Mickalean McCormick,
Colonial Warrior

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BattlestarGalactica.com spoke with actor Mickaléan McCormick (who played "Troy" in the Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer) back in August 1999. 

J: What do you go by? (for a name)
M: My parents named me Michael. They were going to name me Mickaléan, but thought it would be too hard for others to try to spell it. Mickaléan is translated in Irish as Michael. So I decided to use Mickaléan when I started to act.

J: When did you first see Battlestar Galactica?
M: I first saw the movie when I was five in Ireland (missed it when it was on in the states). I played "Battlestar Galactica" with my friends for 4-5 years after that. I like Star Trek and Star Wars, but for some reason I kept playing Battlestar Galactica with my friends, even though the show was only on for one year and Star Trek and Star Wars were much more popular. It must have been destiny, practice for my future role.

I had the original action figures. Since no Battlestar Galactica vehicles were made for the action figures, my dad made Vipers out of wood for the figures. They're all still downstairs at home.

J: How did you get involved with the new Battlestar Galactica? I know you would like to tell this story to Entertainment Tonight, but can you give us a hint?
M: I met Richard back around 1997 in Kinko's in Hollywood while copying my headshots and resumes. I looked up from copying and saw Richard on the other side of the store. I walked over and looked at him with recognition and Richard simply said, "Yeah, it's me."

I'm a big Klingon fan (since they are "blood thirsty psychos") and was wearing a Klingon hockey jersey. Everyone liked the shirt and started pointing it out to Richard. The three us of started talking and bullshifting and soon an hour had gone by. Richard told me his idea for the new Battlestar Galactica project. Richard asked if I had a headshot, so I showed them my headshot and Richard realized that my headshot was a perfect match for what Troy would like now, 20 years later. We all connected at that point, and I gave my headshot and resume to Richard. He told me he'd give me a call when the project started.

I went back to my apartment and told my roommates that I had met Richard "Apollo" Hatch. I didn't know what would come of it.

Six months went by.

One day my roommate calls me at work and tells me that Richard Hatch had just called and wanted me to call back. I call Richard back and he is getting ready to shoot and he wants me to play Troy. No one else was reading for the part. I took a reading with Richard and nailed it on audition. Jack (Stauffer) came on set and Richard introduced me to him as the new Troy.

J: How did you get into acting?
M: I was going to be cop like father. I started at Northeastern to study Criminal Justice. I wanted to be a Fed or a cop or CIA. It was too expensive to continue at Northeastern so I transferred to the University of Rhode Island. But, I didn't get excepted. I had to take a few classes before I would be accepted into URI. I took two courses to get in (acting classes).

At URI I changed my major often. I went from history to law to psych, everything but math and science. At the same time I worked at URI TV on a show called Low Budget Zone. I also started taking more acting classes. I excelled in acting classes. I was given a lot of freedom to embellish. So I embellished a lot! I stole shows. By my junior year I was skipped ahead to advance acting classes. I was also still trying to figure out a major.

Judith Swift, my mentor and chairwoman of the acting department, changed my major to theatre. She looked at my transcript and saw that I had so many acting classes that if I changed my major to theatre, I could graduate in a year or two. I received a BFA in acting in 1996. Judith kept pushing me to go out for more things.

At the NETCs (the New England Theatre Council), a college tour of theatrical productions, she gave me a very high-recommendation. She really helped out. She believed in me.

By this time I was the head producer and head writer of URI TV. One day I got a call at home for my roommate, who was also an actor, from a company that needed an actor for Real Stories of the Highway Patrol. He wasn't around, so I told them that I was an actor and they told me to come down and try-out. I beat out 15 other actors for the part.

I was shooting Real Stories from 7am to 3am. Around 2am shooting stopped for a break and I walked off the location to the side of the road where a huge audience had gathered to watch the filming. The crowd burst into a large applause for me and I loved it! At that point I realized I wanted to be an actor. I could get paid and do what I love to do at the same time.

So I saved up my money, finished school, and moved out to Los Angeles after graduation in 1996.

J: Did you just come out here on a whim or did you know anyone?
M: My brother was a stand-up comedian here in Boston and knew a lot of comedians in Los Angeles. I had no car so getting around was not easy. I didn't know anyone. Through my brother, I started to meet a lot of comedians who became friends.

I started doing extra work. While on the set, I would do things by my own rules. If I felt my character should act a certain way, I did so. After six weeks of acting in L.A., I got my SAG card.

