usually mine. I’m the first one to crack when it comes to a joke and that happens a lot because the guys are all behind the cameras trying to make me laugh.

“I grew up with three brothers so working with three men is not completely alien to me, it’s more like coming home,” adds Tapping. “My brother’s names are Richard, Christopher and Steven and I also have a stepbrother, Michael. I work with a Richard, Christopher and Michael and, just to throw something else into the mix, when I was born my father wanted to name me Samantha, so all my life he’s called me Sam. Isn’t that weird? There must be a cosmic force at work here.  Obviously, I was meant to play this part,” she says.

When Carter first meets O’Neill she tries to prove how tough she is by telling him that she logged one hundred hours over enemy air space during the Gulf War. While this is certainly impressive the captain has taken greater risks and faced far more perilous situations during her trips through the Stargate. “One of my favourite first-season episodes is Solitude in which Jack and Sam are stuck on a glacier. Sam demonstrates her intense loyalty to Jack and uses her smarts, ingenuity and physical strength but yet is also very vulnerable, so she gets to be strong and
scared at the same time. That was great fun to play.

“There’s another episode I really like from the first year called Singularity.  In it they rescue a little girl named Cassandra [Katie Stewart] from a planet and Sam becomes emotionally attached to her. During the climax Sam has to make a very intense decision about this child and it exposes
her maternal instincts. It’s not a question that comes up on the show very often nor should it be - ‘Would Sam make a good mother?’ - but, in fact, she would.

“In the second season I enjoyed doing In The Line of Duty. Something quite extraordinary happens to my character and she’s possessed by a Goa’uld, so we see how Sam deals with that. In Secrets we meet Sam’s dad, who’s been an important influence in her life. Their relationship is
further explored in a two-part episode Tok’ra.”

Imaginative stories, high-quality special effects and a talented cast of regular performers and guest-stars have all helped Stargate SG-1 become one of Showtime’s success stories. The show’s second season is currently airing on the cable network in the United States while its first year is making the rounds in first-run syndication. Tapping is ecstatic about the attention the series continues to get and flattered by the positive response her character has received from the viewers.

“Initially, I got quite a bit of mail from women and little boys and the letters from women are pretty amazing because they tell me that they’re thrilled to have such a strong female character like Sam on television and I think that’s terrific. I also receive many letters from Europe and the British Isles and now I’m starting to hear more from men, which is neat. The fan reaction has been wonderful and for the most part it’s been very much about enjoying the pivotal role my character plays in the show and that makes me feel good about what I’m doing.”



The sixth annual Vancouver Women in Film Festival is fast approaching and so are the Spotlight Awards, which kick off the festival. The awards pay tribute to the accomplishments of B.C. women in the local film and TV industries.

To add to this year's festivities, Women in Film & Television Vancouver has announced two new awards: the WIFTV Artistic Innovation Award and the PleaseAdjustYourSet.com Award for advocacy.

The event, to be held at 7 p.m. on March 4 at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street), will be hosted by Sanctuary star Amanda Tapping.

This year's Spotlight Award recipients include:

Woman of the Year
Producer Lynn Booth of Make Believe Media has worked extensively in documentary film and television, including shows such as The Whistleblower , Corporations in the Classroom , and The Devil You Know . She is being recognized for her commitment to hiring women in above-the-line positions, such as directors, writers, and editors.

Artistic Achievement Award
Katrin Bowen made her feature film directorial debut with Amazon Falls , about a fading B-movie actor (played by April Telek) who refuses to give up on her Hollywood dreams. Telek won the WIFTV Artistic Merit Award at last year's Vancouver International Film Festival. WIFTV Artistic Innovation Award
Animator and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming will receive this new award to recognize her body of work, which includes The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam , The French Guy , and her short film "I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors", which was selected as part of Canada's Top Ten 2010.

Wayne Black Service Award
This year's award goes to Dusty Kelly for her extensive volunteer work for numerous industry organization, including her work on the BCIFP Women's Initiative Steering Committee and her mentoring of new filmmakers.

Honourary Friend
Alexandra Raffle will be honoured for her commitment to hiring women in above-the-line positions on her new TV series Endgame and her twenty years of mentoring women in the industry.

Sharon Gibbon Lifetime Member Award
Deb Sears wins this award for volunteering as host of WIFTV's Networking Breakfast over numerous years.

Kodak Image Award
This year's cinematography award goes to Lindsay

George for her work on over 14 projects in the past five years, including A Night For Dying Tigers .

PleaseAdjustYourSet.com Award
The winner of this new award, Rina Fraticelli, created a national association of female professionals called Women in View and spearheaded the international conference SexMoneyMedia held in Vancouver last October. She has also worked as executive producer of both the National Film Board's Pacific and Yukon Studio and Studio D.

The Vancouver Women in Film Festival runs from March 4 to 6.



Sanctuary, Syfy's surprise (to me) hit returns with new episodes April 15th, and the show has recently been picked up for a fourth season. I say surprise, by the way, only because the show plays fast and loose with just how wild it is going to be, and how strange the events that unfold will become, and that doesn't often sell well, even for sci-fi. When last we saw our crew, they were in a city at the center of the Earth, and who knows what might be in store for us with another season.

To help kick off the second half of the season, stars Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne were available for a Q & A call recently, and the result was really quite a cool interview.

Check it out below, along with a sneak of the next episode, and a few teaser images.

So of the episodes that are still to come for the rest of the season - for the third season, do either of you or both of you have a favorite moment from shooting those remaining episodes?

Amanda Tapping: Go ahead, Robin.

Robin Dunne: The great thing about the second half of season three is that all the things that the team - the Sanctuary team - Magnus and the Sanctuary team have gotten into in the first half really, really become back to the ramifications they have to deal with in the second half. And it’s
really quite a roller coaster ride the second half.

I think if I had to pick a favorite moment, we have an episode coming up that is the biggest episode we’ve ever done scope-wise, story-wise, everything. And it takes place in the past, back in World War II, and it was a really special episode to shoot. It’s quintessential Sanctuary thinking outside the box.

When we were on set shooting those things with tanks driving around, it was really quite an experience. So I guess if I had to pick one, I love every single moment, every waking and sleeping moment that I have on Sanctuary. But if I had to pick one, I think it’d be from that episode.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. The episode is called Normandy, and there was just something very special. There was an interesting vibe on set when we shot it. And the look is very different, but it’s a really cool episode.

t sounds it. And what would you say for each of you has been the biggest challenge for you working on Sanctuary?

Amanda Tapping: Well, I had to direct Robin Dunne in an episode called One Night. I’m just going to stop there.

Robin Dunne: And I think my most challenging moment was being directed by Amanda. I mean, she’s just a sadist. She made me do 750 takes of something once, just out of pure...

Amanda Tapping: Because we had the time.

Robin Dunne: Yes. She made me sing Hot Blooded in front of the entire crew for no reason. It was just to humiliate me. It’s really been a challenge.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

What is it about your characters that you still find interesting? That makes you want to come to work and play them you know for three - well, getting ready to start four seasons of the show now?

Amanda Tapping: For me, I still don’t completely get Magnus. I find her to be such an enigma. And there’s so many things about the decisions that she makes that I still can’t wrap my head around, and to me that’s fascinating as an actor to try to get inside somebody so complex and so
kind of confusing.

So, every time we start up the season, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve got to get back inside this woman’s head.” And it’s so different from the way that I think sometimes, that that’s the challenge for me. And, it’s scary and it’s fun to be scared.

Robin Dunne: I think for me, I really like the commitment that Will has. He’s constantly terrified by what he’s faced with at the Sanctuary, but is always putting that terror aside and committing to what the team has to do. And, I like that about Will. I find that a really good character trait.

I also like coming to work every day and getting my share done, and also they feed me here, which is nice.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: It’s the only time I really get a hot meal.

What is the coolest thing about your job. Not necessarily a specific episode or anything. Just about going to work and everything. Robin, it’s you getting your hair done, but Amanda what’s yours?

Amanda Tapping: I think the coolest thing is the relationships not just between the characters, but honestly between the people that make this show. We’ve always been the little show that could. And this is going to sound hokie as all can be, but we’ve always been the show that people weren’t sure we could ever get it made.

It was this little web series. It’s always been a struggle, and I think through that struggle, the relationships were forged even more strongly. And, there’s a huge amount of trust on this set because we all kind of jumped into the fire holding hands together. And so the coolest thing is coming to work and seeing you know 70 smiling faces who all want to be here, and feeling a collective - I don’t know. A sort of selective conscious to make this show really good.

Everyone is committed. Like the location guys care about the script. Everyone’s reading the script and everyone cares about what happens, and people help each other. It’s a very special vibe here.

Robin Dunne: Everyone is committed and everyone should be committed.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. Definitely.

Robin Dunne: But as an example, yesterday we had the first table read of Season 4. And we’ve been off for a few months, and just to get everybody back in the same room and reading together and instantly picking up where we left off; it’s just such an amazing feeling to -- like Amanda says
-- come to work and work with all your friends every day.

But I mean, also have to put up with Martin Wood and Damien Kindler. But, you know nothing is perfect.

Amanda Tapping: You know, there’s not. Right. That’s why they pay us.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

I wanted to thank you very much for figuring out a way to bring Jim Byrnes on the show. And I hope there’s a way he will be in more episodes for the rest of the season.

Amanda Tapping: He’s amazing, isn’t he?

He lends such an air of class to this show, and he’s just one of the coolest cats.

So with Will slowly almost dying towards the end of last year and Magnus actually facing mortality this year, I was wondering since they both have gone through that process, will that be something that we see play out for the rest of the year as well?

Amanda Tapping: Kind of. I mean, I think the cool thing about these characters is that they move on quickly, if you know what I mean.

Amanda Tapping: They’re not ones to sort of...

Robin Dunne: Yes. They can’t really - they don’t have time to dwell on the fact that, “Hey. I almost died there.”

Amanda Tapping: I almost died again.

Robin Dunne: Okay. Well, moving on. Got to - you know, got to keep (going on, it's like a signal).

Amanda Tapping: Yes. I think maybe the ramifications for Magnus are a bit different because she was faced quite imminently with mortality. And I think you'll see in Season 4 especially a decision being made that might surprise people.

But - and then for Will, I think it’s like everything that happens to Will it seems to me just gets worse and worse and worse, and he’s still hanging in.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: So I think there must be a part of this character that just kind of goes, “Oh. Yes. Another day at the office, and today I was killed. Okay.”

Robin Dunne: I mean it’s not a caviler attitude by any stretch.

Amanda Tapping: No.

Robin Dunne: He certainly lives his life in - battling in - with the fear of working in the Sanctuary. But also, like Amanda says, you know we have to move on because there’s always stuff for us to do here, and you know trying to barely hang on with our fingernails.

We saw Will take more of a leadership role this year, and there’s even been moments where he kind of questioned Helen and told her she was wrong. Is that him taking control or realizing that he can be leader? Is that something else we’re going to see playing out the rest of this year too?

Robin Dunne: Well, somebody needs to put Magnus in her place you know? She can’t just go run willy-nilly doing whatever she wants. And I think certainly Will is the guy to do it.

I mean in all seriousness, I really like the relationship between Will and Magnus.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. I do too.

Robin Dunne: I think yes; Will being able to say to Magnus, “Look. I disagree with you respectfully,” and even if it’s something she doesn’t want to hear. It comes out of a very deep bond between the two characters, and I think you're going to continue to see that throughout the
next season.

Amanda Tapping: I think that that’s one of the reasons Magnus chose Will, right? She doesn’t want a yes man.

Robin Dunne: No.

Amanda Tapping: She wants somebody who’s going to be intelligent enough and ballsy enough to call her on what she’s doing wrong. She didn’t want to hire a patsy. So - and what’s beautiful about the development of the relationship, and it’s happened so organically; he has come into his
own. He’s realized what he does bring to the Sanctuary.

In the first season, it was a much different relationship. And now, I think there’s a really beautiful level playing field.

Robin Dunne: You all heard that. Will is intelligent and ballsy. I think...

Amanda Tapping: Will is Robin. Not you; Will.

Robin Dunne: Well you know Will and Robin are very you know...

Robin, are you ever going to direct?

Robin Dunne: Funny you should say that. I believe I will be directing this season coming up. The Episode 6 of Season 4 I will direct, and I think that completely terrifies everyone involved in the show. But yes, it’s going to be exciting. I plan to show up every day to work in a bathrobe and use a megaphone to shout out my directions. But I think that’ll just be a good way to get everyone’s attention.

Are you looking forward to getting back at everyone?

Robin Dunne: Yes. Oh, I have a list. The list. So, it’s like a phone book, and I am just going to - you know, Martin Wood and Damien Kindler are right at the top. So yes, it’s going to be exciting.

No. But in all seriousness; it’s something that is scary, obviously since I’ve never done it before. But, I’m really thankful for the opportunity and you know I probably won’t sleep the first couple nights before, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Amanda Tapping: He’s going to do a great job. One of the things when Martin, Damien, and I formed our company was we really wanted to foster young talent and mentor people into positions where they might not have had the opportunity before. So, we’ve had a lot of first time directors on our show. Our camera operator Steve Adelson, Lee Wilson directed for the first time. I’ve been given you know three different shots now.

Robin Dunne: Damien.

Amanda Tapping: Damien directing last year. And so when Robin asked it was like of course. This is what we do. And there’s a massive support network, but I think he’ll totally rock it.

Is there anything that really surprised you coming up about your character that you weren’t expecting or that happened earlier in the season?

Amanda Tapping: We had a cool episode towards the end of Season 3 that shows you a different side of our characters, and it’s a rather unexpected view of these two people. Magnus much more vulnerable and kind of freaked out than you've ever seen her, and...

Robin Dunne: It’s like many episodes of Sanctuary; kind of unrecognizable but in a very different way. I think you could even say that the characters themselves -- Will and Magnus -- are - don’t even recognize themselves. And it was a really interesting episode to shoot. Completely different
location. The lighting. Everything looked like a totally different show and it was very interesting to shoot.

Odd in a way because you're playing the same character but in a completely different realm. And yes; it was exciting. That’s coming up - what number is that? That’s...

Amanda Tapping: 19.

Robin Dunne: ...19.

I was wondering if in this upcoming season Helen will have a chance for some romance? Past? Present?

Amanda Tapping: Yes. Well at the end of season - the second half of Season 3 - it’s sort of weird, because we’re about to start Season 4, so that’s where our heads are at. In the second half of Season 3, not so much. So when we were going through - you see a little bit of it in Normandy, but no. Not a lot of love for Helen.

So when we were talking about Season 4 and playing out ideas, one of the things that I insisted on was that Magnus at least gets some love interest in Season 4. And, we’re working on that. I think it’s going to be really interesting.

And how will she be celebrating her 164th birthday?

Amanda Tapping: Well, God. I can’t even say, can I?

Robin Dunne: No.

Amanda Tapping: No. I can’t tell you. It’s - again, it deals with the beginning - the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4. Something unbelievable happens and I’m not sure that Helen actually really celebrates her 164th birthday.

Robin Dunne: One hint, just one little bone I can throw you is that Bigfoot will be jumping out of a cake.

Amanda Tapping: That was just on set Robin. That wasn’t going to be in the show.

Robin Dunne: Wasn’t that part of the show?

Amanda Tapping: No we didn’t film that.

Robin Dunne: Oh, God. So fun.

Could you describe the Helen/Will relationship?

Amanda Tapping: I was saying this earlier that I love how this relationship has developed. It’s been a really organic transformation of Will’s character and Magnus. To actually bring somebody on board who initially it’s all about teaching him the ropes. And then as the seasons have gone on, he’s come into his own. He’s come into his own as a scientist. He’s come into his own in terms of his relationship with the people in the Sanctuary.

And, it’s now a very level playing field between these two characters. It can be combative. It’s hugely respectful. But, it feels now like it’s a much more interesting relationship to play because they’re two equals. I mean Helen outweighs him in experience and that’s just a matter of course, but he’s actually - he sacrificed so much for the Sanctuary and there’s a huge amount of trust between the two of them.

And she - I think he’s one of the few people who can call her on her stuff, so...

Robin Dunne: Yes. There’s a nice synchronicity that has formed between the two characters. And really, they’re two people that depend on each other for survival. And therefore, you know that’s where the respect comes out of. And yes; it’s a really nice thing...

Amanda Tapping: It’s a fun relationship to play now.

What would you two like to see happen for your character, like character development-wise. Not necessarily you know, story.

Robin Dunne: I’d love to do a musical. I think just to be on stage and sing, and I’d love Will to sort of get into more dance routines. I mean, we did a little bit of the Bollywood. I think it would be lovely to just show off some of my other skills that I have.

I mean, I’m a juggler. I do magic. And I just think there’s so many wasted opportunities that they haven’t brought these things into the show. I can do many things and I think I would just wish that the creative team...

Amanda Tapping: We’re wasting some of that precious talent.

Robin Dunne: Yes. I wish they would just take some of the wealth of talent that I bring to the table. I wish just some of those - more would be - it would be used. It’s sad really.

Amanda Tapping: We’ll take that under advisement.

Amanda Tapping: I was just going to say I hope Magnus gets a really cool love interest this year.

I know what’s beautiful is sometimes we’re allowed to sit in with the writers, and I’ve been here for the last months sort of sitting while they’ve been developing the series. The stuff they come up with is beyond what we could even imagine happening. So they come up with stuff that’s always so much better and so much cooler than what we think of.

The only thing I asked for was that I hope Helen gets like a really interesting love interest. Not that I want it to be about Helen having a love interest; I just want to show that there’s a very evolved, loving - you know sexual, interesting woman in there besides just this sort of analytic
scientist that we’ve sort of been seeing for the last (few seasons).

Robin Dunne: And we’ve all kind of gotten a little bit of romance.

Amanda Tapping: Except for Magnus.

Robin Dunne: And Magnus is a little left out I think.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Who would be your ultimate guest stars to have on the show?

Amanda Tapping: Wow. We’ve had our ultimate guest stars.

Robin Dunne: We’ve had some great, great people on the show.

Amanda Tapping: We’ve been so lucky. I mean, I sort of jokingly said this once that I think it would be really cool if Helen Mirren came in a flashback as my mom. But, that’s thinking so far outside the box that it’ll never happen.

But we’ve been very lucky in that every guest star we’ve brought on has sort of been somebody for the most part who’s not that well known and who has ended up becoming a massive fan favorite. And you know I speak of Jonathan Young, and Ian Tracy, and Peter Wingfield, and Vince Gail; like all these incredible actors have come on our show - and actresses. We had Polly Walker and she was great.

We’ve been really lucky. Besides Helen Mirren, I’m not sure who to suggest.

Robin Dunne: I’d like to see Bill Clinton on the show. I think...

Amanda Tapping: Will’s like, “Yes!”

Robin Dunne: I think President Clinton should be in the Sanctuary, no?

Magnus...

Amanda, can you talk a little bit about Riese? And then Robin, can you talk about working on NCIS?

Amanda Tapping: Riese for me was sort of a gift that feel from the sky. I knew the guys who were doing Riese. I had met them - of course, we know almost all of the actors on the show. And, they had put together this really cool web series, and I had seen some of the Webisodes and I just was blown away by how well they had done it on such a small budget. And the production value was great and the story was cool.

And then I got asked by Syfy if I would be willing to do the voice over - sort of narration. And so yes - I said, “Yes. Are you sure the Riese guys are okay with that?” And they seemed pretty cool, and that’s how I got involved. It was really, really very simple.

And I was able to sit for about four hours one night in our sound booth in our sound stages at Shark Sound, and with a Network Executive and the producers of Riese and we just went through everything and narrated it. It was really for me a very small commitment, but a really great opportunity.

Robin Dunne: Thanks for asking about NCIS. I’m a child of the ‘80s. I grew up watching all those great ‘80s movies and you know, Summer School. And I was a big fan of Mark Harmon, so I kind of hounded the Casting Director of that show. I go, “Let’s go and do an episode of NCIS. I got to do an episode of NCIS.” And that was a truly amazing experience.

Mark Harmon - I can’t say enough about this guy. He is the classiest, most gentlemanly person that I’ve experienced in the business. He’s just a truly amazing guy, and it was really a wonderful experience working with him. I think every young actor should do an episode - should work with
Mark Harmon just to have a lesson in how to comport yourself. A wonderful guy and it was such a lot of fun.

And again, I’m a big fan and I got to talk to him about Summer School, which was cool. Not going to summer school, which I did, the movie Summer School. So yes, it was a lot of fun and I can’t say enough about that guy. What a great guy.

You mentioned the evolution of your characters. How much input does Damien take from you guys?

Amanda Tapping: He’s very amenable to any suggestions we have. I think the beauty of our writers is that everyone’s voice is heard and they all understand that maybe we’re coming at it from a different perspective, having crawled inside these characters. They all listen. Any one of them we can walk in and just say, “Hey. What do you think about this?” And, “I don’t know if Magnus would say it like that, or I don’t know if Will would say it like that.” I mean yes; they’re absolutely open.

Robin Dunne: The other nice thing about it too is that having done three seasons of the show, going into the fourth, and the fact that we all know each other that much better, you find things of your own character being worked - your own personality being worked into the character. I’m a huge baseball fan and it was really nice to have that worked into Will’s character...

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: ...or some you know goofy voice that I do on a weekend or something kind of find its way into the script. And that’s always a lot of fun just to see the way the writers are really listening and creating these characters from what they see.

What kind of a journey would you say that your characters are on as the season progresses?

Amanda Tapping: It’s a bit of survival -- parts of the season feel really hand-to-mouth. After what happens when we come back in Episode 311, the show that will air on April 15th, it’s sort of blown Sanctuary world wide open, and so there’s a massive amount of hand-to-mouth survival. And we do a couple of really small, sweet singular episodes within that, but then we just kind of keep getting hit.

It’s not like there’s a huge progression or an arc that we’re following in the second half of the season. We revisit at the very end of the season what we’re dealing with in Episode 311, and certainly there’s evidence of it throughout some of the episodes. But there’s a lot of kind of singular - just getting whacked in the side of the head with a 2x4 episodes. So it feels sort of very instinctual and survival.

Robin Dunne: Yes. It’s a crazy ride, and you're going to see us in different times and in different dimensions and sort of how the impact that Magnus has had on history.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: And it is really quite a wild ride. And it’s interesting too to be at this point talking about it, because the first half is really the lead up and the second half of Season 3 really is where things get crazy with Kate.

Amanda Tapping: It’s like at the end of the first half we have this massive explosion, and the rest of the season are the pieces falling out of the sky from that explosion.

Dr. Helen Magnus basically has eternal youth. What gets her out of bed in the morning?

Robin Dunne: Coffee. No, tea.

Amanda Tapping: It’s the need to go to the loo. That’s a terrible answer.

I think that this is a woman who is driven by her passion for what she does and it manifests itself in so many ways. But heavy is the head that wears the crown comes to mind. She shoulders the burden of responsibility for looking after not only the abnormal creatures but the population of humans within the Sanctuary itself and also beyond its walls.

And, I think she holds that responsibility and carries it very seriously. And in some ways, it’s a massive burden; and in other ways it’s a great joy because it is what she’s the most passionate about.

Robin Dunne: There’s absolutely nothing of the victim in Magnus.

Amanda Tapping: No.

Robin Dunne: Magnus takes responsibility for absolutely everything, even things that are not her fault. And I think she’s a character who’s driven by that. It’s like there’s something I need to fix, and I’m not going to stop until I do. And if I had to guess, I would say that that’s the thing that gets her out of bed.

Also, in her bed there’s this spring that just - you know...

Amanda Tapping: It propels me out.

Robin Dunne: Just right out.

Amanda Tapping: The alarm goes off and...

Robin Dunne: Boom.

Amanda Tapping: ...bam!

Robin Dunne: Kind of like something you'd see on a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Amanda Tapping: Or Wallace and Gromit.

Robin Dunne: There you go.

Well, Helen’s been doing it over a lifetime, but Will Zimmerman - this is - it’s a world he’s familiar with, but it’s a new world to him. What gets him going?

Robin Dunne: Abject terror. Just the fleeting notion that he might want to hold on to his life. Yes. No. I mean all seriousness aside; I do think he’s a guy who is really terrified by many of the things that he encounters in the Sanctuary and on this team. But at the same time, I think also he’s a guy who really believes in what the Sanctuary is about, what Magnus wants to do, what her beliefs are, and he’s fully committed.

He’s a guy who’s pound for - what’s that saying?

Amanda Tapping: In for a penny, in for a pound.

Robin Dunne: In for a - whatever that saying is.

Amanda Tapping: In for a penny, in for a pound.

Robin Dunne: In for a penny, in for a pound. All right. I got it. God, stop yelling at me. I’m trying to answer a question here.

You know, he’s a guy who’s just fully on the team and is Magnus’ number two, and is going to do his best to...

Amanda Tapping: I think he’s sort of been getting more excited by what he’s seeing. Imagine joining something like the Sanctuary and your whole world - the esoteric of your entire world is opened up. How fascinating that would be, just the possibility - the learning curve is huge.

Robin Dunne: Just kind of like when you met me.

Amanda Tapping: Kind of like when I met you Robin. Exactly.

Robin Dunne: Yes. Just your whole...

Amanda Tapping: My whole world opened up.

Robin Dunne: Her whole world opened up. And I’m so glad to have given that to you.

