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Genevieve Bujold, the First Captain Janeway, Talks Career Choices

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By GustavoLeao / 03:05, 30 June 2009 / Voyager

French-Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold was the first choice of the producers of Star Trek Voyager to play Captain Nicole Janeway (see photo above). She quit after a day and a half of shooting the pilot episode, with the public reason being she was unaccustomed to the hectic pace of television filming.

The producers subsequently hired TV veteran Kate Mulgrew, and changed the captain's name from Nicole to Kathryn Janeway at Mulgrew's advice.

Here is excerpts of a rare interview with Bujold, conducted in 2007, in which the actress talks about her career, but does not mention her role in the creation of Voyager.

Box Office Mojo: You have been criticized for making poor career choices-


Bujold: The process is the process. I did Earthquake! for a contract and I loved doing that film. When I was [enrolled in Catholic school] at a convent-Hochelaga in east Montreal [Canada], they would show Ben-Hur [the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston]. It was wonderful, working with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner in downtown L.A. We were very comfortable with each other. For me, it brought alive the days of Ben-Hur at the convent. Earthquake! was entertaining and people liked it.

Box Office Mojo: Why do you make so few movies?


Bujold:
I'm older, more aware, and I agonize more now. I stir myself. I want a director to think he'd like to work with me-and I have a life, really. My career isn't my life, which is why I don't work as much. When a part comes, I'm like a little girl. I boogie board in the summer for fun. I just live my life.


Box Office Mojo: Is that a lesson for aspiring moviemakers?


Bujold:
Yes. Stay with your baby and don't abandon a project. You've done it, you've shot it, you wrote it. Don't just forget it.


The full interview is here.

The 8-minute footage of Bujold as Captain Nicole Janeway (plus a video interview with Rick Berman) can be found at YouTube.



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Didn't Bakula win a Tony award | Report this post to moderator
By: Muldfeld (Odo's file, contact) @ 13:47:04 on Jun 30, 2009

I don't know if these things are like the Emmys or Grammys and more determined by popularity (the cast of Heroes should NEVER have been nominated for Emmys, let alone when BSG actors weren't!), but I'm assuming Bakula won a Tony because he was a good actor.

I know I've criticized Abrams a lot, but one of my big problems which he shares with Berman/Braga in the late '90s and 2000s is they rely on stereotypical Americana. So, Trip and Archer are evidence of trying extra hard to be tough guy Americans, who aren't overly smart, but just smart enough. Even Travis and his cheesy nostalgia about being on the frontier of space or whatever. It's all so bad.

It's like they never trusted the characters to be original and felt they had to force it into some Hollywood stereotype. No one can pull this stuff off, and it's probably why the actor for Chakotay hated his role apart from barely having one in the later years, too; it was so self-consciously "spiritual".

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RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by prometheus 59650 @ 14:37:02 on Jun 30
    RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by Muldfeld @ 18:18:11 on Jun 30
    RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by cdydatzigs @ 16:49:29 on Jun 30
       RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by prometheus 59650 @ 18:41:17 on Jun 30
       RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by GustavoLeao @ 17:12:14 on Jun 30
          RE: Didn't Bakula win a Tony award by DavidDownUnder @ 17:25:43 on Jun 30
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