Throughout Stargate’s run we encountered many Jaffa who came to their senses in learning what the Goa’uld really were, but Anubis’s first Prime, Herak, used cunning to make himself indispensable to the other side. Michael Adamthwaite joins us LIVE to discuss the role and bring us up to speed on his career!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
0:16 – Opening Credits
0:46 – Welcome and Episode Outline
1:58 – Welcome, Michael!
2:33 – One of David’s First Interviews
4:11 – An Industry of Networking
5:04 – Stargate University
7:24 – Working Opposite MacGyver
8:35 – Stabbing Richard Dean Anderson
10:59 – Wearing the Jaffa Costume
13:05 – “Surrender or Die!”
15:55 – Fleeing Herak
16:47 – Potential Recurring Roles
20:48 – Never Underestimate the Audience
22:35 – Becoming a Storyteller
26:08 – Altered Carbon
28:26 – War for the Planet of the Apes
29:10 – Becoming an Ape
32:39 – Andy Serkis
34:30 – Auditioning for Stargate
36:07 – Finding Your Voice
37:05 – Trading Barbs with O’Neill
39:28 – Exchanging the Eye of Ra with Jack
41:40 – Amanda Tapping
42:37 – Christopher Judge
44:54 – Michael Shanks
46:08 – Contractions
47:00 – The Truth of the Goa’uld
51:57 – Finding the Truth in a Character
53:41 – Anubis’s Big Finale
56:03 – “We Are Instruments”
57:12 – Recognize Your Blessings
58:04 – Did Herak Survive “Lost City”?
59:40 – Stargate: Timekeepers Antarctica Level
1:00:39 – Michael’s Cameo
1:02:12 – Staying Busy
1:05:01 – 300 Hours of Editing
1:07:26 – David’s Car Accident
1:10:20 – Extended Season Three
1:10:43 – Questions for David
1:11:33 – Censorship in “Children of the Gods”
1:12:31 – Housekeeping
1:14:20 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Welcome everyone to Episode 221 of Dial the Gate, the Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read, thank you so much for joining me in our last episode for today. Michael Adamthwaite, Herak, First Prime of Lord Khonsu of Amon Shek and someone called Anubis, he’s joining us for this episode. Appreciate you tuning in. Before we get into the thick of it, if you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this available on YouTube, click Like and perhaps Subscribe. It makes a difference with YouTube and will continue to help the show grow its audience. If you’ve got Stargate friends out there, share the episode with them, by subscribing you’ll get notified about future episodes. If you click the bell icon you’ll be notified the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. This is key if you plan to continue to watch live because guests, they’re working and they’re busy and sometimes things switch around. Clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live episode, Michael will be taking your questions through me. Submit them in the YouTube chat to the moderators, the moderators will get them to me and I will get them over to him. Michael Adamthwaite, Herak, we are privileged to have you on sir. How you doing?

Michael Adamthwaite
I’m well, thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure to receive your invite and to be here with you all. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for having me. It’s a lovely sunny day here.

David Read
And it’s dreary in Nashville believe it or not so I guess the tables have turned.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yes. The weather patterns…

David Read
Being what they are. I have to thank you because you were one of my first interviews that I ever did back in, god, this was 2004 I think.

David Read
Yeah, 2003 or 2004. I don’t think Atlantis had even come on the air really. You were one of the first people that I had ever talked with in the franchise and you helped to get me into the rhythm of what it is that I do now. I owe you a huge debt of gratitude for helping to sink my feet into the cement or quicksand of what this whole process is. I owe you a lot man, thank you for coming on.

Michael Adamthwaite
Oh wow.

Michael Adamthwaite
Thank you. You know what? I am so pleased and touched to hear that. It reminds me that no effort is too small or too great and just saying yes once in a while can give somebody traction. I’ve always tried to practice that as a teacher, as a coach, I’ve been a mentor to some. Just in the voice world I love what I do and why not talk about it? If someone loves interviewing and loves having a channel or a podcast, why not? Say yes, let’s talk. At the very least, openness is I think one of the pillars of success if we want to look at it that way. I’m happy for you. Excellent.

David Read
I appreciate it very much. No one goes it alone, this is an industry of networking. The more receptive to you are, yeah, the more hurt you can be but you’re not going to get anywhere without sticking your foot out the door and trying.

Michael Adamthwaite
Oh, absolutely. I think about success the same way that I think about building a road, except your bricks are little pieces of rejection. You get a no and another no and another no and you take it and you’re like “fine. I will put this brick down. I will use it to move forward towards a yes and then the yeses, they turn into these special little bricks.” You’re like, “Okay, look at all those yeses back there. They stand out.” So yeah, perseverance is really I think a daily focus worth having. Stick with it.

David Read
Your body of work is extensive. Your voice work alone, it’s pretty extraordinary. Looking back on your career, how does Stargate stack up aainst all of what you’ve done? I’m curious, in the final analysis, where has Stargate played a role in your life? Or was it simply one piece along the way? I’m curious.

Michael Adamthwaite
Well first of all, the final analysis, I’m sure is decades and decades and decades away from now. In the early, still early days, of my career I looked at Stargate, and of course now I still very much look at it the same way. It was like going to a university that was both cool, that was both efficient, that was effective, that was logistically well planned out and there was a lot of storytelling happening. It wasn’t so much like, “wow, this is intimidating and I should leave,” it wasn’t so much impostor syndrome so much as, “okay, I can do this.” Everyone’s doing their own thing and I’m here because I did something in the room. I just have to recreate that and let the organism that is Film & TV sort of happen around me. In a way it really was like jumping to another level and upgrading as an actor as a storyteller, if you will. They were so tight knit as a family and as a crew and as a production that just adding yourself as a piece is really the only first step that an actor can worry about. To work with so many great actors, I had so many great conversations, and they were all really inspiring. I owe them in a lot of ways. So the cast of Stargate, thank you for shaping me a little bit, giving me some traction. It still stacks up.

David Read
You’re walking in to season six of a series that’s just been given its second burst of life on a new network. Was any bit of intimidation going into that or was it like, “I got this. I got this, I’m Herak!”