Amanda Tapping: Thank you very much my dear friend.

Are you planning - is the plan for Season 4 to continue the same sort of longer-term arcs, or would it go back to more originally - more what you were doing in the 13 episode seasons?

Amanda Tapping: It’s hard to say at this point. And definitely, we’re still dealing with a major story line, the Hollow Earth issue. That sounds terrible. But, the Hollow Earth story line is still being dealt with in Season 4.

And, I think there are always - the arcs are now more prevalent because we have more draw on from our past. We now have 46 episodes of stories, and it’s impossible not to find them interweaving. So, there will be arcs in our 13 episode Season 4, but it’s more tied into what we’ve done in previous episodes that keep sort of coming back and hunts us, or relates back to - you know what I mean?

Robin Dunne: Yes. There certainly - I think there certainly will be arcs. Not the Arc though.

Amanda Tapping: No.

Robin Dunne: Right? I mean, not as of yet. I don’t - was Magnus - Magnus wasn’t on the Arc.

Amanda Tapping: She was not. Cheeky monkey.

Robin Dunne: Oh, you know.

You've had a break. What are some of the things that you do to get back into your characters?

Amanda Tapping: It’s a really good question Michael, because for me it’s really hard, because I don’t - I find her very confusing and besides just going and getting my hair cut and dyed dark brown and getting rid of my blonde roots and learning how to walk in Stilettos again. There’s sort of a physical transformation for Magnus.

I kind of have to wrap my head around a different head space with her. And for me I always get very nervous at the beginning of the season as to whether or not I’ll find her again. And the writing is there, and so you know as long as I know all of the scripts I’m pretty safe. But it is a bit of a panic at the beginning of every season.

Robin Dunne: For me it’s the exact opposite. I have to learn how to not walk in Stilettos and wear regular - which is awkward. And sit ups I guess. I try to do at least 4 sit ups a day, and I haven’t seen any results yet, but I’m sticking to it. But yes. I think also there is - you know, this is Friday.
We’re starting Season 4 on Monday, and every season, I have the same feeling of like, “Okay. Here we go. Back into the jungle for you know, more insanity.”

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: So, there’s a little bit of talking yourself off the ledge at this point.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. A bit of a panic.

Robin Dunne: And then once you're into it and you've got a few days under your belt, it’ll be back on the...

Amanda Tapping: Yes. I’ve been taking kick boxing this hiatus. And I think - and I loved it for a lot of different reasons. But, I think now it’s sort of become more technical for me, so I think - and that’s been in preparation for some of the fight sequences coming up, and I’ve talked to our stunt
coordinator. So stuff like that when your real life actually ends up leading into your work life in a positive way, that’s been really fun. So, I’ve sort of been ramping up my kick boxing workout.

Earlier this year I got to talk to a bunch of the folks who were involved with Riese, and one of the things that kept coming up was that they really talked about Sanctuary with a lot of reverence because you guys are the dream for everybody and anybody out there who does Web series.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

I was wondering if you had any advice for anyone, or your views as to possibly the future of where things are going with Web series?

Amanda Tapping: I think that the Web - we were I think a bit ahead of our time in terms of how to monetize on the Web, in terms of utilizing - social networking even has changed since Sanctuary first came out. I mean Twitter and Facebook and all that has blown up way bigger than what it
was when we started.

So, I think the possibilities on the Web are far greater now than they were. And, I think it’s an amazing tool. Riese is another prime example of a Web series done well - with good production value.

Robin Dunne: I just said - just to interject. Amanda just spilled some water all over the place, so - she’s just so excited about answering the question.

Amanda Tapping: Anyway.

Robin Dunne: Now, do I have to clean that up darling?

Amanda Tapping: Yes, you do please, because I’m answering a question.

Robin Dunne: You spilled the water and I got to clean it up?

Amanda Tapping: Yes, you do.

Robin Dunne: See. This is what it’s like working at Sanctuary.

Amanda Tapping: Thank you, darling. But I - and Riese - again, Riese is a prime example of this. They’ve got amazing production values and they were able to utilize the Web as an advertising tool. And it brought them the notoriety of the networks, which is much the same as what happened with Sanctuary. And I think it’s just going to happen more and more. It’s an amazing tool.

But what I think is going to happen - I think the paradigm really is starting to shift, where shows will live and breathe and stay on the Web. That they don’t necessary have to transition to television. That there will be a whole contingent of not just you know, the squirrel riding a skateboard on You Tube kind of shows, but real production value on the Web in ongoing series.



Multipleverses was invited to a conference call with the always charming Amanda Tapping and hilarious Robin Dunne to talk about the return of Sanctuary – all new episodes begin tonight at 10PM on Syfy. Here are the highlights from the call.

Question: So of the episodes that are still to come for the rest of the season – for the third season, do either of you or both of you have a favorite moment from shooting those remaining episodes?

Robin Dunne: The great thing about the second half of season three is that all the things that the team – the Sanctuary team – Magnus and the Sanctuary team have gotten into in the first half really, really become back to the ramifications they have to deal with in the second half. And it’s really quite a roller coaster ride the second half.

I think if I had to pick a favorite moment, we have an episode coming up that is the biggest episode we’ve ever done scope-wise, story-wise, everything. And it takes place in the past, back in World War II, and it was a really special episode to shoot. It’s quintessential Sanctuary thinking outside the box.

When we were on set shooting those things with tanks driving around, it was really quite an experience. So I guess if I had to pick one, I love every single moment, every waking and sleeping moment that I have on Sanctuary. But if I had to pick one, I think it’d be from that episode.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. The episode is called Normandy, and there was just something very special. There was an interesting vibe on set when we shot it. And the look is very different, but it’s a really cool episode.

Question: And what would you say for each of you has been the biggest challenge for you working on Sanctuary?

Amanda Tapping: Well, I had to direct Robin Dunne in an episode called One Night. I’m just going to stop there.

Robin Dunne: And I think my most challenging moment was being directed by Amanda. I mean, she’s just a sadist. She made me do 750 takes of something once, just out of pure…

Amanda Tapping: Because we had the time.

Robin Dunne: Yes. She made me sing Hot Blooded in front of the entire crew for no reason. It was just to humiliate me. It’s really been a challenge.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Question: So what is it about your characters that you still find interesting? That makes you want to come to work and play them you know for three – well, getting ready to start four seasons of the show now?

Amanda Tapping: For me, I still don’t completely get Magnus. I find her to be such an enigma. And there’s so many things about the decisions that she makes that I still can’t wrap my head around, and to me that’s fascinating as an actor to try to get inside somebody so complex and so
kind of confusing.

So, every time we start up the season, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve got to get back inside this woman’s head.” And it’s so different from the way that I think sometimes, that that’s the challenge for me. And, it’s scary and it’s fun to be scared.

Robin Dunne: I think for me, I really like the commitment that Will has. He’s constantly terrified by what he’s faced with at the Sanctuary, but is always putting that terror aside and committing to what the team has to do. And, I like that about Will. I find that a really good character trait.

I also like coming to work every day and getting my share done, and also they feed me here, which is nice.

Question: (Regarding the last episode) When you guys were hanging there dead, were you really hanging?

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: It was really uncomfortable. No kidding. It was painful after awhile. We were in these rigs that kind of pulled up your back and stretched you out in this weird way, and then we had to have our hands out to the side holding onto these little wires that were hanging down and
it really hurt. And in between takes, they would run and put apple boxes underneath us so we could take a bit of the pressure off our backs. But…

Robin Dunne: It’s one of those things where you could – you think about at conception like how hard could it be? We’ve got harnesses on, we’re hanging, and – but then you actually do it and you’re like, “Wow. This is really tiring.”

Amanda Tapping: Really uncomfortable. (Pull me in).

Robin Dunne: On top of that, Martin Wood was pelting us with tennis balls while it was happening…

Amanda Tapping: Yes. That didn’t help.

Robin Dunne: …which did not add to the comfort.

Question: What is the coolest about your job. Not necessarily a specific episode or anything. Just about going to work and everything. Robin, it’s you getting your hair done, but Amanda what’s yours?

Amanda Tapping: I think the coolest thing is the relationships not just between the characters, but honestly between the people that make this show. We’ve always been the little show that could. And this is going to sound hokie as all can be, but we’ve always been the show that people weren’t sure we could ever get it made.

It was this little web series. It’s always been a struggle, and I think through that struggle, the relationships were forged even more strongly. And, there’s a huge amount of trust on this set because we all kind of jumped into the fire holding hands together. And so the coolest thing is coming to work and seeing you know 70 smiling faces who all want to be here, and feeling a collective – I don’t know. A sort of selective conscious to make this show really good.

Everyone is committed. Like the location guys care about the script. Everyone’s reading the script and everyone cares about what happens, and people help each other. It’s a very special vibe here.

Robin Dunne: Everyone is committed and everyone should be committed.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. Definitely.

Robin Dunne: But as an example, yesterday we had the first table read of Season 4. And we’ve been off for a few months, and just to get everybody back in the same room and reading together and instantly picking up where we left off; it’s just such an amazing feeling to — like Amanda says — come to work and work with all your friends every day.

But I mean, also have to put up with Martin Wood and Damien Kindler. But, you know nothing is perfect.

Amanda Tapping: You know, there’s not. Right. That’s why they pay us.

Question: 20 episodes this season, 13 next season; are you guys relieved? Did it kind of kick your butts, or do you kind of wish you had 20 more? Or…

Amanda Tapping: Honestly, I think 13 is a good number for us. Twenty was really hard. It was a great joy because we were able to flesh things out more. And I think had we been given more lead up to starting our season, although we had a network pickup early, we are the little independent television series that needs to get its financing together.

So, we really only had five weeks to prep this entire season. And if we were doing 20, I think we’d all be in an insane asylum by now. Thirteen was like, we can do 13 with five weeks. There’s no way we could’ve been prepared for 20.

Robin Dunne: And the classic thing with Sanctuary is that nobody says we can’t do that. So, the Writing team will come up with these huge episodes and doing these things and everybody just stands together and gets it done. And we’re not a huge show, so it really is an amazing experience to do these different episodes every week, but it is really tiring. So, I think 13 is…

Amanda Tapping: Thirteen will keep us all sane.

Robin Dunne: Yes. Ish. Ish.

Amanda Tapping: Ish.

Question: So with Will slowly almost dying towards the end of last year and Magnus actually facing mortality this year, I was wondering since they both have gone through that process, will that be something that we see play out for the rest of the year as well?

Amanda Tapping: Kind of. I mean, I think the cool thing about these characters is that they move on quickly, if you know what I mean. They’re not ones to sort of…

Robin Dunne: Yes. They can’t really – they don’t have time to dwell on the fact that, “Hey. I almost died there.”

Amanda Tapping: I almost died again.

Robin Dunne: Okay. Well, moving on. Got to – you know, got to keep (going on, it’s like a signal).

Amanda Tapping: Yes. I think maybe the ramifications for Magnus are a bit different because she was faced quite imminently with mortality. And I think you’ll see in Season 4 especially a decision being made that might surprise people.

But – and then for Will, I think it’s like everything that happens to Will it seems to me just gets worse and worse and worse, and he’s still hanging in.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: So I think there must be a part of this character that just kind of goes, “Oh. Yes. Another day at the office, and today I was killed. Okay.”

Robin Dunne: I mean it’s not a caviler attitude by any stretch.

Amanda Tapping: No.

Robin Dunne: He certainly lives his life in – battling in – with the fear of working in the Sanctuary. But also, like Amanda says, you know we have to move on because there’s always stuff for us to do here, and you know trying to barely hang on with our fingernails.

Question: We saw Will take more of a leadership role this year, and there’s even been moments where he sort of kind of questioned Helen and told her she was wrong. Is that him taking control or realizing that he can be leader? Is that something else we’re going to see playing out the rest of this year too?

Robin Dunne: Well, somebody needs to put Magnus in her place you know? She can’t just go run willy-nilly doing whatever she wants. And I think certainly Will is the guy to do it.

I mean in all seriousness, I really like the relationship between Will and Magnus.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. I do too.

Robin Dunne: I think yes; Will being able to say to Magnus, “Look. I disagree with you respectfully,” and even if it’s something she doesn’t want to hear. It comes out of a very deep bond between the two characters, and I think you’re going to continue to see that throughout the
next season.

Amanda Tapping: I think that that’s one of the reasons Magnus chose Will, right? She doesn’t want a yes man.

Robin Dunne: No.

Amanda Tapping: She wants somebody who’s going to be intelligent enough and ballsy enough to call her on what she’s doing wrong. She didn’t want to hire a patsy. So – and what’s beautiful about the development of the relationship, and it’s happened so organically; he has come into his
own. He’s realized what he does bring to the Sanctuary.

In the first season, it was a much different relationship. And now, I think there’s a really beautiful level playing field.

Robin Dunne: You all heard that. Will is intelligent and ballsy. I think…

Amanda Tapping: Will is Robin. Not you; Will.

Robin Dunne: Well you know Will and Robin are very you know…

Question: So I saw some of the little preview clips and it looks like Amanda, you’re rocking a red wig. Is that true?

Amanda Tapping: It is true. It is true.

Robin Dunne: And it’s hot.

Amanda Tapping: In an episode that – in the episode called Normandy…

Robin Dunne: She’s wearing it right now actually.

Amanda Tapping: But that’s just for fun. I actually – it’s sort of an homage to my grandmother, who grew up in England and lived through two World Wars. She was born in 1901 and lived to the ripe old age of 103-1/2. And, her entire life had this red bob haircut and dyed her hair red up until she was like 102 I think. And so, that was in homage to her, but I really liked it.

So who knows? I mean the beauty of this character is she’s old enough and has been around enough that she can kind of do whatever she wants.

Question: Right. Right. Are we going to see Declan back?

Amanda Tapping: Of course. Absolutely. He’s a huge part of the family.

Okay. Want to give us hint when, or…

Amanda Tapping: Well in the second half, when do we see – just going through the – we see him in Pax don’t we? And he’s in One Night, the episode I directed, and he’s in…

Robin Dunne: The great thing about Robert is he’s really become that solid
…

Amanda Tapping: He’s in Carentan in a big way.

Robin Dunne: He’s always a member of the team, and…

Amanda Tapping: Yes. He’s – yes. He’s a big part of the show.

Question: And Robin, are you ever going to direct?

Robin Dunne: Funny you should say that. I believe I will be directing this season coming up. The Episode 6 of Season 4 I will direct, and I think that completely terrifies everyone involved in the show. But yes, it’s going to be exciting. I plan to show up every day to work in a bathrobe and use a megaphone to shout out my directions. But I think that’ll just be a good way to get everyone’s attention.

Curt Wagner: Are you looking forward to getting back at everyone?

Robin Dunne: Yes. Oh, I have a list. The list. So, it’s like a phone book, and I am just going to – you know, Martin Wood and Damien Kindler are right at the top. So yes, it’s going to be exciting. No. But in all seriousness; it’s something that is scary, obviously since I’ve never done it before. But, I’m really thankful for the opportunity and you know I probably won’t sleep the first couple nights before, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Amanda Tapping: He’s going to do a great job. One of the things when Martin, Damien, and I formed our company was we really wanted to foster young talent and mentor people into positions where they might not have had the opportunity before. So, we’ve had a lot of first time directors on our show. Our camera operator Steve Adelson, Lee Wilson directed for the first time. I’ve been given you know three different shots now.

Robin Dunne: Damien.

Amanda Tapping: Damien directing last year. And so when Robin asked it was like of course. This is what we do. And there’s a massive support network, but I think he’ll totally rock it.

Question: I was wondering if in this upcoming season Helen will have a chance for some romance? Past? Present?

Amanda Tapping: Yes. Well at the end of season – the second half of Season 3 – it’s sort of weird, because we’re about to start Season 4, so that’s where our heads are at. In the second half of Season 3, not so much. So when we were going through – you see a little bit of it in Normandy, but no. Not a lot of love for Helen.

So when we were talking about Season 4 and playing out ideas, one of the things that I insisted on was that Magnus at least gets some love interest in Season 4. And, we’re working on that. I think it’s going to be really interesting.

Question: And how will she be celebrating her 164th birthday?

Amanda Tapping: Well, God. I can’t even say, can I?

Robin Dunne: No.

Amanda Tapping: No. I can’t tell you. It’s – again, it deals with the beginning – the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4. Something unbelievable happens and I’m not sure that Helen actually really celebrates her 164th birthday.

Robin Dunne: One hint, just one little bone I can throw you is that Bigfoot will be jumping out of a cake.

Amanda Tapping: That was just on set Robin. That wasn’t going to be in
the show.

Robin Dunne: Wasn’t that part of the show?

Amanda Tapping: No we didn’t film that.

Robin Dunne: Oh, God. So fun.

Question: Could you describe the Helen/Will relationship?

Amanda Tapping: I was saying this earlier that I love how this relationship has developed. It’s been a really organic transformation of Will’s character and Magnus. To actually bring somebody on board who initially it’s all about teaching him the ropes. And then as the seasons have gone on, he’s come into his own. He’s come into his own as a scientist. He’s come into his own in terms of his relationship with the people in the Sanctuary.

And, it’s now a very level playing field between these two characters. It can be combative. It’s hugely respectful. But, it feels now like it’s a much more interesting relationship to play because they’re two equals. I mean Helen outweighs him in experience and that’s just a matter of course, but he’s actually – he sacrificed so much for the Sanctuary and there’s a huge amount of trust between the two of them.

And she – I think he’s one of the few people who can call her on her stuff, so…

Robin Dunne: Yes. There’s a nice synchronicity that has formed between the two characters. And really, they’re two people that depend on each other for survival. And therefore, you know that’s where the respect comes out of. And yes; it’s a really nice thing…

Amanda Tapping: It’s a fun relationship to play now.

Question: what would you two like to see happen for your character, like character development-wise. Not necessarily you know, story.

Robin Dunne: I’d love to do a musical. I think just to be on stage and sing, and I’d love Will to sort of get into more dance routines. I mean, we did a little bit of the Bollywood. I think it would be lovely to just show off some of my other skills that I have.

I mean, I’m a juggler. I do magic. And I just think there’s so many wasted opportunities that they haven’t brought these things into the show. I can do many things and I think I would just wish that the creative team…

Amanda Tapping: We’re wasting some of that…

Robin Dunne: Yes. I…

Amanda Tapping: …precious talent.

Robin Dunne: Yes. I wish they would just take some of the…

Amanda Tapping: We’ll take that under advisement.

Robin Dunne: …wealth of talent that I bring to the table. I wish just some of those – more would be – it would be used. It’s sad really.

Amanda Tapping: Wow. I was just going to say I hope Magnus gets a really cool love interest this year.

I know what’s beautiful is sometimes we’re allowed to sit in with the writers, and I’ve been here for the last months sort of sitting while they’ve been developing the series. The stuff they come up with is beyond what we could even imagine happening. So they come up with stuff that’s always so much better and so much cooler than what we think of.

The only thing I asked for was that I hope Helen gets like a really interesting love interest. Not that I want it to be about Helen having a love interest; I just want to show that there’s a very evolved, loving – you know sexual, interesting woman in there besides just this sort of analytic
scientist that we’ve sort of been seeing for the last (few seasons).

Robin Dunne: And we’ve all kind of gotten a little bit of romance.

Amanda Tapping: Except for Magnus.

Robin Dunne: And Magnus is a little left out I think.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: She’s feeling a little left out.

Amanda Tapping: You’re wasting good Stilettos.

Question: Now I read that Edge is going to be in the season finale. What was he like to work with?

Amanda Tapping: He’s a great guy actually. We were all kind of like, “Uh-oh. God. A wrestler. What’s going to happen?”

Robin Dunne: He’s going to beat me up.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. He did, which we paid extra for. But he’s a really sweet guy. He’s a good Canadian boy. He came up and I didn’t get to work with him in the episode, but I got to do some promo shoots with him. And he’s just a real sweetheart; down to Earth, and interesting, and intelligent, and yes – I don’t know what we expected. I have no idea. We just expected this big chest-something wrestler to come raging through our set and he was just a very gentle footprint.

Robin Dunne: He’s a mountain of a guy.

Amanda Tapping: Yes. He’s huge.

Robin Dunne: He’s enormous. But he gets to the set and he’s just the most soft spoken, you know nice, quiet guy. It was quite a lot of fun.

I had an entire day of just having the crap beaten out of me by him. And after every take, and you’ve got this big imposing guy on camera. He’s like throwing me around and punching me and clothes-lining me and all kinds of stuff, and then Damien, who was directing that episode, would call cut and then he’d come over and be like, “Oh, man. I’m sorry.” You could tell that he almost kind of felt bad about it. And yes; it was a lot of fun working with – he was a sweet guy.

Question: So what kind of a journey would you say – because you teased us a little bit with what’s coming up. But what kind of a journey would you say that your characters are on as the season progresses?

Amanda Tapping: It’s a bit of survival — parts of the season feel really hand-to-mouth. After what happens when we come back in Episode 311, the show that will air on April 15th, it’s sort of blown Sanctuary world wide open, and so there’s a massive amount of hand-to-mouth survival. And we do a couple of really small, sweet singular episodes within that, but then we just kind of keep getting hit.

It’s not like there’s a huge progression or an arc that we’re following in the second half of the season. We revisit at the very end of the season what we’re dealing with in Episode 311, and certainly there’s evidence of it throughout some of the episodes. But there’s a lot of kind of singular – just getting whacked in the side of the head with a 2×4 episodes. So it feels sort of very instinctual and survival.

Robin Dunne: Yes. It’s a crazy ride, and you’re going to see us in different times and in different dimensions and sort of how the impact that Magnus has had on history.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: And it is really quite a wild ride. And it’s interesting too to be at this point talking about it, because the first half is really the lead up and the second half of Season 3 really is where things get crazy with Kate.

Amanda Tapping: It’s like at the end of the first half we have this massive explosion, and the rest of the season are the pieces falling out of the sky from that explosion.

Question: And what would you say as you’re going forth here has been your biggest surprise this season? What’s a thing you didn’t expect that just you know surprised the heck out of you?

Amanda Tapping: That’s a good question. I think Normandy was a big revelation for us. It was something that sounded cool on paper, but we really weren’t sure whether we could execute it in a respectful and also in an interesting way, because it was something we were going to try that
was totally different.

And I think that – when we finally got on set — and I know we’ve said this before — but it was something about being on that set, and I don’t know if it’s because we were playing a period that is very real and has a lot of lasting and a very tragic memory for people, but there was a reverence on set when we were shooting that episode to being true to the period. To being true to the story. In our own Sanctuary way into it, but to just really honor that time.

And it was for me, it was very – like we were shooting nights. We were up in the mountains. It was pouring rain. And there wasn’t a single complaint. There wasn’t a single bad feeling. Everyone felt really lucky to be there.

And I don’t know. I guess when you’re up there and you can have a warming tent, which the men and women fighting in World War II didn’t have, you feel like a bit of a loser when – you know. It (pays) to say it was interesting.

Robin Dunne: It’s no secret that we’re all kind of a bunch of goofballs over here and we like to joke around and laugh, and we do have a great time and play silly jokes on each other and we’re constantly laughing. But it was really interesting – there’s a behind the scenes of Normandy where we’re all kind of talking about what it was like to shoot that episode and I watched it – I actually watched it with Damien.

And as soon as it was over I said, “You know what? What’s really interesting about that is none of us in that behind the scenes footage are goofing around or making silly faces or laughing. It was really kind of a different feeling.” And I think it was just a reverence for the material, and just recognizing what a huge accomplishment that episode was.

And when you’re sitting – I remember sitting on set, which was – like Amanda said, we were up in the mountains and it was just absolutely pouring down rain in the middle of the night, and I remember Marty Wood said, “Okay. Let’s bring in the tank,” and this tank – this actual working…

Amanda Tapping: Period tank.

Robin Dunne: …period tank pulled around the corner. You could hear it coming for you know…

Amanda Tapping: Miles.

Robin Dunne: …miles. And just to sort of be in the middle of that and witness the scope of the show was amazing.

And also, the way Will was worked into that show…

Amanda Tapping: Yes. Will was worked in a really cool way.

Robin Dunne: Really cool way. Yes. I was…

Amanda Tapping: It was just one of those where it kind of snuck up on us, and that’s kind of the revelation. When the emotion sneaks up on you and you go, “Oh. Oh wow. Okay.” It’s beautiful when that happens, and we’re very lucky that we were open to that, or that we’re allowed to experience that.

Question: I know it was a big blow to the series of course when Ashley died. I was wondering if she’s ever going to come back in some way – form? Because I know a lot of fans miss her.

Amanda Tapping: We tried to get Emilie back this last season, in Season 3, actually, in an episode towards the end of our season, and she wasn’t available. And so it’s sort of the opportunities are getting smaller and smaller.

And my big concern – I mean, we wanted to bring her back in an organic and interesting way that didn’t feel like we were just trying to placate you know a contingent of fandom that were pissed off that she had – she wasn’t on the show anymore. We wanted it to be reverent to her character, to her as an actress, and to the story arc of the show.

And so we found a great way to do it and then she wasn’t available. And now it’s like I just – I’m loathed to stick a square peg in a round hole just to appease a small contingent of the fans, when I think that her character and her as an actress deserve more than that.

So yes. Of course there’s always a possibility that she will be brought back, but it will be in a way that honors her and isn’t just trying to you know fill a gap.

