[The Gateroom] How did you and Jane come up with the idea for the film itself? Was it one of those ideas you'd been batting around for a while?

[David Hewlett] Well I've been writing on and off for years. I used to write with a partner, then we stopped for a while. I found writing very frustrating, because its only one piece of the entire puzzle. You can write these things, but then you have to wait for someone else to figure out that they like it and do it, so the whole idea now with video, and well in my case, with the show is that you actually have the ability to take it on yourself, if you’re foolish enough to do so. And it seems that we are! So yeah, there were a number of scripts that we'd written and were working on...I think in order to get to this script I wrote three different other scripts. Then as a sort of last ditch effort because we had so much...I mean we got these scripts that I'd love to do but they just...finding one that was going to be doable, in a very short period of time with a very limited budget, because there’s such a short window for us to shoot these things. January's really only the month we've got, unless you’re ready to go in October or November, but that means you have to be ready to go coming straight out of “Stargate”, and I'm usually up for a break around October!

[TG] *chuckles* I can imagine you are!

[DH] So we sat down and did a long list of what we had, and I have a sister, a house, and a dog...and, thank god, a girlfriend who produces, so that’s pretty much what we went with - that’s where the story came from. I'm lucky enough to have talented friends as well, not only from a crew standpoint but from a cast standpoint. I got my pick of the litter with the “Stargate” and “Atlantis” bunch.

[TG] “A Dog’s Breakfast” features you and Paul McGillion, but I understand it features other “Stargate” actors as well. Who else can we expect to see?

[DH] Well, you can see the fabulously talented Chris Judge. When I originally wrote the part, it was a tiny part, an absolutely miniscule part that there was no way on earth I was gonna offer the role to anyone in “Stargate” because it just felt like an insult. And then Jane said, you know talk to Chris, because I'm sure Chris would do it, you know he loves this kinda stuff. So we talked to him, and he sounded interested. When we did the read through of the script, he did such an incredible job with the reading. I ended up multiplying his part by like 100. All of a sudden he had all these lines. It was quite humorous - suddenly he had to actually work! On “Stargate” he's got this very specific character, he's very stoic, that whole unemotional Spock-like thing. And in this, he’s playing a loser who can’t get a date! To me that was very, very funny. The idea that Chris Judge, of all people, couldn't get a date, and that he'd resorted to internet dating. And he seems to get a giggle out of it as well. So he's unbelievable, this is Chris like you've never seen him. And hopefully, you’ll see him like this a lot - the guy could have a sitcom you know, which is so funny, because in “Stargate” you think “very serious Chris”. I don’t know if you've gone to any of his conventions or that sort of thing but he's something of a joker!

[TG] The movie also stars your sister Kate, who is going to be appearing with you in Atlantis in “McKay and Mrs Miller”.

[DH] Indeed! You guys haven't seen it yet but I, I have already experienced the magic of Kate on “Stargate”.

[TG] Sounds like we have something good coming up.

[DH] She's fantastic, she's a little too good I think, perhaps. I have some issues in, that the crew seems to like her a lot. They reacted well to her abusive humour towards me. And her character is supposed to be a competitive genius

[TG] Do you feel that your onscreen brother and sister roles in either “Stargate: Atlantis” or “A Dog’s Breakfast” are similar to your real-life relationship?

[DH] Well its funny, Kate's always obviously looked up to me and idolised me from the moment she was born. So any little help I can give her along the way -  I feel that I should you know, throw some crumbs her way! You know she's irritatingly talented, I gotta say. She's a writer, she's a singer, she's a songwriter, she's a playwright now. Their play at the Fringe in Toronto has really taken off. She's on a TV series out of Toronto as well now, so she doesn't need any help at all. Actually, it seems I'm riding on her coat-tails! I've always wanted to work with her, she's a very talented actress. Don’t tell her that! Its an anonymous tip - you know, anonymously, someone said she's talented. I actually had nothing to do with her getting “Stargate”. There was an episode called “Hot Zone” we did where McKay was supposed to think he was gonna die and it was scripted that I felt bad about my brother. And I said, as a lark, I said to the writer, how would you feel if I made this a sister, just because I have sisters and I think it would be kinda funny. I'm not asking you to cast my sister, but lemme throw that out there. They said 'ah sure, whatever', thinking that would never come back to bite them. And then of course, when it came to wanting to actually do an episode about the McKay family, you know the dysfunctional McKay family, the sister seemed appropriate. It was Martin Gero who actually recommended her for the part.

