The actor behind SGU’s “Matthew Scott” joins Dial the Gate to remember the journey of Destiny, share a story or two from the set of The Matrix: Resurrections, and answer fan questions!

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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:44 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:33 – Welcoming Brian, and The Matrix Resurrections
14:25 – Class of 09
21:47 – Don’t Look Up
23:44 – Stargate Universe: The Beginning
28:18 – The Cast, and Jamil Walker-Smith
30:58 – Taking Risks on Writing, Cloverdale, and New Mexico
36:27 – Matthew Scott’s Family
38:21 – Most Memorable Filming Moments
40:25 – A Role Brain would Like to Do
43:29 – LGBTQ, Brian’s Coming Out and His Roles
48:00 – Working with Elyse Levesque
49:10 – Learning Universe Was Cancelled, and Future Stargate
58:52 – Who Brian Looked Forward to Shooting Scenes With
1:00:58 – Treadstone
1:03:34 – How Brian Would Have Ended SGU, Destiny and the Show’s Deeper Meaning
1:06:25 – How Smith Related to Scott, and Keanu Reeves
1:14:27 – Stargate Comics, What’s Missed Most about SGU
1:22:02 – Wrapping up with Brian
1:24:27 – Post interview housekeeping
1:26:28 – End credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Oops, try that again with the wrong microphone. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 114. My name is David Read. You’re watching Dial the Gate. I really appreciate you being here. I really appreciate this next guest, he’s been someone to watch out for for a long time now, not just Stargate Universe, but Sense8, Matrix, a lot of these other projects here, Brian J. Smith is with us. We’re gonna bring him in in just a moment. But before we get started, if you’d like Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that Like button, it makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm, it will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the Bell icon a click will notify you a moment new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the GateWorld.net YouTube channel. And later on in the off season of Dial the Gate. So this is a live, I need to be centered. All right. So this is a live show so what that means is that I have the guest on right now. And if you go to youtube.com/dialthegate while the show is running, my moderating team is standing by to answer questions that you can submit to the guests for free. We don’t do any kind of super chat or anything like that. There’s no funding other than advertising and the T-shirts we sell at the end of the show. So if you want to ask Brian a question, you can go ahead and do so now. The moderators will go ahead and turn those over to me. Then about halfway through the show around the the bottom of the hour or 45. I’ll turn the fan questions over to Brian and we’ll go from there. Without further ado, the man of the hour. Mr. Brian J. Smith, First Lieutenant Matthew Scott on Stargate Universe.

Brian J. Smith
What’s up?

David Read
You’re frozen out there somewhere floating in the vastness of space. Man.

Brian J. Smith
The pod.

David Read
But you’re here with us as well.

Brian J. Smith
I came out. I’m fine right now.

David Read
How the heck are you? How are things going? Coming off of a huge feature film. My god man, back in the Matrix, like he says.

Brian J. Smith
I took that red pill.

David Read
That’s right.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah.

David Read
First of all congratulations.

Brian J. Smith
Thank you.

Brian J. Smith
Well, the funny thing about it is it kind of came about in a way that a lot of jobs tend to which is, friends, people worked with before you’ve had a really good experience. You never know how those connections are going to play out in your future. And I had no idea that Lana was even thinking about doing another Matrix. We had finished Sense8 and her parents had died and we were at a party in Berlin. It was like New Years. And she kind of took me aside and she was like, “Yeah, I’m thinking about, I got this idea for bringing the Matrix back. And there might be something in there for you to do if you’d like to.” And before I knew it we were in San Francisco in a big tent with like, 100 stunt people and Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss and everybody doing it. It was kind of surreal.

David Read
What a coup.

David Read
Now, did you grow up a fan of that franchise? In all honesty?

Brian J. Smith
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I remember going to see the first Matrix, It had to be like a what was that 1999?

David Read
Yeah. 99

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, so I would have been a junior or a senior in high school. And we just went nuts for it. It’s one of those movies that you see that just completely…

David Read
Opens up your brain.

Brian J. Smith
It’ll completely opens up your brain.

David Read
Yeah, red pill for sure.

Brian J. Smith
And it was just this like perfectly crafted movie. I mean every moment of it is just like a masterclass, and then we went and saw the two. I remember they released, didn’t they release the two sequels at the same time?

David Read
Same year, yeah, a few years later. So they released them back to back.

Brian J. Smith
So I remember going to that and it just blew my mind. It just seems so, so remotely cool. And I don’t know, just absolutely compelling. And never in a million years would have imagined that I would have been a part of that franchise as a much older, much older man.

David Read
Much older, give me a break. These sequels, you really have to be careful with them, because some of them are solid. And some of them just aren’t. I remember Independence Day Resurgence and just being so gutted by that film. And then I heard about the Matrix coming along, and I’m like, I’m gonna give this thing a shot. We’ll watch it, we’ll see how it is. And I loved it. It was solid, it was very meta. Like, there are some parts of it, like the conceit that it takes about the originals. You either buy it or you don’t and it asks the question as an audience member, “What ride are you going to let the show take you on?” You have to choose to step into that cart and go up and go down the hill.

Brian J. Smith
Totally. Yeah. And also, I don’t think Lana was interested in doing the same green color saturated, sort of ballet Kung Fu, that she had pulled off in the first Matrix, and then those other sequels. I mean, there was no doubt that if she wanted to, she could easily spend six or seven months of pre-production, getting actors out there learning how to do this insane fight choreography. She just wasn’t interested in that with this, and also there was a little bit of like, I think Warner Brothers was going to do a sequel, whether or not [inaudible], as far as I understand, I may be getting that wrong.

David Read
I think that that’s correct. I think that they were interested in pursuing it. And there’s allusions to that, I think, in the script as well. It’s like up know what? The creators who brought it out from the beginning have a chance to shepherd into something new. But taking the story 60 years ahead that was unique, didn’t see that one coming. And if there isn’t another two or another one? It’s a very solid coda.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah. It’s a funny, it kind of sits in this funny way. I mean, it’s so different than the other ones, which is alright. I mean, which we knew. It’s funny,even my experience doing Stargate Universe, the first thing I did was hopping into this franchise that was trying to go in this different direction. And I mean, it became very clear that while there were some people that thought it was neat, and there was, a few, quite a few people, who were excited in that direction that it was taking. When you reboot or redo something that is such a tasty and comforting recipe, for it’s like found audience, you’re really playing with fire. And so it was a little bit like, “Oh, God, here we go again, I’m [inaudible].”

David Read
Oh, no.

Brian J. Smith
But in the end, it doesn’t matter. I mean, I think that’s all stuff for people to debate online. I think those of us who like make these things, we have a very different agenda. It’s not about, I don’t know, like all the stuff that people talk about on Reddit. It’s more like, “Oh my god, we have to finish this fight scene in two days. And we have the scene, is it going to work?” I mean, we’re problem solving and trying to tell the story, and that’s why we do it because we love that process. Then you put it out into the world and it is what it is, you have no control either way. It’s just your job to kind of show up and enjoy the ride.

David Read
Hang out with frickin’ Keanu Reeves.

Brian J. Smith
Hang out with Keanu Reeves. Yeah.