Question: Well on the plus side of that, I think a lot of the fan base has finally fully warmed up to Kate and she’s become a really good – great member of the team.

Amanda Tapping: She has. She really has, and it wasn’t like we were trying to replace Ashley with Kate. I mean, Kate – we really wanted her to be a very different character, and we wanted her not to be liked at the beginning.

We wanted the audience to go on the same ride that the Sanctuary team members were going on with Kate. Mistrustful. Not even liking her. You know, at times finding her annoying. And certainly, it’s taking the time to build trust. And that’s how the Sanctuary team saw here, and that’s what we wanted the audience to go on the exact same ride.

So to hear the negative comments at the beginning, it was almost like, “Great. We’re doing our job because we’re doing exactly what we set out to do and people are on board.”

And then to see the comments shift as the story lines were shifting and the characters were shifting, it made total sense to us. So I think we brought her in in the right way. It would’ve been you know easy and boring to bring in a character that was instantly likable and you know, had a lot of the same characteristics as Ashley. But, it would’ve been completely – a completely bogus way to do it.

And again, it would’ve been disrespectful to the character of Ashley, and disrespectful to the new actor coming in.

Robin Dunne: and also just to have seen the evolution of the character of Kate, coming from that place where she wasn’t trusted by anybody in the Sanctuary. Her allegiances were unclear as to you know, who she was – what – who’s side she was on. And to see where that character has come
now, and the fact that she really is part of the team and really has a deep caring for the Sanctuary and the connection to the team, it is really nice. And, I think Agam’s done a great job of…

Amanda Tapping: Sort of bridging that gap. Like in you know, coming from one side of it into the other, and it’s happened really in a really nice way. We’re really thrilled. We’re thrilled at the way things have worked out.

Question: Well, I totally can’t wait until the next part of the season starts. You guys left it at a hideously horrible cliffhanger.

Amanda Tapping: We really did, didn’t we? Small hint, big spoiler; we lived.


When last we saw Dr. Helen Magnus and her Sanctuary team in “The Hollow Men,” they were hanging, lifeless, in the city of Praxis in Hollow Earth.

“Big spoiler: We lived,” Amanda Tapping, who plays Magnus, joked during a recent interview with her co-star, Robin Dunne, and TV writers.

But were Tapping and Dunne, who plays Dr. Will Zimmerman, and their co-stars Agam Darshi and Ryan Robbins really strung up while filming the scene?

“It was really uncomfortable. No kidding. It was painful after awhile,” Tapping said. “We were in these rigs that kind of pulled up your back and stretched you out in this weird way, and then we had to have our hands out to the side holding onto these little wires that were hanging down and
it really hurt. And in between takes, they would run and put apple boxes underneath us so we could take a bit of the pressure off our backs.”

Dunne said he didn’t expect the stunt to be so difficult. “You think … ‘How hard could it be? We’ve got harnesses on…’ But then you actually do it and you're like, ‘Wow. This is really tiring.’”

The Syfy series returns at 8 p.m. Friday with “Pax Romana,” the first of 10 new episodes for Season 3. Magnus and her team are still in Hollow Earth, where Ranna (Polly Walker) quickly learns that they just might be able to help her with her super-abnormal problem—and with Adam Worth (Ian Tracey).

Having “Sanctuary” back after its long break is like welcoming an old friend back into your home. You missed them while they were away and are completely happy and fulfilled when they return.

Below, we pick up my conversation with Tapping and Dunne as they explain more about their “death scene.” With these two, its often best just to write up these interviews as a Q&A so readers can get the full idea of how they play off each other.

Amanda Tapping: Really uncomfortable.

Robin Dunne: On top of that, Martin Wood was pelting us with tennis balls while it was happening...

AT: Yes. That didn’t help.

RD: ...which did not add to the comfort.

Martin sounds like the true sadist out there. [From Curt: Answering another person’s question, Dunne joked the Tapping was a sadist when she directed an episode this season.]

AT: He is. He really is. It’s not me at all.

RD: We’ve all learned from him.

AT: Yes.

I also wanted to ask what is the coolest about your job. Not necessarily a specific episode or anything, but just the work, the place, the people.

AT: I think the coolest thing is the relationships not just between the characters but, honestly, between the people who make this show. We’ve always been the little show that could. And this is going to sound hokey as all can be, but we’ve always been the show that people weren’t sure we
could ever get it made. It was this little web series. It’s always been a struggle, and I think through that struggle, the relationships were forged even more strongly. And, there’s a huge amount of trust on this set because we all kind of jumped into the fire holding hands together. And so the coolest thing is coming to work and seeing you know 70 smiling faces who all want to be here, and feeling a collective—I don’t know—a sort of selective conscious to make this show really good. Everyone is committed. Like the location guys care about the script. Everyone’s reading the script and everyone cares about what happens, and people help each other. It’s a very special vibe here.

RD: Everyone is committed and everyone should be committed.

AT: Yes. Definitely.

RD: But as an example, yesterday we had the first table read of Season 4. And we’ve been off for a few months, and just to get everybody back in the same room and reading together and instantly picking up where we left off; it’s just such an amazing feeling to—like Amanda says—come to work and work with all your friends every day. But I mean, also have to put up with Martin Wood and Damien Kindler. But, you know nothing is perfect.

AT: You know, there’s not. Right. That’s why they pay us.

RD: Yes.

You did 20 episodes this season, and will have 13 next season. Are you guys relieved? Did it kind of kick your butts, or do you kind of wish you had 20 more?

AT: Honestly, I think 13 is a good number for us. Twenty was really hard It was a great joy because we were able to flesh things out more. And I think had we been given more lead up to starting our season, although we had a network pickup early, we are the little independent television series that needs to get its financing together. So, we really only had five weeks to prep this entire season. And if we were doing 20, I think we’d all be in an insane asylum by now. We can do 13 with five weeks. There’s no way we could’ve been prepared for 20.

RD: And the classic thing with “Sanctuary” is that nobody says we can’t do that. So, the writing team will come up with these huge episodes and doing these things and everybody just stands together and gets it done. And we’re not a huge show, so it really is an amazing experience to do
these different episodes every week, but it is really tiring. So, I think 13 is...

AT: Thirteen will keep us all sane.

RD: Yes. Ish. Ish.

AT: Ish.

Well, don’t be too sane.

AT: OK. Absolutely.

Oh, Mary from the Czech Republic says hello. [That was @SamanthaMajka]

AT: Hello, (Mary).

RD: I love the Czech Republic.

I saw some of the little preview clips and it looks like Amanda, you're rocking a red wig. Is that true?

AT: It is true.

RD: And it’s hot.

AT: In an episode called “Normandy”...

RD: She’s wearing it right now actually.

AT: But that’s just for fun. It’s sort of an homage to my grandmother, who grew up in England and lived through two world wars. She was born in 1901 and lived to the ripe old age of 103 1/2. And, her entire life she had this red bob haircut and dyed her hair red up until she was 102, I think. And so, that was in homage to her, but I really liked it. So who knows? I mean the beauty of this character is she’s old enough and has been around enough that she can kind of do whatever she wants.

And Robin, are you ever going to direct?

RD: Funny you should say that. I believe I will be directing this season coming up. Episode 6 of Season 4 I will direct, and I think that completely terrifies everyone involved in the show. But yes, it’s going to be exciting. I plan to show up every day to work in a bathrobe and use a megaphone to shout out my directions. But I think that’ll just be a good way to get everyone’s attention.

Are you looking forward to getting back at everyone?

RD: Yes. Oh, I have a list. The list. So, it’s like a phone book, and I am just going to—Martin Wood and Damien Kindler are right at the top. So yes, it’s going to be exciting. No. But in all seriousness; it’s something that is scary, obviously since I’ve never done it before. But, I’m really
thankful for the opportunity and you know I probably won’t sleep the first couple nights before, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

AT: He’s going to do a great job. One of the things when Martin, Damien, and I formed our company was we really wanted to foster young talent and mentor people into positions where they might not have had the opportunity before. So, we’ve had a lot of first time directors on our show. Our camera operator Steve Adelson, Lee Wilson directed for the first time. I’ve been given you know three different shots now.

RD: Damien.

AT: Damien directing last year. And so when Robin asked it was like of course. This is what we do. And there’s a massive support network, but I think he’ll totally rock it.

Is there anything that really surprised you coming up about your character that you weren’t expecting or that happened earlier in the season?

AT: We had a cool episode toward the end of Season 3 that shows you a different side of our characters, and it’s a rather unexpected view of these two people. Magnus much more vulnerable and kind of freaked out than you've ever seen her, and...

RD: It’s like many episodes of “Sanctuary,” kind of unrecognizable but in a very different way. I think you could even say that the characters themselves—Will and Magnus don’t even recognize themselves. And it was a really interesting episode to shoot, completely different location. The lighting. Everything looked like a totally different show and it was very interesting to shoot—odd in a way because you're playing the same character but in a completely different realm. And yes, it was exciting.

That’s coming up—what number is that? That’s...

AT: 19.

RD: 19.

And Robin, I’m looking forward to talking to you a little bit later or sometime about “Metamorphosis.”

RD: Yes. That was a really cool episode too. I just did the DVD commentary yesterday with the director, Andy Mikita, and just...

AT: Robin was amazing in this episode “Metamorphosis,” because he also acted as the cameraman. He wore a helmet cam, so a lot of the show is his POV. So not only was there a physical transformation in terms of prosthetics, but also Robin worked the camera. He was exhausted. I was so worried about him when we were shooting that episode because he was just doing everything. And, it’s an amazing performance.

RD: The one good thing about that was that I wear a helmet cam in my private life, just shooting my own life, so I was really used to using one of those things. So, yes; the learning curve wasn’t so crazy for me on that one.

AT: That’s why you have such a strong neck. OK.



With hundreds of thousands of people attending San Diego Comic-Con every year and the July 20-24 event quickly approaching, The Hollywood Reporter chatted with the big names in television to discuss their favorite memories and tips for attending the annual event. THR’s Live Feed will talk Comic-Con with actors, writers and producers in the days leading up to the event so check back soon for interviews and the latest news on panels and screenings.

Amanda Tapping
Geek Cred: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary
Comic-Con panel: Sanctuary, Saturday, July 23, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Indigo Ballroom

The Hollywood Reporter: What stands out from your Comic-Con experiences?

Amanda Tapping: I’ve been to maybe eight or nine Comic-Cons and when we first started Sanctuary, I’d been going as a Stargate actor and was barely able to walk the floor. We went for Sanctuary, and didn’t have a booth or panel and piggybacked off someone else’s booth. The next year, we had a bigger room and a bigger panel. There were 1,000 people in attendance, now we’re in the 2,000-person room. It feels like every year, we can see a progression for Sanctuary.
 
THR: What’s the best thing a fan has ever said to you at Comic-Con?

Tapping: I was in the washroom at and a woman squealed, “Oh my gosh, it’s you!” Then she said, “I’ve been watching you since I was 10. You made me realize that girls can be strong and smart and you changed my life.” It was the double-edged sword of, “Oh my God, I’m old” and “How fantastic that I had this impact.”

Comic-Con 2011: Full THR Coverage
 
THR: Do you recall an experience from your very first Comic-Con?

Anything that you remember specifically?

Tapping: At the hotel seeing how many people were dressed up as their favorite sci-fi characters. There were more people dressed up than there were people going in regular clothes.
 
THR: Tips for pulling off a kick-ass presentation?

Tapping: Don’t take yourself too seriously. The fans respond so much better when everyone’s laughing and having a good time.
 
THR: Which panel would you stand in line for?

Tapping: The original Star Trek reunion panel. I would stand in line just to see what stories came out of that.

THR: What would be your dream panel?

Tapping: I’d like to see J.J. Abrams and Damian Kindler, our show creator, on a panel. I think they are similar in a lot of ways; I think they would totally be geeking out, at least Damian would anyways.  I would surround him with his heroes and watch him go crazy.
 
THR: What questions would you recommend fans not ask at panels?

Tapping: Questions about specific actors or actresses that may be a bit untoward, like “Why is that person not here anymore?” or “How come this person is only doing this many episodes?” You can’t really answer the question honestly.

THR: What’s coming up during Season 4 of Sanctuary?

Tapping: We painted ourselves in an impossible-to-get-out-of corner at the end of Season 3 and we start in a time and place that is very special to my character [Dr. Helen Magnus], but is rich with history and stories. I directed the second episode and Robin Dunne directed the sixth episode. We do an episode on a tropical island. We do an episode on an ice breaker on the Behring Sea. The Victorian era episode, it was raining inside the studio. You’ll see a great directing turn from Robin Dunne.

THR: Who can viewers expect to see in the upcoming season?

Tapping: The guest stars that the fans have really loved and embraced are all back this year. Carlo Rotta is in an episode called “Monsoon” and he’s laugh out loud funny. Brian Markinson, who has been in everything from Woody Allen films to Angels in America, he did our third episode and we’re having him come back because we loved him so much.

The fourth season of Sanctuary premieres this fall.



The SyFy series Sanctuary has changed the scope of television by shooting exclusively with green screens and special effects. While their technology is out of this world, however, the series’ stars Robin Dunne (Dr. Will Zimmerman) and Amanda Tapping (Dr. Helen Magnus) are very much down to earth. The duo recently participated in a conference call where they spoke with about their upcoming episodes, how their characters have changed since the beginning of the series, and what’s in store for Season 4.

Question: Can you talk about the musical episode?

Amanda: The musical episode is our eighth episode. It’s called Fugue. It was written by Damian Kindler and he wrote the lyrics for the music with our composer, Andrew Lockington. And it’s interesting…you’re not going to see an episode of Glee. There’s not big production numbers or dancing or anything like that. It’s actually a very organic way of telling a story, and the songs, even though the songs are sung, it’s sort of like you’re hearing a scene.

Robin: Yes, I think the way that the music and the story are married together, like Amanda says…it’s very organic and it was an amazing episode to shoot. During a lot of the musical scenes, a lot of the crew were saying that it was like they were just watching a scene, and the singing was sort of secondary, which was kind of interesting.

Amanda: What was cool about it was the crew really got into the idea of doing a musical, so everyone on set was singing. You know, “we’re coming up behind you, we’re carrying a ladder,” it was really funny, and it was just a great atmosphere. But it sort of goes with the idea that certain
people respond better to frequencies, certain musical frequencies or tonal qualities, than they do to actual voice. So we sort of took that idea and made it a Sanctuary episode.

Robin: It was also kind of interesting, too. It was a very emotional episode to shoot. Something about the music really brought the emotion out in a lot of people, and not just the actors but we had like, burly grip guys standing in the back of the room kind of wiping tears away from their eyes, which was kind of interesting.

Question: Can you talk about upcoming guest stars?

Amanda: Well Ian Tracey is back as Adam Worth, and Jonathon Young is back as Tesla. Peter Wingfield is back as James Watson.

Robin: We have a very, kind of cool new villain this year, played by Brian Markinson.

Amanda: We had him in one episode, and loved him so much that we kept bringing him back. Carlo Rota does a couple of episodes of the show.

Robin: Al Sapienza plays Will’s dad, in a wonderful performance – you know him from the Sopranos.

Amanda: Robert Lawrenson is back a fair bit as Declan, which is great. What you’ve seen over the past three seasons, as we build the Sanctuary family, we utilize them a lot. And I think that’s what I love about the show. If you come on and we really dig you – and we have pretty much dug everyone who’s come on the show – we just keep bringing you back.

Question: What kind of a journey would you say that your characters are on this season?

Robin: I would say it’s the darkest kind of journey we’ve been on. I mean, we’ve been in some dark places, but I think this season there is some real friction and real ugly truths that come out.

Amanda: Yes and it feels like every relationship this season is tested, and thankfully survived, but there’s a difference at the end of it, in the way that the characters deal with each other. Magnus has a big episode with Tesla, and it changes the course of their relationship somewhat. Will and
Magnus are on this incredible…you know, she’s still lying to him and they’re at loggerheads a lot, but you can tell at the heart of it all, there’s incredible love between the two characters, and incredible respect. But this is a bit of a darker season. It’s not without its crazy humor, because it
wouldn’t be Sanctuary without it, but it’s a much darker season and I think the best way to say it is that the relationships are all tested. I think we say this every press junket that we do, every season, that it’s our best season ever but I really feel that Season 4 has just blown the lid off anything we’ve done before.

Question: What is the thing that the viewers just are going to be thrown for a loop by seeing?

Amanda: Well, we can’t tell you, because then they won’t be thrown for a loop. And we like throwing people for loops. What’s the thing they would be most surprised at…probably the friction between Magnus and Will.

Robin: The audience is going to be shocked by some of the interactions between Magnus and Will this season. And also I think things like Fugue, are really, really going to be really momentous moments.

Amanda: I think even our first couple of episodes, like Tempus that, the fact that it takes place entirely in Victorian-era England in such a bizarre set of circumstances is going to launch the season I think quite incredibly.

Question: Can you tell our fans a little bit about the season premiere, and what they can look forward to this season?

Amanda: Well the season premiere, again, takes place in Victorian-era England. It’s almost a direct cut from how we ended Season 3. So actually, the first two episodes of the season are the conclusion to our season finale last year. And we had initially discussed doing them, sort of flashing back and forth between the two storylines, one in Victorian-era England and one what’s appening in current day. And we just realized that in order to service both stories properly, they needed to be separate. You would need to jog the audience back and forth. So Tempus is Magnus stuck in Victorian-era England, trying to hide from her past self, trying to stop Ian Tracey’s character Adam Worth from altering the timeline. And the second episode, Uprising, is basically how Will and Henry and Kate and Bigfoot are trying to quell the rebellion that’s happening from the insurgents from Hollow Earth. So that’s how we launch. We launch the season in such a big way. We were kind of exhausted by the end of the first two, where we were like, oh God, how do we keep this up? But we take you everywhere. We take you to a remote island off the coast of Africa in an episode called Monsoon. Robin directed an episode called Homecoming, in which we meet his dad, there’s a series of flashbacks with his father, and it’s a really poignant and beautiful episode. We take you to an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea, a musical episode, we take you into a virtual Sanctuary, which is one of our cool episodes called Chimera. And we take you into a cave system in the Andes with Will and Magnus. I mean, we’re all over the place. We’re literally all over the world. And the whole time, the through-line is dealing with the fallout of going rogue, and separating ourselves from the World Government. So it’s an intense roller coaster ride, but again, not without its humor. And then the ending, I wish I could say more about our season ender, our two-parter that Damian directed. But I don’t even want to give you a word, for fear that it will give too much away. It’s incredible, and the way that it ends, I mean, we were shocked when we read the script. All, the crew, the cast, everyone was running around going, “what, what, what? How did you – what?” And so, but of course we did, in typical Sanctuary fashion. And I think it’s quite shocking.

Robin: And we, even just shooting it, just being there and shooting those scenes, it was very emotional, very shocking for us to shoot. And to sort of realize what was happening, not to give it away, but…it’s going to be cool.

Amanda: Which means Season 5, fingers crossed, is going to be even cooler.

Question: In the press release it mentions that the Sanctuary team has to go rogue. How will that alter the way things are done from now on?

Amanda: It makes things infinitely more difficult, I think. Magnus has to find a way to hide her money, to get it out of markets that the government may be able to control. It makes running individual Sanctuaries more difficult. You know, we see that in certain episodes, like the episode that Robin directed, certain smaller Sanctuaries are really struggling without the government’s support. We have to merge a few of the Sanctuaries. It’s the right decision to get it out of the hands of government control, because the government, we realize in certain countries, is too corrupt. But it also gives us a bit more autonomy and a bit more freedom, in terms of how we do things.

Robin: We also have to dress like pirates for the whole season. I mean, the eye patches and the wooden legs and stuff, and Henry has a parrot, it was definitely a choice, you know, I don’t know…we’ll see, again, it’s just another of those thinking outside the box things.

Question: What were some of the pros and cons of going back down to a 13-episode season after the 20-episode season that you did last year?

Amanda: Well, I actually think it really worked for us. That format workedm for us. When we did 20, we did 10 episodes and then we took, I think, a four or five-week break, and then went back into the other 10. And it was actually very nice in that we all got a summer with our families and
enjoyed it, but it was a slog to get through 20 episodes. It was a lot of work and it was a lot of planning. And 13 seemed somehow more manageable. I mean, at first we were really disappointed that it was dropped to 13. And then it was like, no, wait, we can actually make 13
really kick-ass episodes of this show and service each one of them well, as opposed to trying to spread ourselves really thin over 20.

Robin: I think story-wise it just made the season more compact and I think you’ll definitely see that in the season. But it was a sort of duality going on there too, because, like Amanda said, we did get a break in between tens – the two sets of ten episodes last season – so in another way it almost more grueling to just do 13 straight through.

Amanda: But I think we didn’t waste a minute of footage, you know what I mean? We had 13 to sell this season, 13 to make it amazing, and so there was very little fat to trim…if that makes sense.

Question: How do you think your characters have changed since the very beginning of the series? What’s the most significant?

Robin: I think for Will…Will has kind of gone through a crazy progression. He started out as a guy who wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be involved in the Sanctuary, and then you saw him kind of give in to that and realize that was his lot in life. And then you saw him become a guy who really took responsibility in the Sanctuary, and really believed in it, and believed in what he was doing, and what he was a part of. And I think, in Season 4, you’re going to see the, that sort of commitment, the cracks in sort of his belief, and maybe start to doubt some of the things he took as gospel before, and maybe question some of the choices he’s made to get him to this point.

Amanda: I think he’s a lot stronger, too. I mean that’s what you’ll see between Will and Magnus over the course of the four seasons is that Will’s not afraid to stand up to her. And he calls her out, and especially in this season, he calls her out a lot. And she’s forced to answer in a way that I don’t think she’s ever had to before. Perhaps her protégés have been more towing the party line, whereas Will really, in part because of his background, but he’s not afraid to pull her onto the mat and say, “Okay explain yourself.”

Robin: I’d like to just say, that takes a lot of guts. I mean, come on, Magnus standing there in the field…she’s like three feet taller than him. So I’d like a little credit for Will there, because that’s just, that ain’t easy, you know.

Amanda: For Magnus, I think, so much has happened to her. I mean, losing a child, and trying to continue on after that is one phenomenal feat. But then to shoulder the responsibility of this world-wide network and especially in this season and at the end of last season, where you realize
she can’t rely on the support systems in the same way that she did before. It’s not like she can call up JFK and say, “Hey honey, I need your help on this one.” She doesn’t have that same network that she used to have with world leaders and bankers and, so it’s a bit of a different road for her. And I think you’ll find a new strength in Magnus, and perhaps also a bit of a sadness to her. And when you realize where she’s been, after Tempus, when we get back into the season and you realize where she’s been, you’ll see maybe a bit more sadness, a bit more loneliness to her.
And yet, she’s been very focused this season, incredibly focused. Because she now sees exactly what she has to do.



Aaron MK: Sanctuary is coming to its fourth season – can you tell our fans a little bit about the season premiere, and what they can look forward to this season?

Amanda Tapping: Well the season premiere, again, takes place in Victorian era England. It’s almost a direct cut from how we ended Season 3. So we actually have, the first two episodes of the season are the conclusion to our season finale last year. And we had initially discussed doing them, sort of flashing back and forth between the two storylines, one in Victorian era England and one, what’s happening in current day. And we just realized that in order to service both stories properly, they needed to be separate. There needed to be [or] you would need to jog the audience
back and forth. So Tempus is Magnus stuck in Victorian era England, trying to hide from her past self, trying to stop Ian Tracey’s character Adam Worth from altering the timeline.

And the second episode, Uprising, is basically how Will and Henry and Kate and Bigfoot are trying to quell the rebellion that’s happening from the insurgents from Hollow Earth. So that’s how we launch. We launch the season in such a big way. We were kind of exhausted by the end of the first two, where we were like, oh God, how do we keep this up?

But we take you everywhere. We take you to a remote island off the coast of Africa in an episode called Monsoon. Robin directed an episode called Homecoming, in which we meet his dad, there’s a series of flashbacks with his father, and it’s a really poignant and beautiful episode. We take you to an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea, a musical episode, we take you into a virtual Sanctuary, which is kind a, one of our cool episodes called Chimera. And we take you into a cave system in the Andes with Will and Magnus. I mean, we’re all over the place. We’re literally all over the world. And we’re dealing, the whole time, the through-line is dealing with the fallout of going rogue, and separating ourselves from the World Government. So it’s an intense roller coaster ride, but again, not without its humor.

And then the ending, I wish I could say more about our season ender, our two-parter that Damian directed. But it’s, I don’t even want to give you a word, for fear that it will give too much away. It’s incredible, and the way that it ends, I mean, we were shocked when we read the script.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: All, the crew, the cast, everyone was running around going, “what, what, what? How did you – what?” And so, but of course we did, in typical Sanctuary fashion. And I think it’s quite shocking.

Robin Dunne: And we, even just shooting it, just being there and shooting those scenes, it was very emotional, very shocking for us to shoot. And to sort of realize what was happening, not to give it away, but…

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: It’s going to be cool.

Amanda Tapping: Which means Season 5, fingers crossed, is going to be even cooler.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Aaron MK: That sounds really exciting! SyFy has a history of doing crossovers between their shows, like Warehouse 13 and Eureka have had one, almost every season. Will Sanctuary be seeing any crossover this season, or if not, maybe in the future?

