Interview: Aleks Paunovic
Aleks Paunovic is a Canadian born actor who has featured in a wide variety projects including Stargate (SG1 & Atlantis), Personnel Effects, Riverworld, Battlestar Galactica, Sanctuary & much more. He will soon be seen in the role of William Adama, the father of Joseph Adama (& grandfather of Admiral William Adama) in Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica.
(This interview was recorded before Aleks’s episode of Sanctuary aired.)
TLOEG: First off, how did you first get into acting?
Aleks Paunovic: I first got into acting, I was playing in a hard rock band, in my home town. And the casting director was there and asked if I would audition for an HBO movie with John Cryer and Ed Asner. I thought it was quite interesting. I thought why not, ’cause I like to try stuff and I did. I got it and started dabbling in between my rock band and acting. And then decided a few years after to seriously pursue it.
TLOEG: Cool. Which part was that, by the way?
AP: It was a movie called Heads. I played Roddy McDowall’s butler. Yup, My name was Roderick.
TLOEG: Do you have a favorite role to date?
AP: Yea, so far right now I think it’s the movie Personal Effects with Ashton Kutcher and Michelle Pfeifer. ‘Cause I could really go into a different character, putting on about 60 pounds to do it. Yea, I was really proud of that role.
TLOEG: Cool, You’ve worked in many different roles on set, how do you prepare for the different types of jobs and things you do on set?
AP: Each role has its own life and I really respect the people who are behind, creating a project. I respect the role as much to give it it’s own life instead of just an actor doing it. So, there’s different preparations for each thing that I do. At the end of the day you want to get some sort of back story and I like to make up a version of where this person would’ve come from, outside the pages of the script.
TLOEG: You’ve appeared on both Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG1, did you have a favorite out of the two? Which was your favorite to work on and experience you had?
AP: I really loved Atlantis, just because I became friends with Jason Mamoa and the role on it was quite extensive. So I liked Atlantis a lot better, but everybody on the franchise has been fantastic.
TLOEG: Is there a type of role you would most like to play, that you haven’t played so far?
AP: Is there a part that I’d most like to play, that I haven’t done so far?
TLOEG: Yea.
AP: Honestly, I’d really love to get into a CIA, FBI kind of detective role. An extensive detective role, something that I could really just fall right into. Basically I loved, oh what is it called now? It just escaped me… What’s that Brad Pitt one with Morgan Freeman?
TLOEG: Um, Se7en.
AP: With the deadly sins. Se7en!
TLOEG: I’ve seen that one.
AP: Yea, that type of role, where it’s just gritty, you know? I like the, not necessarily the cagey veteran, but you know, the go getter of just trying to break it. He becomes emotional with it. I love those types of characters. I’d love to do a cop role like that.
TLOEG: On Battlestar Galactica, as well as playing the character of Marine Sergeant Fischer, you were also the boxing coordinator. How did you go about coming up with and setting up the fights?
AP: Well, especially the one with the father-son, the Adama’s, that boxing one, we just made it like how, what would be the realistic end of it? And I just had… Eddie’s role as the cagey veteran, he doesn’t necessarily need the speed, he just needs the smarts. And Bamber’s more aggressive and styled and quick. So when we did that fight, we just made it like a really young and older, kinda teaching him the way to go, basically how I did that boxing sparring session there. And with the other ones, for the fight episode, we just tried to get really raw and gritty, that it’s not necessarily has to be sexy, it just has to look like it’s a real fight. So just to coordinate it and work with everyone there, it was pretty fantastic.
TLOEG: In the TV movie Fireball, your character Tyler is burned pretty much all over his body. Did you have to wear prosthetics at all? Or was it makeup?
AP: It was all make up, no prosthetics just a lot of makeup. Probably about 3 hours in the chair, when we did some of the bigger scenes. Actually I shaved my head for that too, so that was quite an event. And they had me working out probably about 4, 4 1/2 hours a day for a good 15 days to try to get… It was probably about 4 months after Personal Effects was when I got that. So I had to go from eating pizza and ice cream to working out like a fiend. So it was quite a little switch.
