ATTN JMS: Another Original casting question
Stefan
"If my memory serves me correctly, I think I auditioned
for the part and got it rather quickly, because the show
needed to replace the actor they had originally cast, and
they were ready to shoot."
I never before heard about a first cast for Takashima.
Now, is Tamlyn remembering correctly, and if so who's
the actor replaced (and why)?
Regards
Stefan
(*) The B5 Q&A follows Eureka and Stargate:
http://eguide-online.de/eureka/index.php?seite=artikel&aktion=show&id2=424#english
--
Garibaldi: "I'm not authorized for that kind of information."
[Matters of Honor]
Stefan
> In a late interview(*) Tamlyn Tomita expressed:
> "If my memory serves me correctly, I think I auditioned
> for the part and got it rather quickly, because the show
> needed to replace the actor they had originally cast, and
> they were ready to shoot."
>
> I never before heard about a first cast for Takashima.
> Now, is Tamlyn remembering correctly, and if so who's
> the actor replaced (and why)?
>
>
In addition...
Even if I knew that Second in Cmd. was planned as
Laurel Chang (1988 treatment) and for TG changed in
Laurel Takashima, I didn't remember that it was for
casting reasons.
I just dug the following JMS statement:
"Takashima was originally Laurel Chang, which was changed
subsequent to casting, since Chang is Chinese and the actress
was of Japanese extraction."
(Scriptbook, Vol.1)
But my questions remain:
was there another actor before TT?
Regards
Stefan
--
Laurel [Chang]: "Security, this is a level-four alert --"
[The Gathering, Original 1989 Script]
Brandon
> > "If my memory serves me correctly, I think I auditioned
> > for the part and got it rather quickly, because the show
> > needed to replace the actor they had originally cast, and
> > they were ready to shoot."
> > I never before heard about a first cast for Takashima.
> > Now, is Tamlyn remembering correctly, and if so who's
> > the actor replaced (and why)?
I don't remember this... Jan or JMS could possibly shed some light.
However, here's some various JMS posts on Tomita:
As it happens, Joan Chen was considered, but not available.
---
We cast for the role of Laurel Takashima from across a wide age range,
from 30s up through the late 40s and up a bit. The BEST PERFORMER was
Tamlyn Tomita. She just knocked us through the back wall.
---
[Tamlyn] is a phenomenal performer, vastly talented, with the strength
of personality necessary for a job like the one Laurel handles...we're
absolutely thrilled to have her aboard.
Those of you who have seen her work will know how fortunate we are to
have her, and what presence and intelligence she will bring to that
role. She's just terrific.
Stefan
> I don't remember this... Jan or JMS could possibly shed some light.
>
> However, here's some various JMS posts on Tomita:
I see. I had to dig into jmsnews before. ;-)
> As it happens, Joan Chen was considered, but not available.
Very interesting.
She performed Josie Packard in the TwinPeaks series and perhaps
wasn't available for The Gathering cause the filming of "Twin Peaks
the Movie" in 1992. (IMDb)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001040/
Considered that the actor previous cast -as mentioned by TT -
is Joan Chen, one more question remains:
is Joan Chen related to Evan Chen?
(Supposedly not - since 'Chen' is a common chinese surname)
> ---
> We cast for the role of Laurel Takashima from across a wide age range,
> from 30s up through the late 40s and up a bit. The BEST PERFORMER was
> Tamlyn Tomita. She just knocked us through the back wall.
> ---
> [Tamlyn] is a phenomenal performer, vastly talented, with the strength
> of personality necessary for a job like the one Laurel handles...we're
> absolutely thrilled to have her aboard.
> Those of you who have seen her work will know how fortunate we are to
> have her, and what presence and intelligence she will bring to that
> role. She's just terrific.
...some more jms statements about TT:
[08-10-1992, first day shooting TG]
"...Tamlyn Tomita was senSATIONAL at Laurel, great strength of
character and presence..."
[11-08-1992, about TT 'too young' and Johnny Sekka 'too old']
"There is a certain degree of ageism and sexism going on here, I
think.
Tamlyn is within striking distance of the ages of Shatner when he
first
appeared as captain of the Enterprise, and of Frakes when he first
appeared as
2nd on the NG Enterprise. No one seemed to think it was a problem with
them,
since they were men...so why is it inappropriate for a woman?
This is probably the dopiest (my regrets, but that's my opinion)
problem
I've come across regarding this whole thing. We cast for the role of
Laurel
Takashima from across a wide age range, from 30s up through the late
40s and
up a bit. The BEST PERFORMER was Tamlyn Tomita. She just knocked us
through
the back wall. Am I or any producer supposed to say, "No, we can't
hire her,
she looks too good"? Are we supposed to buy the okeydoke _ proferred
by a
sexist society _ that a woman can't look good and be smart? Certainly
the
men in our show, if the "yum's" I heard from a lot of women are any
indication, are attractive. Should we cast only gnomes?