Amanda Tapping: We haven’t done any yet, have we?

Robin Dunne: No.

Amanda Tapping: No. We haven’t. We’re sort of in our own little cocoon-ey bubble.

Robin Dunne: The closest we had was maybe having Chris Gauthier…

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: …guest star but it…

Amanda Tapping: But it wasn’t a crossover at all, yes, it was a completely different character. Well, you’re not going to see it in Season 4, but we’ll, we’re open to discussions for Season 5.

Aaron MK: I can’t wait to see what you come up with. In closing, what has been your favorite experience while working on this season of Sanctuary?

Amanda Tapping: I would say, one of the most interesting, and really fun experiences was doing (the episode) Fugue.

Robin Dunne: Yes.

Amanda Tapping: It was such a crazy episode to shoot, and it was so far outside of everyone’s comfort zone. And I just felt like, creatively, we all pushed the envelope. And everyone, it was one of those where, you either give into the idea fully, and just go for it, or you’re not servicing it, and so we all kind of had to take this massive leap of faith, which is kind of the Sanctuary logline, and it was so much fun.

Robin Dunne: Just being in the recording studio, recording songs and working with Damian Kindler and our composer Andrew Lockington, who really helped us through that process because as actors and not singers, per se, it was a very daunting task to take on. But it was a really special experience, and I think the episode is really quite good.

Amanda Tapping: Yes, and because it took so long, like it wasn’t just, we didn’t just shoot the episode. We had to go in a couple of weeks before and record the songs, and then the week before we shot, we went into the studio and rehearsed. And so it was just, it was spread out over a period of time and, so when we finally came on to the set to actually shoot the scenes where we were singing, we were so prepared and had a real sense of anticipation. But that was really fun.

Robin Dunne: We had these cool, like, (phonics) things, they called them (phonics) things, they’re like invisible earpieces where, we could hear the music but nobody else could, so we could sing along with the track, but get the singing recorded clean and, I don’t know, it was just, it was kind of like being a rock star for a little while, and it was fun.

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: It was a lot of fun.

Amanda Tapping: And I’d have to say for me, Tempus, the first episode of the season, just to be back in that era, and wearing those clothes, and playing two different versions of Magnus, you know a much younger, more innocent, wide-eyed version and the fairly beaten-up version that she is now, was really satisfying, creatively. It was really fun.

Robin Dunne: And also the way that episode was shot, and technologically, how you had to do it…

Amanda Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: …to shoot both characters…

Amanda Tapping: Using stop-motion camera, and just the set was, I mean, we built this beautiful Victorian set, and then made it rain the entire time, inside the studio, which seems sort of counter-intuitive when you live in Vancouver, and we have so much rain outside. But we, yes, it was just a really, very cool and soggy.

Aaron MK: It sounds like it was a lot of fun to shoot!

Amanda Tapping: Yes!

Aaron MK: I’d like to thank you for your time, it’s been great talking to you, and I can’t wait for the silent movie Sanctuary episode.

Amanda Tapping: That would be cool!

Robin Dunne: That’s coming, yes.

Amanda Tapping: That would be so cool. Thank you!

Aaron MK: Thank you for your time!



A star-studded fundraising gala last weekend at Vancouver’s spiffy Sutton Place Hotel has raised over $90,000 for research in Hunter Syndrome, a degenerative disease in children.

The formal event, called the Once Upon a Cure Gala, was attended by a host of familiar faces from TV sci-fi and fantasy, including Sanctuary‘s Amanda Tapping, Ryan Robbins, Robin Dunne, Christopher Heyerdahl, Gillian Horvath and Damian Kindler, Supernatural‘s Jared Padalecki and
Jensen Ackles, and Robert Carlyle and Julia Benson from Stargate Universe.

Carlyle is currently appearing in the ABC series Once Upon a Time. Edward Kitsis and Steve Pearlman, who have been executive producers on that show, were also big supporters of the event.

The Once Upon a Cure Gala raised money for Hunter Syndrome Research through ticket sales, donations and live and silent auctions. The latter included items ranging from video games to hockey memorabilia. The preliminary tally of $90,000 was announced on the event’s Twitter feed @onceuponacure.

Also attending the event were Deb and Ryan Purcell, whose seven-year old son Trey was diagnosed with Hunter several years ago. Trey recently became the first Canadian child to receive a new drug treatment for the condition. Ryan Purcell is a camera operator who has worked on many productions in Vancouver, including Sanctuary, Stargate, Fringe and Smallville.




Cadence recently chatted with Sanctuary-star, Executive Producer, and sometimes-Director Amanda Tapping, and what a pleasure it was.

As series-lead Dr. Helen Magnus, Tapping heads-up a team – rounded-out by her daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) – that tracks, studies, and protects the bizarre and horrifying entities that live among us.

Though she’s best known for her role as Air Force Colonel Samantha Carter in TV’s Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, as well as DVD-movies like Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the UK-born, Toronto-raised actress’s career certainly doesn’t revolve around said role – even though it’s gained her the title First Lady of Sci-Fi among loyal fans.

A graduate of the University of Windsor’s School of Dramatic Arts, Tapping’s performed in numerous plays – just a couple of which include adaptations of Steel Magnolias and The Taming of the Shrew. Also, she’s refined her comedic talents as co-founder of the comedy-troupe Random Acts.

Outside of acting, Amanda’s dedicated time to charities like The Coast Foundation – a support agency for the mentally disabled – the Waterkeepers Alliance, and co-founded Sanctuary For Kids, an organization that supports children in crisis, locally and abroad.

With all her acting, production, and charity experience to look back on, and Sanctuary set for it’s Season Four premiere, the lovely Amanda Tapping had much to offer in conversation.

If a season has a unifying vibe or tone, then what would Sanctuary, Season Four’s be?

Wow . . . I think the general vibe for Season Four is it’s a real shake-up – we sort of throw out the rules that we’ve been working with for the last three seasons, the sanctuary itself goes rogue so we don’t have the support of the world governments, there’s a lot more autonomy but it also means that we have to scramble a bit more to protect the mandate . . . I would say there’s a lot more shake-up this year . . . We’re under a lot of scrutiny – there’s one government organization that’s pretty intense for us, and for me, for Helen Magnus, she has a very clear mandate through the season but we don’t actually know what it is until the very last episode. She’s quite mysterious – she does a lot of things where you go “what? Why would she do that?” All will be revealed at the end.

How have you grown from collaborating with the Sanctuary cast and crew?

I have to say that this is unlike any show, in terms of it’s collaboration, that I’ve ever been on. When Martin [Wood], Damian [Kindler}, and I formed our company, our mandate was really to start a company where there was no above-the-line below-the-line (as is typical for production),
where it was more of a collaboration, where there was this sense of “we”, no “us” and “them” but a “we”. Everyone from our grip to our craft-service to our caterers to the cast, every member of the crew felt like a part of a collective, so as a result everyone’s really jumped onboard with that.

It’s not unusual to see people helping each other out in different departments – you know, if our Set-Dec guy’s overwhelmed suddenly half the crew’s rushing to help move furniture for him. It’s just a really familial vibe on our set, and I think it’s really important to us – and to me as one of
the producers – that everyone feels really respected and appreciated, and I think that’s translated. I think it translates on the screen – to the point where cast is not afraid to come up and ask questions and talk individually to the writers.

It’s a very cool vibe . . . and I think the coolest thing that I heard this year was from our Casting Director, who said “everyone wants to get on Sanctuary.” It really is a fun show to work on, and we really make an effort to make everyone feel welcome. It’s really easy to say “welcome to the
family” and “come on in” and, as a result, most of the people we bring on the show end up coming back, if it serves the story. We’re in love with the people that we bring onto the show. For example, this year we brought in an actor named Brian Markinson, who’s got the most incredible resume – we brought him in for one episode and he fit in with the vibe, he got it, so we kept bringing him back. We do that a lot with our guest-stars, and we hope that the background-performers feel really appreciated and welcome. That sense of collaboration carries our show – it’s a big sci-fi show on a relatively small budget. I think we’re probably the most budget sci-fi show out there, yet I think our results are as good as, if not better than some of the other shows out there.

You said there’s a very familial vibe, so I’d imagine that the creative dynamic between everyone involved has really evolved too over the course of the show’s four seasons.

Absolutely . . . we’re willing to listen to any ideas and people feel really safe. It’s a safe environment – when you’re in the writer’s room people will throw out crazy ideas, and sometimes they stick. I feel safe on that show, and I think that everyone who comes on feels safe – they feel safe saying how they feel about things.

Since the webisode-days, the show’s been pretty much green-screen exclusive when it comes to filming, was that really challenging to get used to in the beginning?

Initially? Very much so – I had been used to working with green-screen in a certain capacity on Stargate, but when you’re in a room where the floor’s green, the walls are green, and you’re surrounded on three sides by green, initially we did a lot of running through walls (laughs) . . . I think the hardest thing to get used to is the scope, because the sanctuary building itself is so huge – our library is this huge, vast space, and the foyer and the lab is huge. it was sort of getting used to the idea of the scope of what we were working in.

The acting part of it is much easier in a lot of ways, because it becomes just about the words and the scene and your acting-partner, and so it has a very intimate vibe. That’s actually quite joyful – I really enjoy the scenes where we’re just on green, you literally can’t chew the scenery because
there isn’t any (laughs). It’s like doing theatre, it feels very pure. A lot of our show is green-screen, but we do have some really beautiful standing sets, and the other thing that helps with the green-screen – our Set-Dec department is astounding, and our props department is as astounding.  We have a lot of little things . . . (laughs) that makes it easier.

You mentioned it being like theatre, and you’d gone to the University of Windsor for dramatic studies, so I was wondering if you’d called upon a lot of that theatre-training for the green-screen shoots.

Absolutely, and – I mean, the hard part with television is the time-line, what I love about live-theatre is that you have this beautiful rehearsal process where there’s this sense of discovery and things change. Through the course of starting from a read-through to actually presenting a play, so many ideas come into play, and you don’t have that luxury necessarily on television.

What our cast tends to do is – we read through every script before we shoot it, but after blocking . . . we’ll start writing the scene over and over again and different ideas will come up. It’s great that we get to do that but, again, it’s in a very finite period of time (laughs) . . . Again, after four years, the characters know each other so well and the actors are so comfortable with each other that it makes it a lot easier. When I’m home at night running lines, I can hear the other actors’ voices in my head, you sort of can tell how they’re gonna say their lines, there’s a lot more comfort there.

That must have really helped out when you directed a couple of the show’s episodes.

Yeah absolutely . . . I mean, directing is a completely different animal, and because I’m an actor on the show and I know my fellow actors so well – everyone is so supportive. When I started directing, the entire crew was there for me. This year Robin Dunne directed an episode, it was his very first directing gig (pause), it’s just so supportive, it’s so safe, there is no – you know, he kept saying “I don’t wanna screw it up,” and I said “there’s no way you can fail, a) because you’re prepared, and b) because everyone is here for you.”

Speaking of the production-side of the things, is that something you’re planning to pursue further in the future?

Absolutely . . . sadly, as an actress in this society, I realize that the roles are getting fewer and fewer the older I get. I don’t wanna say it’s an exclusively North American-thing, but I know that in Europe women are valued (laughs) – you have shows like Prime Suspect where Helen Mirren
can blow people away, or Judi Dench can have a television series in her 40s and 50s . . . (laughs) It’s okay to see them on the TV, whereas here – it’s changing, but here we tend to go for the younger demographic, and I think we tend to do ourselves a great disservice. I started to realize that as much as I love acting and I wanna keep doing it, I really enjoy the visual medium of directing, and producing’s been such a fantastic learning-curve that I definitely wanna keep doing that.

On that, you’re actually collaborating with – of all people – William Shatner on The Zenoids . . . are you pretty starstruck right now?

Jacob, honestly – I met him at Comic-Con, not this year but last year – I was asked to do an interview, he wanted to interview me for myouterspace.com, and it was after that that the producers called and said “William really loves Amanda, he wants to talk to her about this project,” and literally, I think I flew home . . . My brothers are big sci-fi fans so I immediately fired-off e-mails to my brothers saying “Bill,” as I call him (laughs), “and I are working together.”

When I went to LA to actually lay down the voice tracks, I was so nervous and I was like “why am I nervous? He’s just an actor,” but he’s iconic. We just had a blast, we had a great time doing it. He’s a really funny man and within five minutes I was at ease and joking around with him . . . but yeah, definitely starstruck.

It’s funny, you were talking about Shatner being an icon, and I saw an interview where you said that, at that Comic-Con, you’d seen someone dressed-up as Samantha Carter (laughs). You’re being seen as an icon too. so that must be pretty surreal.

Yeah, I can’t wrap my head around that . . . Stargate was such a phenomenon, the fact that it lasted so long – I’ll tell you a funny story, I dropped my six year-old daughter off at a little yoga class at our community centre, and this little girl came up to me and said “are you on television?” I said “uh, I dunno, am I?” She said “yep, you’re Sam Carter,” and I said “yes I am,” and she said “oh my god! Oh my god, my brother and I watch Stargate every night.” “How old are you,” she said “seven” and I was like “oh man, wow I was on that TV show before you were even born, holy . . .” A) I feel old and b) how cool is that, that there’s a whole new generation of kids watching Stargate (laughs) . . . Her mom was there and she was like “mom, it’s Sam Carter! It’s Sam Carter!” (laughs).

Speaking of the kids, you’ve co-founded – and everyone on the show’s involved – Sanctuary For Kids, how have you grown from that experience?

You know, it’s my passion-project, it’s something that I feel so strongly about. We really had hoped that other shows might rise to the challenge, and I think that that’s still in the offing, but we felt not only a responsibility, and it was born – I’ll go back to the beginning quickly – out of the fact that sci-fi fans, unlike a lot of other genres, are incredibly socially connected, they’re incredibly socially aware and unbelievably generous. I had found that, when I was raising money for Waterkeepers Alliance and other charities, if you stand behind something and you present a solid argument, the fans will stand behind you, and they have – in the most remarkable way – supported Sanctuary For Kids.

I realized that there was something we could do – the financial crisis was hitting globally, we were hearing all these reports of the big charities really suffering and knowing that the smaller charities were being all but obliterated – so we said “well lets set out to help really small groups with no overhead,” and our mandate was children in crisis. We spent a year before we actually launched the charity – during a ton of research we met with corporate advisors, we met with non-for-profit people – we really wanted to do it right, we didn’t just wanna launch this initiative without understanding fully what we were getting ourselves into, and it has so exceeded our expectations. We thought maybe in the first year we’d raise $50,000, and I think by the year-and-a-half mark we had raised almost $250,000. Often it’s through little fan-initiatives – people go “I’m gonna jump out of plane, who wants to sponsor me? The money goes to Sanctuary For Kids,” or “we’re having a car-wash at our high school, the money’s gonna go to Sanctuary For Kids.” It just sort of took off around the world, little groups have been doing these incredible fund-raising initiatives.

Jill and I, who co-founded the charity, we went to Nepal last year to meet with Nepal Orphans Home – which is one of the major projects that we support – and just seeing what small amounts of money can do to change the lives of these children was awe-inspiring. You go to a country like
Nepal and you just think “jeez,” the poverty is so surreal, and you start to get overwhelmed and think “we’re barely, barely dropping in the bucket, we’re barely helping,” and then you realize, you go to the orphanage and there’s 150 kids who are now getting better quality rice and more fruits and vegetables and more chicken. Their pharmacy bills have gone down by 70% since we’ve started helping them with their nutritional needs, and you go “okay wow, that’s 150 children who are then gonna help more children and so on,” you realize the ripple-effect.

I think what I’ve learned is that you can’t get overwhelmed by how big the issues are, you can be inspired by what you can do on a very small scale, and the fans have really, truly been an inspiration in that regard.



Amanda Tapping plays the lead role of Dr. Helen Magnus, the super-intelligent protagonist of Sanctuary, the hit sci-fi series that was developed in Vancouver. An award-winning actress, Amanda  is also executive producer and occasional director of the Vancouver series, and is well-known for her previous work on Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.

I caught up with Amanda between scenes on the set of the latest series of Sanctuary.  Taking a seat within a quiet spot away from the workings of the production, Amanda offers me a gentle smile, sparkling eyes and an air of patience. Clearly I’m not very organized this evening. But finally, we have some momentum.

How do you go about developing the character?

That’s a tough question to start with! (laughter)

I like to go outside of the box when I research my characters, this includes the accent and hairstyle that I use for the part. I also studied Victorian England because the character of Helen Magnus has been alive for over a hundred and fifty years. This has meant that in some episodes I've been able to dress up in Victorian era costumes...which is a lot of fun.

That’s a great era to use, actually. There’s a lot of fun to be had with that part of history.

Exactly. It’s been great. And overall, the world is our oyster and we like to use history as part of the story lines. In series four we're using a storyline akin to the Warsaw ghetto, and in the past we've used Jack the Ripper, Nikola Tesla, and the Normandy landings in WWII. We can use anything we like to some extent. It's interesting to take history and use it in this way and in these types of storylines.

Which do you prefer – dialogue scenes or action scenes?

I love a good meaty dialogue piece, but I've learned my own fight scenes and they're really fun to perform. My stunt woman does all the falls etc but I do all the fighting. It's exciting and some of it is complex and may take a couple days or even a couple of weeks to learn a sequence.

You're also the show's producer and occasional director, how does that work?

I'm also involved in the casting, editing, writing, and creation of the story arc. It's satisfying to watch it all come together knowing how much work has been put in by everyone involved. If I was just an actress showing up to do my lines it would be little different, but I enjoy working in other areas of the production as you get to see the fruits of your labour.

Sanctuary is an independent production - how do you go about financing it?

Sanctuary is 100% Canadian. It's an indigenous product. It's fully financed in Vancouver by the Beedie Group who are a real estate and construction organization. They financed the webisodes when we first started out and they have continued to back us ever since, which means we don't have go out and hunt for funding. This really helps as it allows us to get on with making the show.



The Vancouver-shot sci-fi series Sanctuary returns to SPACE and Syfy for its fourth season this Friday and it’s going to be an epic 13 episode stretch if comments on Twitter by stars Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Ryan Robbins and Robert Lawrenson are anything to go by.

When Sanctuary was renewed for its third season there was a surprising increase in the episode order to 20, seven more than was requested for the preceding two seasons. It was equally surprising, and slightly disconcerting, then, when that number dropped back to 13 for Season 4.

However, according to Tapping, who plays the lead role of investigator of abnormals, Dr. Helen Magnus, the shorter order had pros as well as cons for the cast and crew.

“Well, I actually think it really worked for us,” Tapping told CinemaSpy in a recent conference call to promote the show’s return, “When we did 20, we did 10 episodes and then we took, I think, a four or five-week break, and then went back into the other 10. It was actually very nice in that we all got a summer with our families and enjoyed it, but it was a slog to get through 20 episodes. “It was a lot of work and it was a lot of planning. And 13 seemed somehow more manageable.

At first we were really disappointed that it was dropped to 13 and then it was like, no, wait, we can actually make 13 really kick-ass episodes of this show, and service each one of them well, as opposed to trying to spread ourselves really thin over 20.”

It might not be widely known, but Sanctuary is a largely independent Canadian production. Unlike Stargate, for example, which is owned by MGM, Sanctuary has no big studios behind it. Everyone therefore has to push hard to get the best bang for their buck. The shorter season order might also have helped with that, suggest comments by Dunne, Tapping’s co-star.

“I think story-wise it just made the season more compact and I think you’ll definitely see that in the season,” said Dunne, who plays Magnus’ number two, Will Zimmerman. “But it was a sort of duality going on there too, because, like Amanda said, we did get a break in between 10s, the two sets of ten episodes last season, so in another way it almost more grueling to just do 13 straight through.”




One of the more entertaining Q&A of each new season is the Amanda Tapping/Robin Dunne Q&A for Sanctuary [Syfy, Friday, 10/9C]. Both are smart funny and quite capable of taking a riff and going completely sideways with it. Sure, they can [and do] deliver the goods on what’s happening this season [musical episode!] in a more or less normal manner, but then there are those moments…

It has gotten to the point that some of the interviewers on any given call actually enable their tendency toward silliness – usually with great results, like this time out. So, without further ado, The Amanda Tapping/Robin Dunne Traveling Comedy Revue! [Seriously, these guys are funny!]

 

Can you talk about the musical episode? I’m really excited for that.

Amanda Tapping: Oh, yes, the musical episode is our eighth episode. It’s called Fugue. It was written by Damian Kindler…

Robin Dunne: Directed by Damian Kindler as well.

Tapping: …and he wrote the lyrics for the music with our composer, Andrew Lockington. And it’s, I mean it’s interesting if, you’re not going to see an episode of Glee. It, there’s not big production numbers or dancing or anything like that. It’s actually a very organic way of telling a story, and the songs, the songs are, even though the songs are sung, it’s sort of like you’re hearing a scene.

Dunne: Yes, I think the way that the music and the story are married together, like as Amanda says, it’s very organic and it was an amazing episode to shoot. We had an interesting, some comments from the crew, during a lot of the musical scenes, a lot of the crew were saying that it was like they were just watching a scene, and the, sort of the singing was sort of secondary, which was kind of interesting.

Tapping: Yes, but what was cool about it, was the crew really got into the idea of doing a musical, so they would, everyone on set was singing.

Dunne: Yes

Tapping: You know, “we’re coming up behind you, we’re carrying a ladder,” you know it was just like, it was really funny, and it was just a great atmosphere. But it sort of goes with the idea that certain people respond better to frequencies, certain musical frequencies or tonal qualities, than they do to actual voice. So we sort of took that idea and made it a Sanctuary episode.

Dunne: It was also kind of, it was interesting, too. It was a very emotional episode to shoot. Something about the music really brought the emotion out in a lot of people, and not just, like, the actors but, you know, we had like, burly grip guys standing in the back of the room kind of wiping tears away from their eyes, which was kind of interesting.

Tapping: And we had Pascale Hutton, who plays Abby on our show, figures very prominently in this episode, and we were really lucky to get Jim Byrnes, who plays my dad, who’s an incredibly accomplished blues musician, sing a song for us in the show. So it was a, I don’t know, I think it’s so far outside the box, and yet not, in the way that we presented it.

Dunne: Yes, I think it’ll really, it’ll be, yes, it’s like Amanda says, it’s something very different, but it’ll totally fit in as a Sanctuary episode.

Great, well I can’t wait to see it. Can you talk about some of the guest stars that you have, other than what you just said, that you have coming up this season?

Tapping: Well Ian Tracey is back as Adam Worth, and Jonathon Young is back as Tesla. Peter Wingfield is back as James Watson.

Dunne: We have a very, kind of cool new villain this year, played by Brian Markinson.

Tapping: Who’s just a phenomenal actor, and we had him in one episode, and loved him so much that we kept bringing him back. Carlo Rota does a couple of episodes of the show.

Dunne: (Adam Grayson Reed) and Caroline Cave are in the show this year.

Tapping: Oh, your dad, Al Sapienza.

Dunne: Al Sapienza plays Will’s dad, in a wonderful performance that we, you know him from the Sopranos.

Tapping: Robert Lawrenson is back a fair bit, as Declan, which is great. It took, I mean, what you’ve seen over the past three seasons, as we build the Sanctuary family, we utilize them a lot. And I think that’s what I love about the show is, you know it’s, if you come on and we really dig you and
we have, pretty much dug everyone who’s come on the show, and we just
keep bringing you back.

So, and (Polly Neegan) is back as Henry’s love interest. So it’s just, yes, it’s a real sense of family here. We have, Gil Bellows, actually came and did our last few episodes with us, and he’s phenomenal, so…

Dunne: The Sanctuary family is growing. Aww, so cute, it’s like the Brady Bunch, but way, way bigger.

Tapping: Way more dysfunctional, but fun.

All right, I just wanted to ask quick, Amanda, have you guys heard anything about (Riese), or at this point is it sort of, you know, a no-go?

Tapping: I wouldn’t say that it’s a no-go. The last I heard was, there was a lot of discussions being done about whether or not there was a potential to turn it into a series, but I’m not one of the producers on the show, so I just sort of hear bits and pieces from them. But they were very excited about moving it forward, and I think it would make a great show so, fingers crossed.

Will we be learning any more of Magnus’ juicy secrets this season?

Dunne: No. No secrets.

Tapping: Yes, yes you do actually, especially in our first episode. You get a sense of what makes this woman tick, and some of the choices that she’s made and why. The whole season builds to a finale that is quite breathtaking, and it’s not until the very last scene of the finale that you understand why Magnus has aligned herself with the people she’s aligned herself with, why the Sanctuary went rogue from government support worldwide.

But you don’t ever actually figure it out, and I think people will be very surprised when they see the final ending, and what’s happened. But you do, throughout the course of it, there’s things that Magnus does that you go, “what, why would you, huh?” And then it’s all (unintelligible) at the end.

Dunne: I think more than ever, any other season, I think you’ll see the sort of brilliance of Magnus and the, I think she’s masterminded (unintelligible) season is like, you know, more brilliant than any other time. And again, yes, you’ll, at times it will be very confusing to the audience as to why she’s doing what she’s doing, but it will all made sense in the end.

Tapping: Duh duh duh. Do, do, do.

How many episodes will Magnus’ love interest be involved in?

