Aaron Douglas on ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘The Killing’
By: Maggie Asfahani Hajj
Date: April 24, 2013
Source: What’s Up : Entertainment and lifestyle news for El Paso, Las Cruces and Juarez

 

In-demand actor Aaron Douglas currently is best known for playing The Chief on “Battlestar Galactica,” but with his new Netflix-only series “Hemlock Grove,” things are bound to change. What’s Up chats with Aaron ahead of his visit to the Sun City Scifi convention and picks his brain about human nature, hockey and what keeps him up late at night.

 

So what are you working on that’s keeping you so busy these days?

I’m doing season three of “The Killing,” and I’m doing a videogame for Ubisoft called “Watchdogs,” which takes me out to Montreal once a month for a little bit, so there’s a lot of traveling involved. I’m doing a lot of press for “Hemlock Grove” (a Netflix exclusive series). Just meetings and developing and writing my own show and a movie.

 

A big part of your resume has been sci-fi stuff, but it seems like you’re moving in a different direction right now.

I haven’t thought about that. I don’t think it’s a conscious choice. I do live in Vancouver. Vancouver is where they shoot a lot of sci-fi stuff, but after “Battlestar Galactica,” my last few jobs have been in Toronto and Los Angeles, so there’s less of that shot there and more sort of standard fare. When I came back to Vancouver, it’s “The Killing,” which is definitely not a sci-fi show. I don’t care about the genre of the show; I just like it to be good stuff.

 

Do you do a lot of sci-fi conventions?

I do. I’ve been doing them since about 2006. I’ve been all around the world talking about “Battlestar Galactica” and the things that I’m doing and having a beer with some very cool and interesting people. I love doing them. I think they’re a lot of fun. Sci-fi fans are the best fans in the world. They’re intelligent and articulate and just fascinating, and they delve into the shows a lot more than I ever do, so I get really interesting questions and comments and perspectives that make it even more rewarding.

 

Sci-fi is just so universal. It shows you that all these themes are similar, whatever part of the galaxy you’re in.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the plains in Africa or the highest peaks in Peru or in outer space or at the bottom of the ocean. People are people, and how they deal with each other and how they interact with each other is what’s compelling and interesting, because everybody identifies with either a specific character or pieces of different characters. In every situation everybody has a different opinion. I think when you hit that on the nose, and get people caring about the characters, caring about what the situation is, that makes really great television. I literally got home from work last night and told my wife, “Let’s start a new show.” We have all these backups of shows we haven’t gotten to yet, and I said, “What’s this ‘Downton Abbey’ I keep hearing about?” And we watched the entire thing until 4 a.m. I just can’t stop. It was so compelling and so interesting and so amazing.

 

OK. Because you’re Canadian, we have to talk about hockey. Does every Canadian play hockey? Do they kick you out of Canada if you don’t?

Well, I’d like to think so. I ostracize as many friends as possible for not playing. (Laughs) No, we actually don’t.