The stone cold fact, apart from opinions, is that it is absolutely
valid
that a person in his or her 30s could command that task aboard Babylon
5.
Whether or not it doesn't fit with someone's political agenda is
irrelevant.
I'm not here to reinforce ANYone's political agenda. My task is to
find the
best stories, and the best performers to render that story.
I've made a concerted effort, and will continue to do so, to find as
many
varied actors as possible for the show...ethnic backgrounds, a 50/50
mix of
sexes and ages. One character which will recur in the series will be a
Latin
American woman in her late 40s or early 50s, who is in charge of the
environment aboard Babylon 5, a monumentally vital task.
There were some concerns that casting Johnny Sekka as Dr. Benjamin
Kyle
would be problematic; born in Africa, educated in England, he has a
very
pronounced accent, and we already have other accents in the show. We
heard
the concern that he might not be accepted. I ignored that because he
was the
best person for the role. Period. I got hit with the "make him more
streetwise" notion from some people (not at Warners), since that's
what one
tends to see these days. But it's important, I think, to show a
variety of
approaches to black (and white and asian and latino) characters. You
tend to
see few black actors in dramatic roles in television, and I think
that's
scandalous.
That was why I wanted to make the second in command Japanese, to try
and
counter the Japan-bashing, to make it clear that we're one world. And
now the
same old stereotypes and divisiveness rears its ugly head.
There are only two kinds of actor in the world: good actors and bad
actors. To take fault in someone's performance is absolutely the right
thing;
to look at someone's genetics or sex or age and say "She's too old" or
"She's
too pretty" or "He's too old"...nonsense. How old was Amelia Earhart
when she
made solo transatlantic flight? 33. And she was 30 when she risked
being a
passenger on such a flight. There are women the same age as Lt. Cmdr.
Laurel
Takashima training and working now in ops on the space shuttle.
Politics and prejudice make poor partners when linked with drama. And
I
can't even believe I'm spending time responding to this.
jms"
And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
Stefan
--
Garibaldi: "I've talked to everyone on the station."
Laurel [Chang]: "Then talk to them harder."
Garibaldi: "You going to give me the authority to shake some trees?"
Laurel [Chang]: "You've got it."
Jeffrey Kaplan
[Quoting JMS]
> I've made a concerted effort, and will continue to do so, to find as
> many
> varied actors as possible for the show...ethnic backgrounds, a 50/50
> mix of
> sexes and ages. One character which will recur in the series will be a
> Latin
> American woman in her late 40s or early 50s, who is in charge of the
> environment aboard Babylon 5, a monumentally vital task.
Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
Double ROT13 encoded for your protection
Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #174.
If I am dangling over a precipice and the hero reaches his hand down
to me, I will not attempt to pull him down with me. I will allow him
to rescue me, thank him properly, then return to the safety of my
fortress and order his execution.
Stefan
> Previously on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, Stefan said:
>
> [Quoting JMS]
>
> > I've made a concerted effort, and will continue to do so, to find as
> > many
> > varied actors as possible for the show...ethnic backgrounds, a 50/50
> > mix of
> > sexes and ages. One character which will recur in the series will be a
> > Latin
> > American woman in her late 40s or early 50s, who is in charge of the
> > environment aboard Babylon 5, a monumentally vital task.
>
> Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
The only Latin American character I remember, is MedLab Dr. Gonzales
(Anne Betancourt) and she is a nonrecurring performer (S4: "A Day in
the Strife").
Odd indeed.
<Ironic mode>
Perhaps the late plans for a monumental vital environmental
taskforce were inspired by situation on stage: fight the rats!
</ironic mode>
Another riddle to be solved...
Stefan
--
Laurel [Chang]: "What took you? I thought you'd never get here.
You know how I hate these things."
Sinclair: "It's good for you. Stuffiness is a virtue."
Laurel [Chang]: "Ha."
Jan
says...
>
>Previously on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, Stefan said:
>
>[Quoting JMS]
>> I've made a concerted effort, and will continue to do so, to find as
>> many
>> varied actors as possible for the show...ethnic backgrounds, a 50/50
>> mix of
>> sexes and ages. One character which will recur in the series will be a
>> Latin
>> American woman in her late 40s or early 50s, who is in charge of the
>> environment aboard Babylon 5, a monumentally vital task.
>
>Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
>
No, apparently she never happened. There was also a "Mr. Jones" who was
supposed to appear at some point but never did. Guess their stories just never
were ready for telling.
Jan
--
�Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased; thus do we refute entropy�
--Spider Robinson
Check out http://wedreamforjeanne.blogspot.com/ for ways to help Jeanne Robinson
fight cancer.