Tapping: Well, one. Magnus is – one that we see, but Magnus is, again, very busy this season, so…

Dunne: Too busy for love.

Tapping: Too busy for love, it’s sad really.

Dunne: And we’re going to write a song about it. Too busy for love, poor Magnus, too busy for love.

How do you view Helen and Henry’s relationship? Is it like, mother and son, a doctor and patient?

Tapping: I think if you were to put a label on it, I guess the most apt would be mother and son, but there’s a real genuine kinship there, and there’s a friendship that sort of goes beyond, I don’t know it can…

Dunne: Boundaries.

Tapping: The boundaries of mother and son but, I guess, she’s very maternal towards him in a lot of ways, and obviously having rescued him as a child, she feels very maternal towards him. And raised him, you know, with Ashley so, yes there’s definitely that element, I would say, more than anything.

And just, real quickly, will there be any Helen and Will centered episodes in Season 4?

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: Yes.

Tapping: Yes, in fact, one in particular, called The Depth, which is our typical Magnus and Will two-hander that we do every season, and of course it involves a lot of water. So I don’t know what that is, I don’t know why the writers feel like they need to do that to us every year, but…

Dunne: Torture, they hate us.

Tapping: They hate us and torture us, so there is one that is actually, it’s an incredibly intense episode, but so much comes up during the course of this episode, past lives, past – I don’t know, past transgressions, and it’s…

Dunne: It’s a very brutally truthful episode between the two characters, and it’s, the result of it is, is that, you know, all of these things have happened over the course of the season, even previous seasons, and then the repercussions kind of go right into the end of, into the season finale.

Tapping: Yes, there’s a massive ripple effect from that episode.

Dunne: Ripple effect, that is what I was looking for. I was searching for that.

Tapping: And I found it for you.

Dunne: Thank you, see, we’re a good team.

Just real quickly, if either of you could have a guest star on the show, who would it be?

Dunne: George Clooney.

Tapping: Helen Mirren, I would like Helen Mirren to play my mom, in flashback scenes, and…

Dunne: I would like George Clooney to play Will in like, you know, in flash forward scenes.

Tapping: You just want to meet George Clooney.

Dunne: No I don’t.

Tapping: Robin has a crush on George Clooney.

Dunne: No I don’t. Shut up.

So what kind of a journey would you say that your characters are on this season?

Tapping: A roller-coaster journey.

Dunne: I think it’s a very, I would say it’s the darkest kind of journey we’ve been on. I mean, we’ve been in some dark places, but I think this season there is some real friction and real ugly truths that come out.

Tapping: Yes, it feels, and it feels like every relationship this season is tested, and thankfully survived, but there’s a difference at the end of it, in the way that the characters deal with each other. There’s, I mean, Magnus has a big episode with Tesla, and it changes the course of their relationship somewhat.

Will and Magnus are on this incredible, you know, she’s still lying to him and they’re at loggerheads a lot, but you can tell at the heart of it all there’s incredible love between the two characters, and incredible respect. But it, if this, I think Robin put it right, this is a bit of a darker season.

It’s not without its crazy humor, because it wouldn’t be Sanctuary without it, but it’s a much darker season, and I think the best way to say it is that the relationships are all tested.

So, it sounds awesome.

Tapping: It is. You know, I think we say this every press junket that we do, every season, that it’s our best season ever, but I really feel like we’ve, that Season 4 has just blown the lid off anything we’ve done before.

So what is going to surprise us most this season? What is the thing that the viewers just are going to be thrown for a loop by seeing?

Tapping: Well, we can’t tell you, because then they won’t be thrown for a loop. And we like throwing people for loops.

Dunne: Yes, we love it. Well that’s our specialty, throwing people…

Amanda Tapping: The loops.

Dunne: …you know, loop, into the loops.

Tapping: Yes, what’s the thing they would be most surprised at, probably the friction between Magnus and Will.

Dunne: Yes, I think there’s going to be some, the audience is going to be shocked by some of the interactions between Magnus and Will this season. And also I think, you know, things like Fugue, are really, really going to be, you know, really momentous moments.

Tapping: Yes, I think even our first couple of episodes, like Tempus that, the fact that it takes place entirely in Victorian era England, in such a bizarre set of circumstances is, it’s going to launch the season, I think, quite incredibly.

Before we start, Mr. Dunne, I would like to wish you luck on your quest to kidnap, I mean meet George Clooney, I really wish you the best of luck on that.

Dunne: Thank you very much. I’ve really got a huge plan in place and, you know…

Tapping: He’s built traps and everything.

Dunne: I’ve learned how to hijack yachts in Italy, so I think that’s maybe the way I’m going to do it.

All right, well if you need a wheelman, let me know.

Dunne: Okay.

So our fans at Blogomatic 3000 are really excited about the new season of Sanctuary…

Dunne: I think when you say Blogomatic 3000 you should say it like this,
Blogomatic 3000.

Actually that’s what we do, it’s just that there are noise limitations in our neighborhood, so we have to cut it back a little.

Tapping: Yes, I think it sounds like a really good Cuisinart.

Dunne: Oh yes.

Tapping: The Blogomatic 3000, it dices, it slices, it…

Dunne: Dump all your carrots and your everything in there…

Tapping: And you get juice. All right, sorry, (Erin), go, we, please.

((Crosstalk))

That’s our new tagline, thank you for that.

Tapping: No problem.

So, as I was saying, can you tell our fans a little bit about the season premiere, and what they can look forward to this season?

Tapping: Well the season premiere, again, takes place in Victorian era England. It’s a direct, it’s almost a direct cut from how we ended Season 3. So we actually have, the first two episodes of the season are the conclusion to our season finale last year. And we had initially discussed doing them, sort of flashing back and forth between the two storylines, one in Victorian era England and one, what’s happening in current day.

And we just realized that in order to service both stories properly, they needed to be separate. There needed to be not, you know, you would need to jog the audience back and forth. So Tempus is Magnus stuck in Victorian era England, trying to hide from her past self, trying to stop Ian Tracey’s character Adam Worth from altering the timeline.

And the second episode, Uprising, is basically how Will and Henry and Kate and Bigfoot are trying to quell the rebellion that’s happening from the insurgents from Hollow Earth. So that’s how we launch. We launch the season in such a big way. We were kind of exhausted by the end of the first two, where we were like, oh God, how do we keep this up?

But we take you everywhere. We take you to a remote island off the coast of Africa in an episode called Monsoon. We, Robin directed an episode called Homecoming, in which we meet his dad, there’s a series of flashbacks with his father, and it’s a really poignant and beautiful episode. We take you to an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea, a musical episode, we take you into a virtual Sanctuary, which is kind a, one of our cool episodes called Chimera.

And we take you into a cave system in the Andes with Will and Magnus. I mean, we’re all over the place. We’re literally all over the world. And we’re dealing, the whole time, the through-line is dealing with the fallout of going rogue, and separating ourselves from the World Government. So it’s an intense roller coaster ride, but again, not without its humor.

And then the ending, you know, I wish I could say more about our season ender, our two-parter that Damian directed. But it’s, I don’t even want to give you a word, for fear that it will give too much away. It’s incredible, and the way that it ends, I mean, we were shocked when we read the script.

All, the crew, the cast, everyone was running around going, ‘What, what, what? How did you – what?’ And so, but of course we did, in typical Sanctuary fashion. And I think it’s quite shocking.

Dunne: And we, even just shooting it, just being there and shooting those scenes, it was very, kind of, it was very emotional, very shocking for us to shoot. And to sort of realize what was happening, not to give it away, but.

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: It’s going to be cool.

Tapping: Which means Season 5, fingers crossed, is going to be even cooler.

Dunne: Yes.

That sounds really exciting. SyFy has a history of doing crossovers between their shows, like Warehouse 13 and Eureka do, almost every season now. Will Haven be seeing any crossover this season, or if not, maybe in the future?

Tapping: We haven’t done any yet, have we?

Dunne: No.

Tapping: No. We haven’t. We’re sort of in our own little cocooney bubble.

Dunne: The closest we had was maybe having Chris Gauthier…

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: …guest star but it…

Tapping: But it wasn’t a crossover at all, yes, it was a completely different character. Well, you’re not going to see it in Season 4, but we’ll, we’re open to discussions for Season 5.

Dunne: Tee hee.

Tapping: Tee hee hee.

All right, well, last question, what has been your favorite experience while working on this season of Haven? I mean Sanctuary, I’m sorry. I apologize. I’ve got so many things on my…

Dunne: They’re like, similar words, really, aren’t they?

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: You know, Sanctuary, Haven, you know.

Tapping: Yes, well, you put it in the Blogomatic 3000 and came out with the wrong word, that’s what happened.

Dunne: That’s what happened.

I apologize.

Tapping: No, that’s okay. I would say, one of the most interesting, and really fun experiences was doing Fugue.

Dunne: Yes.

Tapping: It was such a crazy episode to shoot, and it was so far outside of everyone’s comfort zone. And I just felt like, creatively, we all pushed the envelope. And everyone, it was one of those where, you either give in to the idea fully, and just go for it, or you’re not servicing it, and so we all kind of had to take this massive leap of faith, which is kind of the Sanctuary logline, and it was so much fun.

Dunne: Just being in the recording studio, recording songs and working with Damian Kindler and our composer Andrew Lockington, who really helped us through that process because, you know, as actors and not singers, per se, it was a very daunting task to take on. But it was a really special experience, and I think the episode is really quite…

Tapping: Yes, and because it took so long, like it wasn’t just, we didn’t just shoot the episode. We had to go in, you know, a couple of weeks before and record the songs, and then the week before we shot, we went into the studio and rehearsed. And so it was just, it was spread out over a period of time and, so when we finally came on to the set to actually shoot the scenes where we were singing, we were so prepared and had been, you know, if it, a real sense of anticipation.

Dunne: We had…

Tapping: But that was really fun.

Dunne: We had these cool, like, earwig things, they called them earwig things, they’re like invisible earpieces where, we could hear the music but nobody else could, so we could sing along with the track, but get the singing recorded clean and, I don’t know, it was just, it was kind of like being a rock star for a little while, and it was fun.

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: It was a lot of fun.

Tapping: And I’d have to say for me, Tempus, the first episode of the season, just to be back in that era, and you know, wearing those clothes, and playing two different versions of Magnus, you know a much younger, more innocent, wide-eyed version and, you know, the fairly beaten-up version that she is now, was really satisfying, creatively. It was really fun.Dunne: And also the way that episode was shot, and technologically, how you had to do it…

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: …to shoot both characters…

Tapping: Using stop-motion camera, and just the set was, I mean, we built this beautiful Victorian set, and then made it rain the entire time, inside the studio, which seems, you know, sort of counter-intuitive when you live in Vancouver, and we have so much rain outside. But we, yes, it was just a really, very cool and soggy.

I’m not sure, I missed a part of the call, so I’m not sure if this was addressed, but in the season premiere, Tempus, we see Helen Magnus really lacking in emotional control. In the past, whenever she’s gotten angry she seemed to channel it into a determination and focus to solve the problem, but here she really loses her temper and she’s really kind of a fury.

Tapping: Yes.

What is it like, playing that unleashed version of Magnus?

Tapping: It was interesting to play, because I was afraid that it was getting too dark, but what was explained to me, and what I finally worked through is, she has to, at all cost, as callous as it seems at times, and as full of rage as she seems at times, she has to, at all cost, stop Adam Worth from altering the timeline. A, because her present, and all the people in it, could potentially be destroyed, but also the fate of the world is in the hands of a madman, who now has technology far advanced of what’s available in Victorian era England, and can literally change the course of human history.

So the stakes are massively high, and it’s also very emotional because she’s dealing with a younger Watson, she’s trying to hide from the younger version of herself, she’s dealing with what it’s like to be a woman in Victorian era England, she has to deal with John Druitt in a pretty ugly way, and gets again a sense of, firsthand of what it was like to be with him back then. So it’s an intense episode and, yes, there are times when I’m like, man, she is nasty.

But when you realize what’s at stake, and it literally is the course of human history that’s at stake, then you understand why she loses it. And I think she’s so far out of her depth, you know, she’s so far from home and, ultimately playing in the back of her mind is, ‘How will I ever get back to my present? How is that even possible?’

So it’s an intense episode.

Speaking of Druitt, I thought that the revelation regarding him was rather spectacular, and kind of key to the way people have been understanding him, both in the show and in the audience. What was it like when you read the script and saw that was what was happening? Or did you have some input into that before the script was finished?

Tapping: Well we actually, we sit down before the season starts, Martin, Damian and I and the writers, and sort of, you know, log out what we’d like to see happen, certain character twists and turns, but then it’s really in the hands of the writers. And Damian wrote this episode and, as usual with his deft touch, he’ll find a turn that nobody sees coming. And so, with Druitt, I mean, it made sense, it made sense that we saw this man at this point in time, I mean it’s right in the middle of the Ripper killings in White Chapel, and we, it was important to service that element of his character.

So it was shocking to read the script, but by the same token, it’s just another revelation, right? It all, it helps you understand the character a bit more, and it helps you, in some ways, choose sides a bit more. So, but you know, we may map out as much as we can, but then the writers will always throw little curve balls in there that no one sees coming. And that’s kind of what I love about getting a fresh script is, okay we’ve talked about this, but how is it going to happen?

So of all the things that happened in the premiere, I think that may be the one that has the widest, or causes the widest shift in point of view among fans, and I think it was really well done and I…

Tapping: Oh thank you.

I certainly hope that the rest of the season is as wonderful.

Tapping: It is, and more so.

Robin, I wanted to know, can you talk about the musical episode, and how the Bollywood episode might have helped you with that?

Dunne: Yes, sure. The Bollywood episode helped me in no way whatsoever.

Tapping: That’s not true.

Dunne: No, I mean, I think it helped me in the sense that they were both episodes that were extremely daunting to undertake. Both episodes were way out of my comfort zone. And both episodes had me do something that I don’t do very well, which are dancing and singing, but…

Tapping: There’s a level of trust, right, like you built up a level of trust with the crew, I think, doing the Bollywood thing, and had so much support that it made, maybe made the next one easier.

Dunne: Well, I don’t know if I would say easier, but yes, I mean, it certainly is a classic Sanctuary thing where you go, ‘Okay let’s dive in and let’s do this,’ and, you know, Fugue is probably one of the most amazing experiences of my career, being able to work in that capacity with Amanda and Pascale and Damian, both being the writer and director.

It was a really, really amazing thing, and like I said before, there’s something different about song, it brings people together, it’s a more, it hits more of an emotional chord, and certainly we were all feeling that during that episode. You know, (Ry Ro) has a really lovely song in it, and to me across the board it’s, I’m telling you, it’s going to be something that’s going to really blow people away.

Tapping: And that, I mean, again, there’s only, in Fugue, there’s only like seven songs, maybe, in the whole episode.

Dunne: Yes.

Tapping: It’s an emotional episode that the, it’s not like we sing wall to wall in the episode, so…

Dunne: And there’s, like we’ve mentioned earlier, it’s a real organic connection between the story and the singing, and the theme was sort of a joining of those two things where maybe in other TV shows that have tried to do this, there has been sort of more of a story and then a gap between the singing. But certainly here in this Fugue is not the case at all. Oh cool, I can’t wait to check that out. Also, what was it like to have Gil Bellows on this season?

Tapping: Oh, fantastic. We got him on for the last two episodes, and he’s just a really lovely man. And he completely got the Sanctuary vibe, he really, you know, he just kept saying, “What a great set.” And he was so happy to be there. And he’s got a really, you know, he’s got a really gentle spirit. I mean I didn’t know a lot about Gil, I know his work most definitely, but he walked on and he was just so, sort of zen.

He’s just a really, really interesting man. And we loved it. We loved, because there’s a darkness to his character, so dark, and so nasty. And then you’ve got Gil playing it, it just seems like the antithesis, it’s really, it was very interesting.

Dunne: And we’ve been so extremely lucky on Sanctuary, to keep welcoming these people who come into the group, and kind of, after they’re there for a few days, you don’t really remember what it was like without them, and certainly Gil was…

Tapping: That’s exactly what it was like with Gil.

Dunne: Gil was…

Tapping: And Brian Markinson, same thing.

Dunne: Brian Markinson, the same thing, and, yes. And also man, like the guy was in the Shawshank Redemption, you know, the coolest movie of all time. And I did not geek out on him…

Tapping: You geeked out a little bit.

Dunne: …much, a little bit, a little bit, you know.

Well, you didn’t sing to him did you?

Tapping: Not publicly.

Dunne: I may have. Would that have been weird? Hypothetically if I did, would that have been, you know, a weird thing to do? I don’t think it would have been weird. Not that I did that, but, you know, whatever.

Okay, fair enough. One more quick thing, in the press release it mentions that the Sanctuary team has to go rogue, how will that alter the way things are done from now on?

Tapping: It makes things infinitely more difficult, I think. We have to, Magnus has to find a way to hide her money, to get it out of markets that, you know, the government may be able to control. It makes running individual Sanctuaries more difficult. You know, we see that in certain
episodes, like the episode that Robin directed, certain of the smaller Sanctuaries are really struggling without the government’s support. We have to merge a few of the Sanctuaries.

And so it’s a bit of a shuffling of the deck for Magnus and the team to – it’s the right decision to get it out of the hands of government control, because the government, we realize in certain countries, is too corrupt. But it also gives us a bit more autonomy and a bit more freedom, in terms of how we do things.

Dunne: We also have to dress like pirates for the whole season.

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: You know, like…

Tapping: That was just my, you know, my choice.

Dunne: Yes, I mean, the eye patches and the wooden legs and stuff, and, you know, Henry has a parrot, it’s, it was definitely a choice, you know, I don’t know.

Tapping: I don’t know. We’ll see how the fans respond.

Dunne: We’ll see, you know, again, it’s just another of those Sanctuary, thinking outside the box things, you know.

Tapping: We’re rogue. We’re dressed as pirates.

Dunne: Aarrrgggh!

What were some of the pros and cons of going back down to a 13-episode season after the 20-episode season that you did last year?

Tapping: Well, I actually think it really worked for us. That format worked  for us. When we did 20, we did 10 episodes and then we took a, like I think a four or five-week break, and then went back into the other 10. And it was actually very nice in that we all got a summer with our families and, you know, enjoyed it, but it was a slog to get through 20 episodes. It was a lot of work and it was a lot of planning. And 13 seemed somehow more manageable.

I mean, at first we were really disappointed that it was dropped to 13. And then it was like, no, wait, we can actually make 13 really kick-ass episodes of this show, and service each one of them well, as opposed to trying to spread ourselves really thin over 20.

Dunne: I think story-wise it just made the season more compact and…

Tapping: And succinct, in a lot of ways.

Dunne: Yes, and I think you’ll definitely see that in the season. But it was a sort of duality going on there too, because, like Amanda said, we did get a break in between tens, the two sets of ten episodes last season, so in another way it almost more grueling to just do 13 straight through. But…

Tapping: But I think there is like, you know, we didn’t waste a minute of footage, you know what I mean? We had 13 to sell this season, 13 to make it amazing, and so there was, you know, there was very little fat to trim, if that makes sense.

What are some of your recollections of the night shoot that ended your filming on the new season?

Tapping: Night shoots are always crazy, super fun, and there’s a different sensibility on set. Because, you know, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re still filming, and we were filming on location in…

Dunne: Like you’re having lunch at 3 o’clock…

Tapping: Yes, and it’s just, it messes with your time clock, but there’s also, I don’t know, there’s a weird sense of adventure when you shoot nights. And because we were shooting, again away from home, you know, we weren’t in the studio, we were on location in the downtown East side, which is, you know, an interesting place to shoot.

Dunne: You want to talk about abnormals.

Tapping: Well, it’s a, and we were shooting in this really beautiful space, like this old ironworks foundry, and I don’t know, there’s a sense of adventure to it, a sense of adventure when you shoot nights.

Dunne: It was also strange for us, too, because not only we were shooting all night every night, which throws your equilibrium off completely, if any of us have any equilibrium, which that’s still…

Tapping: Debatable.

Dunne: Very debatable, but also, you know, we shoot, we very, very, very rarely leave our studio. We shoot everything here, and so, the end of the season we on, like Amanda said, we were on a location, so that kind of added another level to the sort of weirdness of finishing the season.

Tapping: Yes, and it was huge. I mean the last of the season two-parter is huge. And we had like, 70 extras, and we had crazy huge set deck and…

Dunne: Yes, that two-parter is like a big feature, see…

Tapping: Yes.

Robin Dunne: There’s all kinds of major stuff going on, and…

Tapping: I think for us, you know, we don’t feel it maybe as much as the locations guys do, and the, you know, having to canvas the neighborhoods, and let people know we’re blowing stuff up and, I mean, logistically it’s a bit of a nightmare when you go on location, and especially when you shoot nights, and you’re in a neighborhood.

Dunne: Yes, if you’re on the downtown East side at 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re firing, like having major gunfights, I think there’s a lot of paperwork.

Tapping: There’s a lot of paperwork to happen.

Dunne: …that has to see, you know?

You get to drive a big truck, too, right, Robin?

Dunne: I got to drive a big truck. I like driving big trucks. I didn’t crash it or nothing. Yes, I did, I did actually get to drive this…

Tapping: You got to drive a big truck, and a motorcycle…

Dunne: Yes.

Tapping: We do like a Magnus and Will, Magnus takes off in her car and Will chases her on a motorcycle, they get into a fight, Magnus takes Will’s motorcycle, and she, you know, chases after it…

Dunne: Yes, it was like…

Tapping: There was a lot going on.

Dunne: Yes, it was like doing, like a big Neal Moritz movie or something at certain times. It was like The Fast and the Furious or something, it was very cool, it was very cool. And the fact that, yes, the fact that people let me behind the wheel of automobiles is, you know, amazing to me, you know, that they have that kind of trust.

Tapping: The paperwork, I can’t even tell you the half, paperwork.

Dunne: The paperwork to allow me to drive one of those trucks, my God, I had to give, I had to sign documents, and give blood samples, and you
know.

Excuse me, and one more thing if I may just jump in here. It’s not Sanctuary-related, but I think it’s a good thing to get out there…

Dunne: Don’t jump!

…you’re both going – sorry?

Tapping: No, go ahead.

Dunne: Don’t jump, unless you, like make sure you’re not on a slippery surface or anything, because I wouldn’t want you to fall. It’s okay, I’m in an office chair, so I think I’m safe.

Tapping: Okay, good. Jump in.

You’re both going to the Once Upon a Cure gala this weekend, what can you tell people about that?

Tapping: Well, it’s something, a great cause that’s very close to our hearts, because it’s to raise funds for Hunter Syndrome. And our camera operator, Ryan Purcell, who I had also worked with on Stargate, his 7-year-old son Trey has Hunter Syndrome. And it’s considered an orphan disease, because so few people have it. So there’s very little money going into research, development of pharmaceuticals, there’s very little government support.

So when Ryan and his wife Deb found out, just before Trey’s second birthday, that he had been diagnosed with this, they started a foundation to start raising funds. And it started as a Tacos for Trey, a little backyard barbecue, for all intent and purpose, and has grown now to this gala that we’re having on Saturday night at the Sutton Place Hotel.

And to date they’ve raised, I think, $187,000 for research, and as a result, them and one other person in Canada, Simon Ibell, are the only two people in this country raising funds for Hunter Syndrome. And it is a degenerative disease. There is currently no cure. The prognosis, when Trey was diagnosed, was that he may not live into his teens, although now that has changed dramatically.

And what I love about them is they’re logline for their foundation is called “Got Hope.” And I think when your child is diagnosed with a terminal illness, that’s pretty much all you’ve got. And they have parlayed that into this wonderful fundraising initiative. And it’s being supported by the film community, and especially the Syfy community. And so we’re proudly going there Saturday. There’s going to be a live auction and music.

There’s an online auction on eBay right now, and there’s some phenomenal things being sold off. So yes, we’re really proud of it, but it’s very much a family affair. Because it’s, you know, it’s Ryan. And he’s an amazing camera operator but an even more amazing man so, we’ll all be there.

I had a fan question. What she wants to know, how will the flashback episodes be affected after Season 4, with Peter going back to med school?

Tapping: We, Peter’s a part of this family, so if we ever go flashback again, which I hope that we do, Peter sent us a long email and just said, you know, we’ll make it work. We’ll just make it work. We’re thrilled that he’s chosen this other career. I think he’ll be a phenomenal doctor. He’s a lovely man and so, you know, we’ll make it work.

We’ll work around his schedule and we, like we do with a lot of our guest stars and family members that we love so much, we’ll just make it work. He’s not out of the show by any stretch and, you know, when he wrote us and told us what he was doing, and said, I would come back to the show at any time, and we said, we’ll have you at any time. So there’s nothing to fear, it’s not like he’s gone from the show. If there’s a way to bring him back we’ll do it.

Dunne: Sanctuary’s like the Mafia, you know, once you’re in…

Tapping: You can’t leave.

Dunne: You can’t get out. It doesn’t matter how…

Tapping: We’ll find you.

Dunne: You know, you want to go to med school, yes okay fine, go ahead, but you’re still part of this, you’re still in the group, okay, and just, you’re, you know, your other career is not going to get in the way of being part of this family, okay?

Tapping: Yes, so not to fear there.

All right. How do you think your characters have changed since the very beginning of the series? What’s the most significant?