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, it’s not like you’re working with MacGyver or anything. For those who don’t know, I was born in the early 80s so by the time I hit sort of serial TV watching there was a couple of cool shows on. You probably heard of a bunch of them, one of them was MacGyver. You sort of see and create this iconic nature around a person because of a character. When you’re young, you don’t understand the star system or Film & TV in the way that celebrity is. It’s just sort of like, that guy is that guy and you have this purity about it. It’s intellectually naive but it’s also like a young kid watching a lot of shows. So yeah, there was a lot of intimidation. Then I stabbed Richard. It was like, “Really? Not awesome!” I’ve held a lot of props before man. I was told to hold it a certain way and he was recoiling from electrical shock. The cattle prod was sharp and he recoiled and “oh the pain!”

David Read
You actually got him?

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah. I actually got him.

David Read
I don’t remember this story. Herak has captured him and O’Neill is back mouthing as he always does and then you’ve got this little beast over here [points to cattle prod]

Michael Adamthwaite
Yes, it is a very similar looking if not that exact cattle prod type weapon. The props assistant was like, “okay, vis affects asked me to tell you that you hold it this way so that it looks like it’s making contact so that they can put the little zap in there.” I was like, “okay, yeah, that should be fine.” But of course, I’m thinking “hold it to him and he won’t move. Why would he recoil forward?” Of course, if not to suddenly, if not really obviously, simulate being electrocuted. We came together, he got poked, he let out a really solid yelp and he called out the director’s name “Martin, he got me got!” I was like, instant white, just completely lost all color in my face. I immediately had to sort of step back a few feet and my hand I’m sure was shaking a lot. I think I just said, “he told me to keep this thing up [stutters]. He was like, “oh my god, you stabbed him?”. He was sort of rolling around on the ground and I realized now the comedy of it all. I think he was having me on a little bit and I sort of had to excuse myself. Martin Wood jokingly fired the props assistant very quickly, and it was like, “you’re fired, get out of here” but obviously he was not. He was a beloved family member but it was a joke at my expense I think at the end of the day. Rick had a good chat with me and sort of built me back up a little. It was funny, so terrifying but funny.

David Read
People don’t know, and you and I have both done it, gotten in and out of that Jaffa costume. I imagine if you soiled your pants freaking out, it takes at least half an hour to get out and back in. It’s like, “thanks guys, I crapped my pants.”

Michael Adamthwaite
You’re growing taller in your outfit for reasons that you don’t want to explain. And of course it’s like, “that’s not shepherd’s pie in my pants.” It was very near to the worst day on set I ever had. I walked outside, I took some air, I told myself, “you’re gonna get fired. You got to prepare yourself for that” out loud. Talking to myself, “Okay, Michael, this is this is how it ends. The word’s gonna get around, you stabbed Richard Dean Anderson.” It was so bad. Until he came and talked to me I was like my career was over. I was already planning like, “maybe I’ll go back to school, maybe I’ll get some certification. Maybe I’ll drive a forklift or something. I don’t know.” I was planning a whole different life.

David Read
Things happen on set. Look at what happened recently with that one film with that one major Hollywood actor. We have very legitimate concerns, especially if you’re making physical contact with something that can be damaging with the lead actor. You never know. But Rick, he’s a clever one at the same time. He’s gonna get people anyway he can.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah. He was very kind and very mischievous in the same moment, to both include me into the family by making fun and having a moment. I think in a way he must have known that as an actor growing up, watching him on television, I was gonna remember that forever. I have and I and I do. I’m like, “you know, I stabbed him once!”

David Read
My other favorite memory that I have between the two of you is the episode Full Circle. You’re remembering this, okay.

David Read
You come into the underground pyramid and an interesting scene ensues of a reaction on your face and playing on it. Tell us the story. This is really fun. If you’re not paying close attention when you watch Full Circle you might miss it.

Michael Adamthwaite
I am.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, this is my day of…and I love this line and I had this beautiful idea. Of course now as I’m remembering it I can smell the burning pyres in my nose. Of course it makes your nose black, everyone who’s been on Stargate will tell you that it makes your nose black. I’m walking down and there’s grit beneath my feet, I’m descending the stairs, I’ve got my minions. I’ve got my staff that I took from the guy I killed I’m pretty sure. I’m going down there and there’s like a massive set and there’s sand and burning pyres and hieroglyphics and paint and just so much richness and decor. I always, always, always, always, always showed up early so I could stand in the space and just take it in. Even when the lights were off and even when no one was supposed to be in there I was always like “whoa!” [stunned] Not only does this have to feel 5000 years old, but it looks 5000, 10,000, 100,000 years old. Of course, the timelessness really. I’m walking down and I have my staff and my peeps and my line and I’m like “surrender or die!” O’Neill says “What?” I’m like [thrown off guard] Surrender or die!” “Sorry, we’re all closed, come back tomorrow.” He had several different lines and he improv’d several different things. He was having so much fun with me which of course hearken back to our conversation outside the day I stabbed him. The comedy, and he said this, “the comedy between them is so great.” What I love, the more straight and angry and militant Herak gets, it’s like the more fun, the more cutting and the more jovial and immature that O’Neill can be with him. He just boils and I think it’s great. We had great moments.

David Read
O’Neill is a warrior too so he gets Herak in so many ways. There’s more alike about them than not in terms of what they do as a profession. When Rick is running away, when O’Neill’s running away, at the end of The Other Guys and he’s about to go through the gate he goes, “better luck next time.” He knows what he’s getting away with and then he nearly gets hit and he’s like, “yeah, I got to get the hell out of here.”

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, “I better duck don’t linger too long” because you anger tends to tighten your groupings when you’re a soldier. You hold a little tighter. It was a great experience, it was a great script and it was a great arc that I never expected to happen. When you’re an actor, especially in Vancouver, there tends to be this secondary, tertiary circle of possibility for you. Yhe first circle is very much made up of the cast and the secondary characters within that world, they become more evident and they grow more obvious and clearer as we spend time with them. To get basically what feels like a one off, you never know the depth or the possibility that lies in a character until you get a call that says, “guess who called?” You’re just like, “Who?” [giddy surprise] When your agent says “Stargate called and they’ve written you back in” you really do have to sort of take that moment and just sort of grab your drink and just, “okay.” It’s a great moment to get called back and to be called back for a bad guy! Yeah!

