BEHIND-THE-SCENES:
KATE MULGREW

Beam here for Behind-the-scenes Sources & Standard Abbreviations.

Source: STN

KATE'S FATE: WINNING THE ROLE OF CAPTAIN

Mulgrew grew up the second oldest of eight children in Dubuque, Iowa. Her father was a road and bridge contractor, her mother was a painter. She decided she wanted to be an actress at the age of 12. She left home at the age of 17 to live in New York where she put her training in the hands of Stella Adler. She left New York University in her junior year to commit to acting and immediately won the role of Mary Ryan in the ABC soap Ryan's Hope and was simultaneously cast as Emily in the Shakespeare Festival's production of Our Town. Mulgrew gained extensive stage and screen experience in television, films and regional theatre. She won the Tracey Humanitarian Award for her portrayal of an alcoholic anchorwoman on Murphy Brown. And then along came Star Trek: Voyager Although there were eight other continuing roles to cast, that of the captain was ultimately filled last, and after principal photography had started. There was enormous pressure to find the right person to follow in the footsteps of Kirk, Picard and Sisko, and Rick Berman, executive producer, and all of Paramount Pictures and the fans knew that if the wrong person was cast the entire franchise could be jeopardised.

Source: NV

RICK BERMAN (excerpt): There are many actors who are wonderful actors. Gifted actors. But to play a Starfleet oficer in the 24th century is very difficult for them. They've got a very American 20th century quality about them. They'll have a regional quality about them, or a Southern accent, or they'll have a New York accent or a Chicago accent. One of the first things that destroy futurist science-fiction for me is when you see actors who are OBVIOUSLY people from the 1990s America. ..... Michael [Piller], Jeri [Taylor] and I felt that unless somebody had a really strong negative feeling we were open to pretty much anybody that would attract two of us. The only people we had to convince were one or two of the Paramount executives [Kerry McCluggage and Tom Mazza]. They wanted...they were maybe more interested than we were in a "name"......a "babe", in an attractive sexy woman.

Rick Berman. Source STN.

Michael Piller. Source: startrek.com.

MICHAEL PILLER: The available pool of talent who are willing to commit to do a series that's probably going to run for seven years is not as deep as you might think. There are a lot of wonderful actors and actresses who don't want to do episodic television for seven years. Every available actress for this part was read or spoken with. Everywhere. Anybody. We could not find somebody that all of us agreed on.

Eventually two captain candidates emerged whom all three executive producers had good feelings about. One was Susan Gibney who had guest-starred in and and about whom Rick Berman was particularly enthusiastic - he put her in make-up and a Starfleet uniform and filmed her on the bridge in a scene with Tim Russ (Tuvok) and Roxann Dawson (Torres), but the Studio remained unimpressed. About this time Mulgrew read for the role. Her career credentials were excellent, she was a veteran of theatre, film and, importantly, episodic television. She also had a reputation for being a hard-working professional, never late, easy to get on with, and well thought of by fellow actors and by production crews alike. Voyager's producers also liked her but due to the Studio's resistance to their suggestions so far they continued to search.

Susan Gibney guest-starred as Dr Leah Brahms in [TNG Booby Trap] and [TNG Galaxy's Child], and as Captain Benteen (above) in [DS9 Homefront] and [DS9 Paradise Lost].

Geneviève Bujold.  Source: the Web. To follow: I cannot yet find the picture of Bujold as Nicole Janeway which I have somewhere.

Then Geneviève Bujold, the Academy Award-winning actress, was suggested for the role of captain and won the role without even reading a scene. But Rick Berman was unenthusiastic. RICK BERMAN: I immediately sensed this wasn't a person who was the slightest bit ready to live through the drudgery of episodic television. It's a vastly different world from features. So I sat her down and said: "I want to play a major devil's advocate here to you." I explained to her in painful detail what a nightmare episodic television is: up at 5 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, working till 1.00 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. Almost no rehearsal time. Instead of doing one or two pages of script a day like in features, she'd be doing seven or eight. Never knowing her directors, and working with them whether she liked them or not. I painted as dismal a picture as I could....even worse than it actually is. She called me first thing Monday morning and she said, "Reek, Reek, I have an answer for you. And the answer is Oui." .... And I still didn't buy it. I still said this ain't gonna work.