David Read
You filmed in, tell the COVID story that you were starting off with. How you kind of danced around the pandemic and dealt with that while working on this project.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, we started in San Francisco in early, mid January. And we stayed at the Fairmont Hotel, which for people that aren’t from San Francisco, that’s like right by Chinatown. And so things started to happen where people, I remember at the time, there was the Trump impeachment thing was going on. So that was in the news. But then every once in a while, you start hearing about this virus that was coming out of China. And then there was going to be stopping travel, from China. And we’re like right there next to Chinatown. And then people start talking about Chinatown and like, “Don’t go to Chinatown. It’s dangerous.” For me, it was just so crazy. The paranoia that it started up really early. But we finished everything in San Francisco, it was fine. We had a week break, everyone went home. And then we flew out to Berlin, to start really the big part of the filming. Sorry. And that was I think, like around March the sixth. And then by March the 13th, we were all called and told, “Everything is shutting down, the world is shutting down, we need to get you guys on a plane, you need to get home, you’re on your own at this point. Everyone is off work.” I live in New York City. And I actually called my doctor, my general practitioner, and he was like, “Do not come to New York, in about a week in New York is going to be a hellscape. I don’t recommend, you should you should stay in Berlin.” So I ended up having this incredible experience like living in Berlin for at least three months while we were shut down. And then we started back up again in July. And were able to just steamroll through COVID. We were one of the only films in the world that was able to keep going. Lana Wachowski actually invented the pod system that a lot of productions are using now to try to keep filming during this current wave, which is you have certain zones of people in production that can be in contact, so that if there is a positive case that pops up, only the people in those pods or zones are quarantined, and the rest can continue to work. Lana Wachowski came up with this plan to keep the Matrix going during the first wave of COVID. And so she’s an innovator behind the scenes as well.

David Read
Wow, man. Well, there’s no doubt about that with the first film and all the technology that that introduced just the experimental stuff that they try. And the second and the third, for that matter, and Cloud Atlas is I mean, then Cloud out. Have you seen Cloud Atlas?

David Read
It’s one of my favorite films. Absolutely. I am not surprised that that pedigree generated all kinds of solutions to this, and that’s how we’re gonna get out of this, by thinking on our feet, and being smart about it.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah.

Brian J. Smith
So yeah, we’re going through it right now. I’m working on a show down here in Atlanta. And this one’s worse. This situation is actually a little bit more intense than it was when we were [inaudible]

David Read
Very virulant. Yeah,

Brian J. Smith
Because it’s so contagious. And it’s just impossible to keep it out. We’ve had positive cases pop up, certain cast members have had to be quarantined, and they have to rejuggle, change up the schedule. Even like last week there were scenes that weren’t supposed to be filmed for like two or three weeks from now. We actually had to film a couple of them last week, and then those got cancelled.

David Read
Oh my god.

Brian J. Smith
We got had to get [inaudible]. It’s just, it’s just crazy. Yeah.

David Read
What can you tell us about what you’re working on?

Brian J. Smith
Oh, yeah. It’s a mini-series for FX called the Class of ’09. And it’s with the amazing Kate Mara. And someone who I’m a huge fan of, Brian Tyree Henry from Atlanta, is in it too and just a lot of other really incredible actors. Tom Rob Smith is executive producing and wrote it. I’m really kind of like, “Wow, what am I doing here?” [Inaudible] Everyone is so good and the writing is just fantastic. Well, I’ll probably be here until, well we don’t know. I mean, it’s COVID scares we have but I’ll probably be here out until, I think to like the beginning of May.

David Read
All right, wow, that’s a good stretch and Atlanta is becoming such a huge hotbed for this industry. It’s really something to just watch that state just explode. Walking Dead and all these other projects that have been down there, it’s nice to see other parts of the country really getting a chance to shine and get industry people in there going.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, well Tyler Perry really has got a lot to do with it. He built the Tyler Perry Studios, where our production is kind of based. It’s the most gorgeous film studios I’ve ever worked in, brand new. Every soundstage is named after a great African American actor or, like the Oprah Winfrey stage and the Will Smith stage. I mean, it’s really cool. And, yeah, it’s funny, because there actually, there’s so many things that film here that the competition for crew is pretty intense.

David Read
That’s good.

Brian J. Smith
It’s good. Yeah. I mean, if you’re involved in any level of film production and you live in Atlanta, you are very, very, very high in demand. There’s so much stuff filming here right now.

David Read
Wow. What can you tell us about your part in Class of ’09?

Brian J. Smith
Well, it’s, the story is about the class of ’09, a group of FBI trainees who go on to become pretty important in the FBI, one of them ends up being the head of the FBI in the future. And Kate Mara’s character ends up being a super celebrated undercover agent, possibly the best undercover agent that the Bureau has ever seen. My character ends up being a deputy executive assistant, which is pretty high up in the FBI. It’s really about the FBI. But really, it’s more about what happens to us at different phases in our life, and how groups of people that start off together young, it’s how their lives progress or regress, disappointments and triumphs. And then it’s really about time, it’s really about, getting older and kind of being surprised about where you find yourself. But from a sort of philosophical standpoint, it’s also very much about the kind of information that the FBI gathers and uses to track cases. And at what point does this information gathering, become obsessive and become a tool to infringe on people’s freedom, but all for the sake of keeping keeping people safe. So we’re having some of these debates right now. And we’re a little bit worried about where we’re going with the amount of data that’s out there on people. So the show is also very much about that. And it’s really well done. It’s really cool.

David Read
Yeah, I can’t help but see the comparison with everything that’s happening in social media and politics. And I’m not just talking about those things, I’m talking about all of it. I’m talking about what it means to be a human being. To have the autonomy that we have. To have the the freedom to make the choices that we have. And then when that comes in contact with all the information that’s out there about us, all these digital fingerprints that we’re just laying everywhere that these companies are just absorbing. It’s kind of extraordinary. And there’s no way to know how this could be weaponized by agents meant to do good or meant to do harm. It’s really wild. The [inaudible] of the mind is just up for grabs by all kinds of entities.

Brian J. Smith
Yes, and also too, I mean, it’s up for grabs for people that might have the best intentions of keeping us safe. I mean, who knows? I mean, we live all sort of really polarized society right now. And there’s a lot of talk of are we headed toward a never another civil war or kind of like Northern Ireland, IRA-style domestic terrorism kind of civil war. And so one of the ideas of the show is that what happens if there is a terrorist attack, another terrorist attack, but a domestic terrorist attack, kind of similar to the Oklahoma City bombing. That is so horrific, and so terrifying, that the reaction from the government and the FBI is to actually surveil even more with the idea that this will never happen again, you will never let an event like this happen again. And the American public will be so scared and so terrified that they will say, “Listen, whatever you got to do to keep that from happening again do it. [inaudible] information. Please arrest my neighbor if they’re even, if the algorithm says that they have the potential to create problems or to commit a crime.”

David Read
Almost pre-crime stuff. Wow.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. Yeah. Very, very. It’s the idea is that they’ll get so good at data that the data will then be able to start to predict people’s, kind of like Minority Report in a way.

