Marcon 32 Convention Report Part 6 of 8 If you missed any parts, look for the complete set of reports at http://www.infinet.com/~surak/Babylon5/marcon32/marcon.html 10am Sunday, May 11, 1997 In The Shade of the Shadows (Ed Wasser) Marcon was doing better on Sunday. They had the largest room at the convention set aside for the two Babylon 5 guests in the morning (JMS followed Ed), and they finally had a microphone! When Ed arrived, he saw the microphone and jumped for it. "Wow. I can whisper!" He whispered into the microphone. After a little more clowning around for the audience, Ed settled down and started taking questions. The first was from a small child who asked about what happened to his head on Centauri Prime. Ed pulled his jacket up to hide his head and walked around headless for a minute (shades of Sleepy Hollow). question: Will you come back as a Minbari? answer: Ask Joe. They have talked about Ed coming back as an alien, and Ed thinks it would be great. q: How long did the makeup take when Morden was crispy? a: 4 hours in, 2 1/2 hours out. "I just want to see how far I can go." "Getting into the makeup was fun - watching myself change by the minute was fun. Getting out was not fun." q: Do you prefer playing villians? a: "I like being a villian. It's fun because it's not nice to be bad, but it's good to be bad. It's things we don't get to be every day. It lets us play." q: Favorite stage role? a: Ed was cast as Iago in a production of Othello, but it never came through. Ed said he had a story to tell about this. He was in New York City preparing for a production of Othello. The rehearsals were at a theater in Harlem at 135th Street and Lennox, which was not the best neighborhood to be in. He had been working with the actress playing Desdemona. When they took a break, he said, "Let's go grab a soda across the street." Well, the general picture you have of Harlem is pretty accurate. They went to get that soda. As they were walking out, they heard, . Ed, being a bit clueless, said, "Gee, listen to that truck backfire, it sounds like a gun." Then they saw a guy bleeding. Ed threw the actress under a table and jumped on top of her to protect her. Then something in the back of his head said, "You idiot! Protect yourself! Get *under* her!" Well, everything got really quiet. Ed said to Desdemona, "Maybe we should skip the soda." As they were walking down the hall back to the rehearsal space, they noticed drips of blood on the floor. Desdemona was shaking like a leaf. So was Ed. (The guy who was shot was big and burly and strong.) They thought the guy who was shot must be in the rehearsal space. When they got back, the producer and director were standing around looking shocked. The guy was lying on the floor, bleeding. In situations like this, all titles go out the window. Unless you are Joe (Straczynski). Ed jumped in, started giving people orders, trying to do first aid. Then the cops walked in, wearing rubber boots and gloves and masks. Ed was just cleaning a speck of dried blood off his hands with his tongue when he asked someone, "Why are they wearing gloves?" "To protect themselves from AIDS." Ed stopped cold, holding his tongue in his hands, and said, "I have to go to the men's room and wash my tongue." And he did go to the men's room and wash his tongue with soap and water. As he was driving home, he kept thinking to himself, "Oh God, I've got AIDS for trying to help someone!" And he kept pounding the dashboard at his stupidity, all the way home. Ed got home, and the first thing he did was call the AIDS hotline. The guy who answered the phone laughed for 5 minutes and said it was the funniest story he had heard all day. He told Ed you can't get AIDS that way, the lifetime of the virus outside the body is only something like 15 seconds. So Ed went and got himself checked out anyway, but the test was fine, and he's still here, so he's probably okay. [disclaimer: Before anyone flames me for having wrong information, I'm just posting Ed's story the way he told it. --RMT] Next, Ed did a reading of a poem called, "The Prophet" (I missed the author). The key message was, our children are not our children, but we do play a major role in their development. q: What was the process of how you got the part of Morden? a: You didn't see my cartwheel yesterday - I did a cartwheel. ... I don't know. I knew the casting director through a previous project and I sent her a letter rather than the typical actor thing where you send a resume and a photo. The letter said, I know you're working on this project [the pilot], and I'd like to read for it. She called me and said, she doesn't have anything, but I can come in and be a reader, read for the other actors during auditions. I did this for free for 6 weeks. This is what's called paying your dues. At the end of all this, Richard Compton hands me a script and says, pick any part you want, but not the leads obviously. So I picked a very visible guy on the bridge. [the charater Guerra] At the beginning of Season 1, JMS said that they don't want to reuse any of the background people from the pilot in order to give the sense that this is a big place and there are no repeating faces. But they asked me to come back and be a reader for them. I was a reader for 5 months. After 5 months, I went to JMS and asked, "When will you make me a part of this family?" The next day, I was offered the part of the maitre'd in the Fresh Aire restaurant. I had to think about this for a little while, because I really wanted to be on the show, and I kept asking myself, will I hate myself if I do this or not? And the people standing behind JMS are nodding, "Say yes." And my soul is screaming, "NO!" So I thought about it for a few days. Then I went to JMS and said, "Isn't there something with more danger, more impact on the arc of Babylon 5?" I didn't hear from them for 2 months. They didn't ask me