Dunne: I think for Will, Will has kind of gone through a crazy progression. You know, he started out as a guy who wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be involved in the Sanctuary, and then you saw him kind of give in to that and realize that was his lot in life. And then you saw him become a guy
who really took responsibility in the Sanctuary, and really believed in it, and believed in what he was doing, and what he was a part of. And I think, in Season 4, you’re going to see the, that sort of commitment, the cracks in sort of his belief, and maybe start to doubt some of the things he took
as gospel before, and maybe question some of the choices he’s made to get him to this point.

Tapping: I think he’s a lot stronger, too. I mean that what you’ll see between Will and Magnus over the course of the four seasons is that they, Will’s not afraid to stand up to her. And he calls her out, and especially in this season, he calls her out a lot. And she’s forced to answer, in a way that I don’t think she’s ever had to before. Perhaps her protégés have been, you know, more towing the party line, whereas Will really, in part because of his background, but he’s not afraid to pull her onto the mat and say, ‘Okay explain yourself.’

Dunne: And, you know, I’d like to just say that, that takes a lot of guts. You know, I mean, come on, Magnus standing there in the field, she’s like three feet taller than him, you know. So I’d like a little credit for Will there, because that’s just, that ain’t easy, you know.

Tapping: And I think, for me, was, you know, give credit, my love, credit, that’s fantastic.

Dunne: That’s all a guy wants is just a little credit.

Tapping: For Magnus, I think, so much has happened to her. I mean, losing a child, and trying to continue on after that, is one phenomenal feat. But then to be, to shoulder the responsibility of this world-wide network, and especially in this season and at the end of last season, where you
realize she can’t rely on the support systems in the same way that she did before. It’s not like she can call up, you know, JFK and say, ‘Hey honey, I need your help on this one.’

She can’t do, she doesn’t have that same network that she used to have with world leaders and bankers and, so it’s a bit of a different road for her. And I think you’ll find a new strength in Magnus, and perhaps also a bit of a sadness to her. And when you realize where she’s been, after Tempus, when we get back into the season and you realize where she’s been, you’ll see, I don’t know, maybe a bit more sadness, a bit more loneliness to
her.

And yet at the, yes, she’s been very focused this season, incredibly focused. Because she now sees exactly what she has to do.

Dunne: Just wondering, I just have a, I have a question for Amanda here. Would Magnus have called President Kennedy “honey?”

Tapping: Yes she would.

Dunne: Wow.

Tapping: Well, I’ve decided that she would.

Dunne: Wow.

Tapping: I would. No disrespect to any of the former presidents or world leaders. Stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Please, ask again. Ask something, quickly.

All right. Just no, I was just going to say, I know you guys talk on Twitter all the time, obviously, but is there anything that you think people could still be surprised to know about you, that you haven’t told everybody, that would be interesting?

Dunne: I have been contractually obligated to not reveal anything more about myself.

Okay.

Dunne: I am kidding, I am kidding.

Tapping: No, I think we’re pretty open. I mean, part of the, Twitter has been, like a, kind of a weird blessing, because none of us were on Twitter, and then our publicist said, “Come on you guys, let’s do this thing.” And then the sharing of yourselves, and hearing more from fans and, I mean, it’s just become a really fun and great and easy way to communicate, and you know, I’ll throw in little tidbits about my family.

I’m pretty protective of them, but I’ll throw out stuff, and Robin does too, and I think all of us sort of shared little pieces of ourselves, and it just, it doesn’t feel like it’s an invasive…

Dunne: No.

Tapping: …social media. It feels like a really sort of fun and light, and you get great messages across, we’re able to spread the word about Once Upon a Cure, and Sanctuary for Kids, and it’s been a great tool, but I don’t know that there’s much that we haven’t revealed.

Dunne: No. And that speaks to really how, like, our relationship with the fans. We have really great fans, and there’s a trust there. We feel like we can, you know, send silly messages, and say things, and…

Tapping: And send silly pictures of ourselves, and it’s safe.

Dunne: Yes, that may happen now and again. But, you know, it’s actually pretty safe, and that’s has a lot to do with how great our fans are and how respectful they are, and you know, we get messages back. But it’s all very, it’s all in good fun, so it’s just a really great way to keep in touch with the fans. Because otherwise, you know, we’re just stuck in this studio in Vancouver all the time, you know, and feeling like, just nobody out there.

Tapping: It can become very insular, insular…

Dunne: Insular.

Tapping: …insular, working on a TV show, and so this is just, it’s a nice outreach. And I think we share enough, and the fans share great things about themselves. I don’t know, it’s cool.

It’s been a, listen, a great interview, listening to your answers so far, absolutely fantastic. My question is for the both of you. Now we’ve seen quite a few literary and historical figures on the show Sanctuary, you, they’ve been given special powers or abilities. Now my question to both of you is, who in the world of history and/or literature would you like to see as an abnormal, that hasn’t been done already?

Dunne: Hemmingway.

Tapping: Yes.

Dunne: That would be cool.

Tapping: Yes. Think.

Dunne: Elvis Presley? I know, I was like, it’s a tired theme, but I would go
there.

Tapping: Here’s some amazing sort of historical and literary figures. Dorothy Parker would be interesting.

Dunne: Yes.

Tapping: And that whole group, and Hemingway and his group, in the days of, you know, the halcyon days in Paris.

Dunne: Yes, in Paris with James Joyce and F. Scott and all those guys, yes, that would be great.

Tapping: Wow, we could just list every major literary figure in history and be pretty happy with any of those answers.

Dunne: David Lee Roth, you know, that would be awesome. I think he would be on the show. And oh, my goodness. Okay. Oh, nice. Ow, look at the Beatles.

Tapping: You get the idea.

Dunne: We’re in a very small room with no windows, and no air.

Ouch. Okay, well, my next question is for you. You starred in Manchester Prep, aka Cruel Intentions II. Why do you think that series failed, as opposed to why, I guess, Sanctuary is a big hit. Why do you think that failed?

Dunne: I will most diplomatically to answer this question. I, you know, there was a lot of other stuff going on with that, Manchester Prep. I think that it was a very transitional time with Fox. I think there was some friction there. I think that the show that Roger Kumble was delivering to the
network may not have been the same, tonally the same as what the network was expecting. But you know, regardless, it was a fun thing to do.

I think, I don’t think I would be speaking out of turn to say that it was a very interesting idea, what Neal Moritz and Roger Kumble decided to do, in cutting together this, sort of Frankensteining the episodes and putting together the movie Cruel Intentions II. While it may not be the first movie I would recommend, out of my resume for people to watch, I think it was an interesting idea.

But you know, I think a series lives or dies, ultimately, on the strength of the premise, and I think when I first read the pilot for Sanctuary, it really, you know, Damian Kindler really has set up a really solid foundation for a series. And also, thematically, I think it’s a very interesting show, because it deals with, sort of, acceptance, and not judging, and understanding, and I think those are all themes that really resonate with people.

And I think, you know, I think as a starting point, as a basis for a series, it was something that was just a sure hit. And then you add in, you know, all the wonderful other people who are involved in it, some of them are sitting right next to me. You know…

Tapping: Breathing down your neck.

Dunne: Breathing down my neck, staring right into me, you know, I think you have a recipe for a really great show. And you know, Sanctuary, also we talked about it a lot but, there’s a great connection between all of us here. There’s a great common belief in this show, and we have a lot of fun doing it. And I think those are the intangibles that really pull things together. And whether an audience consciously realizes it or not, they really feel that, and I think that contributes to the success as well.

Okay, and my last question is for Amanda. You have, without any doubt whatsoever, a fantastic science fiction pedigree. You’ve been on the X-Files, Stargate, and now Sanctuary. What is it about this genre that appeals to you?

Tapping: It’s interesting because when I got Stargate, I wasn’t a massive science fiction fan. I had done a lot of science fiction, but I think, what I came to realize, that what appeals to me about the genre for women, is that there’s an incredible opportunity for strong, savvy women in leadership
roles, unapologetically, and I just found, I think I found my niche, you know.

And what I love about the genre, beyond just making the show where I get to play these great women, is the fandom, and the connectedness of the fandom. And I think once you get yourself into shows like Sanctuary and like Stargate, the fans are stalwart and loyal and gracious, and they’re hard on you because they want you to be amazing and, but they’re also amazingly supportive.

And so, I mean I would never have said, when I graduated from, you know, theater school, that I would be doing sci fi. I was quite snobby when I left theater school, and now I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love it. And I love the fact the genre, in and of itself is a genre that thinks outside the box. It’s not formulaic, it’s not procedural, every week is a whole new ball game. And I love that, I love the imagination of it.

Dunne: And also, you know, the genre is great in the sense that it’s very, metaphorically you could deal with a lot of different subjects in different ways and…

Tapping: And politically, I mean, you can, yes, there’s a lot of messages that you can parlay, that aren’t as didactic as saying, you know, ‘This is how we feel about politics,’ but you can do it in a roundabout way, and still get your message across.

Dunne: We trick people. Trick them, trick them all, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah.

Tapping: I don’t know, I’m a big fan of the genre. I’m a big fan of what it’s done, specifically for women.

And, I’m sorry, I have one more question to ask, I apologize, for that kind of (unintelligible), because I said earlier I was done. Is there a certain, now, for both of you, is there a certain abnormal power or ability you wish you had, that’s on the show?

Tapping: I know Will would like to be invisible.

Dunne: No, I…

Tapping: No, Robin would like to be invisible.

Dunne: Sometimes I feel invisible. Oh God, here they come, I swore I wouldn’t do this. I don’t know, I was thinking lately it would be cool to have Slinky hands, you know.

Tapping: What?

Dunne: It just, like Slinky or…

Tapping: We don’t have anyone with Slinky hands on the show.

Dunne: That’s what I’m saying, though, but that’s what I would like. I would like Slinky hands…

Tapping: You’re so weird.

Dunne: …because I could just play with the slinkies all day – or pogo feet. And I could bounce around.

Tapping: Okay, Tigger.

Dunne: Oh, see?

Tapping: You know, I used to think that longevity would be a great gift, but I actually think it’s kind of a curse. I would really like the idea of aging very slowly, though. That would be nice, slowly and gracefully, like Magnus. But I don’t think I’d want to live forever.

Hi Amanda, hi Robin. I just want to say, for full disclosure, George Clooney is making me penne a la vodka, and he sent a text to Brad about filling up the yacht.

Tapping: Wow.

Dunne: Where is my invitation? What, like, what have I got to do? I got to like write it in the sky or something?

Tapping: I’m going to have to give Robin therapy sessions for the next…

Dunne: God, you know, I just want to hang with those guys. I think I could, you know, be like their dorky…

Tapping: Protégé.

Dunne: You know, yes, their…

Tapping: Cabana boy.

Dunne: Aww.

Aww, come on.

Dunne: That’s not nice.

Okay, now I got to ask, when you guys are doing this show…

((Crosstalk))

…do you guys get to ad lib?

Dunne: The whole media is here, and you’re mocking me. That’s not nice. If you’re going to mock me, do it in private.

((Crosstalk))

Dunne: They’re writing this down now.

Dunne: We will continue the mocking when the press conference is done.

Dunne: Please.

Okay guys, when you’re doing the show, do you get to ad lib, or do you have to follow the script?

Tapping: We do ad lib, a bit. Often the scripts are so technical, and they’re so, the through-line is often so convoluted that if we ad lib we may, you know, the butterfly effect. Well not, you know what I mean, though, like there’s…

Dunne: It’s intricate.

Tapping: Intricate, not convoluted, intricate, so if you ad lib something incorrectly it may affect, you know, the time line. But we do ad lib a little bit, and they often stay in, because there’s a lot of freedom on our set, and there’s a lot of laughter on our set. And often things come out that end up becoming character, you know, character, yes character traits, really.

Dunne: Yes, and I think there’s a sort of nice duality of both things happening, because like Amanda says, the scripts are often very, very, the scripts are very, very tight on Sanctuary, but, you know, sometimes you hear about actors working on shows where, you know, there’s not, like not one single thing can be changed, and thankfully, we’re not, the writers here are not as rigid in that sense.

So, you know, while the scripts are generally, you know, what you see on television is what was written, there is an openness to adding some things in, and that’s a lot of fun too.

Okay, what is the one character trait that you admire about Magnus and that you admire about Will that you don’t have in real life, but you wish you did?

Tapping: Magnus is much more ballsy than I am. I wish sometimes that I had her strength of conviction, without worrying so much about what other people thought. I’m very, sort of conscientious of other people’s reactions to things, and I think that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But there are times when I wish I could just say exactly what I feel, like Magnus does and, you know, consequences be damned.

Dunne: For me, you know, Will can read, and that, you know, I’ve been, I’m working on it. You know, he’s really kind of, with all that book learning smart stuff, and…

Tapping: But you are a good baseball player.

Dunne: I’m a good baseball player, I like that. I like hitting balls back.

Tapping: Why didn’t you just say that you wish you were as smart as Will?

Dunne: Well, I’m, you know, again, it’s like, do we have to do it in the way that’s just so bland, it’s like eating, you know, corn flakes? Can we like, add some raisins to the cereal, and make it a little bit funny, you know? All right, I’ll say it the way Amanda wants me to say it.

Tapping: No, no, no.

Dunne: I wish I was as smart as, I were, I wish I were as smart. See, I don’t even know how to say it. I don’t even know the correct grammar to say this. But I wish I was as smart and good at the book learning as Will.

Tapping: That’s a fine answer, young man.

Dunne: Thank you, thank you, see?

Tapping: A fine, fine answer.

Was there anything that you were surprised to learn about yourselves after taking on the roles?

Tapping: For me, I guess I’m stronger than I thought I was. But it wasn’t just taking on the role of Magnus, it was sort of taking on the role of producer, and they’re very much interconnected, in the way that the show runs. So I guess I realized that I knew more about filmmaking than maybe I had given myself credit for, and I was a little more savvy than I had given myself credit for, and stronger, in some ways, than I gave myself credit for.

Because I’m able to fight the good fight when I need to, which may fly in the face of my previous answer, but yes, I think I’m stronger than I thought I was.

Dunne: Why wouldn’t you say that?

Tapping: Why didn’t I? I don’t know. And you, Robin?

Dunne: For me, in the same way, I mean, this is the biggest job I’ve ever had, and with, you know, the most commitment and the longest time I’ve ever been on one show, and it’s kind of exhausting in all the things that we’ve been doing here, but again, you know, you surprise yourself at the endurance that you have, to undertake a role so demanding and work on a series that’s got such a crazy pace to it.

And, you know, that even sort of applies to directing, this year. Lead… going into it I was kind of, very freaked out, because, obviously having never directed before, but as soon as you find yourself in the middle of it, you realize that you, how much more you know than you thought you did, and, you know, it was a great experience.

Thank you, and my last question is, what are your own personal sanctuaries?

Tapping: Our own personal sanctuaries, wow, this is a, you know, the truth, and it’s hokey, but bedtime with my 6-year-old daughter, and crawling into her bed with her, and reading stories, and doing our little rituals that we do at night, little dream train, and that for me is like, if I can make it through a day knowing that that’s at the end of it, that little – she has an amazing bedroom, little purple and green and lovely little quilt and the little canopy, and I just, that’s my sanctuary, cuddling up with her and quiet time.

Dunne: For me, it’s baseball. Baseball zens me out, you know, I could, whether it’s on television or whether I’m at a baseball game, I don’t know, I can just, get very zen for me, you know.

Well, this is what I was going to ask. So one person asked you what people you’d like to see as paranormal, or as, paranormal – as abnormals. What kind of, like, qualities or abilities that the abnormals have would you like to see on the show besides Slinky hands?

Tapping: Besides, what we’d like to see on the show? You know, I’d like to see more of Sally the Mermaid, and more of that sort of psychic – and Robin’s nodding his head, he would like to see more of Sally the Mermaid too.

Dunne: That’s not true. You cannot prove that I’ve done that, okay.

Tapping: I can’t. What other abnormal abilities would you like to see on
the show?

Dunne: Like, you mean, new abnormal abilities or ones…

Yes, something that you haven’t done.

Dunne: …that we’ve seen that we want to see more of.

Something you haven’t done before.

Tapping: Something we haven’t done before, wow, we’ve done a lot of crazy stuff. And now we have more flying people, which I’m always a big fan of.

Dunne: Flying is good. We’ve never really seen anyone turn invisible.

Tapping: No, that’s true – well Griffin.

Dunne: Griffin, yes, Griffin does, that’s right.

Tapping: Kind of. That’s a good question. You’ve stumped us.

Sorry.

Tapping: Damn you, damn you.

Dunne: I have no idea.

Tapping: I don’t know either. I really wanted to see more flying people, and we got some in this season, so…

Dunne: Yes, this season’s definitely good, we’ve got some cool abnormal…

Tapping: We’ve got some very cool abnormals this season. We’ve got people who glow in the dark, we’ve got all sorts of cool stuff.

Dunne: Yes. Yes, I think we’re really going through, like, you know, like Season 5 we’ll have to start thinking of, like, you know, this guy’s abnormal power is, he can eat, you know, seven tons of M&Ms and not be full.

Tapping: That’s not a good abnormal…

Dunne: Yes it is.

Tapping: Okay. Sugar Rush Man.

Dunne: Sugar Man. Give me those M&Ms, I’ll eat as many as is possible. I’ll eat the whole store out.

You get asked a lot of questions, of course, by journalists like ourselves and fans, but if you were able to turn the tables and ask, let’s say, your fans and I suppose perhaps journalists one question, what would it be?

Tapping: What’s your favorite aspect of the show, and what would you like to see more of?

Are you…

Tapping: Yes. But you know, I mean, like is it the revision of history, is it the abnormals, is it the interpersonal relationships? And what would you, what more would you like to see? Would you like a, you know, that, I would like that. Put that out there, Michael and see what you come back
with.

Dunne: I mean, I think as a show with so many different, there’s so many different aspects of the show, it would, yes, it would be interesting to take a poll and see what people really connect to in the series.

Yes, absolutely.

Dunne: Will Zimmerman.

Tapping: (Unintelligible)

Dunne: Tell them it should be Will Zimmerman. The show is…

How about a little hint in the footnote? That’s great, thank you. Thanks
again for coming out today. I appreciate it.

Tapping: Thank you, thank you everyone for being here.

Dunne: Thanks everyone.




In the Syfy-world, there is a remarkable supernatural/fantasy series  that proved that it is possible to make the miraculous leap from webseries to television series.  Now entering its fourth season, SANCTUARY is a true success story and no one is more delighted with their devoted fans than
stars Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne, who play Dr. Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman.  Taking a few minutes to chat with the press in a recent conference call, Amanda and Robin teased what is upcoming in this next season and reflected on what makes the series so addictive to its
fan-base.
 
Will we be learning more of Magnus’ juicy secrets this season?

AMANDA: Yes, you do actually, especially in our first episode. You get a sense of what makes this woman tick, and some of the choices that she’s made and why. The whole season builds to a finale that is quite breathtaking, and it’s not until the very last scene of the finale that you understand why Magnus has aligned herself with the people she’s aligned herself with, why the Sanctuary went rogue from government support worldwide. But you don’t ever actually figure it out, and I think people will be very surprised when they see the final ending, and what’s happened.
But you do, throughout the course of it, there’s things that Magnus does that you go, “what, why would you, huh?” And then it’s all revealed at the end.

ROBIN: I think more than ever, any other season, I think you’ll see the sort of brilliance of Magnus and the, I think she’s masterminded this season is like, more brilliant than any other time. And again, yes, at times it will be very confusing to the audience as to why she’s doing what she’s doing, but it will all made sense in the end.
 
Will there be any Helen and Will centered episodes in Season 4?

AMANDA: Yes, in fact, one in particular, which is our typical Magnus and Will two-hander that we do every season, and of course it involves a lot of water. So I don’t know what that is, I don’t know why the writers feel like they need to do that to us every year, but…

ROBIN: Torture, they hate us.

AMANDA: They hate us and torture us, so there is one that is actually, it’s an incredibly intense episode, but so much comes up during the course of this episode, past lives, past transgressions, and it’s…

ROBIN: It’s a very brutally truthful episode between the two characters, and the result of it is that all of these things have happened over the course of the season, even previous seasons, and then the repercussions kind of go right into the end of, into the season finale.

AMANDA: Yes, there’s a massive ripple effect from that episode.
 
So what kind of a journey would you say that your characters are on this season?

AMANDA: A roller-coaster journey.

ROBIN: I would say it’s the darkest kind of journey we’ve been on. I mean, we’ve been in some dark places, but I think this season there is some real friction and real ugly truths that come out.

AMANDA: Yes and it feels like every relationship this season is tested, and thankfully survived, but there’s a difference at the end of it, in the way that the characters deal with each other. Magnus has a big episode with Tesla, and it changes the course of their relationship somewhat. Will and Magnus are on this incredible, you know, she’s still lying to him and they’re at loggerheads a lot, but you can tell at the heart of it all, there’s incredible love between the two characters, and incredible respect. But it, I think Robin put it right, this is a bit of a darker season. It’s not without its crazy humor, because it wouldn’t be SANCTUARY without it, but it’s a much darker season, and I think the best way to say it is that the relationships are all tested.
 
So what is going to surprise us most this season? What is the thing that the viewers just are going to be thrown for a loop by seeing?

AMANDA: Well, we can’t tell you, because then they won’t be thrown for a loop. And we like throwing people for loops. . . What’s the thing they would be most surprised at?  Probably the friction between Magnus and Will.

ROBIN: Yes, the audience is going to be shocked by some of the interactions between Magnus and Will this season. And also I think things like Fugue, are really, really going to be really momentous moments.

AMANDA: Yes, I think even our first couple of episodes, like “Tempus” that, the fact that it takes place entirely in Victorian-era England, in such a bizarre set of circumstances is, it’s going to launch the season, I think, quite incredibly.
 
How many episodes will Magnus’ love interest be involved in?

AMANDA: Well, one. Magnus is – one that we see, but Magnus is, again, very busy this season.

ROBIN: Too busy for love.

AMANDA: Too busy for love, it’s sad really.
 
How do you view Helen and Henry’s relationship? Is it like mother and son
or more doctor and patient?

AMANDA: I think if you were to put a label on it, I guess the most apt would be mother and son, but there’s a real genuine kinship there, and there’s a friendship that sort of goes beyond, I don’t know it can –

ROBIN: Boundaries.

AMANDA: The boundaries of mother and son. But, I guess, she’s very maternal towards him in a lot of ways, and obviously having rescued him as a child, she feels very maternal towards him. And raised him with Ashley so, yes there’s definitely that element, I would say, more than anything.
 
In the season premiere, we see Helen Magnus really lacking in emotional control. In the past, whenever she’s gotten angry she seemed to channel it into a determination and focus to solve the problem, but here she really loses her temper and she’s really kind of a fury.  What is it like playing that unleashed version of Magnus?

AMANDA: It was interesting to play, because I was afraid that it was getting too dark, but what was explained to me, and what I finally worked through is, she has to, at all cost, as callous as it seems at times, and as full of rage as she seems at times, she has to, at all cost, stop Adam Worth from altering the timeline. A) because her present, and all the people in it, could potentially be destroyed, but also the fate of the world is in the hands of a madman, who now has technology far advanced of what’s available in Victorian era England, and can literally change the course of human history. So the stakes are massively high, and it’s also very emotional because she’s dealing with a younger Watson, she’s trying to hide from the younger version of herself, she’s dealing with what it’s like to be a woman in Victorian era England, she has to deal with John Druitt in a pretty ugly way, and gets again a sense of, firsthand of what it was like to be with him back then. So it’s an intense episode and, yes, there are times when I’m like, man, she is nasty. But when you realize what’s at stake, and it literally is the course of human history that’s at stake, then you understand why she loses it. And I think she’s so far out of her depth, she’s so far from home and, ultimately playing in the back of her mind is, “How will I ever get back to my present? How is that even possible?” So it’s an intense episode.
 
Speaking of Druitt, I thought that the revelation regarding him was rather spectacular and kind of key to the way people have been understanding him. What was it like when you read the script and saw that was what was happening?

AMANDA: We actually sit down before the season starts, Martin, Damian and I and the writers, and sort of log out what we’d like to see happen, certain character twists and turns, but then it’s really in the hands of the writers. And Damian wrote this episode and, as usual with his deft touch, he’ll find a turn that nobody sees coming. And so, with Druitt, it made sense that we saw this man at this point in time, I mean it’s right in the middle of the Ripper killings in Whitechapel, and it was important to service that element of his character. So it was shocking to read the script, but by the same token, it’s just another revelation, right? It all helps you understand the character a bit more, and it helps you, in some ways, choose sides a bit more. So we may map out as much as we can, but then the writers will always throw little curve balls in there that no one sees coming. And that’s kind of what I love about getting a fresh script is, okay we’ve talked about this, but how is it going to happen.
 
What can you tell our fans a little bit about the season premiere, and what they can look forward to this season?