David Read
Genuinely anticipate. Scary stuff, man. So absolutely. Did you see Don’t Look Up?

Brian J. Smith
Yes, I did.

David Read
Very polarizing film. One of my favorite lines from that is the Bill Gates analog, telling the President what kills her. “We don’t know what this is. We just know that it does.” And it’s like, it’s on another planet for crying out loud. And the algorithm is still on point.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. Mark Rylance, that’s Mark Rylance.

David Read
Brilliant performance.

Brian J. Smith
He’s so good. I’ve met him a couple times.

David Read
Oh, yeah.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, he was doing, I did a play on Broadway before I did Sense8, called The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. And he was doing at the same time a play called, this little play by Shakespeare called Twelfth Night. And so we kind of would run into each other. I actually ran into him at JFK, at the airport. He was holding his Tony Award, it was like outside on the curb. And he gets out and he’s holding his Tony Award and I’m on my way to go to San Francisco to start filming for Sense8. And I just walked up to when I was like, “Hey, Mark, congratulations,” just kind of cool seeing him and whatever. That’s my Mark Rylance story.

David Read
Thank you so much sir. “Who are you?” I know, I’m messing with you.

Brian J. Smith
It’s funny because we were both nominated for Tony’s in that same category. There was like best supporting actor to play or whatever. And I think I made some kind of awful joke. I was like, “I think you’re holding my Tony Award.”

David Read
What a ride man, I would like you to take us back to that little gold ship.

Brian J. Smith
Destiny.

David Read
Absolutely. She ended too soon, but what a ride. Holy cow.

Brian J. Smith
It was.

David Read
I talked with you just before you started this character. You were thinking about getting a little dog. You’re trying to figure out your future and what things are going to look like up in Canada. Tell us about that journey.

Brian J. Smith
God, well also I was thinking about getting a new pair of underwear and socks. I mean, my dad still laughs because he was like, when I told him I got the job, and you have to understand, at this point in my life maybe it was like a year out of school. I was…

David Read
Julliard.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. And I was doing theater, I was bartending and it was exactly what I was supposed to be doing in my 20s. But still, it was very scary financially and it was a weird, weird, weird time. And I remember I called my dad and told him, and he’s like, “So what are you going to do? Are you gonna go buy yourself something?” And like, “Yes, I need underwear and socks.” That was my first Stargate Universe purchase.

David Read
I remember you saying, “I kind of like my life in New York.” I mean, everyone there, the working actor, lives on a knife edge. But there’s a happiness there. I mean, like you said, you’re bartending, you’re performing opposite S. Epatha Merkerson for crying out loud. I mean, the caliber of people that you’re working with it’s just crazy. And then to just turn around and take a chance, go to the other coast. That’s a big deal, underwear notwithstanding.

Brian J. Smith
Totally I’m glad I went out there with some fresh socks and certainly underwear. But yeah, I look back on that as really happy time. God, I was young and naive. And I had no idea what I was getting into. In the best way because Stargate Universe ended up being this amazingly tender, nostalgic cluster of memories for me. Everyone on that show, we were very close, and really, really cared for each other and had a great time and hung out a lot. It was the first experience I’d had of, it was my first series I’d ever worked on, for sure. But it was the first time I had felt that intensely close to a group of people that I was working with. And we still talk every once in a while. I mean, David Blue…

David Read
Sang your praises when he was on the show.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, god, he’s such a sweet heart. Yeah, I miss him. I mean, I was I was out in Los Angeles a couple years ago doing a pilot for something. And me, Ming-Na, Elyse, David, we all met up at John Lenic, he was in LA at the time, he had a house. So we all met up there and had a little reunion. It was just that kind of experience for us. And it was beautiful and working in Vancouver. I lived down like up Commercial Avenue. And then Yaletown. It’s the first time in my life, I had like a kind of a steady, decent paycheck and can like start paying my student loans down it, it meant so much to me. And I learned a lot about, I made a lot of mistakes. I mean, I watched that show maybe a couple years ago. I was like, “I just want to see some episodes.” And it is hard to watch at times because I’m like, “Oh my Oh, what was I doing? Why didn’t someone, why did someone put that in there? Surely there was a better take than that, you know? There had to be a better take than that. Please, if that was the best take, whoa.” But I was young and I was learning and I cared a lot in just a really special time. I look back on that, on that moment in my life so fondly

David Read
The caliber of people that you were working with, Ming-Na.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, Robert Carlyle!

David Read
Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira. Who did you walk away from saying to yourself, “I really learned a lot from that person.” Just being in their presence just working opposite them just watching them.

Brian J. Smith
I mean, you get little things from different people. Like, Jamil Walker Smith, who played Sergeant Greer, at the time I was coming from drama school, from Juilliard, and I was doing theater and I was all about being like, have every single freaking line just down and memorized and I just wanted to, I was just such a good student, I just wanted to just, “Ah!” And Jamil would show up and he would be like, “What? What are we doing, like what, just okay?” He had this openness in this ability to be, it’s really incredible and this is hard to do. He had this ability to let the camera turn on, that little red light, which can freak a lot of people out. It didn’t freak him out. He would just be like, “No, what am I doing? What am I, let me look at these lines. Okay, boom.” And then kind of discover it for the first time right there on the spot in front of the camera and the crew. I still don’t know how to do that. I don’t know maybe the older I get I’ll find some of that me but I love that he gave himself room to make mistakes, and to mess up but to find, there’s some of my favorite moments in that show came from him. They were totally unplanned and totally spontaneous of him figuring out in that moment what was going on. And that to me is really special to see. So I learned a lot from him. But everybody’s David did incredible things on that show. Robert Carlyle, Louis, I mean, they were all so great. And it was an amazing apprenticeship for me, and an honor to be on set with them. And to see, at that point in my career in my working process, like how people work and how people figure out how you work on a television show.

David Read
It was a show that was willing to take risks with telling its own audience, “Hey, come on this journey with us and see where it goes.” I remember episodes like Cloverdale where in one reality you guys are under attack by vicious plants and right your whole arm is utterly transformed. And then another reality you’re getting married in Pleasantville USA with with the girl your dreams. And it’s one of my favorite little episodes.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, cool.

David Read
And that just I think that one really demonstrated, I think the breadth and depth of Scott and of frankly where Chloe’s character, Elyse’s character was going. I think that character was going places that we just didn’t really have any idea about yet. And we just saw a little piece of it in that episode.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, I remember at the end of season one, I think I was talking to, maybe it was Brad Wright or Rob Cooper, someone, and they were like, “Man, what have we gotten ourselves into with that, the end of the year with this?” I mean, we’ve created this like real, they put the characters in a situation where you’re like, “How the hell are they going to get out of this?”

David Read
With the Lucian Alliance and the death pulsar, which apparently is a real thing in space.

Brian J. Smith
Yes, right. They do the research.

David Read
They do.