to come back and be a reader, and I thought, oops, I've overstepped my bounds. Then I got the script for Morden. I thank my lucky stars - what a way to make an entrance! And I only had to remember three lines. [for Joe's version of this story, see part 7. -RMT] q: Why did you stick it out? a: I saw a bunch of people who liked me, and a good place which was good for my career and where I fit in. It was a good place to invest my time. q: What are your new projects? a: "The Emissary", which I just finished. I'm very tired - I pulled 2 all-nighters in a row, then caught a plane to be here. I play a Roman captain of a ship that saves Saint Paul's life. I'm also working on "The Heretic", which is about Armageddon, really. Fallen angels have come to Earth because it's an easy target, where the people can be bought with money. The more people they take over, the closer they get to building a gateway to allow all of hell to come through and take over Earth. The Archangel Gabriel is sent to Earth as a punishment. He is sent to clean up Earth, the fallen angels and the evil. There will be a 2 hour pilot and 6 episodes to follow. It's being produced by the BBC. I have been asked to play Gabriel. q: How did you feel when filming Morden's last scene? a: People on the set were celebrating his demise. "The wicked witch is dead." q: How do your parents feel about Morden? a: That's too personal.... My folks are very supportive. I went through the usual stuff with my parents, carrying around my parents' insecurities, just like everyone really committed to finding out who they are. And they were down on actors and acting in that time, but even when they didn't want to listen, they listened, and that was the best kind of love you can have. They're very proud of me now. The probably always have been, but I never realized it before. q: What preceeded Morden's beheading? Did you get to keep the head? a: That's a funny question - I want that head! The next time I have a fight with my mom, I'm going to send it home - here mom, is this what you want? q: JMS has compared you to Rod Serling in your portrayal of Morden. a: I think JMS was just being complimentary, it was written that way. There's a funny story: I was very nervous and uptight about working with them. On the first day of shooting, I went to Joe after finishing for the day and asked him, "What do you think?" It was the worst question to ask, because he'll tell you. He speaks his mind. "It wasn't what I had in mind. It was overrehearsed. You lost your natural elements." I went home with my tail between my legs. JMS called the next day after 2pm. "I just saw the dailies. Forget everything I said. It was great!" Most people don't want to admit a mistake. God bless him, he did. He wanted what I had. And JMS knew when he offered the part of the maitre'd and the part of Morden, I don't know what I want him to do, but I want him to say, "What do you want?" q: How difficult was it to work with the nonexistant Shadows? a: It's acting. q: What were Morden's motivations? Power? Ideology? a: Let's have a show of hands: Power? Ideology? Just stupid? [people raise hands for their pet theory] Looks like stupid has it. Gee, I have to go. He didn't have a choice, he just wanted to be on the winning side. q: Do you have a favorite episode or scene? a: The last episode that Morden is alive. But I do like the episodes that follow when he's dead, those work for me too. q: Will you be a regular on other shows? a: I'm hoping "The Heretic" comes through. If you all write letters... You'd be amazed at the powr of fans. How many of you are on the Internet? [most hands go up] [Ed looks stunned] How many of you get my newsletter? [no hands] Not a one? This is unacceptable! Get out a pen. subscribe@wasser.com You'll get a newsletter every 2 months. I also have my own web site - the address is on the picture. ( http://catalog.com/wasser ) You'll totally freak out the president of the fan club, getting 300 new heads in one day. q: Were you involved with book 7? [The Shadow Within] a: The writer asked me for my ideas about Morden - I had no idea. It was all the writer's ideas. q: Will Morden be in the prequel? a: I tried to ask Joe as delicately as possible. That's a question you should definitely ask Joe. q: How did you get the nickname "smiley"? a: I was helping a friend who was having a problem with a new bike, helping her negotiate with the store owner. While we were talking with him, I realized that my smiling was annoying the guy more, so I used that in negotiating with him. The next day, when we went back, the guy said, "Oh, you brought smiley with you." [this is the short version, I didn't get the whole story down. -RMT] q: You are obviously a person of strong faith, and JMS is an athiest. How does this affect your interaction? a: I realize JMS is an athiest, but he has more respect for religion than most people have for their own faith. We've never talked about faith. All of this has really helped Ed to articulate what he wants to do with his convention appearances. q: Will you become part of the Babylon 5 recycling program? a: I'd love to be recycled! Sure I care about the environment! Recycle me! q: Did you know the character of Morden would go on for so long? a: At the end of the first episode, I figured, that's it. Then the second episode was ended in such a way that he had to come back. After the end of the third episode, I said, well, I'm not dead yet! Next, Ed did another reading, this time about living life and appreciating the moment. (I don't have the title or author.) q: You talked about freaking out your admin. What date and time do you want us to subscribe, so it all comes in at once? a: How about tomorrow [Monday, May 12] at noon? At this point JMS arrived, saw Ed on stage, and said, "You're still talking?" Ed greeted Joe and took this as his cue to leave. (Or did he? See part 7...)