David Read
That’s exactly right. They’re not as simple to play as one might think. It’s so easy to just do the moustache twist and you can do that but you’re not going to get called back for that. They’ll just write a new one.

Michael Adamthwaite
Absolutely. Absolutely. There’s always a different face to twist a different mustache or to be some sort of beast. I played a lot of characters that were animals. I was a puppet reference in the Timmy Failure movie, I was a 14 foot canoe shaped polar bear. There’s a lot of mechanics involved but it was mostly about the presentation and the essence of the character. I’ve been a four foot two dwarf in the World of Warcraft, I was King Magni, totally different than playing a Silverback in War for the Planet of the Apes and playing a giant for Steven Spielberg. Everything is its own animal in a way but when you’re playing someone who’s just described as “oh, he’s the bad guy,” you have to, as an actor, ask more questions. Like, “okay, let’s expand on that.” It’s like the beginning of the job, right? It’s like, “okay, I did the audition. I went so far, I released all of my intentions toward getting the roll. I hit my target and now I have to fulfill this character and bring it to life in a three dimensional way.” It sort of sets people up that you are not just here to stand and deliver. It’s not just park and bark, right? There’s more profound information there. If you use your voice and have the idea to ask a question and stand in curiosity of the writing and the story as opposed to standing in judgment in the things you don’t like on the page. Would I blow up a whole planet? No! Would I murder and commit genocide? No! But he did and I’m curious why. “Tell me about this character” becomes a really essential conversation with any director or any showrunner, any writer. I’m trying to shed a light on all the departments and all the people who helped me. Hear you and I are talking almost 20 years later about a show that still stands up for me and has a very special place in my heart. I couldn’t have done it without writers and actors and directors and crew. I know it’s very topical right now but they helped shape every frame of every moment of every appearance I ever had. I owe them every moment of my Stargate universe life.

David Read
Yeah, if you’re not bringing your A-game you’re doing all of them a disservice and you’re doing the audience potential disservice as well.

Michael Adamthwaite
Well, I think the audience is so much smarter than anyone has ever given them credit for. There is a lot of nuance that goes into the art of writing because the subtext or the unspoken word become so irrelevant in the physical representation. “Oh, that eye flicker. What she just said to him really meant something” but it was small. Whatever it is, storytelling is a vast entanglement of beautiful decisions, impossible to foresee mistakes and sort of accidental moments of…it is divine creation. If anyone’s ever acted in a scene, that moment, when all of a sudden you sort of realize, “whoa.” That was a little bit like someone rubbed Vaseline over the lens and it was very transformative, transcending. Call it what you will but it is art and it takes so many people [to achieve]. If you’re not bringing your A-game you have to know that there’s a line of people that are standing and waiting for their moment, hoping that “oh man, his worst day on set. I’ll take it.” There’s a lot of dreamers out there and I salute every dreamer who’s still toeing the line and trying make it because they don’t make it easy sometimes.

David Read
Absolutely not. No, and it does come to storytelling. How old were you and when did you know that you wanted to be a storyteller?

Michael Adamthwaite
My mother, if she were alive today to nod her head “yes.” She would say Michael was always a storyteller. I have a particular moment that stands out in my memory. I was very young and I had what was probably my first aquarium and I had some fish in it. There was a little tiny frog and there was these little middle fish and I was so happy and I was so proud. One of them jumped out of the tank because I had forgotten to put the lid back on because I was feeding. You’re young and you feel like you’re gonna get punished, you find the fish dried up on the carpet and you sort of like get rid of the evidence. Mom’s like, “where’s your other fish?” You’re like, “well, it died.” She’s like, “what? It died?” “Yeah, I buried it in the rocks mum.” She was like, “Oh, you did? I don’t see any.” I’m like, “yeah, it’s in there. It’s in the rocks mum.” That really happened, I was a storyteller very early on. We also got involved as a family in our local community theater program, the Pace musicals and their annual shows, Christmas shows, lots of lights and dance and musical theater and so on. I was fairly involved in that growing up. My dad was posted as a military officer to serve a particular role in England and we lived in England for a while. I got a role in a BBC production playing a New York bully of all things. For anyone who’s interested you can look it up, it’s a BBC production of Little Lord Fauntleroy. I play Stanley Logan, the bully in the streets. I go over a vegetable cart, yeah, it was my first stunt. It is like over the vegetables, over the vegetables. I took a big punch and I went down and they were like, “oh my god, are you okay?” I was like, “sorry, sorry. I’ll fix the cart.” They’re like, “no, I love it. Let’s shoot it. This kid’s ready to go.” I had a big scratch on my face and I looked tough.

David Read
You have got to start somewhere.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, it was amazing. That was my first big on camera experience and the storyteller in me has always been very healthy. Hopefully it never, never goes away. I’ve written scripts that have never gone very far other than three or four pairs of hands because it’s such an environment out there. When you’ve got something unique you want to hold on to it and make sure that you’re connecting it to the right person.

David Read
You don’t want to turn off your creative faucet, you want to keep that going. Don’t horde your silver bullet, something will always come along.

Michael Adamthwaite
Exactly, the storyteller always have has a silver bullet, or five, in the back for those magical friendships, those great networking opportunities when someone’s like, “I have so much money and everything I read as garbage. Please, please, tell me you’ve got something.” You know, like, “well hang on to your butts.” I’m looking forward to that day.

David Read
Tell me about a role that pushed you in directions that you didn’t expect or that challenged your presuppositions of what you were capable of as a person. Or just affected you in an extreme way. No pressure.