Brian J. Smith
But they were also like his writers, they were in the exact same situation, they were like, “We have no idea what we’re going to do. We have no idea how they’re going to get out of that.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s pretty amazing and pretty brave to make choices like, writing in story choices that really get you in trouble and force you to think outside of the box and to find some different ways of telling stories.” And I would imagine that that was both exciting and scary for guys that who had been, very successfully turning out really great television with SG-1 and Atlantis for years. And we’re just like, “You know what, we’re gonna try something different. You know what I mean? I gotta keep it alive for me.” And, and sometimes that means putting yourself in a really big pickle. And I really had a lot of respect for them that they did that and challenged themselves that way. And that’s cool.

David Read
And we’re willing to take some really cool risks location wise, going down to New Mexico twice. Which you got to do both times.

Brian J. Smith
I did. I did. I was always, David I remember getting like so pissed at one point. It’s like, “Man, like you always get to go to locations.” I was always…

David Read
I’m the guy with the gun.

Brian J. Smith
I’ll take it though. I won’t say no.

David Read
Absolutely. The first one was White Sands. I’ve been to both.

Brian J. Smith
White Sands, have you?

David Read
White Sands, one of the most, maybe my favorite place in the entire country next to the view of Golden Gate Bridge. I mean, it’s that magnificent.

Brian J. Smith
I get it. Yeah, I think about that place often. I mean, not like every five minutes. It’s one of those places that’s so beautiful and you see it and it’s so bizarre it sticks in your memory and you think, no matter what happens in my small little life or the lives of everybody that I know, and even like the history of our civilizations are going to change and shits gonna happen, but like White Sands it’s still going to be the same.

David Read
That quartz sand is not going anywhere.

Brian J. Smith
And it’s great to see those things because it kind of helps you touch, like eternity in a way and you realize that there’s a much bigger process going on that has nothing to do with you and your aches and pains and complaints about other people or yourself, that’s all going to disappear. But that white sand is always going to be there. It’s going to outlast us for eons.

David Read
And while they were down there also doing some location scouting and other spots, the Bisti Badlands, which you wouldn’t even think that this kind of place would exist on the earth. It’s so alien.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I feel like I’ve seen that pop up in other shows. Am I? I mean…

David Read
I always thought it was the place in Galaxy Quest. And it’s not. That was shot at a different location. But it’s one of those spots where it’s like, “This is so cool.” Spent a day in there and it wasn’t nearly enough.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah. Well, we spent a couple of days there. I’m trying to figure out how long we were there. But I remember having to be very careful. We had people that worked there that were making sure that we weren’t blowing too many things up, or some of those stalactites are very old and they want to preserve them. They don’t want to film crew going in there making a mess.

David Read
[Inaudible] to hell.

Brian J. Smith
You know. Yeah,

David Read
Absolutely.

Brian J. Smith
That’s beautiful. Yeah, so cool.

David Read
I was delighted at the arc that introduced that Scott had a family. And he had a little boy that he never even knew about.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah.

David Read
And so not only did he have people to fight for aboard the ship, but it’s like, “You know what? I think my money is going to Annie and I think it’s going to go a little Matt. And please make sure that she makes the right choices for her kid. That was a great story.

Brian J. Smith
I think so too. I’ve loved that. I found that very moving. I think, at that point in my life, the idea of like having a kid or am I ever going to have children? I remember for some reason was very important to me, like thinking about being a father and being a young father. I mean, now I’m like, “jeez.” Hey, listen I love kids. I’ve got some beautiful nieces and cousins, whatever. I love kids. I love other people’s kids. But man, just the idea of having a child at this point in my life. I was like, “Oh, I can’t think of anything that would be less conducive to to my happiness.”

David Read
It’s a full time gig, in and of itself. You have to wonder how some people handle it. With you’re trapped especially nowadays, in different cities waiting for X, Y and Z. Forget the dogs, the dogs are, that’s rough enough. So it’s…

Brian J. Smith
I feel like having dogs is about as you deep into child care world I could possibly get.

David Read
Let’s check out some fan questions and see what we got here.

Brian J. Smith
All right.

David Read
GAP Stargate, “I wanted to know from Brian, the single most memorable moment while filming.” If you can narrow that one down.

Brian J. Smith
Goodness gracious. Trying to think I mean, like all these memories are flashing through my head. I would think the time that we spent in White Sands is probably one of the more memorable moments. It was so extreme, it was insanely hot. We’re wearing these black uniforms in the sand is absolutely pure white. So it’s just reflecting heat. You actually touch the sand and it’s cool.

David Read
You go a little bit down and it’s ice cold.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. And again, I think I was probably 26 years old at that point. I had never really done any kind of traveling like that. Never thought that I ever would. And to be on this set with all this crazy equipment and cameras and hundreds of crew people. I was like, “Damn, I’m doing this.” I’m actually, I’m one of the people, even at Juilliard it’s a great school and it pumps out a lot of really great talented actors but it doesn’t mean you’re going to work. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a career, unfortunately, I wish it did. But I was like, “Wow, I’m actually making my dream come true.” That was one of those moments for me where I was like, “Wow, this is really happening.” So yeah, White Sands that was a moment I remember, majorly,

David Read
Tracy wanted to know, “What was one role that you haven’t yet had the opportunity to take on that you would really love to do?” Maybe not like a specific character, or a specific type. What are you waiting for?

Brian J. Smith
It’s funny, cuz I’ve been asked that before, and I really don’t know how to answer it. Because your career is like a dance rather than like a series of benchmarks or targets. You never really know what’s coming around the corner. The Matrix was a total surprise to me, I never thought I’d be involved in that. The show I’m doing right now was one of 20 auditions that I had done over a period of time for other things. Any one of them could or couldn’t happen. And it just did, for whatever reason. And I just learned that these things are being arranged by this universe, this unseen power that’s working, and you’re just a part of this web. And the things that happen to you are also just logically happening to you because of this web as well. So I don’t know. I feel like every role that comes to me is like, “Oh, this is the role I’m supposed to play right now. And this is when I’m supposed to do.”

David Read
Have you found a way then, that’s a very rational answer for something that could be interpreted as very chaotic. If you’re someone who’s very, if you read a piece of dialogue or read a side, it’s like, “Ah, I really want this.” Is there a circuit that you have to, or a wire that you have to cut in your brain saying, “You know what? If it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen, if not, not, but “Oh, I really want this.”

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, it’s, it’s a funny balance, because you have to, you learn really fast to not get too attached. It’s kind of like being a foster child, I would imagine, going from family to family to family, or it’s great that these people are taking care of me right now, but I’m not going to get used to it. Because it’s probably not the ultimate solution for me. Or I may not get invited to this party. So you also, I mean, people can smell desperation pretty easily. And it’s not very attractive and I feel like there’s a little bit of power and being kind of like, “Hey, listen, this would be great if it happened if it doesn’t, that was also meant to be.” So maybe I’m just jaded and just I don’t let myself get too attached to things in that way. If it happens, it happens.

David Read
That’s a good way to look at it. Jeremy Heiner wanted to know, “Stargate Universe featured the first LGBTQ SG regular played by the awesome Ming Na Wen. As someone who is also gay, it was really nice to see some representation in my favorite Sci Fi series. And I’m curious if that character influenced your own coming out in 2019? And how has coming out changed your life in your career?”