TLOEG: Not a nice change.
AP: (laughs)
TLOEG: Have you ever suffered a serious injury on set?
AP: Nope. No, just minor bumps and bruises.
TLOEG: Well that’s lucky. One of my favorite roles of yours is your role on The Dead Zone, Matthew Meter. What’s it like playing a character so different to the other ones you usually take on?
AP: That was interesting because I just, when I went in for that audition I literally decided to do the character that I did. Probably, just the night before, I rehearsed it in a normal aspect, and I thought “you know, I think this guy is way more quirkier” and I took the risk and chance of going in with the character you saw on Dead Zone and it paid off. That one was really fun for me.
TLOEG: A few years ago you made a film named Taming Tammy, for which you were not only acting in, but writing as well. What was it like working on and adapting such a famous play?
AP: It was fun, I mean it was a crazy schedule and we had some amazing people a part of it. Especially the crew, because during the week they would be shooting the shows that they’re on, and then on weekends, I think it was 8 weekends we did, where they just came and hung out with us and helped us make this movie. Because it’s such a huge ensemble of a cast to have Dan Payne and Tahmoh, a part of it, I was just blessed to have such great, talented friends that would want to help me out. So even though it was crazy and hard, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, because it was quite an experience.
TLOEG: It is a very good film, it looks like it was a lot of fun to make as well.
AP: Yea, it was a lot of fun to make.
TLOEG: You will be appearing in the second season of the television series Sanctuary. Can you tell us anything about your character and the episode you’re in?
AP: Of which show?
TLOEG: Sanctuary.
AP: Sanctuary. You love that show, don’t you?
TLOEG: A little bit, yes. (giggles)
AP: (laughs) I love that you do. I play a character named Duke, who is an abnormal and his race are basically rage fiends. They don’t have a feeling for rage, they just trip out all the time. I’ve gotten this rage inhibitor put on my temples and I’ve gone from being a thug to the top of the mob, because of it. Sometimes it doesn’t work as well as it should and the rage gets out of me. It was a really fun role to play, knowing that I have to have that rage, but have to bottle it at the same time. Working with Robin and Amanda was absolutely great.
TLOEG: I can imagine…
AP: Michael Shanks too. Michael Shanks is guest starring in that also..
TLOEG: In the same episode?
AP: Pardon me?
TLOEG: In the same episode, yeah.
AP: Yea, yea I love the guy. He’s one of the best guys I’ve met.
TLOEG: He’s really good, yea. Do you have any other upcoming projects you could tell us about?
AP: I did a really off the wall character in a movie called Charlie. His name’s Ernest, it’s a quick little cameo but it was really fun to do. The director just gave us a lot of room to improvise, so a lot of the stuff is improvised. That should be out, and I just shot Fox’s Human Target with Emmanuelle Vaugier. And Mark Valley is in it. I just did a really interesting guest part, cause I’ve played Russians before, and this was a Russian accented part but with, after I got the role, they asked if I could learn the actual language, to give a speech. So that was quite fun, just to sit down and learn a language that you’ve never learned before and it’s strictly for, you know not only do I have to learn the pronunciation and learn the context, but I have to give it the intention as if I’d spoken the language since I was born. So, I had like five days to get that. But it was fun, it was awesome. I had a really good time with it.
TLOEG: You also did a, is it a movie, called Riverworld? I’m not sure if it was a movie or the television series.
AP: Yes, it was good. It’s a miniseries, a sci-fi series. Again with Tahmoh Penikett. So we did that together for, we worked together for about 10 or 15 days. So it’s fun working with your best friend.
TLOEG: I can imagine. What I’ve heard about it, I haven’t heard much but it does look like it’s going to be a really good miniseries.
AP: Yea, looking forward to it.
