Chevron 7.4 - In the Mind of a Hewlett

And so arrives the last individual guest talk in this recollection of events of one awesome weekend.  A fella who has gained noterity depicting an acid tongued, grumpy genius with the action hero style of an arthretic Orangutan...some say he can nuteralize the acidity of a lemon at twenty paces...he is...
David Hewlett

As previously mentioned, it was a rather slim-lined version of the man who appeared on stage.  Life after Stargate Atlantis is obviously working for the guy, huh maybe it was a part of the contract that McKay had to have a certain rotund physique...couldn't upstage Sheppard or Ronan now could he ;-)

Anyhoo, as David sat he introduced himself saying that he 'used to be on a little show called Stargate: Atlantis', quick as you like fellow geek Philippa's voice chirped 'never heard of it' from the crowd to much chuckles.  David returned as quickly with 'Oh, is this the Twilight convention?' He spiked and ruffled his hair before adding 'But I don't freakin' sparkle'

Note the slight spikey haired look...

Always a favourite talking point A Dog's Breakfast came up (the film Daivd had written, directed and acted in, just in case you've being living on the moon).  Originally David had pitched several different ideas, one of which was a Zombie flick if I recall correctly, and ADB came out as the cheapest to make since he had a dog and sister and Paul McGillion on standby and he wanted to have fun with his first picture.  Mainly though it was just an 'excuse to put McGillion in a dress'...Ha! I knew it!

I asked about any comedic influences in the development of ADB.  He said that there was nothing in particular, John Cleese and Charlie Chaplin were mentioned along with a theme of physical comedy,  and he was really making a 'non-violent film which dad could watch' and that 'some people play funny well and some people look funny...that's me'  David also said that ADB was a film he wanted the Stargate fans to like 'coz I love you guys'....Awww, but enough with this sentimental sh...ow of emotion ...

Asked whether he and McKay would've been friends in real life David gave a resounding negative 'I'd hate his guts'  apparently David was the kid at school who hung out at the back of the class getting up to all sorts of no good, whereas Mckay would've been the know-it-all swot at the front...come to think of it that's where I used to sit, but then I'm using short-sightedness as my defence.  He did say there was a little bit of McKay in everyone adding that 'he's a jerk, but you get it' and that for him it wasn't all that hard to 'find McKay'.  He would often take McKay home from work however and poor Jane (wife, mother, producer and all round lovely lass) would give him a ten minute leeway of his mannerisms and general McKay-ness,  namely the finger clicking and pointing, before pulling rank.

I asked him if he'd ever been mistaken for anyone else (I know, get me and my assertive, speaking in front of large crowds to famous person...ness).  David immediately came back with 'Mel Gibson' to much laughter and then after a pause 'someone people don't like in their family' Then he recounted a tale of a guy coming up to him in L.A and saying 'I'm a huge fan, I've seen every one of your movies....Mr Tarantino' *snort*  To be fair to the L.A. bloke there is a resemblance when David sports his slightly wild-haired crazy scientist look.

The idea of having his own sister Kate on SGA was 'the last thing I would've done' David said in typical sibling syle.  The story is that while filming an earlier episode the script had included a line where McKay mentions a brother.  David, growing up with several sisters, had asked if he could change the line to sister instead gaining a 'whatever works for you...idiot' Then Martin Gero had seen Kate in a Fringe play and noted the Hewlettisms, Kate auditioned and thus TV history was made. 'I thought she did an okay job' was David's brotherly review of Kate's performance and he continued to say that initally he tried to disuade her from taking up acting as a career...first due to the hardships and cut-throat nature of the business then, after seeing that she actually didn't suck, 'acting doesn't work for me...be a fireman'. In a rare moment of the gushy David did say that Kate is the 'funniest person he's ever met'.  The non sentimental nature of their relationship did cause a few problems on set as Martin Gero halted filming for the following directional tip 'I'm not getting the love....I need you to remember you're related'

David went on to recount a couple of tales of life in the Hewlett household with typical brotherly dastardly-ness and shenanigans.  whilst playing hide & seek with his sister, Jenny, he would fail to actually partake in the seeking part of the game, choosing to watch television instead. Also, once left in charge of making a glass of lemonade he added vinegar into the mix.  Though instead of sister Jenny (again) it was his father who ended up drinking the concoction...'And he drank the whole glass'..urgh, presumably his poor father then indulged in some porcelain worshiping and technicolour yawning.