Behind-the-scenes: The first captain (Geneviève) Bujold

Despite misgivings, Bujold's request to change the captain's first name to Nicole (Bujold's own birth name) was granted, even though the O.J. Simpson trial was in the News whose wife's name had been Nicole. Bujold was also reluctant to meet the Press and the fans' keen interest, and for a Star Trek actor this kind of exposure is part of the job. Everyone involved in production, cast and stage crew alike, became uneasy as rumours about Bujold abounded, with none knowing what was true or not: that she was standoffish and did not mix with anyone on or off the set, refused to have photographers on the set, refused to do publicity interviews, did not like sitting through make-up. Bujold's first scene to be filmed was scheduled to take place on the bridge. Bujold arrived at 9 a.m., director Winrich Kolbe welcomed her, and she distributed a red rose to each of the crew. The script required Bujold to walk across the bridge, sit in the captain's chair and order, "Engage." and thereby launch Voyager for the first time on screen out into the first adventure of the series. But Kolbe shot take after take (at least fifteen), seeking the personal energy and "I am the boss" impression he wanted from Bujold. He felt her performance was much too hesitant. They discussed it, rehearsed it again. Time was passing and already the day's shoot was well behind. Eventually Kolbe gave up trying to change Bujold. At one point Bujold said to Kolbe, loud enough for all to hear, "I don't think I'm right for this." and later they discussed it at length in her trailer.

WINRICH KOLBE: She told me it wasn't right, that she wasn't right for it, it took her nine years to get used to one director and now she had to stare down the barrrel of oncoming directors every other week.
And I said: "I've always had great repect for you. I love you as an actress. I think you have it inside you to give us the strength that I want."
She said, "No, I want to be a scientist." [Janeway's character background includes the fact that she is a scientist]
I said, "Yes, that is a part of your profession but you are also the Starfleet cpatain."
"I cannot be the Starfleet captain, I don't have that strength."

Bujold decided she wanted to quit. Kolbe shot scenes that did not involve the captain while the search resumed, and "Nicole" reverted to "Kathryn (Janeway). Paramount felt Susan Gibney was too young and cut her from the list of finalists. Mulgrew was called in for a second reading, and won the role from the list of four finalists.

KATE MULGREW: I was aware at the beginning of not just trying to define Janeway, but trying to keep all of us working. Paramount was taking a risk with me. [Despite early attempts by the producers to tweak Janeway's character] my voice, my hair, my walk, my freckles....I've just gone about the business of being myself, taking my presence and doing it from the hip. I've looked for what's unique in Janeway, her flaws and her virtues. ....I'm aware of Janeway not only being a role model but a woman full of integrity. In this TV culture, women are starving for something to share with their young girls.

It is worth remembering Rick Berman's description of the long hours and drudgery of working in episodic television. These was the gruelling experience for the next seven years for Mulgrew and the rest of the ensemble cast and production staff. Mulgrew's professionalism is well-known, which extends to Voyager-related activities outside the film studio. For example, when she did the soundbites for the computer game Elite Force she arrived with the script fully prepared, and made not a single mistake.

In her private life (and it seems she can have had little time for that while working long hours), Mulgrew married second husband senator Tim Hagan, a former Cuyahoga County, Ohio, commisioner in April 1999. She divides her time between his Cleveland home and Los Angeles where she resides with her two teenage sons from her previous marriage, Ian and Alexander.

KATE MULGREW (interview A): I needed this job and I love this job. But I have to be very vigilant now about my boys and how they are reacting.

KATE MULGREW (interview B): I'm unbelievably happy, and I thought I was very happy before. Tim and I got married on the 19th of April in Sanibel, Florida. I met him six years ago in Ireland through my mother, and we actually fell in love then, but it couldn't work out because he was the commissioner of Cuyahoga County and then I got Star Trek. Everything conspired against us, but we met again in July, and that was that. I think that he's exceptionally gifted - certainly if you saw his work in Cleveland, you would see what he's done for that city. He's just remarkable, very deep, very fine. Next, from ST Monthly I'm fascinated by his work. It's a world that I'm slightly familiar with, since my father was a politician when I was young, but I think that my husband's global knowledge is really intriguing. It's like learning an entirely new language, and I have the best possible mentor in him. If I thought the world of entertainment was intriguing, it's nothing compared to the world of politics! So he's keeping me entranced. More than a politico, my husband is a public servant, and he has a lion's heart, so he's trying to teach me diplomacy in the best possible way, which is a lesson I think I need to learn.

KATE MULGREW (interview C): You've no idea the scrutiny I was under. I had suits just staring at me every day - can she deliver? Does she have any natural authority? I spent the first two seasons establishing command, and I think I sacrificed what is very becoming to me as a person, and as an actress, which is my humour, my humanity, my levity, my depth. It took me a long time to get my sea legs, because of the pressure that I felt I was under: 'Can I get this command thing to the point where everybody will be satisfied and comfortable?'

MULGREW (continuing interview A) about the rest of the Voyager cast: There's this thing that happens when you're in the trenches. The thing that develops is love: the laughter, the sadness, the sharing of our daily and creative lives. It's a great mystery. We've shared a kind of intimacy that's rare in this business.