[TG] When you wrote the script did you specifically have Paul and Kate in mind for the roles of Ryan and Marilyn?

[DH] Oh yeah, completely. Yeah, I literally wrote every part for everybody. Poor old Rachel really got shafted in that one, because she got stuck playing a Teyla-like character. So I'm afraid I didn't really let her spread her wings, but I'll tell ya, she's also hilarious in this.

[TG] Yeah, I believe she mentioned something at a recent convention - something about 'control freak'?

[DH] Yeah, Rachel is a control freak, its true. (Both chuckle) Yeah, it’s funny how you change when you get on the other end of the camera. My big complaint was 'how come the actors don’t bend like the puppets? Why don’t they do what they're told?' No, ya see she's so funny because she all 'oh I'm so cool and classy and sexy lady'. And then the reality is she's very funny, she's got this wicked sense of humour. And I gotta say, she looks damn fine in this film. I mean, I didn't even choose the wardrobe in this film, it was presented to me and at the time I was like 'well its Teyla-like clothes because the poor woman is playing yet another “Star Trek”-like alien. It’s a spoof type thing, I call it a 'space soap'. So it’s sort of a space soap opera, so it’s all rather hammy, and who better to ham it up then Paul McGillion and Rachel?

[TG] They say 'don’t work with kids and animals', obviously...

[DH] Kids, animals or actors, I would say now...

[TG] Well, from the looks of the antics on the SGA DVD's, Paul's just a big kid and you've got your dog Mars in there too... did the saying hold true?

[DH] It did! it was very funny because poor Paul didn't know what hit him, because he had like serious David. Normally, we're not exactly the sanest or perhaps best behaved members of the cast. What’s funny is, Paul, like myself, has this irritating ability to be just completely making an idiot of himself and then the moment they yell action we're in the scene. Now, that’s fine for us, but for people who don’t work like that it can be difficult. You know, like one minute you've got your pants around your ankles making some kind of rude gesture, the next they're yelling action and you're screaming about some planets about to explode. Some people find that jump difficult.

[TG] Understandable...yeah. With regards to the comedy moments on the set, obviously you and Paul like to fool around. Did this follow across to the set of 'A Dog's Breakfast' or were you more restrained?

[DH] You know what’s funny? There just wasn't time, you know what I mean? I mean I'd said this before and I'm sure I'll sure I'll say it again and make the same mistake again. I have no idea how people write, direct and act themselves in film, you don’t have time. The one thing I thought was “well f I'm in it at least I'll know its one less mouth to feed, and I know I'll be on time, and I know that I'll know my lines”. Well as it turns out I ate twice as much as everyone else and frankly, was so confused most of the time I didn't know my lines. I would have done much better to hire a trained professional or possibly even a semi-trained monkey and it would have accomplished the same thing.

[TG] What was the funniest thing that happened while filming?

[DH] Well, our backyard turned into a lake - that was interesting. We scouted this location, and we got this fantastic house. Heather, who does the locations for the “Stargate” shows, she got us this amazing house, this perfect house, with no time and no money. We didn't know a thing about insurance, ya know, and she got us a wicked deal. And it actually looked out over this beautiful lake called Deer Lake, and we did this location scout and we sorta walked through this beautiful lush backyard and down to the water’s edge and I was like, this is perfect. We've got this little dinghy scene, we can jetty off from here, it’s ideal. Well, the day we started shooting was the end of the 40 day rainstorm in Vancouver, and there were literally ducks hopping onto our back porch, so there were definitely a few laughs there!

[TG] In the past, you’ve worked very closely with Vincenzo Natali, on movies such as “Cube” and “Nothing”. His distinctive style has been very evident in those two films particularly. Do you feel that your style of directing has been influenced by his at all?

