Mark Sheppard talks about his role in Dollhouse - Dollhouse

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December 16 2008

Mark Sheppard talks about his role in Dollhouse. "It's great, being in Dollhouse with Tahmoh. Just walking onto a set and him being there, Joss being there of course... A lot of fun for me". And there's another interview over at iFMagazine.com.

Simon | Dollhouse | 13:01 CET | 23 comments total | tags: joss whedon, tahmoh penikett, dollhouse, mark sheppard

Tanaka, hmmm? Possibly nth generation after emigrating? Possibly adopted?

Joss may aspire to making TV like BSG, but I for one certainly hope he doesn't. I love BSG and think it has just the right touches of gallows humor, but their humor is very different from what I like about Joss's humor.

cabri | December 16, 15:27 CET

cabri - Mark has discussed how the role was initially not for him and that one of the first things he asked after accepting the part was if he could keep the name.

fallenwiccan | December 16, 15:48 CET

Well, yes, including in this interview. I was just speculating how he would explain it.

cabri | December 16, 15:50 CET

I would like the explanation to be the character has taken his wife’s name. Don’t know if he’s supposed to be married though.

hence | December 16, 16:06 CET

Maybe he's taken his husband's name.

Nebula1400 | December 16, 16:28 CET

Ah, true. Bring on the progressiveness I’d say.

hence | December 16, 16:32 CET

Far better for it not to be explained and just left for the audience to go "Eh?".

Hilary | December 16, 16:35 CET

There was a theory about him having taken his stepfathers name being spoken about at the BSG con earlier this month.

Bob D | December 16, 16:57 CET

I would like the explanation to be the character has taken his wife’s name.

That would be awesome, hence.

erendis | December 16, 17:27 CET

Is his first name Tricia?

The One True b!X | December 16, 17:40 CET

Yes, they’re both named Tricia Tanaka. Sometimes it gets a little confusing but not during bedtime.

Or am I missing a Lost reference somewhere? :)

[ edited by hence on 2008-12-16 19:06 ]

hence | December 16, 18:05 CET

Wait, so according to ~~SEX~~ SFX, at the recent Starfury/Heathrow Battlestar Galactica convention, Mark said:

"...of Joss Whedon's love for Battlestar Galactica: 'He’s a huge fan. He doesn’t really want to know [who the final Cylon is], he’s banned everyone on the set from talking about it. He says Battlestar is the best thing ever made, and that he aspires to make television like it') in 2009 as the end of Battlestar Galactica approaches and Dollhouse kicks off."

and Tahmoh said of Joss & the Final Cylon:

" 'He’s a huge fan. He’s asked a couple of times, but it’s a game,' said Penikett. 'He doesn’t really want to know, he’s banned everyone on the set from talking about it. He says Battlestar is the best thing ever made, and that he aspires to make television like it.' "

Okay, I so don't want to live in the Dollhouse anymore, no matter how Zen-y and Feng shui'd it is - they mindwipe ya and replace your individual thoughts with essentially one shared Joss-quotation.

QuoterGal | December 16, 21:40 CET

Possibly he writes acceptable quotes about himself into short scripts they must go forth and act out as if real thoughts of their own.

Sunfire | December 16, 21:43 CET

Alternatively he repeats this often enough that it gets quoted a lot. But I like my version better, because it could involve mission statements on little bits of paper that actors secretly memorize, eat, and then act out in a Mission Impossible: Whedonverse scenario.

Side note, I am having a lousy afternoon and spy-type antics sound more fun.

[ edited by Sunfire on 2008-12-16 21:46 ]

Sunfire | December 16, 21:46 CET

Huh. I wonder which attribution is wrong. Either Mark said it, or Tahmoh said it. Bets?

The One True b!X | December 16, 21:54 CET

My bet is that Tahmoh said it. Or it really is the result of a collective mind-wipe and quote-implanting. Honestly, I think that's the best explanation.

phlebotinin | December 16, 22:13 CET

Sunfire: "Possibly he writes acceptable quotes about himself into short scripts they must go forth and act out as if real thoughts of their own."

"Scripts" ? "Act out" ?

What kind of sick world do you live in, Sunfire, where such things are imaginable? And don't actors have some kind of, I dunno, union that protects them from having to commit such perversions? ; >

I heard that Joss will only work with Cylon actors, now.

Pass it on...

QuoterGal | December 16, 22:24 CET

Tahmoh said it. Mark was on stage with him, but it was Tahmoh that said it.

RachVG | December 16, 22:37 CET

Well, maybe it's a question of whether or not they were both there to hear Joss say those words. Maybe all three were on set, talking about BSG... Joss mentions his love for the show, blah, blah, and they now can both go on record to say that Joss said that. Remembering lines is part of an actor's job, yes?

korkster | December 16, 23:47 CET

Thanks, RachVG. I'll probably forget that during my next mindwipe, but it's good to know for a while at least.

QuoterGal | December 17, 00:59 CET

This Dollhouse mindwipe talk is getting perilously close to the Ben/Glory issue. I'm just saying. This could get dangerous. The concepts could cross-pollinate and go wild. I'm not going there, though. No sirree. I suggest no one else do it, either.

You know, there may be a special version of a Godwin's-type Law that applies to Whedonverse sites and tends to mean the end of all rational discussion: "As a whedonverse discussion grows longer, the probability of the invoking of Ben/Glory approaches one." Yikes.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2008-12-17 01:22 ]

phlebotinin | December 17, 01:16 CET

Or, we could get wiped and finally forget for good and all that there ever was a couple named Ben/Glory.

That would be so sad. I think.

QuoterGal | December 17, 01:20 CET

Wait, are you saying that Glory mind-wiped Ben?

korkster | December 17, 01:29 CET

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