You may not immediately recognize him, but if you are a devout Stargate Atlantis watcher he has graced your screen more than a dozen times! Stargate Atlantis actor James Lafazanos joins Dial the Gate to reveal some Wraith secrets and share his love of science fiction in this PRE-RECORDED episode!

Share This Video ► https://youtu.be/voNv1KfVqx4

Visit DialtheGate ► http://www.dialthegate.com
on Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/dialthegate
on Instagram ► https://instagram.com/dialthegateshow
on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/dial_the_gate

MERCHANDISE!
http://www.dialthegate.com/merch

SUBSCRIBE!
https://youtube.com/dialthegate/

Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:26 – Welcome and Episode Outline
01:48 – Welcoming James
03:53 – When did you know you wanted to act?
08:56 – Auditioning for “Rising”
12:50 – Inspiration for the Wraith Character
15:40 – Seeing Himself in the Makeup, Experiences that Made Him Uneasy, and Why He Left
25:19 – Do you see the Wraith as a Negative Force?
34:20 – Artificial Intelligence
39:09 – Make-Up Process, Longest Day in Costume, Costume Restrictions
49:44 – Working with Andee, and the Wraith He Enjoyed the Most
52:58 – Teeth, Voice Work, and the Creepy Dinner Scene in “Condemned”
1:00:42 – Contact Lenses, and Wrapping Up with James
1:06:47 – Post interview housekeeping
1:08:23 – End credits

***

“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
#TurtleTimeline

 

TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read
Thanks so much for tuning in to Dial the Gate. My name is David “The Wraith” Read. Hope you’re having a great afternoon, we just got wrapped up with the companion and the pre-recorded episode and we’re moving now on to James Lafazanos, who played, believe it or not, a Wraith! Many, many Wraiths in Stargate Atlantis, but before we bring him in, if you like Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it means a great deal if you click that Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm, and 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 that subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guests changes and clips from this stream will be released over the course of the next several days on the GateWorld.net YouTube channel where they get exclusive clips. As this episode is pre-recorded, we’ve had submissions for James already, previously, so we’re going to run those questions in this episode. The mods will be there in the forum, excuse me, in the live chat, just to moderate. They will not actually be taking questions because we already have those questions. So I really appreciate you tuning in and let’s go ahead and bring in James Lafazanos. I’m privileged to welcome for the first time ever to Dial the Gate, James Lafazanos. One of many Wraith commanders, actually many of… how do you look at that? Do you all consider them the same kind of person? Or are they all different to you? How do you wrap your head around that?

James Lafazanos
I think someone explained it best whenever they made the comparison to South Park. He’s like Kenny. You keep killing him but he keeps coming back. But yeah, I mean, they’re all different, they all have their own personalities. But it’s that same vibe throughout that species. It’s like, they got a little bit of an intensity to it.

David Read
Just a wee bit. So how are you James? How are things going?

James Lafazanos
I’m good, thanks for asking. Yes. How are things over there? Are you in… Looks like Pennsylvania.

David Read
I’m in Nashville.

James Lafazanos
Oh, you’re in Nashville. Okay, cool. Nice.

David Read
Yeah. So it is…

James Lafazanos
I’ve never been to Nashville, but I would love to check it out sometime.

David Read
It’s a busy city. It’s a loud city. You have to appreciate music, or at least tolerate it.

James Lafazanos
I hear it’s an amazing city for music.

David Read
I’m very happy to be here. You what now?

James Lafazanos
Yeah. Doesn’t Jack White live there, from the White Stripes?

David Read
I have no idea who that is. It’s quite possible.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, and I heard that at one point he moved to Nashville, Tennessee from, I think, where he was in the UK.

David Read
White… Nashville?

James Lafazanos
Yeah.

David Read
Absolutely. American singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer best known for White Stripes. Absolutely right!

James Lafazanos
I’m a bit of a music head. So I’m…

David Read
Well there you go, then you have to come down, and when you do, please let me know, I’ll take you out to dinner. There’s a strip down here that is amazing. It looks like Vegas from the 1960’s.

James Lafazanos
Oh wow, that sounds awesome! Yeah, I may have to pick you up on that sometime.

David Read
Absolutely. So, James, when did you realise this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. How old were when you knew you wanted to act, what really set this trajectory in to your career, if you don’t mind taking me back?

James Lafazanos
No problem. Yeah, I mean, some of my earliest influences, in as far as going to movie theaters, were of the sci-fi variety. I saw The Empire Strikes Back was one of the first films I saw in theaters. ET was one of the first films I saw in theaters. So those two particular movies stood out as like, “Oh, wow. They can put magic up on the screen.” And I guess that planted the first couple of seeds. And then when I started doing theater in grade school, I got cast in the very first production I ever auditioned for in grade six, I was 11 years old, production of Sound of Music, and I played Captain von Trapp.

David Read
That’s great!

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I mean, I became a father to whatever it was, 10, 12 children, the character, and my voice was changing at the time too, which was great because I had a solo, Edelweiss, and it was like [voice cracking] “Edelweiss!” it was a treat for the audience. If they were looking for comedy, they got it! But it was fun and it gave me that first experience of performing in front of a crowd, and getting laughs and getting that audience feedback, and yeah, I kind of got hooked from there, I think.

David Read
Wow. Well, did you continue this into college?

James Lafazanos
I actually switched high schools at one point in time to go to a bigger school. I went to this school originally, that is called St. Thomas Aquinas, small Catholic school. They called it The Hall because it was really one hall, like, three or 400 students, and I switched to this big high school, which to us was kind of like the American high school you would see on television shows and had like a football team and 2000 students and had a serious drama program and that was in grade 11 or 12. And I switched because of some of the teachers there and we did some really cool plays, some really existential stuff, stuff that was just beyond what I started off doing, which were, I started off doing musicals, like I said, Sound of Music and then I did Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist in grade eight. And I was Tony, in West Side Story in grade nine. And then I switched to the Banting Memorial High School in Alliston, Ontario, which is where I was born. And I got in with a good group of serious theater heads, folks and I really, I got into little more serious theater and it was stuff, we had a great playwright, Ryan Breeden, who was doing this amazing stuff. And yeah, we did a production of The Raft by Steven Leacock, which entered this festival and we got through this whole Sears Ontario Drama Festival, it was kind of a big deal back in the day. And it just traveled all over, we traveled all over Ontario performing the show. It was like a Bunraku-style production of The Raft, which was just two characters, if you’re not familiar with — it’s a short play, but two characters on a raft, and we were controlling the characters, three people per person. They were actually puppets. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

David Read
And the voices?