[DH] The thing about Vincenzo is that you just can’t help it. He’s such a cinematic filmmaker – he’s just so visual. To me, it’s like reading a comic book when watching his movies. It’s just this fantastically framed, almost Kubrick-like precision that he makes his films with, and I am the farthest from that! There were many homages to various different directors over the years, but the big thing that Vincenzo taught me is to watch films as a filmmaker. You know, just his interest in the visuals amazes me. Had I made this film just as an actor, I think it would have been a very different film than making it while trying to be a filmmaker. We actually ended up being much more, for want of a better word, cinematic than I’d expected. Also, the other thing that happens is that you get forced into it. If you’re on a tight schedule, you have to get four people talking in an hour, and you gotta do it interestingly, and you don’t have room to do coverage on everybody, you gotta figure something out. I found the stress actually quite helpful on that!

[TG] What was the most challenging aspect of directing for the first time?

[DH] Remembering to say “action” and “cut”! Because you’d be ready to go on a scene, and you’d be like “why is nobody else acting?”, and then you realize that you’re the one that’s supposed to tell them to. But that, sleep, eating, all of the things that you take for granted in your life, you actually forget to do when you’re doing all this. I would be standing there, and like, suddenly, a sandwich would be handed to me. And then an hour alter, I’d be ravenously hungry, and someone would point out that I was still holding the sandwich. So I ate a lot of stale sandwiches and things like that. Jane was, again, very good at that – she sort of had to remind me about those things. And then when I got grumpy, people generally realized it was because I was getting hungry. A low blood sugar thing.

[TG] Which side of the work did you enjoy most on “A Dog’s Breakfast” – the directing or the acting?

[DH] It’s funny, I definitely enjoyed the directing more, simply because I found the acting getting in the way of the directing. I was dying to run back to the camera to see what was going on, but I’m just not quite that fast, so it’s very difficult to catch yourself on film – or video as the case may be, by running back and looking at the monitor! What’s terrifying to me is that I actually kinda like what I did in the film, despite the fact I don’t remember doing any of it! Which is sort of alarming too – it like discovering you can act when you’re drunk, and so what’s the point of being sober type thing

[TG] Yeah, sounds actually pretty familiar – except with me, it’s playing guitar when you’re drunk!

[DH] Yeah, but then you get these maudlin songs, and start singing about all the exes and stuff…

[TG] More to the point, I start playing tune and in time...

[DH] ! It’s scary, though, that you’re only good, to yourself anyway, when you’ve had a few drinks!

[TG] VERY scary! Did you have any specific comedy influences or inspirations that you wanted to emulate with this movie?

[DH] Oh, yeah, huge! My big influence was Blake Edwards, who did the “Pink Panther” movies. I remember as a kid just loving them! Watching them again now is a bit of a shock, because the only one that’s actually any good is the first one, possibly the second one, but then they dissolve into terrible, terrible rip-offs of the original. But the first one, I remember, as a kid, being blown away by how funny these films were, how silly they were. The silly 60s comedies, they hadn’t gone rude yet, but they were walking close to it. It was a very old-fashioned, very genteel kind of comedy, which the Brits are always really good at. I was raised on “Fawlty Towers” and “Monty Python”. Comedy wise, the British have it. There are American comedy greats, yes, but the Brits have it. That’s my sense of humour – very dry, and there’s this fantastic desperation there. John Cleese, without a doubt, was my biggest inspiration. Somewhere between John Cleese and Anthony Perkins was what I was going for. I watched the Harold Lloyd stuff, I watched Charlie Chaplin, I watched all that stuff just to get ideas, because I love physical comedy. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to move the camera around a lot, so I knew that I had to pick my shots and stick to them. In some cases it worked really well, and in some cases it didn’t. It’s so much more of a movie than I thought it was going to be. It’s really funny, because when we set out to make it, I intended to shoot it on little tiny digital cameras, and “build it all in the basement” kind of thing. And as it turned out, when Jane brought John Lenic in, who produces on “SG-1”, with him came the “Stargate” machine. So I liken it to… I don’t know what the name of those fish are, that just swim around by she sharks, picking their teeth? Well, that’s what we were doing to “Stargate”!