Brian J. Smith
Oh, wow. That’s cool, man. That’s…

David Read
That’s a lot there. Yeah.

Brian J. Smith
No. Great. Yeah. I certainly was wrestling with my sexuality while we were filming Stargate Universe, and I’m sure it’s a little bit for especially certain guys in their 20s who don’t know if they’re gay and don’t know if they’re straight or don’t know what they want to be. At that point I can imagine that can be a little bit confusing for the people around them. I mean, everyone on SGU knew that I was gay. I was very much out on set. I believe, was I? No, actually I really wasn’t. Maybe not until season two. Yeah, season one, I didn’t. I had told John Lenic our line producer, really great guy. And still to this day is one of my closest friends. He knew that I was gay. We talked about it pretty early on, but I was terrified I think. I think I was was afraid. You gotta remember a lot has changed since, what was that 2009 or 2008? Yeah, a lot has changed. And the advice at that moment in my life was like, “It’s really nobody’s business and maybe just best not to, I’m not like a flamboyantly, you know…

David Read
In your face.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, I this is just kind of like who I am. And a lot of the roles that I was going out for, or would hope, no one’s going to cast me as like the funny cool, really super smart gay guy, you know what I mean? Like, that’s who I would love to play. I would love to do that. But like I get, people put a uniform on me. I play cops and military people, FBI agents now, for whatever reasons, for my insides that’s very bizarre because that’s not how I feel. But the advice was like, “Listen, just don’t complicate it. Just keep your private life private. And there’s plenty of time to come out.” So yeah, I think coming out has been good. It hasn’t really changed much. We’re in a different place now. It was more for myself. I think I was just tired of like, equivocating and being like, “Are they going to ask questions about like, romantic stuff in this interview? Do I need to worry about it?” It’s just so freaking boring and stupid to be hiding.

David Read
You made it work. I mean, you played gay guys before. I mean, I went and saw after you got hired, I went and looked at War Boys. And what’s the other one were you were killed? I can’t remember.

David Read
Hate Crime. Yeah, that was good, too. That was intense. And then you know, you with Elyse on screen, perfectly natural. At least it was to me. So yeah, you could pull it off.

Brian J. Smith
Hate Crime.

Brian J. Smith
Love is love is love.

David Read
Pull it off is the wrong characterization. Like you’re faking something. There was genuine affection there between you and Elyse as far as I’m concerned.

Brian J. Smith
There was.

David Read
So I think that that’s the ingredient, if you truly care about someone, you can pretty much make it happen.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah. And even if you don’t, it’s pretend, it’s not real life. We’re playing. We’re pretending to be other people. And that’s kind of the joy.

David Read
How was working with Elyse?

Brian J. Smith
Oh, my God. Amazing. She’s hilarious.

David Read
She’s magic.

Brian J. Smith
She was such a like, such a dork. I just remember cracking each other up constantly. And we were really close during that process. I think we both kind of felt like, we were a little bit nervous, being on the show and wanted to do a great job and kind of clung to each other and could confide our insecurities. She was fantastic. She was a great scene partner too.

David Read
I remember a video that was posted. I’m pretty sure it was the two of you posted online with Poker Face playing in the background. And instead, you know what I’m talking about?

David Read
Instead of poker face it’s puppy face with Cassie.

Brian J. Smith
Yes.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, I think like [inaudible]. Cassie, rest in peace.

David Read
Good girl. Erika Stroem. You were on the the Carl Vinson, if I’m not mistaken, as well at sea with Brad and Martin and a few others. And tell us about getting the word about the cancellation. Now that I’ve set the stage.

Brian J. Smith
That’s right, yeah, cuz yeah, we were there like, I think, wasn’t Brad Wright there to?

David Read
Brad was there and Martin was there. Doing signings on board. John.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. John was there. I don’t think it came is that big of a surprise because we knew that the ratings were just like, unsustainably bad. And I think we knew, I think the hope was that there would be some kind of like a finisher. Like that we would get to do some kind of like a you know.

David Read
With like Sense8.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, there would be like a two hour finale that we get to least wrap this thing up. I went through a really dark period, not like crazy dark, but I’d have moments where like I remember being back home in New York and I’d be like, “Man you get attached to that world. You get attached to those characters and I thought it’s just so unsettling to me that they’re still out there floating around in space.” You look up you can almost imagine them out there just waiting, waiting to be rescued. Eli doing God knows what you know to keep himself [inaudible]

David Read
Jogging around the ship and getting thin. Totally, that’s a prerequisite

Brian J. Smith
That’s exactly it. That’s exactly it he’s got like a big old, he made a gym.

David Read
Eli, you found the gym! All right, you go guy.

Brian J. Smith
That would be a great story. We all show up, we wake up and like…

David Read
You’ve changed bro!

Brian J. Smith
40-years-old and like got a beer gut. Eli is just like, freaking Superman. Well packed abs that’d be great story. That’d be, that’s the reason to revive it.

David Read
Yeah, I am still optimistic that we will have some kind of conclusion in a future iteration of whatever’s coming up that Amazon’s cooking, even if it’s just a parallel story to a story that they’re wanting to tell because I think…

Brian J. Smith
I haven’t heard about what?

David Read
Amazon bought MGM. So, oh, Brian. Yeah, Amazon bought MGM.

Brian J. Smith
I had no idea. I had no idea. I mean, because MGM has been just like, [inaudible] water for years. Right back when we were doing as SGUs like MGM is like Carl Icahn going to buy them off or something? I mean, it was so confusing. Like they, we didn’t know what was going. Okay, so please explain to me what’s happened?

David Read
So the purchase was made, I think it was, how much was Amazon…

David Read
It was 8.45 billion. Right. And Stargate is obviously one of the pieces in that equation. They have not made any announcements yet. Brad has his ear to the ground. I don’t know who’s been talking with whom, but he is not out of the equation, as far as we are aware. So we are all, please God, praying that he’s going to get another swing at bat.

Brian J. Smith
One hundred thousand dollars.

Brian J. Smith
Damn, that would be amazing. I’m curious to see. I mean, you know, I’m sure you know how it is though. I mean, Amazon’s gonna look at all the numbers and

David Read
There numbers people.

David Read
We’re gonna see what happens for sure. I think, my fear is that they’re going to look at 350 episodes and say, “No, we’re not going anywhere near that. Blank slate, let’s start over.” Which they could. But I think if they’re going to leverage that library, and get people invested in going back and watching the other content, they’ll think again, hopefully,

Brian J. Smith
They’re gonna throw it into the algorithm and if the equation pops up, thumbs up, or thumbs down. I mean, that’s how these decisions get made. I mean, really, they’re not, these are not emotional. I mean, listen, having worked at Netflix, before having my own experience, I can tell you, these aren’t emotional people, they don’t make decisions based on feelings, they don’t make, they’re not thinking about the nostalgia of this property. How many projected eyeballs are going to be on it? Which is, it’s a business. That’s the way it works. I’m really curious to see what the algorithm says.

Brian J. Smith
So that’s interesting. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll be interesting to see it too like if they do some kind of a… Have you seen Lost in Space? Watch that show. I mean, it’s kind of incredible what they can do right now without…

David Read
Shot at Bridge.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Oh, is it? Ah, okay. But I think you could do some really cool stuff with Stargate, with the technology they’ve got right now that you can do with television. It’s so [inaudible] good.