Michael Adamthwaite
No, thank you. I’ve certainly had moments on set, where as the villain, just in a blanket way, I’ve shown up on set in the morning and my chair has been in the tent surrounded by other chairs and other people and we’re all smiling and interacting, shaking hands, introducing ourselves and then we go to…I’m thinking of Altered Carbon in particular. I played mean old Mr. Kovacs and I went and I did the rehearsal for a particular scene, you know the woman I’m talking about. When I got back to my tent all the chairs were gone and it was just my chair. It was just this feeling of despair and “whoa” that came over me knowing that even without shooting a frame, the work I had been brought to do, the sheer monster that he was, even off-camera it must have been off-putting. I’ve had a lot of moments like that playing the villain where a lot of people have come up to me, random people, who may or may not have been crude. It’s like, “oh, how dare you? You’re such an expletive deleted.” There’s been moments like, “wow, okay,” my art is impacting people in ways and they’re either dealing with it or joking or whatever. That role in particular was a big one but I’ve also played roles that uplifted me in such a way that I didn’t think that level of connection was possible. Luca, in particular, in War for the Planet of the Apes was one of those roles that required quite the opposite of putting on a garb, putting on makeup, putting on a voice, putting on some sort of “hi, here…” It was shedding of everything. I’ve had the great fortune to work with Terry Notary on three separate films. Warcraft, he was our movement director. I as I mentioned played King Magno. Of course, it was the BFG with Steven Spielberg, again, he was our movement director to help create our joy in characters, all that sort of fun stuff. But when it comes to War [for the Planet of the Apes] it was about shedding, not building up, like Butcher Boy or building up Magni to get small, ironically. It was about shedding everything that I thought I was as a human, that I thought I was as an animal, that I thought it was as an actor or a father or a husband or just as a person. It really was just about learning that your muscles wrapped bone and tendon and tissue and the energy and the look and the gaze, because you’re an animal. It’s this animal, with albeit this measure of fiction and this level of sentient thought. Primates within fiction and the disease, they are elevated in such a way, but learning how to sign and learning how to talk and everything and operate weaponry and move around the world. It was essential and I give so much kudos and love to my friend Terry Notary for that. That in a way was a role that I could never ask for more. It filled up my my cup.

David Read
You’re helping to give birth to a new species. Sure they existed alongside us but they are not anymore; they’re super intelligent. I imagine there has to be a certain amount of freedom in that “okay, yes, these are gorillas but they’re not our gorillas. There’s something more so where are we going to establish those new boundaries?” If they have boundaries.

Michael Adamthwaite
It was sort of like working within the rules of our world but being completely in a multiverse where this happened, versus it didn’t happen. Almost like the parallel universe theory, it’s like, “oh, the virus escaped. Oh, in this world that didn’t. But where are we?” I think anyone who’s been paying attention knows that the plane of existence has all these many different layers, but in the reality of war, in that entire franchise, that was the real deal. That’s what they woke up with every day, so to create a story and to carry it on in that character really was…You can’t talk about this project without talking about Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis and Karin Konoval. We had Steve Zahn with us as well and Terry Notary, again, as mentioned. I just got so fortunate for that audition. It was all secret and nobody really knew anything but I showed up, and Terry said, “you’re going to work hard, but it’s going to be worth it, here’s what you’re gonna do.” It was just go from that moment. It was like, “you’re gonna pop up here, you’re gonna run over here, you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna do that.” I had custom arm braces. It was an adventure. We got to run through a river as a cast, up and over boulders. It was like kids in a candy store.

David Read
Karin Konoval is Tom McBeath’s partner. Tom McBeath played Harry Maybourne in SG-1, big friend of the show. Hee talks about how Karin talked about the relationship that Andy Serkis had with all the other apes. was just like. It’s a pretty extraordinary gift to have someone who established the standard with Gollum, no one’s gonna have intel that he does. It must have been just extraordinary to have people like that.

Michael Adamthwaite
It really was. The first moment he came in it was like every single pair of eyes, you could feel every single head, every single person just [turned and stared] and everyone just all of a sudden …It was this very visceral, very animal experience. We all just sort of perked up. Without saying it, it’s like a collective that has a unified thought and it’s just “there he is.” From that moment forward Matt Reeves was was pretty adamant “you are in character, this experience, whatever it is.” The next hour or two hours, whatever, I think it ended up being like 90 minutes, we were in character, running around, conversing, taking orders, he was checking in with us. It was so real and alive, but him just gracing us and checking in, forehead to forehead and accepting everyone in that way. It was like bucket list. “I could never be employed again and I would have that.”

David Read
Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell us about auditioning for Stargate, taking us back to that.

Michael Adamthwaite
Auditioning for Stargate?

David Read
Do you remember that?

Michael Adamthwaite
I do, I was very very fortunate at the time to be working on the studio lot in a totally different capacity. I was sort of working in a reader capacity for auditions that were happening for other characters that at the time I wasn’t right for. I would read opposite the actors in their pursuit to get cast. Whether you’re trying to or not, if you’re connected to another actor, you’re doing it for them as a reader. A good reader shouldn’t over do it and overshadow, of course, but there’s a certain amount of connectedness can really help a read that’s maybe without note otherwise. I’ve read with some readers that are totally neutral and it makes it hard to have that exchange come to life in that three dimensional way. I always tried to offer some of that three dimensionality without overstepping my bounds. There was no scene stealing, I was just trying to be supportive.

David Read
If I may insert, look at what happened with Harrison Ford on Star Wars. He was brought in to read lines, you know?

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, in a helpful way, someone who gets brought in to do something and then something kind of miraculous happens. Not far down the line I got an audition for this character that I thought would most assuredly be a one off. I just read the breakdown and I inserted myself into the world. I did a little bit of research and I found my voice. Voice connection is probably the key number one thing that I focus on as an instructor, as a voice actor, as an actor in general, as a performer, as a storyteller because you’re in your body, that’s where your voice comes from. It’s your instrument and deciding how a character speaks, whether they’re amphibious, underwater from a desert planet, royalty, or a totally different class of whatever the structure is in fiction. Having the voice of the character is essential and it’s the number one thing, that voice connect. When I brought out that kind of, “O’Neill!” it was very much this vibrato sense of like, “my chest is so big because I’m trying to intimidate across the universe, in my arrogance, in my youthful…” It just sort of evolved into this big barrel chested, “but I feel like I’m almost wearing my dad’s suit a little bit” and I think that’s what O’Neill nitpicked at. “Failing sideways I see” or “failing downwards.”