[TG] What one lesson have you taken away from your directorial debut?

[DH] Hmmm. Good question. (Pause) More time, more money! No, I think the biggest thing that I learned was that people love making films. It seems silly, but you forget doing that. When what you loved doing as a kid becomes what you do for a living, sometimes you forget why you’re involved with it. What I loved and took away from this film is that there were people there who loved what they were doing! I mean, it was miserable – it was freezing cold, and it was pouring with rain, We were in this tiny little house, just filled with people, and we kept the days down to 12 hours. But still, it’s January, no-one’s getting paid, it was all deferrals, and people were having a good time! I was having a good time! And people would come up and thank you afterwards. I was like “why are you thanking me?? I’ve just ruined your January!” So I guess what I learned from that is to love what you do. I think there are two reasons for getting into the film industry: there’s the “instant fame lottery” quality to it, these people who think they’re gonna be discovered, that things are gonna suddenly take off for them, and then there’s just the fact that you just love doing it. And making this film… well, you talked about Vincenzo? Well, that’s what we used to do when we were 14 years old. We used to go into Hyde Park and make zombie movies, and alien movies. We’d spend our own money, and get all our friends in, and that’s how we’d spend our summers. That was our summer camp. It was just such fun to go back to that. We actually paid for that, thanks to working regularly on “Stargate” – I figured that we’d put some money into making a film finally, and that was the way to go. It may just turn out to be an incredibly expensive hobby! But I hope not!

[TG] Have you actually got a release date yet, or are there any plans to show it at any of the festivals, such as Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver?

[DH] Well, we’ve submitted to some festivals, so we’ll see what turns out. We’re still sort of planning our strategy on that. It’s an interesting film from a festival standpoint, because it’s actually fairly commercial. Festivals, especially in the independent film world, tend to shy away from the more commercial stuff. My reticence to submit to festivals was simply because this was a film that people could go and see in the theatres, so is it even something that’s going to work in festivals? Obviously, I hope it could work in either, so we’re not sure what’s gonna happen with that. We’ll see what festivals we get into, and play it by ear that way. I would really like to maybe just set up some screenings literally just for the “Stargate” fans. The convention thing is all very well and good, but I always feel a little odd about the conventions. You sign photographs all day for money, and then you go back to your hotel, and someone asks you for an autograph, and you sign it for free! So I’d rather that if they’re gonna spend some money, they can come in and see the movie, and then I’ll sign what they want, and give them something to watch as well! So I think it’s gonna come down to what festivals we can get into, and also, given the “Stargate” schedule, what I can go to. I mean, you can send the film off without everybody, but part of the fun of doing this is to work with Paul and Kate, and I want to make sure that they can come as well. I don’t think Jane’ll let me go by myself!

[TG] Talking of conventions, you’re actually at the San Diego Comic Con again this weekend.

[DH] I am indeed.

[TG] What’s your actual motivation for doing conventions?

[DH] Well, the San Diego one? It’s that we don’t have a choice! No, I’m teasing! MGM and Sci-Fi like us to go to the Comic Con, because it’s a big thing. To me, it’s actually the perfect way to do a convention. It’s not a monetary thing. You go, you get to meet the fans, answer a bunch of questions, and you can put dark glasses on and try to sneak out and buy “Doctor Who” stuff! Generally, though, they don’t let you do that, because someone usually goes (puts on comedy voice) “hey, aren’t you…?”, and then you have to flee!

[TG] On the subject of “Doctor Who”, actually… Cybermen or Daleks?

[DH] That is such a hard question! I mean, Daleks would be the obvious choice, because they were the first things that terrified me. Actually, that’s not quite true, I can’t remember the one I hid behind the sofa for. It might have been the Green Death – that was a Jon Pertwee one. Yeah, the Cybermen were pretty creepy. The thing I always used to wonder about Daleks, though, is how they got up the stairs! Which I was disappointed to see answered in the new series.

[TG] I can’t remember seeing that one answered, actually!