Joseph DeMartino
>
> Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
Um, that's because there wasn't one. If you read any number of early
posts by JMS, or the original "B5" Bible, you'll find a number of
characters or character concepts that never made it into the final
show. That's just the nature of TeeVee. At some point they decided
the environmental officer was one recurring character too many or that
the position wasn't important enough to be regularly featured and that
was that.
Re: The enthnicity (or sex) or any given character on any series. As
David Gerrold noted in writing about "Star Trek" in the early 70s,
such things only matter if the plot says they do. The murder victim's
co-worker who is interviewed by the detectives or the patient's room
mate who gives the doctor a vital insight or the clerk at the DMZ who
gives the lead in a comedy a hard time will have basically the same
dialogue and the same attitude regardless of who plays them most of
the time. The script may describe the minister as a WASP in his 50s,
but unless sex or ethnicity matters to the scene, there's no reason a
black or Hispaic female couldn't be be cast in the part. It depends
on who turns out to audition for the episode, and how creative the
casting director and producers are willing to be.
Footnote: Jose Rey played Eduardo Delvientos, the dock worker, in a
couple of episodes including "By Any Means Necessary", and I'm pretty
sure he is Hispanic. (Eduardo's brother Alberto was presumably seen
as one of the workers on-screen during the teaser, as he's named as
one of the men killed in the explosion.)
Regards,
Joe
Amy Guskin
(in article
<f8d83164-bbc5-44e3...@k4g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>):
> On 18 Okt., 15:58, Jeffrey Kaplan <gor...@gordol.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
>
> The only Latin American character I remember, is MedLab Dr. Gonzales
> (Anne Betancourt) and she is a nonrecurring performer (S4: "A Day in
> the Strife").
> Odd indeed. <<
Don't forget Dr. Hernandez of season 1's "Believers."
As for the character JMS was talking about, I know I've read somewhere that
she was planned, and I guess she just got axed from the show for some reason
before they filmed any episodes.
Amy
--
Ten Thousand Questions
A Question a Day for Journaling, Self-Discovery, and Transformation
"2009 is the Year of Questions"
tenthousandquestions.com
Stefan
> >> On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:58:54 -0400, Stefan wrote
> (in article
> > On 18 Okt., 15:58, Jeffrey Kaplan <gor...@gordol.org> wrote:
>
> >> Um, who? What? Where? When? I never saw such a character.
>
> > The only Latin American character I remember, is MedLab Dr. Gonzales
> > (Anne Betancourt) and she is a nonrecurring performer (S4: "A Day in
> > the Strife").
> > Odd indeed. <<
>
> Don't forget Dr. Hernandez of season 1's "Believers."
Oh, how could I miss her; and the Delvientos brothers,
as Joe mentioned.
Another obviously hispanic character is Ed Wasser in TG
as Tec. Guerra.
> As for the character JMS was talking about, I know I've read somewhere that
> she was planned, and I guess she just got axed from the show for some reason
> before they filmed any episodes.
>
> Amy
To hear about these reasons...
As always, I can't stop beeing snoopy. ;-)
Stefan
--
Delenn (to Mendak): "They are aliens, doctor.
We are all aliens. Remember?"
Brandon
> Considered that the actor previous cast -as mentioned by TT -
> is Joan Chen, one more question remains:
Not necessarily true. The comment you quoted from Tamlyn was that
someone previous to her had been actually CAST. JMS's comment was
that Joan Chen was (presumably only) CONSIDERED.
Regarding the point you raise with the names Chang vs Takashima...
Keeping in mind that the original script was written in early 1989,
long before any casting would even be considered, note that other
changes were made in terms of names from that script as well. So it
probably played out just as JMS wrote in Scripts Volume 1, which you
quoted, that the name was changed subsequent to casting, and so it
wouldn't be indicative of any prior casting.
Here's some more info that might be useful:
June 8, 1992: Scripts are sent out for casting.
July 7, 1992: JMS announces that G'Kar, Londo and Delenn are cast
(with signed contracts), and that the rest of the cast will be final
in the next 5 days.
July 17, 1992: JMS starts announcing, one by one, who the cast is,
starting with announcing that Tomita is playing Takashima.
August 10, 1992: Filming begins on the pilot.
Would there have been time, in that timeline, for another actor to
have been cast, and then replaced by Tomita? Maybe not.
If we paraphrase what Tomita said, it sounds like she's saying she was
cast quickly (and thus late) because she had to replace someone, since
they were ready to shoot. Well, they were certainly getting ready to
shoot, but given the timeline above, it seems she was cast at exactly
the same time as everyone else.
When you consider that Takashima is an important part of Babylon 5
history to us, but just one role (and a short one at that) amongst
many roles to Tomita, I think she might have just forgotten.