David Read
“Failing upwards. Congratulations.”

Michael Adamthwaite
Failing upwards, yeah, of course. Again, there were so many incarnations of that line. But yeah, “failing upwards I see.” But yeah, it was really just about bringing that voice and that posture into the room and having that sort of seated nature. The way I sat down was very like, I think the scene I had just [killed] like, “my boss was no longer sitting in his chair.”

David Read
He was deposed by someone.

Michael Adamthwaite
It was like, “he is no longer here. That is none of your concern.” I was just trying very much to be as stoic in the chair and still as possible. The idea to be like, “playing with a cat.” It’s all this sort of like silliness about villains and I just wanted to be perfectly level headed and calm and cool and just reveling in the fact that I just spilled blood. “Whoo and I killed him on his own ship. I’m going to enjoy this in a really quiet kind of way and I’m going to kill all these humans. Ooh.” It was just the anticipation and I was like, I’m also shaking as Michael. Like, “holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.” I was just like, “Man, if I can’t stay still I’m going to shake out of this chair and lose everything.” I realized that’s exactly what he’s kind of excited/worried about. He’s nerve-cited. So he’s just got to be [calm and still].

David Read
He just killed their God and I’m sure the other Jaffa around are like, “he’s, well, he’s dead. Okay, I guess I can’t be mad at him because he’s dead, isn’t he?”

Michael Adamthwaite
Shall we have a meeting?

David Read
Do we need an intervention. I gotta show you this. [holds up Eye of Ra] Do you think Anubis still wants it?

Michael Adamthwaite
Oh. That is a very powerful my friend. You be careful with that.

David Read
So Ezsparky wanted to know – did you know Rick was going to hold on to the Eye and not letting it go when he handed it to you? Or was that before cameras started rolling? Ot’s like “give it to me damnit!”

Michael Adamthwaite
What a great moment. I did not know. That’s a great question. I was anticipating this sort of very authoritative passover and I would take it in a sort of meaningful way because that’s what I had been prepared for. You get direction, there’s staging, you go through it, the camera lights the light of the thing. You turn it right here, not here, the arm, you go through it all in your head. You grab it and he doesn’t let it go [tries taking it] Now, the silliness of holding it up and like adorning it like I won it in combat was just so juicy and wonderful. He’s like, “oh man.” After we cut he’s like, “that worked so good. I’m gonna do that, I’m gonna keep doing that, even if we have to…” He’s like, “Martin, can we do like three? Can we do a bunch of…” Martin’s [Wood, director] like, “don’t overdo it, but yes.” I was like, “okay, now that I know what we’re doing.” He’s like, “but don’t you play anything?”

David Read
No, you have to play it straight. You have to play that as the straight guy.

Michael Adamthwaite
You can’t know. He’s like, “remember, keep it straight.” That was like, “oh my god. I’m talking comedy with MacGyver in the middle of Egypt, underground, on a planet. This is awesome. This is awesome. I’m gonna call my mom when I have lunch. I’m gonna call my mom. I’m gonna tell her what’s going on. I’m gonna call my dad.”

David Read
Lockwatcher wanted to know – what was your relationship like with some of the other actors from that show?

Michael Adamthwaite
Oh man, I can’t say enough good things about Amanda Tapping, she is such a wonderful soul. She was such a force on that show. She represented in an actor’s capacity, she represented in a director’s capacity. She was always so thoughtful of all the other actors who were there, she was just one of the most considerate professional people. I’ve worked with her since in a capacity where she was directing me. I performed in a show called Strange Empire, I played Jared, it was a very dark and gritty Western. She came in and man, we did some fun and dangerous and dirty stuff. Love Amanda, so great. Chris Judge gave me probably one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever got.

David Read
Yeah, as a fellow Jaffa. Yeah, tell me.

Michael Adamthwaite
Of course, our characters were the same race. There was a lot of the similar background energy of our culture represented in those characters. It was the strong silent type and it was the strong stoic type. It was this almost sort of deadpan, statuesque kind of mask type. I remember he sort of threw his arm around me, we’re at a cast party and I was like, [all giddy “hey, this is so cool.” I was leaving and I was saying goodbye to everyone. I was just saying, “thank you so much for everything. It’s been wonderful to work with you and watch you and I just can’t believe it. Thanks, I hope to see you again.” He sort of put his arm around me and he’s just like, “Michael, you’re a good dude” and his voice just went way down. He was like, “as an actor, I want to give you one piece of advice.” I was like, “please, of course, anything. I don’t know what this is gonna be but it’s gonna be lifee changing.” He’s just like, “be careful of the jobs that some people will try to give you. Hold out.” I was like, “whoa, okay.” I thought for myself for the longest time, I was just like, “what does that mean?” I don’t think I slept that night. I was like, “what does that mean?” But I think he was, in a way, at least the way I felt, I can’t put more words than he already shared. I think he was just telling me to be careful because if everybody makes you dangerous, dangerous as you are, then you could get around some circles. You could get pinholed. So, yeah, it was great advice, not to downplay that. Michael Shanks was always just so wonderful and kind and loving and just always smiling. It was just like, you know, like goofy. Yes. Goofy, definitely to a degree. But then the moment “action!” “Jack, I don’t think that’s safe.” He just boujee, like the glasses. He just instantly, like the voice of reason, the bureaucrat. He was so funny and just such a wonderful energy on set. He was always saying, “well, you know, the thing to do is get on a show where you ask other people difficult questions and then you just stop talking.” What are you talking about? He’s like “no no no, sometimes it’s like when the writing is right, it’s right.” But what does that mean? He said “it’s not that you’re letting other people talk. It’s just the writing is so good, it’s so choice. Just let the writing work.”

David Read
Let it do its thing.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, let it do its thing. We’ve been at this, we’ve been doing this, it’s not even a sentiment that needs to be said out loud. By that point…we started this whole conversation talking about walking into season six and then coming back in season seven, there was zero doubt by that point. Why question a word use unless it’s something like a contraction. Like, “I can’t do that.” Like “I cannot. Are we good with ‘cannot’?” “Yeah, fine. Personalize that. Yes. Go. We’re shooting. Go.” You’re just right back to it like “lunch? Lunch is soon. So yes, un-contract it, we will go again. Give me that option and then we’ll go to lunch.” Such a lovely experience, top to bottom, left to right, through and through to universes beyond. Stargate is a huge part of my acting career.

