Gina Torres says Firefly NOT dead! by Succatash

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Gina Torres says Firefly NOT dead!

POSTED BY: SUCCATASH
UPDATED: Friday, February 14, 2003 12:38
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Sunday, February 09, 2003 8:13 AM

http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?30077

"There's cooking happening," Torres says, "and that's great, the fact that they still believe in it. They're trying to work something out."

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 8:17 AM

SUCCATASH

'Firefly's' Torres Transfers to 'The Agency'

'Firefly's' Torres Transfers to 'The Agency' Sun, Feb 9, 2003 00:25 AM PDT

by Kate O'Hare Zap2it, TV News

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The sun sinks low and long shadows creep across the lawn of a hospital in Brentwood, Calif. For the last few hours, cast, crew and extras of CBS' Saturday-night espionage drama "The Agency" have been buffeted with dust-choked winds as a helicopter lands and lifts off repeatedly, simulating a last-minute evacuation of embassy personnel in a war-torn West African nation.

The helicopter tucks carefully into a small grassy courtyard (six feet one way or the other, and its rotors smashed into a wall or a decapitated palm tree), as frantic extras push against wire barriers. It's five years ago, says the script for "Absolute Bastard," airing Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10 p.m. ET, and Marine A.B. Stiles (Jason O'Mara) must abandon the West African woman he loves, Dacia (Gina Torres).

But when the deaths of agents force Stiles, now working for the CIA, to return to West Africa, he discovers that he may have left Dacia with more than just fond memories -- there could be a child involved. Stiles also has to explain Dacia to fellow operative Terri Lowell (Paige Turco), with whom he's had a rocky and briefly passionate relationship.

"She's complicated," Torres says of Dacia. "Here is a woman who fell in love with a Marine during a time in her country when there was great upheaval. They had every intention of going back to the States and having a life together, and chance ensued. She got left behind."

"Then you pick up five years later where everything is changed. You don't know who's holding what cards, and who's going to play what."

This is Torres' first acting gig since the cancellation of her freshman FOX series "Firefly," in which she played the first officer of a cargo-hauling spaceship 500 years in the future. The series premiered to high hopes last fall but failed to survive into the new year.

"I feel like I've licked my wounds a little bit and moved on," she says. "When you're cancelled, and you're involved in a show that you love so much, and the rug gets pulled out from under you, it sucks the hope out of you a little bit. You've got to get back up onto that horse, and this audition was the horse. I booked it and said, 'OK, I can still ride.'"

That doesn't mean all is lost for "Firefly." "There's cooking happening," Torres says, "and that's great, the fact that they still believe in it. They're trying to work something out."

Although Torres recently wed "Matrix" and "Biker Boyz" star Laurence Fishburne, she hasn't forgotten her "Firefly" co-stars, including screen husband Alan Tudyk. "Last week, I was making myself lunch, and I looked over at Laurence, and I went, " I love you, but I miss my boys.'"

While her role on " Firefly" had her in the thick of the action, shooting this episode was another kind of experience. " We shot a sequence where I'm behind a chain-link fence just as everything's erupting. They sent, like, 100 screaming extras at me, just running at me, at the fence behind me. It was one of those no-acting-required moments."

" The helicopter was great. I kept referring to it as the 'Miss Saigon' moment. That was my first day. I had a good day."

That day also included some intimate conversations between Dacia and Stiles (whose initials, series creator Shaun Cassidy asserts, stand for " Absolute Bastard," hence the episode title).

" I don't get to kiss Jason," she says. " My assistant walked into the makeup trailer and said, 'Who's that?' I said, 'That's the guy who leaves me.' 'Do you get to kiss him?' 'No, because he leaves me.'"

" I know," says O'Mara, " but we've got some moments of, I wouldn't say kissing, but moments of connection in there where we hopefully try to echo what happened in the past."

Of course, no kissing means O'Mara won't get on the bad side of Fishburne.

" No," he says, " nor will I get in trouble from Terri Lowell."

