Claudia, Black Beauty

Claudia Black on FARSCAPE and her new voice acting gig, STEEL ANGEL KURUMI

By SCOTT COLLURA     May 30, 2002

Claudia Black is best known as former Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun on the popular Sci-Fi Channel series FARSCAPE. The beautiful, raven-haired Black is the epitome of the genre super-chick: she's smart, she's strong, she's stunning, and she kicks butt.

But when Ms. Black isn't shooting episodes of FARSCAPE, she's keeping busy with other projects as wellmany of which are often genre-related. (Who could forget her turn in 2000's sci-fi/thriller PITCH BLACK?) Most recently, she lent her very distinct voice talents to a special appearance in ADV Films' English language release of the anime series STEEL ANGEL KURUMI, the first volume of which has just been released. Talking from the set of FARSCAPE, the actress recalls that it was because of that show's DVDs, also released by ADV, that she came upon the STEEL ANGEL job.

"I first

met [STEEL ANGEL's American director] Steven [Foster] in L.A. for the first set of DVD commentaries," says Black. "He was a vibrant, enthusiastic, generous man and a great director. I asked him what he did in his other hours and he told me about ADV Films. He explained that he directed animation - specifically manga. I said that if he ever came up with something appropriate to give me a call. He was surprised by my interest and three years later I was equally surprised that he had not forgotten the conversation. Note to self: ask directors for work more often."

STEEL ANGEL tells the story of the title creation, a sexy, manga-chick robot with a soul that's seeking out the truth behind her origins. It's all typically cool anime stuff, and as Black reveals, she was familiar with the genre before signing onto this project.

"I have watched anime before," she says. "And I have always said, as has one of our director/producers, Andrew Prowse, that Farscape would do well in Japan because it is dark and strong yet vibrant and risqué like manga."

Black has done some limited voice acting before, primarily on the FARSACPE episode "Revenging Angel" which depicted Aeryn Sun and her shipmates in Warner Bros.-esque cartoon form. The actress points out that she's always wanted to have the chance to try this particular kind of performing.

"I have

always been keen to do voice work since my childhood was spent mimicking most of what I heard and tuning my ear toward music and language/accents," she says, while also explaining the differences between voice acting and regular acting. "You get to sit on your butt for extended periods and no one gives a hoot what you look like [in voice work]. I also move into a different creative zone. I am sure it is similar for comic book writers in that anything goes, provided the work is good and tells the story clearly. You can make fundamental choices for a character based on how they talk. More textures and subtleties can be worked in with voice work but at the same time more clear and simple lines are required as the rest of the character is created by someone else. The challenge with Steel Angel was the fact that it was all done backwards. The images and Japanese dialect were already in. I had to dub the English in over it. I sometimes baulk at such technical restrictions but the challenge of making [it] work won me over. Steven also made it very easy to do."

Another area that Steven Foster excels at is in the production of DVD audio commentaries, as is witnessed by the talks that can be found on several of the first season FARSCAPE DVD collections. Black explains that when sitting down to record those sessions, there's more to the process than simply watching the episode and talking into the microphone.

"[It's] great when Steven's directing them," says Black. "He really is the man for the job. He is enthusiastic about the showwhich always helpsand has great taste when it comes to balancing the humorous anecdotal stories we tell with the more serious technical information about the filming process. However, [director] Ian Watson and I just did one in Australiawithout Stevenand it became an acting/directing tutorial! I know how Ian works and thinks as a director and I knew it would appeal to him to talk about  the process quite deeply. He then forced me to articulate my process which in many ways is just done by feel. It was an insightful hour or two in the sound booth."

Speaking of FARSCAPE, Claudia is of course toiling away Down Under on new episodes of the show for season four, and while she won't quite reveal how the writers are going to resolve the many cliffhangers from the end of last season, she does give us a peek of what is going on behind-the-scenes.

"Season four

is going well," she says. "We are about halfway [done]. I am having fun creatively and one of my favorite directors, Geoff Bennett, has come on to join the show. Ben [Browder, aka Crichton] just wrote a great episode and I loved bringing the role he wrote for me to life. He's a bit brainy, our Ben. And just a bit talented. The guest actors have been a great source of inspiration too."

Of course, Claudia and the crew certainly are starting to feel the strain of the long hours on the setan inevitable aspect of genre television production.

"I am reading travel books and counting the days till our next production break," she admits. "We are all getting a little sleep deprived. Especially Ben. He can't be everywhere at once."

After her experience on STEEL ANGEL KURUMI, Black is hungry to do more voiceover work in the future. But she also is well aware of how fortunate she is to play a character like Aeryn Sun on FARSCAPE.

"She is an actor's dream, no doubt about it," she says. "I always felt as a younger performer that one day I would get a chance to play a tough chick in space. And here she is... in spades."

Tough chicks in space. Seems to be a theme lately for Claudia Black. Even the DVDs that the actress watches in her spare time seem to follow a certain trend.

"I think it is time to go full surround sound in the home now that I have a widescreen TV," she concludes. "Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaah!!! Matrix is a great one. And my boyfriend is dying to steal my Robotechs!"

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.