David Read
Yeah. I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while because I don’t recall asking it before. There aren’t a lot of Jaffa who question the boxes that they are in? You had, in your case, one who killed his God and went to another. What he presents is that, well, Anubis is the one true God. Certainly you can make arguments that Anubis cannot be killed. Even the Ancients said, “you can’t kill him. He’s not physical anymore.” I’m curious if you think that Herak knew that the goa’uld weren’t actually gods, that it was just the family business being a Jaffa and that’s who you served. Or do you think he actually believed that they were? I’m curious to know what you thought.

Michael Adamthwaite
Well I was given a lot of direction and a lot of lines in the sand. There were principles of the universe where we were playing in storytelling as well as a lot of historical borrowing of culture and a stitching together of this entire universe; this Stargate multiverse universe travel through the portal of portals. But I also was given a little bit of license to think about every moment before the written word that included Herak. I asked some basic questions like, “hey, what kind of upbringing would he have had?” They’re like, “well, Jaffa, they’re pretty much like Stormtroopers. They’re cookie cutter” and so on. I’m like, “okay, so that’s one little grain.” I’m like, “Well, how did he become someone significant without being at some point poisoned by either ambition or truth and bitterness?” I was like, “Ooh, this is really spreading out for me.” I started my career and I did a lot of brain mapping, not knowing that I was just ADHD and had no knowledge of it. It was like, “okay, so it’s either truth turns you bitter or you’re poisoned by ambition but you don’t know the truth and then you’re bitter and ambitious.” So I was sort of riding this wave of like, “okay, if there’s all of this backdoor diplomacy/bureaucracy happening and there’s this sort of idea of a collective for the greater good, but that’s not really real and there’s these gods.” I’m like, “somewhere in there I think ambition poisoned him.” The truth was revealed. It created this lovely sort of bitter layer right between the chocolate and the fudge and he just said, “enough is enough. I am a purist, I will go to extreme measures. The one true God that has been clarified to me will make no bones about killing en mass these vermin, these humans, these pests.” It was in that moment as an actor thinking, “I think I’ve got enough to go on. I know what my ‘why’ is. What’s the ‘why’ of your character? I know where my voice is. I know the tone of the show. I know what’s real for him. I know what I can’t telegraph for the audience’s sake.” Somewhere in there all this comedy came in. I was like, “laughter, at me? And of course it ended up being wonderful, but man oh man.

David Read
There’s a lot going on there beneath the surface. They’re not just Stormtroopers.

Michael Adamthwaite
So I thought about somewhere in my character’s backstory he must have been shown something or told something and I kind of ran with that. Otherwise, how does the basic, faceless Stormtrooper rise through the ranks? If you’re not bitter about the truth, like I said, or shown the dark side and given all these ambitions, then yeah, who knows? You could just end up the barista.

David Read
Well, a typical Jaffa wouldn’t even question killing a goa’uld, regardless. He does it and it’s like, “wow, just how far is he willing to go?” One of my favorite lines from Bra’tac to Teal’c in the show is “I watched you play the game with those who would play God” and so does Herak.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, playing games with Gods! You gotta bring big guns.

David Read
Yeah, that’s exactly right, big staff weapons. Blackham7 – do you prefer fantasy and sci-fi rolls over other genres? How do you deliver a believable performance when doing fantasy and sci-fi? I guess we kind of just talked about finding the truth to a character a little bit.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, we did. Thank you for the question, great question. We’ve been cycling through a lot of this method, at least for Michael anyway. It’s knowing the tone, knowing the arc of the scene and why that scene was written and why it made it this far. Why it’s significant in the act? Or pull out a little, why is it significant in the episode? Why is it significant in the season? Why is it significant in the arc of seven seasons or so? Knowing that a moment is more than just a moment is the first real step. It’s the knowledge of that it’s not just a moment. I’m not just here to announce that “we’re under attack” and then I run away. I have to bring in the fear, I’m gonna lose my family, they’re on another planet or they’re on another ship. I’m running and maybe I smashed my knee or got shot a block away and you come in with something. That energy of “something” is so much more alive than that energy of “we’re under attack.” “Thank you, scene.” Some people think that auditioning is simple but it depends on how you approach your individual work. The way I approached my work got me on the show so I was happy to keep with my habits.

David Read
There’s a huge gap between the beginning of season seven when you disappear through the gate on Langara, Kelowna and Langara, and then you appear in last city. Was there a thought that you might not come back if for Anubis’ big finale? You got the call to come back and die with them. What was…?

Michael Adamthwaite
Again, as a storyteller, I always liken it to “Choose Your Own Adventure.” Those books are very familiar to me, they’re a huge part of my childhood. I realized that probably somewhere in some town,there was a book where only a couple pages we’re used to tell one aspect of the story. People chose to go other ways, right? Where does the story go? That’s not up to me. I’m a page, I’m less than a page. I’m less than the words. I’m the magic in the ink. Right? They are the message, they wrote it. I bring the magic, I create all that life, I fill up that page with all the wonderful beautiful ink that they’ve given me and then hopefully in the end there’s some money somewhere because an adventure was had and that’s entertainment and that’s the business. Message + magic = money. But as an actor you’re not in control of where the message goes, you just get to stand with your magic and say “I’m here, who needs some magic-ing?” You know, [changes voice] “I could be a really good merchant, I could find a few things to sell, maybe buy a few.” “Or I could be a tiny little ninja just hanging out in the LEGO Universe for a lot of years, thankfully.” I’ve been around the universe with no control or management of anything. It’s just a little bit of magic that I infused every time to this message that needed it. And yeah, there was a little bit of money over here.