David Read
Keep it family centered as well. I think that’s the Lost in Space component that you could really plug in there. It’s just, you’ve got a show that everyone can sit down and watch and makes you feel good. So absolutely.

Brian J. Smith
I’m one of those people that I like the darkness.

David Read
I think there’s over all of it.

Brian J. Smith
I was a was so much more like a Battlestar guy. My taste runs, I have a very dark palette. I like heavy dramatic, constant turmoil, existential crisis kind of stuff. Yeah, that’s the kind of show I’d love to see.

David Read
Okay, then completely out of left field, Game of Thrones finale good or bad?

Brian J. Smith
I never got into Game of Thrones.

David Read
Oh, okay.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. And I tried. I mean, it’s not that like I don’t think it’s an amazing achievement obviously.

David Read
I just assumed as a student of the work, I would have assumed it would have been something that you watched.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, man. Yeah, I did. I watched like two or three seasons. Like was like just so enamored with the acting and the writing, obviously, but I’m not into like, renaissance fairs and dragons and sorcerers and all that stuff. I’m kind of, just doesn’t, I don’t connect.

Brian J. Smith
That’s fair. Have you seen The Expanse?

Brian J. Smith
I’m not judging it. No, I haven’t.

David Read
Okay. That’s gonna be more up your alley. I’m just about to start it now that it’s finished. That’s what I do. I mow these things down when they’re done.

Brian J. Smith
What have you seen recently that you love. That you like, this is a cool of the moment sci fi.

David Read
I loved was Ex, what was it called? The film of Natalie Portman. Shoot. What’s it called? It’s…

Brian J. Smith
Ex Machina?

David Read
That’s another one. I loved Ex Machina. I loved Arrival.

Brian J. Smith
Arrival. Yeah, I started reading the writer’s short stories recently. God, that’s [inaudible]

David Read
That’s one of them. Annihilation, I thought was brilliant. That was with Natalie Portman. I thought that was absolutely brilliant and very out of the box. And then I recently saw a film with what’s his face? White Fang? God, and it was called Predestination. And it’s based on a short story, All You Zombies. And it’s got Ethan Hawke, and it’s just this brilliant, encapsulated, self contained in the truest sense of the term sci fi story. It’s a paradox, and I cannot recommend it enough. I’ll sit back and you go. “Oh, that was cool.”

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. Okay. What do you think about Dune?

David Read
Brilliant. Shame on me, I should get lightning struck from the sky. Absolutely. Brilliant.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, is like are people, is it kind of controversial?

David Read
Llightning strikes from the sky that I didn’t bring it up when you talked about good sci fi that’s recent. That I skipped over that because it was, yeah, I was hesitant about it from the beginning because I was huge fan of the miniseries and not a big fan of the original film because it wasn’t that faithful to the source material. This one’s got it. And Timothée Chalamet did great. Jason Momoa was great.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, Jason Momoa, I mean, talk about, like wow, okay. In everything is kind of incredible.

David Read
It’s good for him all the way. Yeah, he was really great in Game of Thrones. And I think just one thing led to another for him. I can’t wait to start watching See, he’s so good. Eva L wanted to know, “Who would you look forward to shooting scenes with?” She loved Matt’s relationship with TJ. I did too for that matter. Alaina, you and Alaina, there was some great chemistry there.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah, definitely. That always felt really, really nice. Oh, man. Well, I mean anytime you’re with Robert Carlyle that was exciting.

David Read
I would think so.

Brian J. Smith
But he wasn’t like intimidating at all. He was such a gentle, kind man and so much fun too that it never felt like you were like “Oh god, oh Robert’s on set everyone zip up.” Nothing like that. I loved just watching him work. I I loved working with David. I love doing scenes with him. Yeah, I think if I had looked forward to like a season three. Also, too I thought the the relationship with Scott and, oh my god, why am I forgetting Louis’ character’s name, Captain…

David Read
Yeah, Colonel Young.

Brian J. Smith
Captain, Colonel [inaudible]

David Read
Yeah.

Brian J. Smith
I can’t even remember.

David Read
It’s okay. It’s been a couple years, man.

Brian J. Smith
I thought that was like an interesting…

David Read
Father son relationship, which ties back even further into Cloverdale. There was that tension to it as well like an eagerness to please the instructor, the father figure, the leader of the mission.

Brian J. Smith
Which is how I very much felt in that experience, I really was eager to please. I looked up to all these people and that felt very organic and something I wanted to express.

David Read
The Fred wants to know, “How was the experience of working on Treadstone? He says, Treadstone was a good show. And your character was cool, but it got canceled.”

Brian J. Smith
Oh, man. Listen, I’m the kiss of death. I put this on my resume. If you’re just tired of a series, that’s just going on too long. Just call me up, put me in there for a couple episodes, and you will be shut down.

David Read
Ah.

Brian J. Smith
I’m just kidding. Yeah. Treadstone, that was I never worked harder in my life. I was in the gym every day for an hour and a half to two hours. And then would do stunt rehearsals. The fights on that thing were the real deal. I mean, we really, really, really wanted to get the fights right. And I gotta say, I went back and saw it maybe last year, even just like to go look at the fights. The fight choreography on that thing. Pretty, pretty damn solid, considering we would film those like in a day, which is unheard of, absolutely unheard of. They did a really good job. I think that there were some decisions made in the writing that just were not that helpful in the end, and there’s not a very wide landing strip when you’re doing a first season a TV, you kind of got to nail it. It’s got to be really, really, really great all the time right off the bat. And we just for whatever reason it didn’t happen, and also living and working in Budapest was incredible. And then we filmed up in the Arctic, in Longyearbyen in Norway, which was insane. It was so cold there you couldn’t have exposed skin for more than, I think, like 45 seconds before frostbite would start to set in. [inaudible] But hey, I love that stuff. Obviously. I’m up for the adventure of making difficult shows like that. And also I destroyed my back on that show. I will never be able to do a stunt heavy production like that ever again. Because my back is just not good.

David Read
Wow. Really knocked you around?

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah.

David Read
Wow. Holy crap man. Adam Parra wanted to know, “Knowing what you know now as a performer as a person, if you had the chance to influence the end of the SGU story, how would you resolve it?” Where did you think that she was going? What we think Destiny’s mission was?

Brian J. Smith
Wasn’t there something about that they figured out the Destiny was out there to to find the source of this…

David Read
Galactic background noise.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah.

David Read
Some kind of master puzzle.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah.

David Read
Hidden in the universe’s cosmic microwave radiation.

Brian J. Smith
Yes, and I thought that was brilliant. I thought that was something that that show really wanted to lean into was these kind of deep, deep, deep questions about what is it that makes us human? Why are we here? Where did this all come from? Does even finding that out is that something that we want to do? And I thought that was really really really interesting and I think that that was something they would have wanted to explore more as it went on. I would have loved to have seen that explored more. Especially playing, Scott, who’s someone who’s like, he was religious. Gonna be a minister at some point in his life. I’m thinking about it, I for someone who has a religious background, I think that when you’re faced with this sort of scientific explanation for what God might be. What does that mean? And what does that bring up? That would have been really interesting.