On " The Agency," there isn't much time for in-depth character development, so O'Mara -- who usually handles the bulk of the action sequences -- appreciates the opportunity. " It's a luxury for an actor on a drama series to be given those scenes that inform everything else you do in the present day."

As for Stiles and Lowell, O'Mara has reason to hope. " Shaun sent me an e-mail just about a week before Christmas. He said, 'Regarding Stiles and Terri, I think it's time we took another shot off the bow.' I don't know what that means, but I know something's going to happen."

Regarding Dacia, O'Mara says, " My last line to her is, 'I'll be checking in,' so I hope there'll be some other episode that deals with her. I was talking to Gina about it, and she certainly thinks that eventually Dacia will be able to leave West Africa and maybe go hiking through the Smoky Mountains, as Stiles told about."

O'Mara, who's Irish, then laughs at the thought. " I don't even know where the Smoky Mountains are, for God's sake.""

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 9:29 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

No Captain. No 1st Officer. I dunno. It's like Trek without Kirk and Spock. Just ain't the same.

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 9:37 AM

TABITHA

Quote:
I love you, but I miss my boys.'"

*sigh* Don't we all?

www.ascifi.com

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 11:42 AM

PERSEPHONE1113

It just makes me happy that Gina still has faith in the show. And the fact that her, as well as Nathan and Adam are getting work in the meantime, could bring more fans to Firefly once the "new angle" is presented. If anything a statement like that should keep us fighting, not giving up.

-Persephone

I miss the boys too

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 11:49 AM

SUCCATASH

I didn't hear about Adam Baldwin. He got a job too? Can you tell me more or give me a link?

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 12:25 PM

LIVINGIMPAIRED

Quote:
"Last week, I was making myself lunch, and I looked over at Laurence, and I went, " I love you, but I miss my boys.'"

Damn. I hear stuff like this, and something tightens in my chest. I've never felt so awful about a goram televison show.

________________

INARA: It wasn't entirely a disaster. MAL: I got stabbed! Right here!

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Sunday, February 09, 2003 8:06 PM

PERSEPHONE1113

Adam was in a Sci-Fi channel movie and he has a guest spot on the Feb. 10th episode of CSI: Miami. I may be wrong about the date cause I don't watch that show.

-Persephone

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Monday, February 10, 2003 3:48 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Quote:
That doesn't mean all is lost for "Firefly." "There's cooking happening," Torres says, "and that's great, the fact that they still believe in it. They're trying to work something out."

It is good to get confirmation that Joss & ME are still working at it. I only hope that they can get Serenity into the air again.

That of course leaves the question, if they do, when and which of the cast will still be available to come back to do the show?

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Monday, February 10, 2003 12:42 PM

BOLT

Hopefully they will get Serenity back in the air! It might not be the series - which we'd all prefer, but if we get a mini-series or made for TV movie, I'd take it. On a project like that, the actors could work on the Firefly project in their downtime from their regular series.

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Tuesday, February 11, 2003 3:51 PM

TRUK

I'd prefer if Mr. Whedon took the project to the big screen. With a bigger budget and stronger marketing push, I'm sure the Firefly team could develop an incredible 2+ hour story that would attract a wider audience (and potentially lead to further big screen installments in the story arc).

David Lynch got away with it...Mulholland Drive was originally a pilot for ABC. The network balked & dropped the project but Lynch was able to cobble together parts of the pilot with new footage and a revamped storyline (that included a "conclusion" that was not conceived for the pilot) to produce (with a lot of help) a critical hit at the box office.

Like Lynch, with the right production partners, Joss could definitely retain creative control.

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Friday, February 14, 2003 12:38 PM

TALLGRRL

*sigh* Mixed sadness and joy. Being black, female and having been an actress, I am happy for Gina that she snagged a regular part on a network TV show. Nothin' like a paying network gig. I'm sad that the cast of Firefly is 'breaking up'. *sigh* I'll just treasure my set of Firefly episodes that much more.

And I will go forth and tell the tale of Firefly to the un-initiated and explain to them what I mean when I say the word "gorram" and use the words "loh-seh" for "crap" and "shiny" instead of "cool". : )

TllGrrl "Take me, Sir. Take me hard."

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