never_at_home

I walked into the office today to discover a surprise guest awaiting me in Carl’s office: none other than Christopher Judge. We, of course, talked college football, t.v., and acting, and I asked when he was going to drop by and do his own Q&A on this blog. I explained how it worked: I’d gather fan questions, email them his way, then he could answer as many (or as few) as he wished, send them back my way… “This sounds way too complicated,”he interrupted. “How about you take me to lunch, ask me the questions, and I’ll answer them.” Done and done. I’ll reconnect with Chris and find out an appropriate week, and then I’ll start the ball rolling.

never_at_home

GW: How are things proceeding with Rage of Angels? Any new updates?

MS: I don't want to comment on it. I'll leave it for Chris [Judge] to comment on. There's been a really, really positive development. He's in Vancouver and in Los Angeles working with someone right now in terms of developing the series even more. There's a show runner, that once his contract is done, we'll be able to announce that we can do it.

It's all progressing. I'm always very conservative about it, but it's moving in the right direction. There was a period a couple of months ago where I thought this was going to be in development hell forever. And it seems to be moving forward in a very positive way. So I look forward [to] the ability to speak more frankly [Laughter], and less cryptically in the future.

GW: Are there any other upcoming projects that we can look forward to seeing you in?

MS: No, I'm going back to Miami in about two weeks to finish up the season of Burn Notice. And like every other actor, [I've] been up auditioning for stuff, and getting really close to a lot of things. But there's no points for second-best in our business -- for second place, I should say -- I shouldn't say second best. So, we just carry on and get back in the mix. There's always something. There's always something lurking around.

never_at_home

Well, one of the great things about Stargate is the family environment; you can really sit with your kids and watch it. Rage of Angels: [small laugh] You probably won't want to watch with your kids. It's very dark. I play the Archangel Gabriel, who comes to Earth, and as we know, he is "the Wrath of God", so he is divined by God to basically be a serial killer. There's varying shades of gray concerning who's good and who's evil and what is good and what is evil truly. We will very much leave it up to the audience to decide that for themselves. We're not gonna try to make any judgments for the audience; it's definitely something that will definitely vary from individual to individual.

never_at_home

Question de michaelmichaud : "Pouvez-vous nous donner des infos toutes fraîches sur votre nouveau projet avec Michael Shanks ?"

Christopher Judge : Bien sûr ! Cela s'appelle Rage of Angels. Michael Shanks (qui joue Daniel Jackson dans Stargate SG-1) va jouer Lucifer et je serai l'Archange Gabriel. Nous descendons sur Terre et nous nous combattons pour la domination non seulement de la Terre mais aussi du ciel. Nous devrions tourner le pilote en octobre-novembre. Mais la grève des acteurs se profile. Nous saurons dans quelques jours si le mouvement se déclenche. Et si tel est le cas, cela pourrait à nouveau retarder la mise en route du projet. Cela dépend aussi de la durée de l'éventuelle grève. Mais en tout cas nous sommes prêts. C'est Brad Turner, un ami, qui va réaliser le pilote. Il a remporté 2 Emmy Awards pour son travail sur 24. Nous sommes très excités à l'idée de travailler avec lui.

Asked by michaelmichaud: "Can you give us all fresh info on your new project with Michael Shanks?"

Christopher Judge: Of course! This is called Rage of Angels. Michael Shanks (who plays Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1) will play Lucifer and I will be the Archangel Gabriel. We descend to Earth and we are fighting for domination not only of Earth but also the heavens. We should turn the pilot in October-November. But the players' strike is looming. We'll know in a few days if the movement is triggered. And if so, it could again delay the initiation of the project. It also depends on the duration of the possible strike. But in any case we are ready. It's Brad Turner, a friend, who will conduct the pilot. He won 2 Emmy Awards for his work on 24. We are very excited at the idea of working with him.

never_at_home

I guess MGM wants a re-write on it because they want to turn it into a full-blown feature, that's the last information I was given. I'm always cautious and skeptical when simple plans turn into complex ones. I'm hoping that it doesn't turn into a development palaver because these things have a way of being fun, fun, fun when they start to do that.

never_at_home

[discussion of Judge's script for Stargate, "Birthright" ...]

As a writer, especially as a TV writer or film writer, you can't be 'married' to the work or take it personally. The whole thing, I really owe to Brad Wright. Even Rage of Angels.

We were at Martin Wood's wedding, we had gone outside for a smoke - well I was smoking - and he said, 'if this show ever ends, what are you gonna do?'. And I said 'I'd really like to star in an hour drama, not a sitcom, and have it be viable'. And he said 'you know you're going to have to write it yourself - no network is out looking for that'.

And I said 'yeah, I kinda figured that'. So the week of the 200th episode, that's when we learned we were cancelled. Four days later I had written Rage of Angels.

It's been described as 'Touched By An Angel Meets 300' - is this accurate?

It's more 'Constantine'.

'Punched By An Angel'!

(laughs) Yeah! Right! Touched by an Angel has a lot of feelgood stuff in there, Rage is pretty dark. My goal is to generally offend everyone that watches it, because that will get people talking to each other.

I think that as a people we are so sorely in need of that.

The other day I was down in Wellington at a convention and we were sitting on stage with all the writers, actors and voice people and I wanted to start to talk about politics and religion and the state of the world, and a number of people said 'oh no, you can't talk politics' and I said 'that's what's wrong with the world - no one talks politics and religion!'.

You have these islands of different cultures and beliefs that even when they get together they can't talk about their differences because that doesn't make for polite dinner conversation. Isn't it time to not be polite any more? Because polite ain't workin'! (laughs)

Rage of Angels - it's going to be (laughs) it's going to be a shit storm.