AMANDA: The season premiere, again, takes place in Victorian era England. It’s  almost a direct cut from how we ended Season 3. So we actually have, the first two episodes of the season are the conclusion to our season finale last year. And we had initially discussed doing them, sort of flashing back and forth between the two storylines, one in Victorian era England and one, what’s happening in current day. And we just realized that in order to service both stories properly, they needed to be separate. There needed to be not, you know, you would need to jog the audience back and forth. So Tempus is Magnus stuck in Victorian era England, trying to hide from her past self, trying to stop Ian Tracey’s character Adam Worth from altering the timeline. And the second episode, Uprising, is basically how Will and Henry and Kate and Bigfoot are trying to quell the rebellion that’s happening from the insurgents from Hollow Earth. So that’s how we launch. We launch the season in such a big way. We were kind of exhausted by the end of the first two, where we were like, oh God, how do we keep this up? But we take you everywhere. We take
you to a remote island off the coast of Africa in an episode called Monsoon. Robin directed an episode called Homecoming, in which we meet his dad, there’s a series of flashbacks with his father, and it’s a really poignant and beautiful episode. We take you to an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea, a musical episode, we take you into a virtual Sanctuary, which is one of our cool episodes called Chimera. And we take you into a cave system in the Andes with Will and Magnus. I mean, we’re all over the place. We’re literally all over the world. And we’re dealing, the whole time, the through-line is dealing with the fallout of going rogue, and separating ourselves from the World Government. So it’s an intense roller coaster ride, but again, not without its humor. And then the ending, I wish I could say more about our season ender, our two-parter that Damian directed. But it’s, I don’t even want to give you a word, for fear that it will
give too much away. It’s incredible, and the way that it ends, I mean, we were shocked when we read the script all, the crew, the cast, everyone was running around going, “what, what, what? How did you – what?” And so, but of course we did, in typical SANCTUARY fashion. And I think it’s
quite shocking.

ROBIN: And we, even just shooting it, just being there and shooting those scenes, it was very emotional, very shocking for us to shoot. And to sort of realize what was happening, not to give it away, but it’s going to be cool.

AMANDA: Which means Season 5, fingers crossed, is going to be even cooler.
 
What can you share about the upcoming musical episode?

AMANDA:  The musical episode is our eighth episode. It’s called “Fugue” and it is written by Damian Kindler.

ROBIN: Directed by Damian Kindler as well.

AMANDA: And he wrote the lyrics for the music with our composer, Andrew Lockington. It’s interesting, there’s not big production numbers or dancing or anything like that. It’s actually a very organic way of telling a story and the songs, even though the songs are sung, it’s sort of like you’re hearing a scene.

ROBIN: Yes, I think the way that the music and the story are married together, like as Amanda says, it’s very organic and it was an amazing episode to shoot. During a lot of the musical scenes, a lot of the crew were saying that it was like they were just watching a scene, and the singing was sort of secondary, which was kind of interesting.

AMANDA: But what was cool about it, was the crew really got into the idea of doing a musical, so everyone on set was singing, you know, “we’re coming up behind you, we’re carrying a ladder.”  It was really funny, and it was just a great atmosphere. But it sort of goes with the idea that certain people respond better to frequencies, certain musical frequencies or tonal qualities, than they do to actual voice. So we sort of took that idea and made it a SANCTUARY episode.

ROBIN: It was also kind of interesting too. It was a very emotional episode to shoot. Something about the music really brought the emotion out in a lot of people, and not just the actors but, we had like, burly grip guys standing in the back of the room kind of wiping tears away from their eyes, which was kind of interesting.

AMANDA: And we had Pascale Hutton, who plays Abby on our show, figures very prominently in this episode, and we were really lucky to get Jim Byrnes, who plays my dad, who’s an incredibly accomplished blues musician, sing a song for us in the show. So, I think it’s so far outside the
box, and yet not, in the way that we presented it.

ROBIN: I think it’s like Amanda says.  It’s something very different, but it’ll totally fit in as a SANCTUARY episode.
 
Can you talk about the musical episode and how the Bollywood episode might have helped you with that?

ROBIN: I think it helped me in the sense that they were both episodes that were extremely daunting to undertake. Both episodes were way out of my comfort zone. And both episodes had me do something that I don’t do very well, which are dancing and singing.

AMANDA: There’s a level of trust, right, like you built up a level of trust with the crew, I think, doing the Bollywood thing, and had so much support that it made, maybe made the next one easier.

ROBIN: Well, I don’t know if I would say easier, but yes, it certainly is a classic SANCTUARY thing where you go, “Okay let’s dive in and let’s do this,” and “Fugue” is probably one of the most amazing experiences of my career, being able to work in that capacity with Amanda and Pascale and Damian, both being the writer and director. It was a really, really amazing thing, and like I said before, there’s something different about song, it brings people together, it hits more of an emotional chord, and certainly we were all feeling that during that episode. Ry Ro has a really lovely song in it, and to me across the board it’s, I’m telling you, it’s going to be something that’s going to really blow people away.

AMANDA: And again, in “Fugue,” there’s only like seven songs, maybe, in the whole episode. It’s an emotional episode that the, it’s not like we sing wall to wall in the episode.

ROBIN: And there’s, like we’ve mentioned earlier, it’s a real organic connection between the story and the singing, and the theme was sort of a joining of those two things where maybe in other TV shows that have tried to do this, there has been sort of more of a story and then a gap between the singing. But certainly here in this Fugue is not the case at all.

What has been you favorite experience on SANCTUARY this upcoming season?

AMANDA: I would say, one of the most interesting, and really fun experiences was doing “Fugue.” It was such a crazy episode to shoot, and it was so far outside of everyone’s comfort zone. And I just felt like, creatively, we all pushed the envelope. And everyone, it was one of those where, you either give in to the idea fully, and just go for it, or you’re not servicing it, and so we all kind of had to take this massive leap of faith, which is kind of the SANCTUARY logline, and it was so much fun.

ROBIN: Just being in the recording studio, recording songs and working with Damian Kindler and our composer Andrew Lockington, who really helped us through that process because as actors and not singers, per se, it was a very daunting task to take on. But it was a really special experience, and I think the episode is really quite…

AMANDA: Yes, and because it took so long, like it wasn’t just, we didn’t just shoot the episode. We had to go in a couple of weeks before and record the songs, and then the week before we shot, we went into the studio and rehearsed. And so it was just, it was spread out over a period of time and, so when we finally came on to the set to actually shoot the scenes where we were singing, we were so prepared and had a real sense of anticipation. But that was really fun.

ROBIN: We had these cool, like, phonics things, they called them phonics things, they’re like invisible earpieces where, we could hear the music but nobody else could, so we could sing along with the track, but get the singing recorded clean and, I don’t know, it was just, it was kind of like being a rock star for a little while, and it was fun.

AMANDA: And I’d have to say for me, “Tempus,” the first episode of the season, just to be back in that era, and wearing those clothes, and playing two different versions of Magnus, you know a much younger, more innocent, wide-eyed version and the fairly beaten-up version that she is
now, was really satisfying, creatively. It was really fun.

ROBIN: And also the way that episode was shot, and technologically, how you had to do it to shoot both characters.

AMANDA: Using stop-motion camera, and just the set was, I mean, we built this beautiful Victorian set, and then made it rain the entire time, inside the studio, which seems sort of counter-intuitive when you live in Vancouver, and we have so much rain outside. But we, yes, it was just a really, very cool and soggy.
 
Can you talk about some of the guest stars that you have that you have coming up this season?

AMANDA: Well, Ian Tracey is back as Adam Worth, and Jonathon Young is back as Tesla. Peter Wingfield is back as James Watson.

ROBIN: We have a very, kind of cool new villain this year, played by Brian Markinson.

AMANDA: Who’s just a phenomenal actor, and we had him in one episode, and loved him so much that we kept bringing him back. Carlo Rota does a couple of episodes of the show.

ROBIN: Adam Greydon Reed and Caroline Cave are in the show this year.

AMANDA: Oh, your dad, Al Sapienza.

ROBIN: Al Sapienza plays Will’s dad, in a wonderful performance, you know him from THE SOPRANOS.

AMANDA: Robert Lawrenson is back a fair bit, as Declan, which is great. What you’ve seen over the past three seasons, as we build the SANCTUARY family, we utilize them a lot. And I think that’s what I love about the show is if you come on and we really dig you and we have, pretty much dug everyone who’s come on the show, and we just keep bringing you back. So, and Polly Neegan is back as Henry’s love interest. So it’s just a real sense of family here. Gil Bellows, actually came and did our last few episodes with us, and he’s phenomenal.

ROBIN: The SANCTUARY family is growing. Aww, so cute, it’s like the BRADY BUNCH, but way, way bigger.

AMANDA: Way more dysfunctional, but fun.
 
What was it like to have Gil Bellows on the show this season?

AMANDA: Oh, fantastic. We got him on for the last two episodes, and he’s just a really lovely man. And he completely got the SANCTUARY vibe, he just kept saying, “What a great set.” And he was so happy to be there. And he’s got a really gentle spirit. I mean I didn’t know a lot about Gil, I know his work most definitely, but he walked on and he was just so, sort of zen. He’s just a really, really interesting man. And we loved it. We loved, because there’s a darkness to his character, so dark, and so nasty. And then you’ve got Gil playing it, it just seems like the antithesis, it’s really, it was very interesting.

ROBIN: And we’ve been so extremely lucky on SANCTUARY, to keep welcoming these people who come into the group, and kind of, after they’re there for a few days, you don’t really remember what it was like without them, and certainly Gil was.

AMANDA: That’s exactly what it was like with Gil and Brian Markinson, same thing.

ROBIN: Brian Markinson, the same thing, and, yes. And also man, like the guy was in “The Shawshank Redemption,” you know, the coolest movie of all time. And I did not geek out on him…

AMANDA: You geeked out a little bit.

ROBIN: Much, a little bit, a little bit.
 
How do you think your characters have changed since the very beginning of the series? What’s the most significant?

ROBIN: I think for Will, Will has kind of gone through a crazy progression. He started out as a guy who wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be involved in the Sanctuary, and then you saw him kind of give in to that and realize that was his lot in life. And then you saw him become a guy who really took responsibility in the Sanctuary, and really believed in it, and believed in what he was doing, and what he was a part of. And I think, in Season 4, you’re going to see the, that sort of commitment, the cracks in sort of his belief, and maybe start to doubt some of the things he took as gospel before, and maybe question some of the choices he’s made to get him to this point.

AMANDA: I think he’s a lot stronger, too. I mean that’s what you’ll see between Will and Magnus over the course of the four seasons is that they, Will’s not afraid to stand up to her. And he calls her out, and especially in this season, he calls her out a lot. And she’s forced to answer, in a way that I don’t think she’s ever had to before. Perhaps her protégés have been more towing the party line, whereas Will really, in part because of his background, but he’s not afraid to pull her onto the mat and say, “Okay explain yourself.”

ROBIN: And I’d like to just say that, that takes a lot of guts. I mean, come on, Magnus standing there in the field, she’s like three feet taller than him. So I’d like a little credit for Will there, because that’s just, that ain’t easy, you know.

AMANDA: For Magnus, I think, so much has happened to her. I mean, losing a child, and trying to continue on after that, is one phenomenal feat. But then to shoulder the responsibility of this world-wide network, and especially in this season and at the end of last season, where you realize
she can’t rely on the support systems in the same way that she did before. It’s not like she can call up JFK and say, “Hey honey, I need your help on this one.” She doesn’t have that same network that she used to have with world leaders and bankers and, so it’s a bit of a different road for her. And I think you’ll find a new strength in Magnus, and perhaps also a bit of a sadness to her. And when you realize where she’s been, after Tempus, when we get back into the season and you realize where she’s been, you’ll see, I don’t know, maybe a bit more sadness, a bit more loneliness to her. And yet, she’s been very focused this season, incredibly focused. Because she now sees exactly what she has to do.
 
Now we’ve seen quite a few literary and historical figures on the show SANCTUARY and they’ve been given special powers or abilities. Who in the world of history and/or literature would you like to see as an abnormal, that hasn’t been done already?

ROBIN: Hemmingway. That would be cool.

AMANDA: Yes. Think. There’s some amazing sort of historical and literary figures. Dorothy Parker would be interesting.  And that whole group, and Hemingway and his group, the halcyon days in Paris.

ROBIN: Yes, in Paris with James Joyce and F. Scott and all those guys, yes, that would be great.

AMANDA: Wow, we could just list every major literary figure in history and be pretty happy with any of those answers.
 
What is the one character trait that you admire about Magnus and that you admire about Will that you don’t have in real life, but you wish you did?

AMANDA: Magnus is much more ballsy than I am. I wish sometimes that I had her strength of conviction, without worrying so much about what other people thought. I’m very, sort of conscientious of other people’s reactions to things, and I think that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But there are times when I wish I could just say exactly what I feel, like Magnus does and consequences be damned.

ROBIN: For me Will can read, and that, I’ve been, I’m working on it. He’s really kind of, with all that book learning smart stuff, and…

AMANDA: Why didn’t you just say that you wish you were as smart as Will?

ROBIN: I wish I were as smart. See, I don’t even know how to say it. I don’t even know the correct grammar to say this. But I wish I was as smart and good at the book learning as Will.
 
Was there anything that you were surprised to learn about yourselves after taking on the roles?

AMANDA: For me, I guess I’m stronger than I thought I was. But it wasn’t just taking on the role of Magnus, it was sort of taking on the role of producer, and they’re very much interconnected, in the way that the show runs. So I guess I realized that I knew more about film making than maybe I had given myself credit for, and I was a little more savvy than I had given myself credit for, and stronger, in some ways, than I gave myself credit for. Because I’m able to fight the good fight when I need to, which may fly in the face of my previous answer, but yes, I think I’m stronger than I thought I was.

ROBIN: For me, in the same way, this is the biggest job I’ve ever had, and the most commitment and the longest time I’ve ever been on one show, and it’s kind of exhausting in all the things that we’ve been doing here, but again, you surprise yourself at the endurance that you have, to undertake a role so demanding and work on a series that’s got such a crazy pace to it. And that even sort of applies to directing, this year. Lead, going into it I was kind of, very freaked out, because, obviously having never directed before, but as soon as you find yourself in the middle of it, you realize how much more you know than you thought you did, and it was a great experience.
 
Now that the SANCTUARY team has had to go rogue, how will that alter the way things are done from now on?

AMANDA: It makes things infinitely more difficult, I think. Magnus has to find a way to hide her money, to get it out of markets that the government may be able to control. It makes running individual Sanctuaries more difficult. You know, we see that in certain episodes, like the episode that Robin directed, certain smaller Sanctuaries are really struggling without the government’s support. We have to merge a few of the Sanctuaries. And so it’s a bit of a shuffling of the deck for Magnus and the team  it’s the right decision to get it out of the hands of government control, because  the government, we realize in certain countries, is too corrupt. But it also gives us a bit more autonomy and a bit more freedom, in terms of how we do things.



Sanctuary returns to Syfy in the US and SPACE in Canada in a few hours with its season four premiere ‘Tempus.’ It promises to be a drammatic opener with Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) trapped in the past and the rest of the sanctuary team trying to control abnormals in their own backyard and streaming out of Hollow Earth.

Flash forward thirteen episodes and Sanctuary fans will be anticipating what looks like being an equally epic season finale. CinemaSpy was at the shoot for that episode, ‘Sanctuary for None,’ at Vancouver’s Terminal City location (where parts of the Stargate Universe episode ‘Blockade’ were filmed) during the final days of shooting. We managed to snap a few shots of that rarest of rare sights: Sanctuary on location and at night. You can check out the little that we could give away below.

Recently, yours truly also had the chance to chat with stars Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne about what it was like filming on streets close to Vancouver’s infamous East Hastings location as the sun went down.

“Night shoots are always crazy, super fun, and there’s a different sensibility on set,” Tapping said in a conference call. “Because, it’s three-o’clock in the morning and you’re still filming, it messes with your time clock, but there’s also a weird sense of adventure when you shoot nights. And we were shooting, again, away from home. We weren’t in the studio, we were on location in the downtown East side, which is an interesting place to shoot. We were shooting in this really beautiful space, like this old ironworks foundry, and there’s a sense of adventure to it, a sense of adventure when you shoot nights.”

“It was also strange for us, too, because not only we were shooting all night every night, which throws your equilibrium off completely, if any of us have any equilibrium, which that’s still very debatable, but also, we very, very, very rarely leave our studio,” added Dunne, who plays Dr. Will Zimmerman in the show. “We shoot everything here, and so [at] the end of the season, like Amanda said, we were on a location, so that kind of added another level to the sort of weirdness of finishing the season … [And] if you’re on the downtown East side at 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re firing, like having major gunfights, I think there’s a lot of paperwork.”

Although we swore not to reveal much of what we saw, we can say that this season looks like it will have at least as big a bang in its finale as the previous three had. We can reveal that we got to witness Sanctuary‘s creator, Damian Kindler, directing a scene in which Dunne got to get his gun out (now, now). Given the location and props around, there was clearly a lot to the story we don’t know.

“The last of the season two-parter is huge,” Tapping said. “We had like, 70 extras, and we had crazy huge set dec. I think for us we don’t feel it maybe as much as the locations guys do, and having to canvas the neighborhoods, and let people know we’re blowing stuff up and, I mean, logistically it’s a bit of a nightmare when you go on location, and especially when you shoot nights, and you’re in a neighborhood.”

“I got to drive a big truck,” Dunne revealed. “I like driving big trucks. I didn’t crash it or anything. Yes, I did, I did actually get to drive this… It was like doing a big Neal Moritz movie or something at certain times. It was like The Fast and the Furious or something, it was very cool, it was very cool. And yes, the fact that people let me behind the wheel of automobiles is amazing to me that they have that kind of trust. The paperwork to allow me to drive one of those trucks, my God, I had to sign documents, and give blood samples, and you know.”



Amanda Tapping is fighting the early signs of a cold on this early October morning, but she feels energized and reinvigorated just the same.Filming has concluded in Burnaby, B.C., on the 13 episodes of Sanctuary’s fourth season, and Tapping — an executive producer, as well as Sanctuary’s lead actor — is immersed in post-production, putting the finishing touches on a season she says will take Sanctuary’s followers on a darker, more cerebral turn.

The modest, homegrown science fiction-fantasy series has confounded the doubters who scoffed at the idea that a eight-webisode series, originally conceived for the web in 2007, would ever make it as a full-blown drama series on prime-time TV, let alone one that would survive four years.

It has become a mainstay for the U.S. Syfy cable channel, and shows little sign of going gently into that good night just yet.

Tapping may be fighting a cold on this day, but she’s a long way from exhaustion. Sanctuary has become a full-time preoccupation for her, thanks to series creator Damian Kindler and a cast ensemble of fellow Canadians that includes Robin Dunne, JPod’s Emilie Ullerup, Stargate Atlantis’s Christopher Heyerdahl and Battlestar Galactica’s Ryan Robbins.

Tapping is perhaps best-known from her years playing galaxy-tripping adventurer Samantha Carter in the long-running sci-fi series, Stargate SG-1, but Sanctuary is a personal passion project.

“This season is a little darker than previous seasons, a little more action-packed,” Tapping said. “We go back in time. It’s all part of a master plan.”

The new season, which premiered last week, will also feature the series’ first all-music episode, Fugue, with music and lyrics by Kindler and Sanctuary’s longtime background composer, Andrew Lockington.

“It’s hugely gratifying to see how far it’s come, and also a little surreal, because it did start so humbly,” Tapping said. “I often have moments where I think, ‘Man, we’re getting to make it into a TV show. Nobody thought we could make it into a TV show.’ There but for the grace of our finances we go, every year. We are a 100 per cent independent Canadian television series. I think that’s an anomaly in this country, and probably around the world, in most countries. To have a television show that doesn’t have the backing of a major studio or a major network is really unusual. We are supported by a couple of networks, but basically, it’s up to us to make the show happen.”

Tapping both acts in and executive-produces Sanctuary. Her supervisory duties include sitting in on story meetings, signing off on casting decisions, and overseeing the day-to-day running of a series that is both a labour of love and a considerable amount of labour.

“We’ll be working in post-production, probably up until a couple of weeks before the last episode airs,” she said.

Sanctuary’s end days are a long way off, Tapping believes.

“I would like to see it continue for a while. We have a plan in place, and we’ve stayed with it so far. We always wanted it to go at least five seasons. From my perspective, I’m not ready to let it go yet.”




Sanctuary's Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping)

When you are Dr. Helen Magnus and head of a global network of facilities dedicated to the protection and preservation of a rare group of extraordinarily powerful beings called Abnormals, you never know where your work will take you.

In season three of the hit Syfy TV series Sanctuary, the 160-year-old Victorian-era England medical and scientific researcher along with Dr. Will Zimmerman and the rest of her team of experts traveled the world, from the English countryside to the Colombian highlands and even Hollow Earth, or Praxis to be precise, an advanced underground civilization of humans and Abnormals.

The show’s third season finale “Into the Black,” finds Helen and John Druitt returning to Praxis, only to find it destroyed, the end result of a plan being executed by Adam Worth, a fellow Victorian-era scientist and perpetual thorn in Helen’s side. Much to the fear of the world’s governments, the refugees from Praxis come to the surface and seek to establish a new home.

As tempers flare between the authorities and the Praxiians, Helen continues her pursuit of Adam. It was the culmination of a year-long series of events, as Sanctuary’s leading lady, Amanda Tapping, who plays Helen Magnus, explains.

“Season three was phenomenal to get to do, and having 20 episodes we wanted to create a huge story arc, especially with the Hollow Earth Abnormals and what was happening with the government intervention as well as how we were going to deal with Praxis,” she says. “At the same time we also felt last year like we needed to service smaller story arcs.

For Helen, in some ways last year was an opening up of the character in that she began to trust people more and delegate more, which was not easy for a control freak like her,” jokes the actress.

“It was really interesting because there were so many twists and turns. For example, we returned to Normandy, we were introduced to an older version of Helen, we dealt with The Five and what happened on that fateful day - I found moments like that so beautiful creatively as far as getting to further explore my character’s history.

"Then there was the relationship between Helen and Will [Robin Dunne]. You saw it solidify and the playing field level out a bit more. Will is no longer so much a protégé. He’s now her partner, so Will challenges Helen a lot more and I don’t think she’s ever experienced someone questioning what she’s doing as much as Will does. That was a blast for both Robin and I to play, and it really comes to a head this [fourth] season.

“So looking now at the end of last year, you had the Hollow Earth Abnormals coming to the surface, so Helen’s raison d’etre is raised even more and the stakes are even higher because she realizes that she has to protect these people. She also realizes that the outside world is eventually going to find out about them; it’s hard not to notice hundreds of thousands of people coming up from the ground.

"At the same time Helen is also battling Adam Worth [Ian Tracey] and his plan to go back in time to alter the timeline, not to just save his daughter Imogene but to essentially take over the world as well. I thought it was cool the way we ended last year with what was happening on Earth, and then on top of that you saw Helen follow Adam back through time and land on the cobblestones of Victorian-era England.”

Sanctuary’s season four opener “Tempus” picks up exactly where “Into the Black” left off, with Helen trapped back in the past. By the end of the episode, our heroine is forced to take drastic measures in order to deal with Adam Worth once and for all.

 “Instead of doing an episode with the past and present storylines running concurrently and flipping audiences back and forth, we decided to do two separate episodes to start this season,” says Tapping. “In the first one, ‘Tempus,’ which is set entirely in the Victorian era, Helen is trying to stop Adam from altering the timeline. So there are past and present versions of both characters in Victorian England.

"The future Helen runs into, of course, James Watson [Peter Wingfield] and he quickly figures out that she’s not his Helen. She also runs into Jack the Ripper, and there are a whole bunch of other different elements at play where my character is trying to stop Adam.

“Visually, this is such a rich story, from the costumes to the sets. We built this beautiful Victorian set and made it rain inside the studio. For me, it was kind of magical to play a character that is as old as Helen Magnus and to throw her back into a time where women didn’t have the same rights or freedoms as men and where people were treated differently. There’s a wonderful scene where Helen goes into this gentlemen’s club to try to confront Adam and she runs up against the type of [male-dominated] hierarchy of that era.

“I loved that aspect of playing this very modern character in such a suppressed time, and then playing the very young, more idealistic version of Helen. You also get a real glimpse into the somewhat tragic relationship between John Druitt [Christopher Heyerdahl] and Helen as well as the burgeoning relationship between Watson and the Magnus of that time, all through the eyes of modern day Helen.

 “I had the opportunity to film scenes where I play both versions of my character, and we did some neat stop-motion stuff with the cameras. It was the same with Ian Tracey’s character of Adam; we got to see the younger version of him as well as the current more maniacal version, and
Ian just blew me away. He’s such an amazing actor and there are moments in this story where it was just heartbreaking to watch him. I relish the episodes where we can go back in time and play the different eras. I only wish we could do more of them.”

Although it airs after “Tempus,” the second episode of season four, “Uprising,” was, in fact, filmed first, allowing Tapping, who also directed it, time to prep. This was her fourth time in the director’s chair, having previously directed the Stargate SG-1 episode “Resurrection” along with
the Sanctuary’s “Veritas” and “One Night.”

“In ‘Uprising’ we take you back to present day Earth where Will, Henry [Ryan Robbins], Bigfoot [Christopher Heyerdahl] and Kate [Agam Darshi] are trying to save the insurgents from Hollow Earth and stop the world’s governments from taking over,” notes the actress.

