In the film, Sackhoff (best known for her turn in Battlestar Galactica) plays “Dahl” a mercenary who, with her team, tracks the eponymous Riddick (played again by Vin Diesel) to a creature-filled planet. Dahl proves she can hold her own against the rest of the “mercs,” but how does she fair against Riddick?
Head inside for our additional discussion with the actress…
ShockTillYouDrop.com: What made you want to revisit the sci-fi genre?
Katee Sackhoff: I grew up on sci-fi and action and I loved watching them. Throwing Vin in and working with David Twohy, I would have been a fool not to work with them. I don’t subscribe to the thinking that being typecast is a bad thing. I think the goal is to have longevity and if you accomplish that, you’re going to have different parts and roles people want to see. As long as people want to see me do this action and sci-fi stuff, it would be wrong of me to deny the fans what they want to see.
Shock: Was there a particular aspect of this project that popped off the page?
Sackhoff: All of it. Vin and what David is able to do and the passion they feel towards the series. The fight they had to fight to get it where it is right now. And I like to work with people with heart and drive. It was largely them.
Shock: This was a grassroots effort on Vin and David’s part to getting this off of the ground. Did the production has the gloss of a Hollywood film, but I’m wondering if the process felt like an indie effort – or was it business as usual?
Sackhoff: Yeah, when you’re a shooting a series or a movie that’s not in Los Angeles – that bubble where it all functions – you’re in a cloud where ever you are. But anytime you go into the third movie of a series, you know that it’s because the fans not only enjoy the movie, but they got out of their seats to go buy tickets to see it. When you have fans speaking that obviously that they want to see the movie, it becomes pretty obvious even when you’re on set, you can feel it for sure. On set, science fiction and green screen are old hat. [laughs] I’m not a big person, so every time they were adding these big guys to the cast, I said to my trainer, “We’re screwed, dude.” I’m only five foot five and I’m going to look so little. The goal was to put as much mass on in the three months leading up to the film.
Sackhoff: [laughs] Yeah, you can’t stop working out. If I stopped during that movie – and I did for one week and lost seven pounds that I gained – I immediately had to start eating again. I would go to the gym every day before work and lift as heavy as I could.
Shock: There’s an interesting sexual dynamic at play between your character and Riddick. I’m curious about the discussions had about this…
Sackhoff: Somebody asked me the other day if Riddick was threatening to rape Dahl and I was like, “Absolutely not.” He said he was going to do what he’s going to do but only because Dahl asked him to. Which is exactly the opposite of rape. [laughs] Everything in this movie is entertainment and not reality. You’re allowed to push the envelope in this world and it is what it is. Some might think Riddick is too forward with Doll but she’s running around punching men in the face, but no one has a problem with that.
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