David Read
Of course, yeah. You gotta grease the skids. We had Patrick McKenna on last week and Patrick used the analogy. “I’m a French horn. This particular script, does it call for a French horn? It may not need one.” That makes a lot of sense. He knows what he is and he knows what he can and can’t do.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yes, very well said. Yes, we are instruments. Yeah, we are instruments and we cannot shape ourselves in every way, shape, or form. But we get really good at finding the forms that we fit into and that fit us in kind. That comfort, not so much that similarity, because “not a murderer, other guy might be.” It really is just about becoming that willing instrument to, I think, just help the vision of that music come to life or that shot, that story, that scene, that movie, that series, however long or short. We are the moments that we portray and I’ve been lucky to have quite a few so far.

David Read
Recognizing your blessings. It’s so easy to get jaded about everything that’s wrong because there is a lot wrong but there’s also a lot that’s been right and remembering that.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, my worst day, I’m sure would be somebody’s dream come true. I just have to look around and see the world as pieces of possibility and pieces of myself and pieces of the love that’s in all of us. If we’re not okay with saying that, that’s maybe your first question. Why can’t I throw the word “love” around? I love my job, I love my life. I love everything about what I get to do when I get to do it. It’s a pretty rich existence.

David Read
One more fan question here and then we’re gonna we’re talk a little bit about Cameo.

Michael Adamthwaite
Totally.

David Read
Dan Zimmerli – Regarding Herak, do you think he survived and if so where do you see that story could go? I mean, the Ancient drones did put a few holes in your ship. I suppose he could have gotten into a…

Michael Adamthwaite
There’s again that feeling of create your own adventure, the pages got turned in a different direction. I know that when one soldier in one army loses it all, that sort of opens up the can of worms for so many possibilities. I like to think that he sat in a burning pile for quite a while and thought about his missteps, thought about his mistakes. I think somewhere in there he just took a page out of the dude’s life book and said, “you know what, man? I’m going to let my hair grow, I’m going to find a beach, I’m going to just eat some fruit and chill out and think about what I’ve done. Maybe just eat some Humble Pie.” He’s just stuck on a beach in the desert of the universe somewhere shaking his head. “I should have gone to art school.”

David Read
I suspect it would be an iceberg Michael to be perfectly frank because they were at the southern pole. Stargate Timekeepers is coming out and the first level is the aftermath of Antarctica with Death Gliders and Al’kesh burning in rubble. I don’t think he shows up, I just think that’d be a cool idea if they found an escape pod there.

Michael Adamthwaite
If you were unconscious in some rubble and you woke up at the South Pole, you would make it to the beach, somewhere sunny. I would braid downed wiring together, I would latch them to polar bears. I’d be like, “Yo, we can do this” and I would create some snowboard material and I would just be like, “let’s go to the beach. me and you,” total disbelief. That would absolutely be how he lives.

David Read
So you are on Cameo now.

Michael Adamthwaite
I am on Cameo. I’m connecting with people, I’m DM’ing with some fans who are very friendly and very kind and have been super nice to me. I’ve put out some videos, some request videos, I got to do a roast. Fun. Yeah, it’s been really great.

David Read
Are you eating an eclair? Is that what your eating?

Michael Adamthwaite
My son took that picture. We were at our sort of big lovely coffee franchise. We got special doughnuts that day because it was it was Daddy-daughter Sunday. I was out with my two little kids and they decided that I needed a picture with a donut in my mouth. He took a picture of me, she took a different picture of me which didn’t turn out so well because of course I was blinking. I took pictures of them with their donuts and I was like “you know what? That’s a really funny picture.” He’s like, “You should use it more often. It’s funny, people like funny dad!” I was like, “You know what? You’re right.” Everyone’s been out there trying to be serious for decades. I’m gonna profile like this. [serious pose].

David Read
Right? Exactly.

Michael Adamthwaite
It’s like, yeah, stick a doughnut up there. Yeah, have a laugh.

David Read
I posted the link to Cameo in the description below.

Michael Adamthwaite
That’s amazing. Thank you. Thank you David.

David Read
Absolutely. Where else can we be seeing you? Is there anything else in the popper that that we should be aware of?

Michael Adamthwaite
Well, I’ve been pretty active on TikTok in the last little while. Of course, as I was mentioning to you in our preamble, my studio space/office space was in a very long period of flux as things were moving around the property, renovating things in the house. My youtube channel definitely slowed down but I’m back at it. I’m gonna find a new video game. I like to put out video game “play with me’s”. Video game play with me is where I basically do voices, I do voices. Some people have been asking me, “Hey, would you play through the new Resident Evil 4 that you’re the merchant in? Would you do some merchant walkthrough voiceover?” and I’m considering that amongst other kind of fun offers. I also like to play video games with my kids so I’m hoping to put some stuff back up on my YouTube. My TikTok’s been really active. Anyone who has seen my Twitter or X account knows that I get hacked here and there. I lost my verification badge because I won’t pay for it. I’m not on X so much, I’m not on Instagram so much. People can find me on Cameo and TikTok and of course my YouTube channel, thebluecurtainshow, so check it out.

David Read
I will add the link for that one as well. The Blue Curtain Show?

Michael Adamthwaite
The Blue Curtain Show.

David Read
Got it.

Michael Adamthwaite
Because, anybody who watches my opening video, it’s me in front of a camera auditioning over and over and over and over again for roles and it’s just a blue curtain. It’s like “Hi, I’m Michael Adamthwaite, Michael Adamthwaite. Michael Adamthwaite, Michael Adamthwaite, Michael Adamthwaite, reading 4, reading 4, reading 4, reading 4, reading. The wizard, guard number one, merchant seven.” It’s all the hilariousness and it’s like “yep, really my life, my career, has kind of become a strange little TV show of mediocre quality that posts infrequently when I can cobble together my time in my life.” I stand in front of a blue curtain in a sort of very strange old fashion and I pretend things. I use curtain rods for rifles and I’d say really terrible things and then I feel bad. I’m like, “Oh man, okay. All right. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry. It’s fine. No, it’s fine. It’s fine. All those people are really alive.”

David Read
It’s acting. It’s not really real.