James Lafazanos
Yeah! I did the voice for the male character. And, yeah, was just like a next level of production from my humble beginnings in Catholic schools. So yeah, that teacher there, Stephen Thomas, he was the former director of the Hamilton opera. He was kind of like a big deal for a small town, Alvinston, and he just told me straight out he’s like, “Yeah, you want to make a career out of this, you could, so you know, you may want to consider this school or this school.” So he gave me some great advice and was a great early… sending me in the right direction kind of voice of positive encouragement and I ended up going ahead and pretty much moving downtown Toronto and getting my first agent and then starting auditions and booking some stuff, just like some commercials here and there to begin with. And then yeah, it wasn’t till I moved from Toronto to Vancouver, I think it was about 2002, and then started auditioning there, which is where I auditioned and booked the role of the Wraith character, the first Wraith character and all the Wraith characters, obviously, that I played.

David Read
Tell us about getting Rising. Tell us about that audition process.

James Lafazanos
Okay, so that was for casting director Sean Cossey and Sean is great casting director here in Vancouver and still casts many productions. And I was in a trailer on the set of Bridge Studios — I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Bridge Studios, but that’s where they all… Yeah, and so there was a trailer on set that they were doing the auditions in, and I was like, “This is kind of funny, you know, I haven’t auditioned on set in a trailer before.” And because of the nature of being in a trailer, you could hear through the walls the other people auditioning. I was hearing the direction being given to each of the actors and I was like, “You know what? I don’t know if I totally agree with the direction being given.” I maybe, just because I prepared something totally different from the direction I heard being given to the other actors in the room, but I was like, “You know what? I will do it my way first, and if you want to do it with his direction, then I’ll do it with his direction.” And so I just stuck to my guns and did it the way that I thought works best and I think that’s what made the impression. And then I was like, “I can do it again, with the direction that you gave me.” And he’s like, “Yeah, sure!” And I did the take that he wanted and I think it was the direction I gave myself which made me stood apart, or stand apart, I should say, from the other people auditioning for that particular role.

David Read
Do you recall what that was? What was your take that was a little different? Your ‘take’ meaning approach, not ‘take’ meaning take two, take three.

James Lafazanos
It’s pretty much what you saw on screen. I just made him, I think, just more menacing than what I was hearing in the… I just kind of went all in with how intense can I make this being / creature / alien vampire? How can I get that across? And I just went into that zone which I felt was where that vibe that became, I don’t know, I guess I kind of set the tone for future Wraiths, because I was the first one doing it, but everybody did it since had their own cool versions. But I just, I came in with what I felt worked with what was written on the page. To me, it’s if what’s on the page, what’s written, if it’s good writing, and I liked the writing of that first episode a lot and other episodes of course, too, but that particular first one, which was my first introduction to a script from Stargate Atlantis, I was like, “Okay, I think I get it and this is what I’m going to, this is how I’m going to do it.” So it was just kind of instinct, that’s what I have to trust in, whenever I do. Even sometimes when I get direction that’s really different from my initial take of stuff, at least I’ll offer my instinctual read and then I’m happy to go whatever direction the director wants to go after that.

David Read
And with a character like these, there’s only so much… they don’t do a lot of talking, it’s a lot more visual, it’s a lot more energy, like, menacing, so I imagine it’s not a typical way that you can find out a character by “Well, what was his upbringing like, where did he go to school, who bullied him?” None of that applies with this, this is a very alien sort of being, and Lick Queen Becky wanted to know, where did you take your inspiration in bringing these creatures to life? What did you have to go with that you just ran with?

James Lafazanos
Right? Yeah, I mean, I can draw on a lot from from ET, he was a really menacing alien that… [laughs]

David Read
You didn’t see the same movie I saw!

James Lafazanos
No, obviously not. But there was definitely other aliens out there in the sci-fi universe that had similar vibes. I mean, there’s a ferocity to the Wraith character that you could find in Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He’s part of the crew there, but he’s still got that warrior instinct. So, a little bit of that, like almost Klingon vibe, but it’s different from the Klingon vibe too. So it’s a little bit kind of Anne Rice, like Interview With the Vampire, a little bit of that kind of vibe, like classic Nosferatu vampire-like, I think Nosferatu was probably the original vampire ever filmed and that was done so much with… it was a silent film, right?

David Read
If I’m not mistaken, I think that that’s correct, yeah. I think one of my audience members actually brought up Nosferatu and that kind of role giving you an edge.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I mean, I get confused because I really liked the movie about Nosferatu, with William Defoe playing — I mean, he’s an amazing actor –playing Nosferatu, so that’s why I was like, “Was it silent or was it not?”

David Read
William Defoe’s a little bit more recent, but yeah.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, a little more recent, but I’m pretty sure. You maybe want to Google check that out.

David Read
I definitely will.

James Lafazanos
But I’m pretty sure the original Nosferatu was a silent film and they had a really amazing score to it. And with that musical score, it just, that whole look and which in the makeup department obviously for Nosferatu was amazing as well, just like makeup department for Stargate Atlantis, you know? Once you put on… getting the prosthetics and that whole two hour process of getting the wig, the contacts, the teeth put in, it’s like, you have this time to get into the character. And when you see that in the mirror, it really… I have to give huge credit to the makeup department because they do half the work in bringing out that which is that bad vibe, because a lot of it is in the look.

David Read
Dee Pickstian wanted to know what was your feeling seeing yourself in that makeup for the very first time, standing in front of that mirror?