David Read
You’re a person of faith?

Brian J. Smith
No, no, I mean, I grew up like that, but and I’m not saying that I wouldn’t ever be in the future. Who knows? But no, I’m kind of a more like the Eastern philosophy side.

David Read
I do think that, and this is just my personal opinion, that the more we discover, I think that God and science are closer together than we realize. Whatever that is, I think that there is a master code that we always should strive for as human beings trying to figure out how to unlock. But yeah, there’s a big universe out there.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, yeah. And again, I thought that was, it was really cool that might have been something that we would have explored, had the show gone forward. And it’s one of the sort of disappointments of the show getting canceled.

Brian J. Smith
emily cheetham wanted to know, “What did you relate to most about Matt?” And what did you have a hard time locking with and say, “Well, I’ll just take this.”

Brian J. Smith
I mean, being young and eager to please and being thrust in a position that’s where you feel like a fish out of water that definitely felt right to me. But the funny thing is, I can say for sure that the older you get that doesn’t go away. I think I was under the impression that like, “Oh, maybe a few more years, a little more experience under my belt, I’ll feel a little more confident.” And it just doesn’t work that way. And most of the people that I work with, I mean, even Keanu Reeves doing the Matrix, he was like, “Man, I still feel like a beginner. It’s like every time I get up I, oh yeah, man, I still get so nervous.” It’s like, “Okay, Keanu. All right. Oh, wow.”

David Read
The more that I hear about that man, the more I just absolutely love him. That is humility is what that is.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, yeah. No, yeah. Walk with me for a second because my computer is about to…

David Read
Oh, I’m sorry.

Brian J. Smith
No, I just want to grab my charger. Okay. Okay.

David Read
They got you set up good.

Brian J. Smith
It’s my place. It’s my apartment. It’s a mess right now.

David Read
I apologize for taking you so long.

Brian J. Smith
No, no, no, I thought this thing was gonna last a little bit longer but I think the conversation is just so interesting.

David Read
It’s sucking it right out. I think if there was any particular actor that I would love to just sit on set and watch, it would be Keanu Reeves.

Brian J. Smith
Me. Oh, sorry. I thought you’re gonna say me.

David Read
And you. Oh.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. It’s so bizarre. One night we had been filming, like at the end of the Matrix is all that crazy chase scene with like the bots that are themselves as bombs. We filmed that I think like over like six nights. I cannot believe we did that scene in six nights.

David Read
So that talk about, that’s good planning is what that is.

Brian J. Smith
It’s so funny. Like you hear people say, “Wow, you know, like this Matrix, it wasn’t as innovative as the other Matrix is.” It’s like, listen if you did like just a little bit of research, and if you thought just a little bit about what you see on screen, you would realize that like this was actually the most innovative out of all of them. The fact that she filmed that whole chase scene in six nights is unbelievable, even for most like modern productions, and the fact that she got Carrie-Anne and Keanu to jump off of a 46-story building.

David Read
They actually did that?

Brian J. Smith
Yes, that’s not stunt people and that’s not CGI. They jumped off of that building, and that’s also part of like, these layers in that film, that I think it’s going to take people years to kind of like settle down and not be so upset about the movie to realize that we are so conditioned to seeing things like that done on green screen and CGI, that we don’t actually believe that would actually be done. That those two actors would be allowed to jump off a 45-story building. I mean that, to my mind, kicks bullet times ass and all the Kung Fu ballet. That is what makes that movie really special and brilliant. I mean, that is hard, much harder to do than bullet time. Much, much, much harder to do. I forgot what we were talking about, though. Sorry.

David Read
No, Keanu. Yeah.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, yeah. Carrie, so we were filming those scenes in like one night we were all staying at the Fairmont. And me and my friend, Toby and Max, we were out in the courtyard and Keanu came down and sat with us and was like, “Hey, do you guys wanna? Do you mind if I hang out with you?” And we’re like, “Yeah.” So we just sat out there for like two hours that night and he just told us stories. He’s that kind of guy. He also works really, really, really hard. And like you said, watching him on set is just amazing. You’re seeing someone who knows, is actually very, very, very savvy. He knows that there’s a kind of Keanu Reeves-ness to deliver. Yeah, and he very aware of it. It’s very, it is a very conscious presentation of Keanu Reeves. And it’s very interesting and amazing to watch.

David Read
I’m just really delighted that you survived to the end of the movie. Berg makes the comment, the Neb, everyone aboard the Neb died.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, [they were] all killed. Yeah. And that’s also part of like Lana’s, Lana does not, she’s not interested in telling tragic tales, much to my chagrin, I love a tragedy. I love, like I said I love the dark side, I guess, in storytelling, but Lana at the end of the Matrix, she talks about painting the sky with rainbows. She’s for this radical utopian vision of what storytelling should be. It should make you feel good and send you out on your way feeling really good about being a human being. And yeah, that’s what she’s about. And it’s definitely made me like that more myself.

David Read
I loved where the story went. I loved that 60 years later death is conquered and love and family prevail. And that, oh, spoiler alert. I guess it’s a little late now.

Brian J. Smith
For the Matrix five.

David Read
But do you think? Do you feel that there’ll be another one?

Brian J. Smith
No.

David Read
You think that’s it?

Brian J. Smith
Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. Definitely. I mean, unless like Matrix or unless Warner Brothers is for whatever reason is like, “You don’t want to do another one. Are you sure? Okay, then we’re gonna take this from you. And we’re gonna give it to, Michael Bay, or whatever.” I don’t know.

David Read
Do you think at that point, she’d say, “You know what, I did what I wanted to do with it, go ahead.”

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. Yeah, I also too, I mean, listen, they’re probably going to lose money on the film. There’s no reason to do another Matrix after this one. I think Lana was like, “You’re not going to take this from me. You’re not going to give this to someone else. Those characters are [inaudible] to me. Yeah, if it’s going to be finished, I’m going to finish it the way that that I want to finish it.” And I’m glad she did.

David Read
Absolutely. Two more and then I’m gonna let you go. Matthew Robbins, “Did you ever read the follow up comic books to SGU?”

Brian J. Smith
Oh, no, but it’s funny, yeah, I heard about them. And I even think, I remember getting like sketches of Lieutenant Scott. It’d be like, “Do you like this one? How do you think about this?” Not that like I had any say in it but they were very sweet and sending us like concept art so that we could look at it and that they weren’t like turning us into like one eyed…

David Read
Do you want them?

Brian J. Smith
I haven’t seen any of them.

David Read
Yeah, I’ll get you the digital copies.

Brian J. Smith
That’s amazing to me, though, that that’s being run that kind of makes my heart feel good.

David Read
They did a limited run and it’s pretty solid. They take a left turn from Brad and Rob’s vision. But it’s an interesting left term. It’s an interesting look at a possible, there were Ancients hidden on the ship that were in their own cryo-stasis. And so Eli wakes them up. So. He’s found another corridor that wasn’t accessible before it. Oh, my gosh, there’s billion year old Ancients in there. So.

