In this exclusive interview, Katee Sackhoff talks about Joss Whedon’s recent tweet involving her, her thoughts on playing Ms. Marvel and the need for a strong, female superhero movie to be made plus details on her ‘super secret project’.
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
With new superhero projects being announced every few weeks from either Marvel or DC, it’s hard to believe long time action star Katee Sackhoff won’t eventually land a featured part in one of the upcoming films.
Sackhoff, best known for her roles in series such as ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Longmire’, has long been sought after as an action heroine and late last year her name popped up as a potential person of interest to play Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel in an upcoming Marvel film. Rumors persisted for months that Sackhoff was playing the part or would be making an appearance in the upcoming sequel, The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.
While it doesn’t seem any of those rumors came to fruition as of yet, Sackhoff’s name was once against thrust into the spotlight when Avengers director Joss Whedon tweeted a picture of the actress dressed in her Battlestar Galactica gear when hearing the news that Marvel was turning Thor into a female character in the comic books.
https://twitter.com/josswhedon/status/489115238269476864
As it turns out while the rest of the nerd universe was combusting after seeing Whedon’s tweet as just about everybody attempted to decipher if there was a deeper meaning behind his message, Sackhoff remained unaware anything was going on until long after the buzz started heating up on social networks.
“It’s pretty cool. I think I was the last person to see it,” Sackhoff told Nerdcore Movement in an exclusive interview. “My manager was like ‘you need to check Twitter’ and I was like ‘how about I finish the rest of my day and then check Twitter, it can’t be that important’ and I saw it and I was like that’s cool! I actually met Joss for the first time at Comic Con almost 10 years ago and he was a big fan of Battlestar, which I think was pretty obvious from the tweet.
“It’s an interesting thing because in my opinion what he was basically saying was it’s worked before when people thought it wouldn’t. So for all the naysayers out there, kind of shut your mouth. I don’t think he was saying look who should be the next female Thor, but that’s just me. If that’s what he thought, he’s one of the people who could make that happen.”
Since the first story came out last year about Sackhoff potentially playing a role in the Marvel Universe, the actress has stayed busy with plenty of other parts coming her way. She’s still starring in ‘Longmire’, currently in season 3 on A&E while taking parts in other films such as ‘Oculus’ and ‘Riddick’. She’s also currently involved in a ‘super secret project’ that she teased in the interview without giving out many details other than to say she started filming this week. Sackhoff has leaked out a few clues via Twitter, but details remain sketchy about the project she’s filming currently.
Sackhoff’s representatives did confirm to Nerdcore Movement that one of the people involved in her super secret project is action film director Adi Shankar, although his role is still unconfirmed at this time.
With a full plate at all times it seems, the question then becomes Sackhoff’s willingness to do a Marvel film if the offer does come across her table. Well, she answers that with a resounding ‘yes’ but like everything else it’s just a matter of working out the details.
“Absolutely,” Sackhoff answered when asked if she’s still interested in doing a superhero film. “Timing is a very interesting thing in this business. I’m used to television where you go in for a meeting and the next day you have the job, that’s just not the way it works in film. It takes a long time. I’m getting to an age where this is not my life, I don’t put my life on hold anymore, so my luck I’ll get the call right when I’m pregnant. Sorry guys, duty calls!”
As far as parts go, Sackhoff can’t deny that playing someone like Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel would be a fun role to explore, especially given her past tendencies to the types of characters she likes to play. Sackhoff is a life long comic book fan and she’s read enough about Ms. Marvel to know the kind of character she’s have to play if the part were ever offered.
“Ms. Marvel’s interesting. I’ve always been more attracted to the villains so even when I play a hero, I try to make them a bit more of an emotional anti-hero. I think I could have fun with it, absolutely,” Sackhoff said.
The most important aspect that Sackhoff would enjoy if a Marvel movie did end up being offered is the prospect of playing another strong, female role in a typically male dominated world. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has come under fire recently for not leading a film with a female star since the company began rolling out new films every year with plans already in place for several more.
The problem is none of those films are headed up by a female superhero and that doesn’t sit well with a lot of comic book fans. Feige stayed non-committal when pressed on the subject recently, only saying that he hopes the studio can make one happen before too much longer.
“I hope we do it sooner rather than later,” Feige said. “But we find ourselves in the very strange position of managing more franchises than most people have. But it does mean you have to put one franchise on hold for three or four years in order to introduce a new one? I don’t know. Those are the kinds of chess matches we’re playing right now.”
Sackhoff definitely agrees with the first part and would be thrilled to be involved with introducing another strong female character to the world of science fiction and fantasy, especially after already setting the bar with her portrayal of Starbuck on ‘Battlestar Galactica’ for so many seasons.
“I think it’s about time we have some female action heroes get their own vehicle for sure,” Sackhoff said. “I think this kind of movie is probably the easiest genre to do it in.
“We’ve seen that at least stereotypically people like to have a big male name in action movies and that’s just the way the business works and that’s the mindset people in this business have, but it would be kind of nice, especially in this universe of science fiction and fantasy where they’re so open to strong women, this is probably the one place you could have a multi-million dollar franchise on the back of a woman and have it worked because the fans are so accepting of strong women.”
For now, let the guessing games continue about Sackhoff’s current project, which remains a tight lipped secret while the possibility of a Marvel movie still looms overhead. The studio recently announced several new dates for films expected to be released over the next four years and certainly there’s a place at the table for a female led superhero movie among them.
Sackhoff would surely like to see it happen if not be a part of the wave to lead the charge.