James Lafazanos
It almost gives myself shiver, like, giving myself shivers. Yeah, it’s because sometimes, and I would notice it just from other crew and cast members, I would try to, you know, joke around and stuff between takes and try to keep things light for the most part whenever we’re not in a scene, because some people would just be like… you could tell they were a little bit on pins and needles when I walked by! Because it was just like, “Whoa, that guy looks crazy!” And then when I got into character, and really got into it in some of the takes where there’s more intense scenes, then some people did say to me afterwards, like, “Whoa, man that gave me the shivers” and I’ve been working on shows for however many… So I knew I was on the right track with doing that particular character justice. And so yeah, sometimes I did scare myself with where the energy went and how I looked and everything, it just was, I had to kind of, I struggled with it, to be honest for a while there. I was like, “How can I really keep playing this?” Because when it’s over two seasons it is intense, because I obviously never played a character like that for that length of time before. And it… Yeah, it’s a serious commitment because you you can’t just get in and out of it whenever they yell “Cut!” because you still look like that character and you’re gonna look like that character however long the day is 12, 14 hours long, plus the time to get into makeup and to get out of makeup. So you’re really in it, and it’s not easy being green, I’ll have to quote Kermit the Frog, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, it’s not easy being green.

David Read
DJohn wanted to know did the role ever bring you nightmares, or contribute to unsettling you subconsciously that way?

James Lafazanos
No, I mean, I remember, I can’t remember what episode where my character was getting into the dreams, I think, of Rachel Lutrell’s character. But yeah, which episode was that?

David Read
That was The Gift.

James Lafazanos
The Gift, right. And so that whole episode was kind of dreamy. So because of the dreamy nature of that episode, I think it, yeah, it kind of warped just even reality that day, because it was just kind of like, “Oh, everything’s just a little bit off today.” You know, and so as actual nightmares? I don’t know about actual nightmares, but I did struggle with it. I mean, I only did season one and season two and I chose to leave the show after the end of season two.

David Read
Season Three. Season… was it season… Wasn’t it season… No, I’m sorry, you’re right, season two. You’re absolutely right. My apologies.

James Lafazanos
No problem. I did the last episode of season two, I believe, and I think that was the same episode…

David Read
Allies. And we saw yourself for the first time.

James Lafazanos
Right yeah, that’s right. Like I said, I did struggle with the intensity of it because I come from a comedy background. Most of the stuff I did leading up to that was of comedic nature, a lot of comedic commercials and stuff, which maybe not seen internationally but you know, seen in Canada nationally, and stuff like this, and that’s kind of a little more of my everyday vibe. So it was a kind of a polar opposite of what I usually embody energy-wise. And so I think after two seasons, I was like, “Yeah, I think I fully explored it and I think I’m ready to step away and let somebody else to have the opportunity.” And I loved everybody on the show, I love the cast and crew, it was just me just having to be like “Yeah, I think it’s time I go back to my first love of comedy” and that’s when I went back to Toronto and started studying at Second City comedic improv Training Center and I got right back into comedy. And I think that’s what I was missing at the time, but I really enjoyed the time I had doing it and I appreciate it, I think I appreciate it more now than ever. I think at the time I was pretty young too, I was probably… we’re talking almost 20 years ago now, right? Like, 19 years ago that… 2003?

David Read
2004 the show started airing, so yeah.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I think we started shooting in 2003, but yeah, it started airing in 2004. So, whatever it is, 18 years. It’s basically half a lifetime ago for me. I think I was still young and just didn’t know how to handle a lot of the stuff that came with that. A little bit was overwhelming for me, but I think I’ve definitely grown a lot since then, and since that project, and I come to really appreciate that experience now more than ever.

David Read
In hindsight, do you regret leaving when you did or was it still strategically the best time for you in hindsight to take a bow?

James Lafazanos
Yeah, timing is, it’s hard to say. I mean, hindsight is 20/20. And there’s part of me that’s like, “Oh, I wonder if I stayed the full five seasons” how that would have been different for everything. But you can’t think that way, I just, I feel like at the time, I was really struggling with it. In fact, I was struggling with at the end of season one and so I was like, “I’ll do one more season and then if I’m not feeling it after one more season, then I will.” But I was feeling those same things after season one so it wasn’t a new feeling that came up at the end of season two, it was something that I was just like, I wanted to do by myself, do good by myself.

David Read
And also, we’re not just talking leaving Stargate, we’re also talking leaving the West Coast too and heading back East, so there’s a lot going on.

James Lafazanos
So, I left the city — it was a huge change for me, leaving — and it wasn’t an easy decision. I literally was… I had a therapist at the time that I was talking about it quite regularly and being like, “I really like doing this as this is the biggest success I’ve had in my acting career. It’s an amazing experience. Any actor should be totally grateful as I am for that experience.” But at the same time, I was, it was kind of a little bit heart-wrenching for me and I was kind of like, “Okay…” I just kept going and going and going but by the end of season two, I was like, “Okay, yeah, I think I need to step away and get back to my roots of comedy.” And I think that’s kind of my happy place, so to speak, and, yeah, again, I felt like it was time at the time.

David Read
I’ve been fortunate enough to have a number of the Atlantis folks on, the Stargate folks in general, on the show, and I would think under normal circumstances, doing the number of episodes that you were doing every season would be stressful enough. But to add on top of that, the layers of makeup, and the prosthetics, and the teeth, and everything that you were going through, I can imagine after a little bit, it’d be like, “Is there an angle to this I haven’t explored? You know, I think we’re good!” And I wouldn’t blame you!

James Lafazanos
Yeah, the one other possibility was, if one of the Wraith actually was so turned from his species, and ‘went vegan’, and chose not to feed off of humans, and then walked a new way of life, then maybe, that, we consider that and to have the, maybe, camaraderie of the crew and be part of a crew kind of like Worf is. I mean, I think that makes a big difference, I think. I mean, he obviously, I’ve referenced it before, but Star Trek: The Next Generation was a huge influence on me. And I loved the character of Worf, and I did impressions of the character of Worf. And I felt like his whole thing with being part of the Federation, but also being of this warrior Clan of the Klingons. He found that balance in the character, the writers as well, obviously, but as far as how he portrayed it, and having those moments where he’s doing those ceremonies that he needs to do, but also representing the Federation on the deck. Yeah, I think that would have been the type of charactership that would be needed for me to continue in that capacity as a non-human, heavily prosthetic’d kind of character.