David does his 'I'm a little teapot' impression

Duet was mentioned, along with THAT scene. Apparently Paul was a little nervous before filming, David noting that he's 'a fragile flower I don't want to crush and destroy'.  He spoke of how after the 'kiss'  Paul didn't speak for an hour and during rehersals had developed a flinch as David drew near.  David also made jest of subsequent restraining orders after receiving a trailer full of chocolates and flowers.

Holy crap, that's alotta flash....

On asked about working with his fellow SG:A cast mates David dead panned 'Joe was a problem, such good hair' but then added 'a natural hero' noting that Sheppard's solution to everything was 'just turn it off'.  He spoke of Jason Mamoas first scenes, which happened to be the ones in which David was suspended upside down (after ingesting a fish and chip supper) in 'Runner' where Rainbow (Sun Francks aka Lt Ford) kept flubbing his lines.  David cut Rainbow a new one and then looked over some bushes to see a panicked Mamoa frantically learning his lines.  Jewel Staite had the right idea as she would routinely have food hidden about her person, so when David would begin to get his grump on during filming she would produce snacks prompting 'Ooo, Hersey bar' from David (done in the voice style of Yoda I might add)

It's a great shame that we have to talk about SG:A in the past tense, one of the first things asked were the chances of the promised movie..imdb still states that Stargate: Extinction is 'in production'... David sadly had to say that although everyone would love to do a movie, he thinks the chances are now very slim...that combined with the fact that a whole bunch of props, set pieces and costumes have recently been auctioned off.....that 'slim' is looking more like 'extinct' now aint it.

In terms of favorite episodes David enjoyed partaking in action scenes, even if the bumbling approach was the one most regularly adopted 'what do you need me to do wrong with a gun' (the moment a gung-ho McKay tried to take on a Wriath only to have his clip drop to the ground had me quite at a loss of the ability to breathe)  David also mentioned the episodes The Shrine and Sunday as favourite episodes to film, due to poinient nature of certain scenes, saying 'you should die all the time' to Paul McGillion with regards to the latter.  He's not fond of goodbyes and hated the last day of shooting, finishing McKay was 'like losing an old friend'.....that's not a tear in my eye by the way it's allergies...ahem...He doesn't know whether McKay will ever put in an appearence in SG:U as the show has a very different feel, it's more serious and he's not sure where McKay would fit.  He wouldn't be against the idea but it would have to be 'true to McKay.'

On being in the UK 'heating would be nice' a reference to the fact that he and the family have been staying with Jane's dad who, in true British pensioner style, is a tad sparing with lumps of coal for the fire.  He also stated that they had spent the winter in Toronto and summer in the UK so had 'the worst of both weather' But he loves spending time with his grandparents on their 'unoffcial farm' and watching Baz knock about with the animals much like he had done as a kid.

He was once mooned by Jason Mamoa, at the end of a particularly busy day, as their cars sat next to each other at traffic lights.  Apparently it took David a while to figure out exactly what he was looking at pressed against the window (really David?) before realising and giving a somewhat mortified 'Oh, dear God!' reaction.   Joe Flanigan, who was travelling in the car with Mamoa, was found to be somewhere on the floor of the car, killing himself laughing.....boys are weird.

Has just been working on a sci-fi (or Sy-Fy...whatever) movie with Robert Picardo which involved Morlocks...I'm guessing it's a kind of follow on from The Time Machine.  David had seen The Howling recently and only just realised his co-star was in it 'little bald Bob Picardo used to be hairy evil guy...who knew'...well David, Bob Picardo has been in EVERYTHING, I still can't look at the guy without thinking of Cowboy...off of Innerspace.

So, what's next for everyone's favourite bumbling space scientist..well he's off to the Bulgarian Tundra to direct 'Evil Space Monkeys'....obviously.

And there I shall leave you for the moment...I'm aware of the novel like length of this post, this is mainly due to the fact that the man has the uncanny ability to spout forth large amounts in a very short space of time....that would be his inner McKay.  Still to come group talks, party time pics and....more