> And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
No problem :) I'm happy to have had the chance to work on them. The
books involve a huge amount of work from everyone that you see listed
on the credits page of each book. I did a lot of work on 3 and 4.
Part 4 is probably my favorite so far, and I hope everyone is enjoying
it, now that it's released.
Brandon.
Stefan
> > > As it happens, Joan Chen was considered, but not available.
> > Considered that the actor previous cast -as mentioned by TT -
> > is Joan Chen, one more question remains:
>
> Not necessarily true. The comment you quoted from Tamlyn was that
> someone previous to her had been actually CAST. JMS's comment was
> that Joan Chen was (presumably only) CONSIDERED.
[snip profound arguments]
> July 7, 1992: JMS announces that G'Kar, Londo and Delenn are cast
> (with signed contracts), and that the rest of the cast will be final
> in the next 5 days.
> July 17, 1992: JMS starts announcing, one by one, who the cast is,
> starting with announcing that Tomita is playing Takashima.
> August 10, 1992: Filming begins on the pilot.
[...]
> When you consider that Takashima is an important part of Babylon 5
> history to us, but just one role (and a short one at that) amongst
> many roles to Tomita, I think she might have just forgotten.
I see.
Unless JMS, someone from the TG-Crew or TT comes along with
a distinct name, thhis is the most likely scenario.
> > And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
>
> No problem :) I'm happy to have had the chance to work on them. The
> books involve a huge amount of work from everyone that you see listed
> on the credits page of each book. I did a lot of work on 3 and 4.
> Part 4 is probably my favorite so far, and I hope everyone is enjoying
> it, now that it's released.
Just (bit late!) made my order.
Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
Stefan
--
Franklin: "Excuse me, where I come from, one man from three leaves
two."
Marcus: "Where I come from is a far more interesting place."
[Exogenesis]
Jan
Stefan says...
>
>On 18 Okt., 19:32, Brandon <klas...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> > And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
>>
>> books involve a huge amount of work from everyone that you see listed
>> Part 4 is probably my favorite so far, and I hope everyone is enjoying
>> it, now that it's released.
I have to say that Part 4 is one of my favorites, too. I love the countdown
notes!
>
>Just (bit late!) made my order.
>Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
>
And for anybody else lollygagging, procrastinating or just lazy, today's the
last day for the $10 discount.
Wes Struebing
>In article <e5d8cb1f-74cc-452e...@l35g2000vba.googlegroups.com>,
>Stefan says...
>>
>>On 18 Okt., 19:32, Brandon <klas...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> > And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
>>>
>>> No problem :) =A0I'm happy to have had the chance to work on them. =A0The
>>> books involve a huge amount of work from everyone that you see listed
>>> on the credits page of each book. =A0I did a lot of work on 3 and 4.
>>> Part 4 is probably my favorite so far, and I hope everyone is enjoying
>>> it, now that it's released.
>
>I have to say that Part 4 is one of my favorites, too. I love the countdown
>notes!
>
>>
>>Just (bit late!) made my order.
>>Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
>>
>
>And for anybody else lollygagging, procrastinating or just lazy, today's the
>last day for the $10 discount.
>
Received it yesterday (surprised me greatly, since the estimated
delivery dates was 25-27 Oct.) JMS at his most introspective, so far.
--
Wes Struebing
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,
and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples,
promising liberty and justice for all.
Homepage: www.carpedementem.org
linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wesstruebing
Jan
>
>On 20 Oct 2009 10:04:57 -0700, Jan <janmsc...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>>In article <e5d8cb1f-74cc-452e...@l35g2000vba.googlegroups.com>,
>>Stefan says...
>>>
>>>On 18 Okt., 19:32, Brandon <klas...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> > And THANKS for Your great work on the A&A Books :-)
>>>>
>>>> No problem :) =A0I'm happy to have had the chance to work on them. =A0The
>>>> books involve a huge amount of work from everyone that you see listed
>>>> on the credits page of each book. =A0I did a lot of work on 3 and 4.
>>>> Part 4 is probably my favorite so far, and I hope everyone is enjoying
>>>> it, now that it's released.
>>
>>I have to say that Part 4 is one of my favorites, too. I love the countdown
>>notes!
>>
>>>
>>>Just (bit late!) made my order.
>>>Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
>>>
>>
>>And for anybody else lollygagging, procrastinating or just lazy, today's the
>>last day for the $10 discount.
>>
>Received it yesterday (surprised me greatly, since the estimated
>delivery dates was 25-27 Oct.) JMS at his most introspective, so far.
>--
>
One of the parts I enjoy is how enthusiastic he'd get at each step of the way as
production began on "The Gathering". I'm so glad that all of that was archived.
And, yeah, CafePress does a great job at getting the books out these days. To
their credit, they never stop trying to improve their product and service.