“This episode is much different from the Stargate episode I directed or the more intimate, story-driven episodes I’ve directed on Sanctuary. There were, among other things, explosions, massive stunt fights with 20 stunt performers, and an on-location night shoot. There were challenges that I had never had to deal with before as a director, and I was quite intimidated when I first read the script. There are also a lot of talking heads in this story and people interacting with each other on monitors. I wanted to make those scenes a real conversation as opposed to people barking at one another across computer screens. So technically it was very
challenging, which was great for me.

“So it’s a pretty ambitious start to the season,” continues Tapping, “and I don’t think it’s any secret that Helen ends up going rogue with the Sanctuary. She pulls away from all government support, hides and pockets her money in different places, and has a master plan for taking the Sanctuary out of the control of the world’s governments. That’s one of the major throughlines for my character this season. Helen makes all these really bizarre decisions and no one quite understands what she’s doing until you get to the very end of the season. It’s literally almost the
very last frame of the last episode of season four where you think, ‘Oh, wow! That’s what she’s been up to. It all makes sense now.’

“There’s a whole trigger effect of what Helen has been doing, and, again, I think this season is highly ambitious and it sort of blows the lid off anything we’ve done before. It’s a beautifully shot and written season, and I actually don’t mind that we were taken back down to 13 episodes this year. I know that that’s kind of Syfy’s mandate right now- they’re not commissioning 20-episode series. They’re commissioning 13 and sometimes less, so when we found out that we got a 13-episode pick-up, some people said, ‘Oh, man, you guys got ripped off,’ and we were like, ‘No, it’s all good, because now we can make 13 really kick-ass episodes of television.’ We’re not spread too thin and we knew we could do that. Twenty episodes was a big order and we were thrilled to have it, but we have a really good solid season with these 13. Believe me when I tell you that there are no duds episode-wise.”

Following in Tapping’s footsteps, her costar Robin Dunne made his directorial debut this year on Sanctuary with the episode “Homecoming.” The actress has nothing but praise for his first time working behind the camera. “For all the joking around and sort of goofy camaraderie that we have on the Sanctuary set - and Robin is the biggest jokester of all - he came into that episode totally prepared,” she says. “Robin came up with a great shot list, he knew how he wanted to shoot the episode, and technically he’d been paying close attention to how we do things on the show.

“So he was awesome, and he asked really good questions, too. Robin would refer to Martin Wood [executive producer/director], Damian Kindler [series creator/executive producer/head writer] and me in terms of some of the directing questions that he had, but, again, he was so well-prepared. I mean, I adore Robin as a human being and I adore working with him as an actor. I feel really safe with him, and as a director it was just an extension of that. The crew loves Robin, too, so it was a positive experience for everyone.”

In addition to those she has already spoken about, what other season four Sanctuary episodes are especially memorable for Tapping? “There’s one called ‘Fugue,’ which is our musical episode. I have to say it was really outside the box for us and it took everyone outside of their comfort zone, but it still remains very true to a Sanctuary story,” assures the actress.

“It’s not like you’re going to see the Sanctuary cast doing an episode of Glee. This was a truly organic way of making music and song part of the show. It works under the premise that there are some people who because of some kind of brain injury or other challenges respond very differently to music than they do to speech. Certain tonal frequencies will speak to individuals in a different way, and we know that in present day. That’s why musical scores in films are so important because they inform the emotional content of the show.

“We kind of took that a step further and put our Sanctuary twist on it. It was a challenge in that we had to learn the songs that Damian Kindler and [composer] Andrew Lockington wrote. We recorded them a couple of weeks before we shot the episode so that we’d have a guide track. We
rehearsed onstage and spent a couple of weekends working on the actual performance of the songs, and then we got onto the set and did it. There are only seven songs in the whole episode - it’s not like the entire episode is sung - but it was so much fun to watch the crew and how they
responded to having music all the time on the set.

“I’m super proud of the episode and I’m really proud of Damian. This was very much a passion project for him and I think he knocked it out of the ballpark. It’s so well done but, again, different. Sanctuary has never shied away from a challenge. We’ve always tried to think outside the box and a little bit outside the norm, and that’s what this is.

“Martin Wood took himself outside of his comfort zone this year as well and wrote an episode called ‘Icebreaker,’ which he also directed. Our mandate on this show has always been to foster new talent and to give people opportunities that they might not otherwise have, hence me getting
to direct as much as I have, and Robin as well as Damian directing, and now Martin writing.  The collaborative relationships and collaborative feel of Sanctuary are very important to us and something we are determined to keep alive.”


Amanda Tapping gets a charge out of test driving the Tesla Roadster; that's good, considering the Vancouver actor ordered the Tesla S sedan online and is 104th in line

With a zero to 100 km/h time of under four seconds, I fully expected Amanda Tapping to blow the roof off the Tesla 2.5 Roadster during our Big Wheels drive during a wet afternoon last week.

What I didn't expect was that the soft bikini top would literally be blown off as the Vancouver-based award-winning actress pushed the electric sports car to near its formidable limits on our drive atop Burnaby Mountain.

But it was through by no fault of the designers of the revolutionary two-seater. Rather, it was due to journalisterror, as minutes earlier a flash downpour had us scrambling to secure the soft-top which we had cleverly stored in the trunk, despite the threatening skies.

The dribbles of water should have been a clue that it was not on properly, but so enthralled were Tapping and yours truly with the Tesla Roadster, we ignored our otherwise good sense. Fortunately, no damage was done - save a little moisture on the carbon fibre and leather interior - and with the top securely fastened in place this time, we silently continued our high speed and silent test drive.

"I love cars," admits Tapping, who for 10 years starred in the shot-in-Vancouver Stargate SG-1 TV series and for the last four has starred and served as executive producer of the equally popular sci-fi series Sanctuary. "When I was growing up my dad always had company cars, and my favourite one was a LeMans he had for a couple of years. I remember thinking to myself, 'this is a really cool car.'"

That was back in Toronto, where the English-born aspiring actress was raised. After graduating from the University of Windsor School of Dramatic Art, she embarked on a career that has included guest starring roles on numerous hit TV shows, including the X-Files, Millennium, The Newsroom and The Outer Limits, and theatrical roles in high-profile productions of, among others, Steel Magnolias, Children of a Lesser God and The Taming of the Shrew.

But on this particular lunch break from her gruelling Sanctuary shooting schedule -"I start at 5:45 in the morning and work to 7:45 at night" -the role she's playing is Tesla driver, and is putting in an Oscar-worthy performance.

"I think in another life I might have been a sports car racer," she says with a laugh as she confidently pilots the Tesla through corners of standing water. "The power really surprises me. And the comfort too. It's a real luxury car inside. And look at this display panel. It's beautiful."

Yes, there's much to like about this Tesla Roadster 2.5, which makes the news just a couple of days earlier that the Northern California-based automaker will discontinue the model at the end of the summer even harder to take.

Despite sales to the end of April of approximately 1,650 Roadsters, the company announced it will shift all its production focus onto the Tesla S, an all-electric sedan with seating up to seven that is expected to start at $58,000 US when it goes on sale next year.

Tapping is on the waiting list for one, and if her impressions of the Roadster are any indication, she'll be very happy with the S when she finally gets one.

The S will be offered with three battery pack options: 260-, 370-, or 480-kilometre range, and will be equipped with a 17-inch touch screen infotainment cluster with wireless Internet access allowing connected navigation, Internet radio and points of interest.

Just as with the Roadster, the S will have a blistering off-the-line acceleration, and expected to go from zero to 100 km/h in less than six seconds.

The company has high expectations for the new sedan, thanks in part of over 4,000 reservations for the Model S in North America and Europe. Annual output is hoped to be in the 20,000-unit range.

"I was getting to feel super guilty about the gas I am using," explains Tapping, her Audi S4 an exhilarating but not-so-efficient ride. Then she discovered Tesla.

"Great name, very clever. If they'd called it the Edison I wouldn't have been so happy," she cracks. "I love the fact that this is the first new-car company that is speaking to a niche market but going mainstream with it.

"They're saying electric cars don't have to be boring and ugly. They're breaking out of that mould."

The same could be said of Tapping's career the last few years as she tried her hand at directing and is executive producer of Sanctuary.

"I realized that as a woman in this industry I had to broaden my skill set, so I directed an episode of Stargate [Resurrection]," she explains as she reluctantly steers the Tesla back down the mountain and back to the Burnaby studio.

"I love the collaboration and matching the vision of how you want the show to look."

And just as she likes the fact Tesla was set up to break the mould of not just what electric cars look like, but how the company builds cars -which is very unlike the traditional assembly line system -she loves the fact she works for a completely Canadian produced and financed series. The show's financier is the Beedie Group, a B.C.-based company best known for its design, construction and management of industrial buildings in Metro Vancouver. It formed Beedie Entertainment to support Sanctuary.

Oh, and she loves the name Tesla -"There's a character played by Jonathon Young on Sanctuary called Tesla, though he's a vampire."

But most of all, she loves driving the Tesla. For that matter, driving anything.

"I like the freedom of driving," she says. "And now, with my lifestyle such as it is, with the hours I work and being a mom [her daughter Olivia is six], the only alone time I have is when I'm driving my car. It's my private time. So I get in the Audi and either listen to music or NPR, which I guess isn't that conducive to fast driving [laughs]."

One gets the feeling that once Amanda Tapping takes delivery of her Tesla, even NPR won't slow her down.

And it's a good thing the S has a hardtop roof.

BIG WHEELS

First car: "I didn't actually get my driver's licence when I turned 16 because I went to a downtown [Toronto] high school. I was public transit and bike girl. Then my brothers and I spent $100 on a 1971 Mercury Comet. We called it the 'Vomet' because it always just died. It was Robin's Egg Blue and actually a very pretty car."

Other cars: "The first car I owned by myself was a Toyota Corolla, and I had that car for a long time. Then I got a Jeep YJ, and that's the vehicle I ended up bringing out to Vancouver. I traded it in for a Nissan 240ZX. It was the last year they made that model; rear-wheel drive, I loved it. Really sexy little car. Then I got a big dog, and the little car didn't work so I ended up getting a Blazer. Didn't really like that one. Then I got a Volvo S60, then another S60, then we had a baby so I got a [Volvo] XC90. Can you tell I get bored of cars quickly?"

Current Car: Audi S4: "It's my favourite car. But as much as a love it -it's a fantastic car, I feel safe in it, it handles beautifully, it's fast -it's a gas pig. A V-8 engine in a pretty small car. And I feel really guilty about that. I've had a lot of offers from people to buy it when I sell it. The colour is called Dolphin Gray."

Next car: "About four months ago I ordered a Tesla S online. I'd heard the buzz about it so I checked out the website, read all I could about it, and was like, 'I have to have this car.' I bought it without ever driving one or even seeing one in person. I think I'm 104th in line for it, and I'm not sure what that means in terms of when I'm going to get it."


When Amanda Tapping saw the final mix for the Season 4 finale of "Sanctuary," she cried.

"I wept and then I punched Damian [Kindler] in the arm and said, 'Why did you do that?'" Tapping told me Tuesday during a phone chat from Vancouver.

The finale, "Sanctuary for None," will air in two hour-long parts at 9 p.m. Dec. 23 and 30 on Syfy. Written by James Thorpe and directed by Damian Kindler, the first part has Helen Magnus (Tapping) teaming with Hollow Earth rebel leader Caleb (guest star Gil Bellows) to build a new homeland for displaced abnormals in the Fifth Ward. Magnus wants to broker a peace deal between the insurgents, SCIU and the other government agencies, but SCIU director Greg Addison (Brian Markinson) has other ideas.

A lot goes down in that first episode involving Addison, Will (Robin Dunne), Bigfoot (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Tesla (Jonathon Young), leading Magnus to take desperate action. But I'll leave it at that and let Tapping give the tease for both eps.

"I would say it is the culmination of 113 years of work and it is the final reckoning for the team," she said. "It's a complete game changer."

That word "game-changer" gets bandied about a lot, but I think it is a fitting description of this finale. It opens up inifinite avenues of storytelling for the cast and crew if Syfy grants them a fifth season (which has not been decided yet).

Tapping and I discussed where the story could go, which I will write in a post for after Part 2 of the finale airs Dec. 30.

In the meantime, we talked about other non-spoilery things and I asked her some questions from Twitter followers. Enjoy and happy holidays!



What were some of your favorite moments from the season?
I think that some of the moments that we found in "The Depths," in terms of acting were some of my favorite moments. But oh gosh, that is a huge question Curt. I don't know because I thought this season we really hit it out of the park just in terms of developing the characters that much further, in terms of developing the technology, in terms of the mythology of the show. I think this season really resonated on a lot of levels. I loved the interplay with Jonathan Young this year and the relationship between Tesla and Magnus being much more flirtatious and fun. Yes, he is a pain in the ass, but he's a genius and nobody understands what it's like to live as long as Helen, but she's the closest.


Have you heard anything about a fifth season?
We have not. We haven't heard anything. It's completely frustrating because normally we would know by now, but we don't, soo. I think it's fueling a lot of angst amongst the fans that we haven't heard and therefore, we've been cancelled, but that's not the case. We just don't know yet.



Everybody wants an answer.
I know and I would love to give them a definitive. Believe me.



What would you do if there wasn't a Season 5? What does that mean for you? What would you do without "Sanctuary"?
I don't know. I have another series I'd like to pitch. I'd like to do more directing, so I would pursue that and other shows. ... It's a hard question to answer because it's a really shitty scenario for me. I love playing Helen Magnus. I love working on the show. If I were to be told today that the show was not coming back that would be a big body blow.



Would you take it back to the web?
I don't know actually. I mean if Syfy said no, we're not bringing you back I think there are still other possibilities for us. Certainly the people that own the IP that is Sanctuary, I think, would still want to do something with it, so I don't know.



I did a quick tweet right before we started talking and asked for questions. Eddie McClintock tweeted, "Ask her if she misses Eddie McClintock. Tell her I think she is the coolest."
Tell him not a day goes by where I don't think of him with a love in my heart that is hard to describe.



Tell me more about "Space Milkshake." I laugh every time I see the trailer. When is that coming out?
Hopefully April. It's a comedy. We had an absolute blast making it, but part of the fun of the tease of "Space Milkshake" is everything that we've sent out in terms of twitpics and this teaser doesn't tell you a thing about the movie and I actually think that that's brilliant. When we filmed this teaser I thought, "This is awesome. You still have no idea who these people are."



So people can assume they're on a spaceship and they don't get along, but that may not be it at all is what you're saying.
Right. I think we have put it out there that we are crew members on an orbital sanitation station, not even a spaceship. It's a sanitation spaceship, which is just worse in so many ways. And I think it's pretty clear from the teaser that we may not necessarily all be getting along at this point in time.



Right, which is what is so funny about that.
Yeah, but it was great fun. It was you know to work with Kristen Kreuk and Billy Boyd and of course, my lovely Robin [Dunne], was a blast. It was a really nice shake-up from this very heavy season of "Sanctuary" to go out and just do something completely silly.



What happened to John Druitt (played by Christopher Heyerdahl)?
I don't know.



It's a mystery.
Yeah, right? I heard this other thing, "He is dead. He is dead and how awful is that that you killed John Druitt?" Well it's John Druitt, the guy who had an entity coursing through his body, right? So the last time we see him he's dealing with this huge electrical surge. Who is to say the entity didn't protect him? Just saying. I do not believe that anyone is dead. 



Have you seen Christopher in "Hell on Wheels" yet?
Yes. He is creepy.



He is amazing. I love his character.
He is so good and he loves that part. I mean that's part of the reason too that we sort of had to juggle Biggie and we weren't seeing John Druitt. Chris got this amazing part and the producers called us and said, "We really want him. Can you make this work?" And we tried to find a way to make it work, so he was back and forth between sets, but we had to pull him out of a couple of the episodes so he could do "Hell on Wheels." So it's not like we were trying to get rid of Biggie or trying to get rid of Druitt. We were trying to accommodate Chris, so it worked out really well for everyone because he is amazing in it. We love it, so.



One reader asks if you've ever thought about writing a book or an episode of "Sanctuary."
Maybe more so now, yeah. I think for the longest time I said no to it, but yeah, I think I would consider it now.



The book or the episode or both?
The episode. A book, I don't know. What do I have to say?


You have a lot to say.
I do have a lot to say. It would be like what's that guy? Jack Handy [from "Saturday Night Live" sketch]. I'm afraid it would come across as like really sickening platitudes.



You could writer something about your experiences with Sanctuary for Kids.
That's true. I write really good speeches. I have to say that. Like when people ask me to be keynote speaker at things, I write a wicked speech. Maybe I could just put all my speeches together.



There you go. Lucy from the Czech Republic asks, "I'd like to know what the funniest thing that happened to you doing ‘Sanctuary' is this season."
I say watch the blooper reel and you'll see! I don't know. Ours is a set,

as you well know, that's kind of goofy. So we laugh a lot and loudly. We belly laugh every day, so I don't know that I could pick the funniest. The practical jokes onset have gotten a lot better. The crew is in on them now too, so it's good. It's a good time.



"What is your favorite Christmas song?"
"Little Drummer Boy."

Mine too!
Really? It's good. It's good.



Yeah. I love that song. I like the claymation special too.
Yeah, [daughter] Olivia has watched that quite a few times. It's really good.



Another fan question: "What is her secret to aging because she clearly is immune?"
Good genes, healthy living. [Laughs.] That is such bullshit. No, it's true. I do actually. My grandmother lived to 103-and-half, so I do have good genes. I have yet to have any work done, not to say that I never would. I think that I'm actually one of those people who have gotten a little bit better as I've gotten older, but now I fear things are on the backwards slide of that.



It's going downhill now, huh?
Yes, but I honestly think that your attitude has a lot of do with it and I'm a pretty happy person. [Laughs.] Again that sounds disgusting, but it's true.



I think people would agree with that. It doesn't sound disgusting coming from you.
People will read that and go, "Oh my God, I'm choking on the sweetness! My teeth hurt!" I think I have enough Pollyanna naivety and a really wicked, dark cynicism that somehow there is balance in there.



Big plans for Christmas?
My twin brother and his wife are arriving today and their two kids. My little house is going to be full of people.



Will you cook?
I love to cook. I'm an amazing cook. OK, I'm a good cook, but I make a wicked turkey dinner. I'm brining my turkey for three days in all these spices.



Anything you want to add before we say goodbye?
The fans have been pretty phenomenal. If I could say one thing, the fan support for Sanctuary for Kids this year has blown me away, amazing ... I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.


Christopher Heyerdahl’s entrance set the tone for the “Sanctuary—League of Extraordinary Individuals” panel in the Atrium Ballroom (American Sci-Fi Media track) at 2:30PM on Friday. He surprised the show’s fans first by appearing with a full head of hair, in contrast to his completely bald character, then danced across the stage and mugged for Dragon*Con TV. Heyerdahl and costars Robin Dunne and Amanda Tapping teased each other throughout the hour, keeping the atmosphere in the ballroom relaxed and open.

When asked what the set is like when the cameras aren’t rolling, Tapping responded, “We’re all idiots.” She added that they’re the same way when the cameras are on. She described her costars as “the finest cast I’ve ever worked with, and that’s saying a lot.” Dunne later commented that the cast really is a family, and Heyerdahl added that they have a great rapport with the crew as well.

Interspersed with the teasing, however, was news for fans of Sanctuary. The cast has just wrapped the fourth season, and Tapping hopes they’ll have time to do more podcasts in the off-season. A fan asked if Dunne’s character, Will

Zimmerman, will resume wearing glasses and was told the glasses are permanently gone. Zimmerman’s current girlfriend, however, will be staying around for a while, a change from his previous bad luck with relationships.

When a fan asked whether Zimmerman’s disastrous romantic history was revenge for that of Samantha Carter, Tapping’s character on Stargate SG-1, Tapping replied, “Yes.” Dunne then asked, “So I’m paying for someone else’s sins?” Grinning, Tapping again said, emphatically, “Yes.”

In other relationship news, there will be developments in the friendship between Tapping’s character, Helen Magnus, and Jonathon Young’s Nicola Tesla. A fan asked Tapping why Magnus allows the evil genius Tesla to “go his merry way.” Tapping responded that Magnus and Tesla have been friends for more than 150 years and that Magnus trusts him implicitly not to do anything that would truly hurt her, even though he might do things that annoy her.

A fan who has been buying the episodes as they appear on iTunes asked about the possibility of getting special features similar to the ones included with the DVD releases. Tapping called that “a great idea” and made a note to look into it.

Heyerdahl was asked where he feels his character, John Druitt, is going now that he has evolved from an enemy of Magnus to an occasional ally. He said “nice John is always there” but sometimes loses the battle with “evil John.” He added that he enjoys the variety. Tapping described the relationship of Magnus and Druitt as “explosive,” and Heyerdahl promised the first episode of Season four would have “a lot of surprises in many relationships.”

In response to a question about whether green-screen work saves money, Tapping indicated that it tends to balance out. She added that 60 to 65 percent of this past season’s sets were virtual and Sanctuary recycles its “built” sets. Heyerdahl said such recycling is virtually unknown in television, with sets usually trashed after use. Dunne added that the crew members who build the “practical sets” make a small parking lot into Mumbai, World War II France, or any other location the show needs, with Heyerdahl noting that green screen use allows the show to set stories in exotic locations for minimal cost. Tapping said she likes working with green screens because she finds the atmosphere more intimate, as it is in a small theater. With “no scenery to chew,” the emphasis is on the characters.

When a fan asked Tapping about the charity Sanctuary for Kids, Tapping said the charity has raised almost a quarter of a million dollars and is committed to work in Somalia with Save the Children, which has been a partner for the charity in Haiti and Palestine. In Haiti, Sanctuary for Kids works with a school that provides hot meals in the area and with a group that provides trauma counseling. The annual auction isn’t ready yet, but the charity is assembling information about things fans have done to support its efforts. Information is available at sanctuaryforkids.org.

At the end of the panel, a fan noted that Magnus has never had to explain why she, a woman, is in charge. The fan asked whether there was any behind-the-scenes discussion of doing so. Tapping responded that there was never any such discussion. “Magnus is just Magnus” and never had to justify her authority, something Tapping wishes could be true for all women in film. 




Katrin Bowen admits there is a certain irony to her enthusiastic embrace of new technology.

The indie-filmmaker, one-time “Troma girl” and former Calgarian spent a large part of her youth in Linden, Alberta among the Mennonites, where she was taught to shun technology at all costs.

“It was so Luddite,” she says with a laugh, in an interview from her home in Vancouver. “I resisted technology personally. And I’m embracing it now and it’s really exciting.”

How is she embracing it?

As with many indie filmmakers, Bowen has seen the power of social networking first hand.

Next month, she will start shooting her second feature film in Vancouver, the end result of a six-year journey to find the required funds to mount the production.

Random Acts of Romance — a comedy about the intersecting lives of various couples — has already been garnering buzz even if the cameras won’t start rolling until Jan. 31.

To drum up interest, Bowen is running a contest on filmroller.com, inviting people to submit their best, or worst, “dating stories” for a chance to win a visit to the Vancouver set.

Fashion bloggers have also taken up the cause. Bowen is working with local designers for another contest that will allow audiences of blogs such as hollywoodhausoffashion.blogspot.com and citychickbuzz.wordpress.com to choose an ensemble worn by one of the main characters in the film.

All of this pre-shoot interaction is the new reality for indie auteurs, who often have to build up interest in their film using cost-effective, or in some cases free, marketing before they can even begin to find funding from outside sources.

Bowen first began tinkering with the idea of social networking as a marketing tool when she made her first film two years ago. Amazon Falls was a Hollywood-set, Vancouver-shot dramedy about an aging B-movie actress’s descent into delusion and despair as she attempts to stay afloat in Tinseltown.

It was shot quickly and on a shoestring budget after the original funding for Random Acts of Romance fell through.

Again, Bowen took to social networking to build interest, running the “Burden of a Dream” contest that found potential viewers sending in the “craziest” stories of how they pursued a dream.

“We decided to get our social media thing going early,” she says. “With Amazon Falls we had tons of audience participation at the theatres. A lot of it was our social media.”

Amazon Falls, despite its low budget, also garnered a cult following, Bowen says. Particularly vocal about it have been what Bowen calls her “army of bloggers” — 20-something women who thought the film was worth promoting.

“They really took a shine to Amazon Falls and really took a shine to me as a filmmaker,” she says.

Bowen credits the bloggers for the brisk sales of Amazon Falls DVDs. The first run sold out within a month.

Such fierce DIY marketing is now part and parcel of being an independent filmmaker, Bowen says.

Parts of Amazon Falls were based on the former actress’s real life. She rebelled against her religious upbringing and went to Hollywood, where her six-foot frame was seen as beneficial for low-budget Troma Entertainment films such as Battling Amazons and Fortress of Amerikkka. After a less-than-inspiring appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, where she was paraded around in full costume as a “Troma girl,” Bowen decided to concentrate on directing and producing.

And Bowen discovered early on that the indie film world can be a tough slog. Telefilm Canada has come aboard for Random Acts of Romance, which has certainly helped, she says.

But it’s only the first step.“It’s like winning the lotto, and I’m extremely thankful,” she says. “But they come on for 49 per cent, so I have to find the other 51 per cent. And the climate we are in now with filmmaking is that people do not want to do a pre-buy. It used to be distributors and sales agents would give you some money in advance, but they are not taking risks like that anymore. They don’t know if they can sell it at the end of the day.”