David Read
There’s a whole depth to the Wraith there. Andee, who says hi by the way, she told me to tell you “Hello”.

James Lafazanos
Hi!

David Read
Andee Frizzell, I asked her once, I said, “Do you view them as evil?” And she said, “I’m not evil, I’m just hungry.” and GreenGun and YWithunt wanted to take us into the psychology of the Wraith and slipping into that mindset. Do you see them as a negative force at work in the Pegasus Galaxy? Or do you see them as just behaving exactly to their nature?

James Lafazanos
I mean, it’s funny, because I just had a conversation with my cousin’s daughter, Chloe, who lives in Montreal, and I spent some time in Montreal after I lived in Toronto, after I left Vancouver. And she’s been watching all the Star Wars the first time. She’s seven years old. She’s telling me all the Star Wars and she was just so excited about the most recent one she watched. And I was telling her how I just auditioned for this animated series, where the character literally had ‘Bad Guy’ in his name. And he was always referencing how he was a bad guy who was like, “Oh, I don’t say sorry, because I’m the bad guy.” So he had the self-awareness about being the bad guy and we talked about that. And in comparison to some of the characters in Episode One, and Episode Two and Three, which were the fourth, fifth and sixth movies made in the Star Wars universe, and how, but the original story they were Anakin grows up to become Vader, and how certain characters are just… they don’t see themselves as evil, but they do things that are beyond their own awareness of being evil. Now, when you have the situation of the Wraith, which are dependent on not necessarily humans, but other life to sustain their life, I mean, I don’t know, I got to turn that question back around and be like, “Well, are Humans inherently evil?” We don’t see ourselves as evil but a lot of us consume so many different types of animals, we don’t think twice about it. Comes prepared, in the grocery store, all nicely packaged, and it’s just like, “Yeah, I’m just having a burger, just having a steak.” But you know, what? There was a lot of suffering behind that, and maybe you didn’t see it, but it’s like, do you consider…? I mean, I am vegan, so…

David Read
It’s a fair question from a vegan to state that to the rest of us.

James Lafazanos
Maybe I have a perspective here. But still, I think that much like a lizard or a dinosaur like Tyrannosaurus Rex that just hunts because that’s what it eats, it’s a carnivore, it eats meat, as opposed to like a brontosaurus, which is a plant eater. Sometimes it’s just the way that they were designed on a molecular DNA level, sometimes. But if you have an awareness level, like we do as humans, then it becomes a choice. We can choose what fuels us, we can choose not only what fuels us as human beings, but what fuels that which gets us around, like, do we want to choose an electric vehicle or an oil burning vehicle? And what’s the effects of each, right? So we all have these different fuels and I think it’s, I mean, I bring this up now, because in 2022, the climate crisis is real, it’s undeniable. And it’s directly linked to what we consume in our food and what we consume in our other methods of living and transportation, ie, fossil fuel-burning vehicles, all these kinds of things. So yeah, you can say that argument about humanity and just be like, “Are we just ignorant, by and large, as a species on the planet, that we’re just doing this destruction of Mother Earth, our own home, and possibly causing irreversible damage for future generations?” Or, are we just not collectively at that consciousness level where we can truly put into play things that are best for our long term survival on this planet, as opposed to short-term gains, and are certain, powerful entities, corporations, just exploiting, basically, the planet and people? Because sometimes they look at us like cattle. It’s just like, “Buy our product.” you know? And they’ll, sell to you in the commercial and this is where I’m kinda like… I do think going back to keeping it grounded in the Stargate reality, it was part of their nature, and they do kind of represent, I think, an energy in any kind of universe. There is that energy of just consumption, right? That’s just ravenous consumption, like there’s never enough. You may get your fill from, in the case of a Wraith, from one being, but sometimes it just activates your hunger even more, and it makes you want to, as a Wraith character, feed more. But yeah, I think there’s those kinds of energies at play sometimes on Earth as well. We know when you look at — I brought up corporations — when you look at the definition of a corporation, and there was literally a documentary done by a local filmmaker here called The Corporation, and they had a checklist, and it was all the checklist items of what a psychopath is. And I’ve talked to people now who are heads of business, and they talk about some of the people who run some businesses, like the CEO’s and stuff, and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, they fit that bill.” Because they don’t see what is enough. They just always are like, “More, more, more.” instinctively. This is where I’ve really embraced simple living, daily meditation, just trying to keep things grounded as much as possible for me, so that I can enjoy the moment, try to live not making a big imprint as far as my lifestyle. I don’t drive a fossil fuel-burning vehicle, I don’t… there’s always things I can improve upon. Like I said, I’m plant-based. But it’s just, I guess these are things that mean a lot to me, and, so yeah, playing the Wraith character made me realize that “Yeah, this is in a sci-fi storyline, but it’s things that resonate with people for a reason.” There’s a reason that even just the concept of portals that are stargates. The reason people are into that is because on some level it makes sense. And I would not be surprised within 50 to 100 years that we actually discover and/or create something that is like a Stargate where you can travel, like a wormhole, through to other dimensions and/or other parts of the universe. I mean, it just makes sense to people on some level, and I think that’s the case with the Wraith too. It resonates with people because it’s like, “Yeah, that’s the vibe of, quote, unquote, people.” Even if they don’t know if they’re evil themselves. It’s a vibration. I think it’s just there’s lower vibrational beings and sometimes they’re not aware that they’re evil, and they just do what they got to do to survive. And then higher vibrational beings can sometimes view the others, those are the beings that are being like, “Ah! That is evil.” And they label the term ‘evil’, but it could be just ignorance, it could be just that they didn’t evolve to know better, you know?