[DH] They had the floating Daleks. They could hover, which makes total sense, but a floating Dalek doesn’t have the same kind of evil quality as the shuffling feet of the ones that I’m used to! So, I would say that the Cybermen really didn’t get the chance. But think about it. Cybermen. HOW far ahead of the times was “Doctor Who” on that?

[TG] What? About… 40 years, perhaps?

[DH] Yeah, and then someone else goes and “makes up” the word “cyber”. Apparently. No-one ever mentions “Doctor Who” when they talk about “cyberspace”!

[TG] Your fans seem to particularly like your character in “Traders” – Grant Jansky. Did you find that character difficult to get into because of the illness that he had? How much research did you have to do in order to play him?

[DH] Of what illness do you speak?? (chuckles)

[TG] I believe it was schizophrenia?

[DH] The funny thing about Jansky is that every season he had a different ailment! I think they changed their minds about 5 times! Actually, one of the people who created that show also created “House”! I just discovered that. Maybe I got that wrong, but I’m pretty sure that I saw his name on “House” the other day. He’s a very talented guy. Anyway, Jansky was a lot of fun to play. I don’t know whether he was schizophrenic – he was just a sociopath, really. He was almost autistic – he was like a highly functioning autistic character. He was so much fun to play, and he’s the best kind of role, because he lives in a closet, so just once a week, you could go and shoot a day in the closet, and then you’d be done for the episode! All the Jansky scenes were just fun. He never had to sit around just listening – he was always the centre of his scene, because he was just such an eccentric. I’d actually love to see a kind of dual universe where a Jansky-like McKay showed up.

[TG] Actually, something similar was discussed with a friend of mine recently, and that was kind of scary.

[DH] What, the idea of a Jansky-like McKay? I could see that, though! I could see Jansky saying some of McKay’s stuff, definitely. And I catch myself doing things, certain “Janskyisms” that I created when I was doing Jansky, that never left, that I do in my real life now. I have a little hand thing that I do that Jason (Momoa) is always calling me on. He goes, “what is that? What’s the hand thing you’re doing there??” And it’s just a weird little Jansky tic that is now part of my personality. So yeah, be careful what you do with your days!

[TG] If you, yourself, had a chance to go through a Stargate to Atlantis, would you do it?

[DH] Would I do it? In a second! Well, I’d have to see what the insurance was like! Actually, this brings us back to Kate on “Stargate”. One of the things I love about Kate’s episode, which I don’t know how much I’m supposed to tell you about… Well, one of the beautiful parts of it is her character learning about the Stargate. To me, the science fiction that I love, the science fiction that I loved growing up, like “The Tomorrow People”, was the idea that there was something better out there. Well, maybe not better, but something secret, something that you were meant to do that isn’t in your day to day life. The idea of stepping through something, into… like in “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe”, stepping through the back of the wardrobe, in fact any of the classic childrens’ sci-fi or fantasy stuff is all about escaping an unhappy world and going somewhere else, and I think that’s the appeal of “Stargate”, the entire franchise, for want of a better word, It’s about stepping out of this existence and into a new, fresh realm where good and evil is easier to distinguish. There’s something fabulous about knowing that the people who look ugly and mean are the ugly and mean people! It’s not as clear cut in our world, and I think there’s a sort of need to return to your childhood, before you’d learned about the grey areas of life, where there was just good and bad, where there were the things you did, and the things you didn’t do, and there was nothing in between. So yes, that was a very long-winded way of saying “yes, I would love to step through that gate!”

[TG] What would you take as your one luxury item?

[DH] (laughs) My one luxury item? I’d have to bring my Mac! I can’t go anywhere without my little PowerBook! Luxury item? If I said Mars, I’d be in trouble with Jane, if I said Jane, Mars would never talk to me again…

[TG] Get a very big suitcase and fit them both in!

[DH] That’s it, indeed! (laughs) Are you kidding? Jane would get invited through that gate faster than I would! (Both laugh)

[TG] Well, thank you very much for your time this evening, David!

[DH] Oh, a pleasure, an absolute pleasure!

Check out the blog at http://www.adogsbreakfastmovie.com

A sneak preview of "A Dog's Breakfast" - watching "Starcrossed"