Brian J. Smith
People are smart to come up with this stuff.

David Read
Exactly. It’s craziness.

Brian J. Smith
I’ll have to check it out.

David Read
Lastly, Luiz Carlos Simões, “What do you miss most about SGU or playing the character?” What do you think you’ll really, what do you think you’ll take away, or you have taken away?

Brian J. Smith
You do these these projects, and they’re filmed, and they’re stored on some streamer somewhere. And it’s like this photo album of a younger version of yourself. And a sort of momento of who you were at a certain period of your life. I don’t know what fans think of shows or the debates they have. I mean, it’s not for me to even think about, and I don’t. For me, it’s like I get to see my 26, 27-yearold self from the perspective of time, and I get to learn from it and appreciate who that person was, and who I am now. That to me is what is really the most special about having a career in this crazy industry is all of these projects you do like, SGU, Sense8, Treadstone, all these things I’ve done are little markers in time of my life. And little expressions, good or bad or otherwise, of like who I was in that moment. And that’s very special to me, and I am a very nostalgic person. And when I think back on SGU, and I think of Bridge Studios, and I think of Vancouver and Stanley Park, and my dog, Cassie, that I got there. It was a moment in my life, it wasn’t just a job. It was it was a moment of growth for me. And it means a lot. And getting to see things like White Sands and being on the USS Vinson, those are hopefully things that if I get to the end of my life, when I’m like 110-years-old, those are the images that I want to have flashing through my head because they were joyful. And I was really, really alive in living my life in those moments, doing these shows. So it’s very, very, very meaningful to me and very special.

David Read
And t’s a it’s a good body of work. You can look back on it and be proud and say, “You know what? Check this stuff out. It was pretty cool.”

Brian J. Smith
Yes, that’s some cool stuff, and I just wanted to keep learning and getting better and also would love to get into writing, love to get into directing or producing. These things I’m thinking about right now. And I love working in this industry and in this art form, and I love to be still and at home, I’m a homebody, but my career gets me out, it forces me out of my comfort zone, gets me out of the house, and keeps me constantly off balance. And I’m very grateful for that because I’m the kind of person that needs it.

David Read
Oh, I I think you’re just getting started. I think…

Brian J. Smith
Oh, sure.

David Read
A lot more to say and do for sure.

Brian J. Smith
Oh, definitely. I agree too and I have no idea what that is. But like I said, “It’s a dance and I just have to show up.”

David Read
Absolutely. I do have one more. Wood Worx MK, “Would you want to do a John Wick film?”

Brian J. Smith
No.

David Read
I guess going back to the back issue probably.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, my back. I could not do a fight. I could not do fights. Any any kind of physical I couldn’t do it. Yeah, my back wouldn’t let me do it. It’s just too much work.

David Read
You’ve got to take care of yourself.

Brian J. Smith
You do. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes in spite of it, doing the best you can to take care of yourself, accidents happen. And I’ve like really learned. I had a back issue last spring, that was the most terrifying physical experience of my life. I’ve never had pain like, I didn’t know that the body can create pain in that way, I couldn’t even imagine it. So it was very humbling. And it made me kind of realize how fragile this equipment that we’re given is.

David Read
It lets you know if something’s wrong.

Brian J. Smith
it definitely does. And for someone who’s like just kind of joyfully thrown myself around for my mid-20s and 30s, to kind of realize that, oh, I can’t do that anymore is a little bit upsetting. But what are you going to do? You just have to do the best you can and try and not do John Wick films. Like, it’s like the actor’s dream though, it’d be like, every actor wants to be able to go, “Oh, no, I’m walking away from this.” They would have to ask me first, I would have to audition, win the role, and then I’d have to say, “Oh, no, I’m sorry.”

David Read
Make a 3D model of me for all the fight scenes, the rest on there for.

Brian J. Smith
Totally. Could I just do voiceovers?

David Read
That was one of the things that I was kind of hoping for with SGU, if nothing else give us, CG animation has gone a long way. I wouldn’t mind seeing a two hour CG film.

Brian J. Smith
That would be great. Yeah.

David Read
From Brad’s vision for sure. Because he had a plan. He had a master plan. And one of these days we’re just gonna have to see what it was.

Brian J. Smith
Did he kind of like hint that he’s got like…

David Read
Well, David Blue, David knows where Destiny was going. But in terms of…

Brian J. Smith
Did yeah. Right.

David Read
He was told but I mean, in terms of like that master plan there’s only like one or two people out there that know what it is. So yeah.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah. Well, I hope we get to see it. That’d be incredible to hop back into it. I would be game. Oh my god. I mean, people like “Oh, Scott’s pod had a crack on it.” Or something.

David Read
Just no fights with any giant animals or anything.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, there was a mosquito got trapped in his, alright something, he didn’t survive.

David Read
Oh, no, that would be awful. Geez man. Brian J. Smith, Matthew Scott, I’ve missed you pal. It’s good to see you.

Brian J. Smith
I missed you too. I’ve missed you too. Let’s do this again.

David Read
You know what? I’m going to keep an eye on on what you’re up to. And we’ll have you back in the future for sure.

Brian J. Smith
Yeah, maybe we can talk about this Class of ’09 thing.

David Read
I would, I’m all on board. I’m all on board to check it out to the the concept sounds really interesting.

Brian J. Smith
If we can finish it. If we can get through freakin’ COVID right now. Oh, my God, it’s just pummeling us right now.

David Read
I’m positive about where we’re heading. I think we’re going to be okay. But the important thing is that we all keep working, and that we all do what we can to take care of each other. So.

Brian J. Smith
Absolutely For sure. I’ll drink to that.

David Read
You take care of yourself, brother. All right, I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show.

Brian J. Smith
All right,

David Read
Thanks, man.

Brian J. Smith
Ciao.

David Read
Brian J. Smith, Matthew Scott, from Stargate Universe. I have always been a big fan of his work and I’m delighted that we finally managed to get him on the show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider clicking that Like button and will help us get the word out to more people. And if you liked what you saw, consider supporting the show by buying a t-shirt. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching but if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. We’re now offering T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com/merch. Checkout is fast and easy. You can use a credit card or Pay Pal just visit dialthegate.com or straight to dialthegate.com/merch. And thanks so much for your support. We’re still working on the lineup for next week’s guests. And I appreciate you tuning in. While we figure that out. I’ll keep the word out on social media so keep an eye on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the Dial the Gate pages. Thanks so much to my moderating team Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys, Antony, you guys make the show possible, as well as my producer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey. Thank you so much, Linda. Big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at Concepts Web. He’s our web developer at Dial the Gate. Also a big thank you to Jeremy Heiner, our webmaster who keeps the site up to date. There were just a couple of questions that came out for me. John says, “We want to do more trivia maybe with the moderators going up against David.” We’ll be sure to make something like that happen. I’m gonna try to do trivia every quarter. And yeah, that’s yep, everyone’s saying “FYI please more trivia at a later date.” We will bring that on. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate having you join us. Thanks again to Brian J. Smith, as well. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. We’ll see you on the other side.