David Read
And in the Stargate lore, we find out that the Ancients were kind of responsible for making them. So again, it goes back on us or our ancestors, at least, unleashing something into the world that we didn’t realize the trouble we’d get into. And as a result, we’re not taking responsibility for it as well. So there’s a lot of parallels.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I mean, you could say the same thing about the other major storyline through so many different sci-fi productions, TV shows, films, and that is the awareness of AI. I actually didn’t know that fact about how the Ancients, so thanks for sharing that, the Ancients created the Wraith. So you can say the same thing about where we’re at with creating, artificial intelligent life right now. And we’re at that point where we’re just figuring out how to have robotic beings orient themselves in reality and autonomous driving, all the technology that is involved in that. Even Elon Musk of Tesla has said that we’re starting out as a car company, we will probably be known as a robotics company when it comes to history. And he’s already seeing that as the direction, because once they figured out autonomous driving that autonomous robots or Androids or AI, is it right at the the next step? Right?

David Read
Yeah. It seems to be a race to create this ‘something’, this intelligence and who’s going to get there first, and what characteristics is it going to have? It’s amazing and scary.

James Lafazanos
Yeah. And so there’s a lot of choices with creating something like that, and how do you create… I just watched, it came up in an audition that I was doing recently, where they asked for a voice that was kind of like a Siri-style voice, like a robotic, but pretty fluid, and they referenced I, Robot with Will Smith, which is based on Isaac Asimov. And I went and watched the movie, because I never saw it when it first came out and I was like, “Oh, this is interesting.” just the laws that they give…

David Read
Three Laws Safe, yeah.

James Lafazanos
Three Laws, right. So you would have to have those kind of laws, and then it would have to be something that could be uncorruptible, or you couldn’t hack it, but how would that be, you know? I think we have to tread very carefully into that territory, as far as creating things that could come back to cause issues down the line, because we’ve seen in so many storylines, in the case of I, Robot it’s like, yeah, they saw what humans were doing to the earth. And there was this weird environmental message in I, Robot, where it’s like, “Humanity is destroying the planet, so we have to take care of, we have to get humanity in check so that you don’t ruin Mother Earth.” So that was kind of interesting. I’ve been reading some other sci-fi lately. John Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation. Have you ever heard of John Scalzi?

David Read
Definitely John Scalzi. He contributed to Stargate Universe, but I’ve not heard of Fuzzy Nation.

James Lafazanos
Yes, he contributed to Stargate Universe, yes. So he wrote a book called Fuzzy Nation and it, well, I’ll just say that much. But it was recommended to me by a friend and it’s really interesting, the intersection of… it kind of takes place on another planet. But it’s dealing with the primitive creatures of that planet, and how we interact with them and how we either give them rights as either humans or sentient life or non-sentient life. And what’s the criteria for sentience and stuff like that?

David Read
Sounds like a good metaphor to check out.

James Lafazanos
Oh, yeah, it’s interesting. It’s an interesting book. It kind of delves into this kind of like whole court case regarding it. So it almost turns into like a sci-fi courtroom. But it’s interesting, and I think it won some awards, if I’m not mistaken. But yeah, I listened to the audiobook, read by Wil Wheaton.

David Read
There we go!

James Lafazanos
So if you get chance, listen to the audiobook of Fuzzy Nation, read by Wil Wheaton and written by John Scalzi.

David Read
I will put the link to the Audible in the show notes right here. He also did both the Ready Player novels, Wil read them and he did a great job. So that’s terrific.

James Lafazanos
Oh, really? Okay, I’ll have to check it out later.

David Read
Ready Player One and Two. Yep, he’s funny.

James Lafazanos
He does a great job, because there’s a good sense of humor to Fuzzy Nation too, and he does a great job, doing different character’s voices, and just yeah, he’s an amazing performer.

David Read
Can you take us through the original makeup process? For you? What time Would you get in in the morning and how would it proceed? If you don’t mind?

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I mean, it all depended on what crew call I was. So say, if crew call was 7am, for example, then I would have to be there as early sometimes as 4am. So that means me getting up at sometimes two thirty or 3am to be on set for 4am, because sometimes it was a bit of a commute. And then being in the chair — it wasn’t like that all the time. It was just like there was a few days like that. But typically, it’s two to three hours because it took me about 2.5 hours on average with the costume as well as the makeup. So I think they usually had me there three hours before crew call. So whatever crew call was, be it seven, I’d be there 4am, if it was 10am I would be there 7am, if it was noon, I would be there at 9am. And then I’d be there just a little bit after the day wrapped, probably about — it didn’t take us long to get out of makeup, it was less than an hour, maybe 30 something minutes maybe to get out of makeup. Yeah, it started with the prosthetics and those were glued on, and then it was making sure all the edges were glued on nice and smooth. Then the adding of color, whether it would be with an airbrush or actual hand brush, painting in either the tattoos that the Wraith had, or extra coloration as far as different green tones or what have you. And then it was usually contacts after that and teeth usually came last. And then I would go to wardrobe and then I think… oh, yeah, no, we’d do the wig and then the wardrobe. So I was… where did the wig come in again? Yeah, I’m pretty sure the wig was… Or was it first? Oh, geez…

David Read
You’d have to have your hair put down, I would think, before they could put any of the… any of the other.

James Lafazanos
Or maybe the wig was very first. I’m confused at to where the wig was. But yeah, the wardrobe obviously came last and that would include… Oh, yeah, they did my hands as well, right.

David Read
Exactly! Both sides.

James Lafazanos
So sometimes they’d be doing that as well as the same time they were doing — because supposed to be two people working on me at once — and one person would be doing my face and head and the other would be doing the hands and nails and stuff like that. Yeah. Right. And then Wraith sometimes had some interesting kind of like jewelry as well.

David Read
Armor, so when they closed their hand they’d protect their vital organs.

James Lafazanos
That’s right, yeah, the opening there on the hand. Sometimes that came with wardrobe because that was sometimes with the wardrobe pieces, yeah. Depending on the Wraith and depending, because they all had different little accessories. It’s all about the accessories! If you ever collected figurines, which it looks like you may have, judging by…

David Read
I have a few pieces.