Michael Adamthwaite
It’s acting, it’s not really real. So yeah, that sort of inspired The Blue Curtain Show. In 2022, fun fact, I did about 300 hours of editing for over 150 auditions between film, TV, voiceover and video games. I very much got to know staring at myself and those blue curtains. I was like, “you know what? Do something about it!”

David Read
I heard Jack Black say a long time ago “if you get 1 in 10, you’re doing good.” It’s not an easy world out there.

Michael Adamthwaite
No, and depending on what filter you’re using on my IMDb I’ve either got over 1200 credits or over 200 credits. What are you going to say? You either have the rent money or you don’t.

David Read
That’s it. “Are we eating this month kids? Daddy got to go to work.”.

Michael Adamthwaite
I always laugh. I always laugh when I hear Dante Basco’s voice. He’s like, “okay, what do we have in? Residual check lottery? Is it Taco Bell? Are we going for steak and lobster? I’m like, “I hear you, man. I hear you. Are we doing Ramen tonight? Sushi bowls.”

David Read
Gotta count our blessings, man.

Michael Adamthwaite
Always, every single day, no matter what. We have one more 24. We open our eyes, we get one more day. If we’re not here for it then why are we here? Living for tomorrow doesn’t work, living for yesterday doesn’t work. I always remember Master Oogway, “Quit, don’t quit. Noodles, don’t noodles. You are too focused on what was than what is. Today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.” It’s a wonderful sentiment reinforced by animation and amazing performance. That’s why voiceover can be the total package. It’s great work and it transcends our smallest bad moments and lifts us up again.

David Read
I had a serious car accident five days ago.

Michael Adamthwaite
David are you okay?

David Read
Yeah I am okay.

Michael Adamthwaite
I’m so glad we’re here.

David Read
No one was hurt. I only hurt myself. This week has been really interesting. One of the things that I always say to myself, it’s kind of Stargate related, is “make good ripples.” Every once in a while you’re hit upside the head with a bad one. In doing this show and talking with folks like yourself, getting a chance to reconnect with people from the past and share stories about hope and the possibility of a better tomorrow than today in shows like Stargate. It made me appreciate that I do this show and bring people together and get to spend time with folks like you. It means a lot to have you.

Michael Adamthwaite
Bring it in. Bring it in. [hugs]

David Read
Absolutely. Thank you for coming on Michael. It means the world to me to have you. This is kind of full circle for me.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah, no pun intended.

David Read
That’s right.

Michael Adamthwaite
It has been a full circle conversation, it’s been a full circle Stargate whirlwind of thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories. I really appreciate you, I’m so glad that you’re okay and we’re here today; we were able to have this conversation. I send you my love and healing vibes.

David Read
I appreciate it. I love you to Michael.

Michael Adamthwaite
I hope you’re back to 100% as soon as possible.

David Read
Just bruised.

Michael Adamthwaite
That’s so fortunate.

David Read
Go back to your boss and tell him he’s not getting the Eye.

Michael Adamthwaite
Yeah. He’s gonna have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.

David Read
This is a pleasure, brother. Thank you so much for your time.

Michael Adamthwaite
Thank you so much. Thanks everybody. I appreciate you all being here. Take care and wherever you go, travel boldly.

David Read
Be well. Michael Adamthwaite everyone, Herak in Stargate SG-1. This was really cool to have him on and to reminisce. I forgot what a funny guy he is, oh my god. I hope you enjoyed that episode, we’ve got several more coming later this week. We’re doing at least one midweek coming up which we don’t normally do, we usually keep them on the weekends. But hey, if there’s availability for a member of the cast or crew we’re gonna jump on it in this extended season three. We’re just taking advantage of the time that we have with a lot of behind the scenes people who are available right now. I have a couple of questions from fans directed at me. I think these were from the episode with Mario Azzorpardi. Teresa Mc wanted to know – have you thought about having a show, with example, Gary Jones as the host and you’d be the guest? You can show off your collection and your stories. We’ve had Gary host several fan episodes with us, those are in the back catalogue already. Gary’s spoken with fans and we had him on for episode 199 with me and my team. In terms of the Stargate collection, there is something in the works. I don’t know if it’s going to air next year but we are shooting it next month at my house. We’re gonna go through the Stargate collection here and share some rare memorabilia, some you’ve never even seen. That’s gonna be really cool. Susan McEwen – to fellow viewers, the DVD I have is the original cut of Children of the Gods. Did the censorship effect other episodes? We talked a lot about Children of the Gods in the previous episode with with Mario. The episode is trimmed for the nudity in the broadcast version but it’s not on the DVD version. The only other episode that did that, and there are minor tweaks for whatever reason from production to DVD and then to broadcast. The only other one that I know of is in Within the Serpents Grasp and O’Neill and Skaara, well O’Neill and Klorel, are talking and Klorel says something to O’Neill and O’Neill says “that’s bull, that’s BS”. That is cut from the broadcast version but it is on the DVD. That’s the only other one that I can think of. I appreciate you all tuning in. My tremendous thanks to my moderating team. I had Tracy and Antony on all day today. Absolutely fantastic. You guys pulled all the way through with me here, I really appreciate it guys. My thanks to Sommer and let me see here, I want to get everyone’s name right, make sure I mention everybody. Sommer and Jeremy and Rhys as well. Tremendous thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb, our web developer over at Dial the Gate. He keeps dialthegate.com up and running. A few more shows are going to be added. You think dialthegate.com, you think it has a lot listed right now? I got a couple more coming down the pipe, I got an email confirmation while we were on with Mario Azzorpardi. Let me just say there’s a couple of dual interviews that are coming down the pipe. One is already posted there with Suanne Braun, Hathor, and Jacqueline Samuda, Nirrti. We’re going to have them on on October 7th for a two way interview, that’s going to be fun, and I’ve got a couple more coming as well. Due to popular demand, let’s just say Mika McKinnon and David Hewlett want to do another Science of Stargate episode. We’re just figuring out the dates for that and a couple more along the way. My tremendous thanks to all the folks who continue to make my show possible. To Linda Furey as well, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me in making this continue to happen week after week. Thank you all for tuning in. I think my mother was in the chat as well for this episode, Hi mom. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate, I appreciate you tuning in and we will see you on the other side.