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Summer lovin' with 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' star
Get Summer Glau together with a group of reporters, many of whom hail from genre sites on the Internet, and there are certain questions you're bound to get, questions like "If your River Tam character from Firefly or your Cameron character from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles got in a fight, who would win?"
Fortunately, like so many of the actors who have passed through Joss Whedon's cultish universe, Glau is a good sport.
"Well, you know, I played River for a little bit longer," Glau says on a recent conference call. "I think I know more of her moves at this point, but River was all about finesse and creativity and using her form as best she could because she wasn't the strongest person in the room and she wasn't the biggest girl in the room. Now playing Cameron, I don't really break a sweat because she just gets to pick things up and throw them and bash through walls. I don't know. I think it would be an ugly fight."
There you have it, sports fans. If River and Cameron got in a fight, Summer Glau doesn't know who the winner would be. Even certain fan communities may fantasize about the conflicts (perhaps involving baby oil or mud) arising between superpowered, government-tested River and robo-powered, Connor-saving Cameron, Glau prefers to look at the things they have in common.
"It's funny because I actually see some similarities between them," she says. "They're both kind of foreigners in their surroundings. River was never good at being able to relate to people around her, and she always seemed to be somewhere else in her mind. And Cameron is the same way. She's from a different place. She's from a different time. She's not human. She doesn't really know how to relate to the people that she's living her life with now, so in that way they're similar."
Some viewers of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles have noticed that as uncomfortable as Cameron was with her surroundings in the pilot, the character has become even more alienated and robotic. Glau explains the differences.
"We did make some changes, and people will notice that from the pilot to the series," she says. "We were experimenting with Cameron quite a bit, and we wanted her to be able to seem human. We wanted especially John to be fooled by her, so that he would let her into his life. And so in the pilot, I do act very human. And then as I go through the series, it appears that I've taken steps back and that I am acting more like a terminator would. We did that for several different reasons, but I know for me it's fun because I get to take more time for her development, her human development. I think that it also is funny and I think once her cover was blown with the Connors, she kind of was able to drop that persona and become who she really is around them."
Other highlights of Glau's chat with the press:
On the possibility of some man-on-machine lovin' between John Connor and his sexy protector: "The writers are keeping me guessing. At this point, I can't tell. I know that it's a possibility. And I think that in her own way, Cameron does love John because, when I think about it, her entire existence is to protect him. Her purpose in life is to keep him safe and to be with him always. I think that she does love him, as best a robot could."
On playing Cameron's more comedic beats: "Well, I always told [creator Josh Friedman] it's just me trying to be as honest as possible as Cameron. I never want to ask the audience to laugh at me because then it just doesn't feel real, and so I just approach everything and try to be really sincere, as Cameron would be. She's so – I think that is what is so funny about her is just that she can't be anything but genuine. She's very open, like a child. She absorbs the behavior around her and tries to understand it as best she can, and sometimes it ends up being extremely funny."
On the show's most memorable poster, which features a naked Cameron minus the lower half of her body: "I remember when we were on set and James Middleton, who is one of our producers, was describing this concept to me about this awesome poster. I was going to be naked and I wasn't going to have any legs, and my guts were going to be hanging out. I was trying to act excited, but I was terrified. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this sounds so scary, and I'm going to be up on a billboard looking like that.' Then I said, 'Oh, come on. Let's just use a picture, a normal picture, maybe Lena holding a gun and that sounds good.' Then I saw the poster, and I thought, 'Wow... I understand the concept now.' I thought it's really different. I think it's going to make people wonder. It's interesting. And I think it says a lot about the show."
On being a "sci-fi actress": "Those actors that are in sci-fi shows tend to make an easy transition into other sci-fi shows. It's interesting, and of course I've always been a fan of science fiction. I would say more of books When I was little, my mom used to always read us science fiction, and I think that it did a great service to me in developing my imagination. I think sci-fi actors have to have a very vivid imagination. Playing River was difficult because I don’t know what it's like to be a psychic and I don't know what it's like to be a government experiment and live on a spaceship and fly around in space. You have to really go there as an actor, and it's not as easy as playing someone that might be your friend or someone that might be your sister."
Ah, so she's "being herself" as a robot whereas her super human cover is a program that she only initiated to fool him. I guess I'll take it.
TiVo Queen | Feb 8, 2008 3:45:57 PM | #So they changed their minds after the pilot. I love her so much, I'll give it to them. She's the reason to watch the show, not the much hyped Lena Headey.
tv | Feb 9, 2008 9:08:32 PM | #I hope they don't take too long to bring her back to where she was in the pilot. She was cute in her robotishness in the first school episode, but by the next episode some of the schtick was already getting a bit old.
Alex | Feb 11, 2008 4:57:15 AM | #River would kicked Cameron's booty!!!
Danielle | Feb 11, 2008 11:38:02 AM | #I've never seen Firefly but I love her character on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Patty | Feb 11, 2008 3:31:01 PM | #I watched "Firefly" and "Serenity", and it took Summer a while to get comfortable in that role, too.
I think we're willing to forgive Summer more for early character hiccups than Lena in this series because Cameron is a new character, whereas Sarah Connor is a firmly-established entity thanks to Linda Hamilton's excellent work. The older LH left big shoes for the newer LH to fill. I'm willing to let the cast settle into their roles before I pronounce judgment on anyone. I'm glad at least that Thomas Dekker seems less annoying than Edward Furlong.
Henry | Feb 11, 2008 6:45:19 PM | #I only watch the show for Summer, too.
Walter | Feb 12, 2008 12:45:37 PM | #Cameron would wipe the floor with river!
Dominique | Feb 13, 2008 5:37:05 PM | #her nieve robotic personal - yeah it is getting old. it was silly to change that up. than again, if she does start to appear more human early in the series, we would have to worry about a potential romance between her and john, and thats too soon. Oh and I watch for Lena Headey.
Laura | Feb 14, 2008 5:34:16 PM | #I think Cameron's robot-like persona is absolutely hysterical. And with the school psychiatrist? We were in stitches! It's a large reason why I enjoy the show.
Jenn | Feb 16, 2008 7:52:12 PM | #I agree, I think that the robotic persona is really well done. She's not as robotic as Arnold, and if you didn't know any better sometimes you can't even tell she's a robot. It can be a good comic tool, or it can be scary, like when she coldly walked out of the room when the two russians were getting killed.
Dan | Feb 26, 2008 5:45:07 AM | #I agree, I think that the robotic persona is really well done. She's not as robotic as Arnold, and if you didn't know any better sometimes you can't even tell she's a robot. It can be a good comic tool, or it can be scary, like when she coldly walked out of the room when the two russians were getting killed.
Dan | Feb 26, 2008 5:45:15 AM | #the cute girl that that helps john isa pornstar, because i saw her with a hot girl as lisbian
| Mar 1, 2008 8:09:49 AM | #This show is such a disapointment. The producers were given a story line gift - and they blew it. Yes, you have to suspend logic when wactching si-fi, this goes to far. Take the robot to the ohprah winfey show and be done with it. The acting is horrible, and the shows are disjointed - what a waste
mviewer | Mar 3, 2008 9:00:27 PM | #here, in Brazil, cameron (summer) is a total sucess...we love her...she is astonishing!
Motta | Apr 19, 2009 5:39:28 PM | #trevor stewart love you yes summer glau (506)356=3814
trevor stewart | Apr 30, 2009 11:35:52 AM | #hi haow are you
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