James Lafazanos
I mean, I collected Star Wars characters, was my first kind of figurines I really got into and so you know, making sure you had all those accessories were key. You got some good stuff over there. What’s that? Oh, nice! It’s a great helmet. Yeah, that looks legit.

David Read
So this takes me… yeah, so this is one of my… and it’s interesting, since you brought that up… this is a real coincidence…

James Lafazanos
Yeah. Oh, weird. I, Robot, wow! Okay, there are no coincidences. There are no coincidences. It’s all synchronicity. Everything that we’re saying is being said for a reason.

David Read
Oh, gosh, that’s funny. ZubiForce wanted to know what was — you may not recall this — what was the longest day you were in costume?

James Lafazanos
There was a couple of long days I remember, and I think easily a 14-hour day was pretty long. But I think there was a couple of, I mean, I think legally they couldn’t go past 16 hours. Because they needed at least, as per ACTRA rules, which is the union for actors here in Canada. It’s SAG in the United States, but yeah, I think it’s, as far as at that time, it was 16 hours maximum. But even then, they wouldn’t… only if they had to really get something in would they ever go that length, because they needed at least eight hours downtime. But I think it definitely went 14, maybe a little bit more than 14, possibly as much as 14 and a half. I don’t know if there was ever a 15-hour day. Possibly? For me, I think there definitely was, but as far as everybody else’s day? When I think of set days I think of it when crew call is, for some reason. But for me, oh yeah, I’ve definitely done longer than 14-hour days with my time into getting makeup and then getting out, it was sometimes for me a 16-hour day for sure, yeah.

David Read
Was the pilot the longest? Because in the beginning, the makeup process improved as the show went on, but I mean, in the beginning with the silicone gloves and.. they were really figuring it out.

James Lafazanos
Todd Masters who was the head of makeup, doing all the other creations and overseeing other work. He’s amazing, just a true master at his craft, a genius, artistically and with makeup and he was great and his whole team were so great. I got to give a big shout out to them because sometimes I’d be in there at four and I wouldn’t be in the cheeriest of moods because of my early call times. And they made it all good, so I’ve really got to thank them – big ups to them, for sure.

David Read
Michael Alton: in terms of makeup, how difficult was it to articulate? Were there any, was there anything that you were told not to do because you’d be sent back into the trailer? Was there anything that you just had to fake, by whatever means necessary? What’d you do? How did you pull it off?

James Lafazanos
What I couldn’t do in the makeup? I mean, it was always a challenge going to the bathroom!

David Read
I sold all of your costumes, and the amount of leather… the cows that you wore are just absolutely outrageous. These things were heavy!

James Lafazanos
Yeah, because some of the material — you may have noticed — has texture and kind of like bumpy, they used, like, stingray skin in some of it, which is almost like a shell, but it’s like a fine layer of leathered shelling. Like it’s…

David Read
It’s almost like a sandpaper, except it’s just like a similar texture. It was extraordinary.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, almost like a pearly kind of texture, sandpapery, kind of thick, but almost like a mini turtle shell to the skin. It’s interesting. But yeah, it had weight to it too. So it’s one thing to get everything makeup-wise too, but the costumes, just walking around in them, they were a good weight. I was working out at the time and it’s a good thing I was because — and fairly regularly — because it was… I don’t know how many pounds it was, but it was it was enough that I felt it, yeah.

David Read
Just absolutely gorgeous costumes, the money that went into these things. And I would think that that really… once the makeup, one piece, but the costumes and once you put that on, you knew exactly who you were walking onto that stage. You were just missing your motorcycle and your electric guitar.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, pretty much, they had this kind of almost death metal kind of vibe to them. They had an attitude and the costumes definitely brought that out as well, there were some amazing costumes on that. So, again, big up to the costume department for doing an amazing job because… I was just having a conversation with somebody this past week, and it was on the set of a different show — which I can’t say any details of right now — but it was during a costume fitting and I was… I think it was referencing the Foundation. Have you seen this Apple original series of Foundation?

David Read
I’ve seen the first two episodes, I’m working on it. It’s very well done.

James Lafazanos
Wow, super well done, they spared no expense for the production of that show. And some of the costumes in that show are fantastic. And that, for me, is a big indicator sometimes, of being like “Oh!” They put a lot into this show and you can tell by their costume and the design of their costumes and just the textures and quality, so for me that’s a big thing when it comes to raising the level of a production and Stargate definitely had that level, that really high level of costuming going on that made everything look so fantastic. But yeah, Foundation, that’s another great show. I’m just gonna mention all of the shows!

David Read
No, this is a good thing because it’s all, the audience, it’s all the same genre.

James Lafazanos
This is it, yeah, I’m as much of a fan as anyone who watched me do stuff. So that’s what you have to understand is that I’m just another fan who happened to be in the makeup and get the roll for that particular show. But otherwise, I’m the guy who’s fanning out on the new trailer and all the rest of it for the show, the new film, the new video game, because I’m into some gaming too

David Read
There you go. Akosh wanted to know what was it like working with Andee, as all the Queens

James Lafazanos
Andee is awesome. She’s like…

David Read
She sang your praises.

James Lafazanos
She’s like a sister to me. I have two sisters. I’m one of four kids, I have an older sister, younger sister and a younger brother. And she is like my third sister, she is awesome. She’s just like… anytime I was working with Andee it was always like, “Oh, cool, this is gonna be a great day.” Because not only is she just such a cool person, but she’s one of my kind on the show, she’s great. So she gets it, she understands everything I’m experiencing and it’s a shared experience when I’m on set with her. And not only that, but she’s just got such a great vibe all the time. That it’s a shared experience that’s elevated so Andee is A1 awesomeness all the way. Big ups to Andee. Andee, you’re the shit. She’s cool beans.

David Read
Deck says “James, I think you are by far the best actor in Stargate Atlantis and you really gave each Wraith you play a unique personality. Steve was my favorite. But who did you enjoy playing the most?”

James Lafazanos
Thank you, by the way, that’s really appreciated. I enjoyed Steve. Steve was… he’s up there. I mean, Bob The Wraith had his own thing, he didn’t have as much airtime as Steve, but Bob had something going on too that I kind of liked.