J: Do you have an agent?
M: Not yet. I had a couple of agents who didn't really do anything for me. And I'm currently looking at agents. It's a catch-22: In order to have an agent, one has to have acting roles; in order to have acting roles one has to have an agent. I've done a few independent films.

J: But Battlestar Galactica could be a big break.
M: I met Richard in 1997, a year after being in town. So I would love for the project to become a regular series.

J: What do you see yourself bringing to the project?
M: I am very loyal to the project. Loyalty is very big to me. I will stay with the show as long as they will have me. I'd rather do the project as a TV show. Similar to the X-Files: a regular series with a movie every few years. I am very ready and willing to do promos and help promote the show. I just did a panel discussion at the San Diego Comic Con and it was great. People stood up and applauded the trailer for five minutes. I would really like to go the upcoming Philadelphia convention where Dirk and Terry are going to be. [Editor's note: Mickaléan managed to attend the Philadelphia, PA GoMainLine convention.] The more positive exposure the better. I want to do my part to help out.

J: Where do you hope to see the project develop?
M: I would love for it to become a series. L-o-v-e it. Love to have the series with me in it. I played Troy in the project so I would very much like the opportunity to play the role.

J: How do you see the project proceeding?
M: It's in the hands of Universal. If Richard gets creative control, he'll bring his people back. I will do anything for the role. I'd cut my hair for the role (ponytail and all). I like to focus in on one project at a time, so I hope to be focusing on Galactica soon.

J: Who do you feel would be a good choice for Starbuck's daughter?
M: Ali (Willingham), who plays Starbuck's daughter in the trailer. Richard initially had some women try out, but they fell through. He asked me if I knew of any women who could play the role. Ali works with me at the Westwood Brewing Company. I asked her if she wanted to try out. Ali read for the part and Richard loved her. As we all worked together on the trailer, we all grew comfortable with each other.

J: With some of the original cast deceased or retired, how do feel this should be handled?
M: I feel the very first scene would be everyone at Adama's funeral. There would be a great big room with statues of the fallen. That way any characters that are not used would be understood as having died in the past 20 years.

J: So, the daggit: Like it? Or...? What should happen to it?
M: <grinning> It will have to be put it out to pasture. Troy will have great love for the daggit. But as it is 20 years later, the circuitry in the dog has started to deteriorate, causing it to go haywire. The daggit goes crazy and (like Old Yeller). Troy must put it out of its misery. <serious> Daggits aren't a bad thing. People would want dogs in the future. But 20 years would allow for more advance daggits. Kind of like Lost in Space (old robot killed off allowing new cool robot to take spotlight). Newer, more advanced daggits would be good.

J: As an actor, what have you appeared in?
M: I appeared in Bulworth, Truman Show, NYPD Blue, High Incident; I did some stunt work in Blade and Soldier of Fortune. I loved working with Peter Weir . He knew every extra's name (which numbered some 25 to 30 people). While on set of the Truman Show the first week, Dennis Hopper (who was originally signed to play Kristoff) ran over my foot and kept going. I yelled but he just kept driving, waving out the window as he drove away. When I saw him later the same week in wardrobe, he apologized and kept complaining that he was having trouble learning his lines. "I'm having a hard time learning my lines, man. I'm going crazy, man." Crazy Dennis Hopper. A week or so later, Dennis was let go and Ed Harris came on board..

The first day of shooting with Ed, I was in the control room where we run the Truman Show for the world. There was a globe on the desk near me and I spun it for fun. Peter looked at it and really liked it, so he told me on each opening shot that he wanted me to make sure the globe was spinning. So before each take I spun the globe. I sat there spinning the globe, and Ed is off to my side. All of a sudden he just snaps, and yells, "Would quit spinning that f*cking thing?!" I was like, "uh, Mr. Weir just told me to... I mean, he's the director, and you're..." But I just stopped spinning the globe. A few days later he apologized to me .

He was a little stressed as he hadn't learned his lines properly and got the role so suddenly that he felt unprepared and edgy. He is really a nice guy, kind of quiet and shy. I was a day player on the Truman Show and therefore got my own trailer. Ed's trailer was close by and we would have coffee every morning with. Very nice guy. Warren Beatty is unbelievably cool and very young at heart. When he came on the set the first day, he looked really old! He had a bad case of the flu and hadn't shaved or combed his hair in a while. But when we stated shooting he was incredibly animated and really young at heart. All of the cast were really nice. Really fun to work with. Unfortunately, like so many actors in Hollywood, my scenes were cut. Of all the actors I have worked with, Richard is the best to work with.

 

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