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Caprica star Esai Morales sees parallels with these great stories
Esai Morales, who will play Joseph Adama on SCI FI Channel's upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, described his character's storyline in part as Rich Man, Poor Man meets The Godfather meets Brave New World. In the show, Adama butts heads not only with Cylon creator Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz), but also with his own brother, Sam (Sasha Roiz).
SCI FI Wire spoke to Morales earlier this week at SCI FI Channel's upfront presentation to advertisers and the media in New York. Caprica will premiere on SCI FI Channel in 2010, but the uncut and unrated pilot will be available on DVD (via Universal Home Entertainment) and as a digital download (via Universal Cable Productions) on April 21. Following are edited excerpts from our exclusive conversation. (Possible spoilers ahead!)
You've amassed an array of SF and horror credits that includes Jericho, Doomsday Man, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Hunger, The Outer Limits, Tales From the Crypt and more. Are you a genre fan, is it where the work has been, or is it a bit of both?
Morales: It's a combination. I've not done too much horror. I've done some stuff, but I've yet to really sink my teeth, for lack of a better pun, into somewhat that would traditionally be sci-fi/horror. Caprica is more mainstream, in a sense, because it deals with terrestrial issues before they go into outer space. So I still feel well grounded, and I'm still looking forward to doing some fun stuff. I want to play a werewolf or a vampire. It's just fun. It's fun to get out there and push the limits of your imagination.
And Caprica?
Morales: And on this show, the great thing is that we're dealing with a planet that's very much like ours, that's like our nation, and it has a lot of issues that we're dealing with. Terrorism. What it is to be a human being.
You play Joseph Adama. To your thinking, who is he and what drives him?
Morales: I think he's the moral spine [of the story]. He's somebody who came from the wrong side of the tracks, ... or the galaxy, or solar system, so to speak. They're from a planet that's more oppressed. He and his brother came from Tauron and establish their roots here, but they're still a minority. There are still ethnic tensions. So I'm a [civil liberties] lawyer who's trying to work on the right side of the tracks, and my brother is a gangster. It's like a Rich Man, Poor Man issue meets The Godfather meets Brave New World.
The goal of any series is for it to run several years. How prepared are you to play Joseph Adama now and into the foreseeable future?
Morales: As long as it takes, as long as they keep writing good material. The thing about these guys [Battlestar executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick], they know when to pull the plug, as you can see with Battlestar. They didn't squeeze it until it became bad. They kept the level of excellence there. And if that stops [on Caprica], they will pull the plug. They won't wait until someone does it for them. And I feel safe in those hands.
By Anthony at 10:05 AM ON 03/19/09
I hope the show works , I have a hard time picturing how this will capture the BSG crowd though. I mean we know the ending to the story or will know on Friday..to run how it all began after knowing how it all ended will not be an easy task for this show to overcome. I am BIG fan so I will buy the DVD and check it out for myself but I have doubts..
By nonfreak at 11:06 AM ON 03/19/09
Sounds like it has potential actually. I'm wondering about seeing parallels with the current show.
By I am Iron Fan at 12:05 PM ON 03/19/09
I'm going to give the DVD pilot a shot and go into it knowing it wont be anything like BSG. I also hope it works. There's a severe lack of new SciFi (SyFy- YUCK) shows to latch on to, I hope this is one of them...
By Where's my remote at 12:43 PM ON 03/19/09
This show was dead to me before it even started filming. As a BSG fan, I honestly can't say I have any inspiration to watch this or buy the DVD.
It seems the trend today with media ptb feel that SciFi has to be formatted as drama or "character driven"...whatever the heck that means, before people will watch it. And oh yeah! There absolutely has to be a made for DVD movie also.
By razgriz1138 at 12:56 PM ON 03/19/09
I have high hopes for this show. I hope it fills that gap that will be left from the end of BSG, compelling television with a bit of Science Fiction added to it. Hopefully this will be the first Science Fiction-ish show my CSI/Law and Order watching wife will take an interest in.
By Dugger at 1:37 PM ON 03/19/09
Anthony,
You are deluding yourself if you really think all of the answers will be delivered tomorrow night. Ronald and David know that Caprica has a great shot at becoming a series so they will give you just enough to want to watch Caprica to get all of the answers that you won't get on Friday.
By toomanypuppies at 1:54 PM ON 03/19/09
even though i'm not expecting much out of this...the more i hear about it the more intigued i become...
By Mr Crane at 4:47 PM ON 03/19/09
We may know the ending of the saga before Caprica begins, but that doesn't mean it won't be worth watching. It isn't the destination, but the journey to get there that counts.
Having said that, I would love to see them also do a second spin-off series that is a military sci-fi show in the vein of BSG. Bringing back the Pegasus, Cain, and her crew before they meet up with the Galactica could make for an interesting series or miniseries. Or maybe the First Cylon War. The little bits of that which were seen in Razor were great.
By Sprk at 8:12 PM ON 03/19/09
@ Where's my remote
Charictor driven and drama are not the same. ST:TNG was charictor driven, may have been one fo the first SFt to be coined as such, but itt clearly was not drama.
By Michael L at 1:35 AM ON 03/22/09
I am really looking forward to this show! I think there are going to be some answers as to the whole Starbuck-Daniel question. I am starting to think that Starbuck is possibly a resurrected Zoe (the daughter of Daniel Greystone).
By Alex at 5:21 PM ON 05/01/09
Mr Crane there will be no spin off because they have sold all the set and unless it is all CGI its not going to happen. The comics overtale the cylon war. They are actually pretty cool ! I have not seen Caprica and I'm going to try to watch it tonight. I have read about it online. It would seem there is an underworld of Caprica, corp of Caprica. I think that every episode of Caprica should keep both these elements because it build up the history. Perhaps maybe so that these two seperate so far like an elastic band with the other governments in between. Like a true gangster film, I think it will be cool to see the Politicians too and the civilians day to day lives in focus. More drama !!
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Alex:
Mr Crane there will be no spin off because they have sold all the set and unless it is all CGI its not going to hap...More »