David Read
Yeah, he was running around undetected for a while there.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I think if I were to have a few more episodes with one of the Wraith it would either be Steve or Bob, I think, because Bob is a little more mysterious, because he just seemed like a badass. What was the name of the Wraith in Defiant One?

David Read
Defiant One, he doesn’t have a name. I’m sure he does have a name in production, but I don’t have it.

James Lafazanos
He was a bit of a badass too, that guy. Because he was just like…

David Read
Desert Wraith.

James Lafazanos
He was an old, kind of gnarly Wraith, War Wraith. And he was just throwing everything at Shepherd in that episode, and that was kind of fun, too, because it was like, “How do you kill this guy?” But I’m sure that’s how Shepherd’s character was thinking because he was kind of crafty, he was good with tech and he had that ship there and he had that stash of weapons and then he was… he can do hand-to-hand combat with a knife and everything, so it was…

David Read
You had a lot to get out of that character, yeah.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, that was a fun day! I enjoyed… and we were in this desert, which was in Richmond, of all places — which is like a suburb of Vancouver — which i didn’t even know there was a desert area out there, but that’s where we were shooting and it turned out pretty good, I think. That was, as far as watching one of the more action oriented episodes, that was a pretty good action oriented episode, for sure.

David Read
LockWatcher wanted to know, were all your lines looped after the performance because of the teeth?

James Lafazanos
Yes, yes. I went to an ADR studio in North Van and I had to do all of my lines over again. Because with the ‘T’, they would come out, but they would kind of come out a little bit slurred. And, it’s funny, because I was just watching last night, an episode of Resident Alien with Alan Tudyk.

David Read
Yep, who also played Sonny in I, Robot.

James Lafazanos
Yes, he played Sonny in I, Robot, yes! So, great show, filmed locally, and he does the same kind of thing where he’s, well, he’s mostly out of makeup, but he goes into makeup as the alien sometimes. And you can see them, sometimes they go back and forth in the same scene, because you’ll see the perspective of… there’s these two kids in the episodes, who can see him as the alien, but only these kids can see him as the alien. So in those scenes, it’ll go back and forth between Alan Tudyk looking like Alan Tudyk, and the alien, which looks very kind of Gray-style alien, big eyes. And you can hear the difference between the two performances, because the one has sharp teeth that are like the Wraith had and the one obviously doesn’t. I’m surprised they didn’t ADR that in that show, actually, but yes, I did have to do my entire performance for any given show again, verbally in the ADR recording studio, yeah.

David Read
Is that a pain in the ass? Or is it perfectly satisfying?

James Lafazanos
I always looked forward to those. I mean, sometimes, there’s some challenges with linking it up, so it’s totally in sync, so it looks like it’s actually being said at the moment. But I always loved those challenges and usually those guys were always just so chill, they were just like, “Yeah, we’ll just try it again.” And it was pretty… almost relaxing, compared to actually being on set because you’re not in the makeup, there’s no cameras and you’re just, it’s like “A little more,” they took a good long two hours, or whatever, more than enough time to get all the ADR lines in and yeah, it’s not so bad, it’s actually, I looked forward to those days, actually.

David Read
Would they book you and Andee at the same time or would you see her coming in or out? Or was it completely separate?

James Lafazanos
I think it was completely separate, I don’t think I saw Andee there. No, I don’t recall. I mean, if it did, it would have maybe just in passing, in the parking lot, like she was just pulling out or something like that? Maybe one time? But I don’t I don’t think so, actually. I don’t know, definitely check with Andee and see what she says.

David Read
I will, absolutely. In Condemned, you play one of my favorite Wraith, JS asked this, one of my favorite Wraith, who, he’s sitting at a table and he’s eating and he’s drinking. JS said, “You came off in a creepy kind of Dracula sort of way and the wine drinking almost made him scarier. Did you approach this character more elegantly?” How was it portraying this kind of creature that is doing these things that is completely foreign to it, but completely vital to us? It was a very creepy scene watching him eat.

James Lafazanos
It was, yeah, and I remember discussing with the director at the time, how I should eat and does he kind of chew his food? Or is it more of like a bird who just like throws it back and, you know, like he has a gizzard or something to digest or to break down what he was eating. But yeah, it…

David Read
It was Peter DeLuise who directed that one.

James Lafazanos
Yes, of course, it was Peter. Yes. Peter is great, I love Peter. Not only did Peter give a great job directing some of those episodes, he also gave me a tour of The Louvre in Paris, France. I did a fan convention with him in Paris. Him, and his two brothers as well, gave me the speed tour of The Louvre and like, “This is the Mona Lisa! This is the Venus de Milo!” It was it was awesome. So big up Peter. Always enjoy working with him. But yeah, I love the way he directs because he just gets so into it. And it’s like he takes on the vibe of the Wraith itself in some of his mannerisms, whenever he’ll be like, “He’s gotta like…” and he gets right into it, which is very… but he gives you an example of what he wants to see sometimes, which, it’s a different way of working with some directors, but it comes across clear as day. So yeah, that character had a certain… he was dignified. So I was thinking “Okay, this Wraith is like royal blood.” So this would be kind of like the Prince William of Wraiths. And so he would conduct himself accordingly. So he would he would consider himself to be not just somebody who feeds off of other beings, but you could also invite him to a dinner party and he’ll be a perfectly charming guest.

David Read
He’ll fit right in!

James Lafazanos
He’ll fit right in, right? So he went out of his way to do, to learn those kinds of etiquettes, that type of etiquette so that he could almost ingratiate himself to whoever he was doing dealings with. And in that scene, I’m pretty sure there was a bit of a negotiation right? So, yeah, to make… even though it was, you could see that the gentleman who played the… was it the chancellor or something like this or…?

David Read
You’re very close, let me pull this up here. The actor, it was… the Olesian Magistrate… the actor… yeah, he’s appeared in… Alan C. Peterson. He’s appeared in Stargate before.

