Dominic Zamprogna Interview
By: Marcel Damen
Date: August 18, 2008
Source: Galactica.tv
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with DOMINIC ZAMPROGNA where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
You only appeared in one episode at the beginning of the first season of Battlestar Galactica and returned in the second season. Was this because you suddenly had to work on Edgemont again?
No, I think I was done with Edgemont at that time. I think I had just finished Edgemont. That’s just the way they wrote it. There was no… to my knowledge anyway. I was working, doing other things. And who knows, maybe they approached about availability and it wasn’t there. I have no idea. But that’s not anything I’m aware of. But I just did that first episode. And like I said, they didn’t sign me to a contract or anything when I did that. They just said it’s a guest star, possible reoccurring; and we’ll see what happens. A lot of shows do that and sometimes they never pan out, like you could never come back. It was kind of nice that they brought me back in that second season. Again after the second season, I didn’t know what was going to happen with my character either. So they didn’t really tell me anything until the third season and they brought me back on. I was supposed to die sooner than I did. And I think Aaron Douglas put in a word for me and said, “Jammer shouldn’t die yet.” So they let me live a few episodes longer which is kind of cool because it was fun.
In “Flight of the Phoenix,” Jammer makes fun of Chief for wasting time to put together the Blackbird ship. Later on, he helps Chief work on it. Did he come to realize the importance of building the ship in that it allowed the crew to succeed at something?
That was a while ago (pauses). I’m just going back in my head. I’m just kind of reliving that stuff. I should have watched the episodes first. Refresh my memory. I think that’s fair to say. It was kind of a weird time on the show if I remember. In the storyline there was a lot of uneasiness and unsureness. I’m not sure if I had started doubting him at that point or not, as far as thinking him as a Cylon and stuff like that which is kind of funny; because he was a Cylon. I was right all along. But I think that was it too. Plus it was a little less than that. I think Jammer looked up to the Chief the whole time. I always looked at Jammer as being a really sheepish kind of character and not really knowing who to trust. I think he was a jealous kind of character. I think he wanted more and probably more attention. And I think he probably wanted more from Cally. It was always kind of strange that there was this beautiful girl that he was always with, all the deckhands were with, that he never kind of got with. Plus I really like Nicki [Clyne] as a person so I always wanted to do more scenes with Nicki. She was cool. But that whole ship building thing that was just a realization that this is your friend building something. This is your friend doing something. This is a superior and a person you respect. It’s almost like you dis things because you don’t think it’s going to end up working out. But when you see it working out, then you realize… You feel bad. From my point of view, from what he did, it’s like damn Jammer should be way cooler about this to Chief. For me as an actor, that’s what prompted me to do it. I should be helping my friend. Plus, I like Aaron, too. He’s a wicked guy.