 
 When you think of important Stargate characters that have been around since the very beginning, only a select few can qualify. These are characters that appeared not just in the early years of Stargate SG-1, but also in the major theatrical feature film that preceded it. Two actors hold the distinction of playing those characters in both the film and series, one of which is Alexis Cruz. The actor originated the role of the Abydonian Skaara in the 1994 film, and reprised it five times during SG-1's first six years. GateWorld's Chad Colvin sat down with Alexis twice over the past few months, at both the Vancouver and Chicago stops for Creation Entertainment's Official Stargate Convention tour. During the interview, Alexis discusses his entry into show business, how he came into the role of Skarra for the film, the change that took place in the character when SG-1 began, and much more. Our video interview with Alexis runs approximately 16 minutes, and requires QuickTime 7.0 or higher. The interview is also available at GateWorld Play! |
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GateWorld: For GateWorld.net, I'm Chad Colvin, and I have the pleasure today of speaking with Mr. Alexis Cruz. Alexis, thank you for being with us.
Alexis Cruz: My pleasure, My pleasure! Thanks for having me.
GW: We know your work on Stargate, and you were obviously an established actor prior to the movie. Could you tell us about some of your previous work prior to the original film?
AC: Oh, prior to the original film? Let's see. I started off on The Cosby Show. That was my very first big gig. I was a guest star on The Cosby Show with Tony Orlando. That was a special episode there. And then I moved on to Sesame Street, and I did that for about two years. I was one of the older kids teaching the younger kids.
GW: How old were you?
Cruz played Skaara in the original "Stargate" feature, and would later carry the role into SG-1. | |
AC: I was about fifteen at the time, and I did that for two years. And then I was really, really blessed having worked with Anthony Quinn in "The Old Man and the Sea," when I was 15 also [a 1990 TV-movie based on the work by Ernest Hemingway]. And that was just an amazing experience.
GW: He is a legendary actor.
AC: Absolutely. Absolutely. And to be able to learn so much from him before he passed, it was just a fantastic experience. I was really blessed.
GW: You have the distinction of being one of only two actors, along with Erick Avari ["Kasuf"], who were featured in both the original film and then also in those same roles on SG-1. How did your casting for the role of "Skarra" come about?
AC: It was, actually, pretty funny because at the time, I had been accustomed to working fairly regularly as a young actor. And at that time, I hadn't worked in about a year. Up at that point. And I was getting very desperate. I was going nuts and I didn't know what to do. Nowadays, it's a little different. We're used to the ups and downs. But at the time, we weren't.
So I was desperate. I was taking anything I could get. And my agent calls me up and he says "Well, I've got this one part, this audition for a sci-fi movie. It's a low budget sci-fi movie. You would only have three lines and they're not in English. I really don't think it's worth it." My agent thought very highly of me, and really wanted the best for me. "It's really not worth your talent" and "blah, blah, blah, I don't think you should do it." And I said "I want to do it. I have to do it. I'm not doing anything else." There are no small actors ...
GW: You have to make a living.
AC: Absolutely. So I decided to go in anyway. What the heck? I really had nothing to lose. So I think that always ends up freeing you up a little bit creatively. And the whole scene was, really, a mime scene. A lot of physical work. So I just decided to take that route rather than concentrate on "It's only three lines, let me say these three lines." I tried to work on all of the action, and all of the moment, and all of the life in between those lines.
So I did that. And it worked out great. The director Roland, [Emmerich] and the writer Dean, [Devlin] loved it. I had no idea who they were at the time. This was all like "Yeah, whatever, independent sci-fi movie," right? They fly me out to California for my screen test afterwards, and I'm like, this is kind of odd for a low budget picture. I finally get the part and they say "Come down to the studio and I want to show you around the production office."
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The scope of "Stargate" was originally kept hidden from the actor. |
They start showing me around the production office and I start seeing the art department and all the different designs. The stuff they're working on. Of course, not having seen the movie, it was a spectacle. So I'm seeing all of this for the first time, and Dean Devlin is going "Oh, we have action figures for you!" [Laughter]
GW: [Laughter] That's a surprise!
AC: Yeah! "Are you kidding me? What? What kind of movie is this?" And slowly, it starts unfolding that this is just such a huge picture. And as we kind of developed our relationship, and as the work progressed, my role just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Which was their intention to begin with. They just weren't telling anybody. They wanted to find the right kid for it. And it just ... it's taken off from there.
GW: Were there moments during the location shooting where you just looked at the size and the scope of what Dean and Roland were trying to accomplish, and just went "Wow?"
AC: Absolutely! All the time. We shot in Yuma, Arizona, i the desert out there. Some of the same dunes where they shot some of the Tattooine scenes in "Star Wars." So that in and of itself was like ... "You're in the presence of history," right?
But they had built the entire city where we lived to scale. It was this huge, massive complex. And you could walk down its streets, and it was just magnificent. I'd never seen anything like it. I think very few people have. Then we moved to the other location where they had the pyramid, and that was also massive. And built to scale, except for the very top. But the rest of it, it was just huge. So it was boggling. And we just had that every single day. Constantly. These revelations of just how magnificent this film was.
GW: Are there any parts of your own personality that you brought to the character?
AC: Oh, yeah! Absolutely. I've always enjoyed playing hero roles. I think most actors will always say the bad guys are more fun. And I don't dispute that. It is, in terms of letting your hair down. But there is something to be said about playing the hero roles, and playing them well. Because it's hard to do that. Without making it seem hokey or cheesy. You have to do it in such a way that it's going to attract your audience, that they are going to think you are cool. The girls are going to want you and the guys are cheering for you at the same time. It's a very hard combination to do.
"There is something to be said about playing the hero roles, and playing them well."
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So for me, that's a huge challenge that I enjoy doing, and it does bring out a lot of my own personality in doing it. Especially at that time, and at that age, where I was very naïve and impressionable. And I knew that. And I used it.
GW: How did you change your approach to the character once you discovered that the "Skarra" that would be featured on SG-1 would be, for most of your time on it, a different character almost? Because of him being a host [to Klorel].
AC: Well, first, once we moved on to SG-1, it had already been some time since the film.
GW: About three years.
AC: Uh-huh. So not only had I grown up, but I realized, you know, that the character would have to as well. He would have to mature. I had a lot of questions about that to begin with. In terms of what the direction was for Skarra. I really had wanted to ... I wanted to go in a darker direction. Heroes are great at the end of the tunnel, after they have been challenged. And this was a very different kind of challenge. This was a very internalized one, rather than an externalized one of rebellion.
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