James Lafazanos
Alan C. Peterson, yes, great actor. And he gave me so much to work from because he was trying not to show he was kind of freaked out by what I was doing, but at the same time, he was also being charming himself, so there was this whole game underneath what we were talking about being like, “Yeah, this is me, as a Wraith, taking part in your human customs. Aren’t I doing it so well, but I’m still trying to scare you a little bit at the same time.” And he’s kind of like, “Oh, yeah, that’s great. It’s fine. Yes, you are scaring me just a little bit” and so it’s kind of like that whole what’s going on underneath the surface of these talks, but yeah, it was amongst the different unique characters of Wraith it was definitely one that stood out for me as well as being like I could bring that side almost like… I think of some of these characters you know, like the classic British bad guys when you think of Star Wars too…

David Read
[in a British accent] You may fire when ready!

James Lafazanos
Yeah, a lot of the the Empire that were working under Vader or the Emperor, they were all these great British actors and so a little bit of that went into that version of the Wraith, for sure.

David Read
I tried selling your contact lenses on eBay, through Propworks, and that’s one of the few flags that we got from eBay saying “You cannot sell contact lenses on eBay.” I don’t know what happened to these things, we couldn’t sell them, I certainly didn’t take them. But one of the things that Andee said that she would experience is that she would have to have someone drive her home at night or make sure, because your vision would tunnel all day long and at the end of the night you couldn’t see.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, that was a thing! I remember on one of the particularly long days — and I think it was for me, excluding when crew call was — it was bordering a 16-hour day, one of the longer days I had on set, I remember the contacts not coming off my eyes, they were stuck to my eyes. I guess there wasn’t enough solution put in during the day but it was like we had to peel them off, I was actually worried I would have vision damage, it was just another one of those things that was like “Okay, this is part of the role,” but some of that I remember at times it was like having almost a blurriness afterwards and being like “Oh my god hope this is just temporary.” But yeah, I’m not a contact wearer, I don’t have glasses. It was something that I didn’t have much experience with prior to. I mean, it totally added to the character and made the characters look so fearsome, having those cat-eye, kind of like greeny-yellow colored lenses, they were awesome to look at. But yeah, sometimes they were a challenge to remove and just having them in all day sometimes made the vision a little blurry at the end of the day, she’s right on that.

David Read
You guys created one of the more impressive races in all of the Stargate canon, visually. I’ve had conversations with the Stargate novel writers on this show, where they say they loved taking the Wraith apart because, as novelists, they’re able to go into their background in ways that we can’t, because we’re just watching them, whereas they would have to sink into their motivations, much like you guys had to, and it’s an extraordinary array of performances over the course of those two seasons and I just really appreciate you coming on and discussing them.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, you have to give credit where credit is due to the writers, there’s some great writers on the show, and they really helped bring the characters to life and then it made our job a lot easier just to translate the words off the page, for sure.

David Read
If Brad Wright and Rob Cooper called you tomorrow and said they were bringing Atlantis back for a season six, would you do it?

James Lafazanos
I would be very open to that, yeah, I would be very open to that, yeah. Season six or like a reboot?

David Read
Well, Amazon and MGM, who knows what they’re going to be cooking up next, so it’s entirely possible.

James Lafazanos
Yeah, I would be very open to having that discussion, for sure, because I actually have been on a show — it was just the one episode but it was on The Expanse in season three — and that show went from Syfy to, was bought by Amazon, and that’s how it continued. It probably wouldn’t have continued if it wasn’t for Amazon buying it, right? So anything’s possible. We’ve seen it happen with so many shows, even Arrested Development, going from Fox, one of my favorite comedies, to then being produced in season four by Netflix. And, it happens all the time now, these days.

David Read
It’s just crazy. The sky’s the limit. I’m hoping that Stargate will be back in some form sooner rather than later, and if there’s a chance of the Wraith re-emerging, I would love to see you back in some form. Is there anything that you’ve got in the works that you can tell us about? Or is everything that you’re working on right now hush-hush?

James Lafazanos
I’ve signed several NDA’s recently, standing, of course, for non-disclosure agreements. Though I can’t say a lot right now, I can say that something that I’m most excited about, during the time of quarantine since like March of 2020, and even prior too, I’ve been working on my own screenplays, and I’ve written two now. One is fully polished and has had several rewrites and I feel it’s almost ready to be read by certain people. The one is just the first draft and it needs a couple more drafts. But I’m also working on this third script, which I’m doing the treatment for right now. And I’ll say it’s a comedy. It’s an adventure. It’s other-worldly. And yeah, I’ll leave it at that for now.

David Read
Sounds like it’s up our alley!

James Lafazanos
I think it definitely would be something that some of the fans of the show might be into.

David Read
Okay, sweet. Well, we will keep an eye out and I wish you all the best, truly, thank you so much for coming on, James. This has been tremendously overdue but it’s been a pleasure to have you.

James Lafazanos
Thank you very much, David, really appreciate it. Thanks for all the fans for writing in and for being great, giving the great questions you were sharing with me today. And also just for the support over the years, some of the most dedicated, awesome fans I’ve ever experienced. So thanks.

David Read
Thank you. Thanks so much to James Lafazanos for joining us in this episode, and I really appreciate everyone who submitted the questions that made up the bulk of this episode. The people who submitted questions that their questions were answered, but their names weren’t read, I wanted to give them a shout out too. Christina Becker, UnDeadBread, KenyonMoon and Matthew Hall. David Rap, Mencheck01, Jeff Davis, and everyone else who submitted questions, I really, really appreciate it very much. We have merchandise! Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching. If you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. We offer 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. We have a number of special guests heading your way for the month of March, a couple of who have never been on the show before, and you can go to dialthegate.com and see the complete list for yourself over there. I appreciate you tuning in and before I let you go though, I really want to give thanks to Linda “GateGabber” Furey, as well as my moderators, Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys and Antony that make this whole thing possible. And big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb. He’s our web developer on Dial the Gate. Also a big thank you to Jeremy Heiner, our webmaster who keeps the site up to date. My name is David Reed. I appreciate you tuning in. We’ll see you on the other side.