all things james callis

James Callis Battlestar Galactica
2003-08 Battlestar Galactica.
Miniseries
Season 1, 2, 3 and 4 (plus small cameo in 'Razor')
James played the brilliant, sexy, multi-faceted and yet weak and narcissistic character, Dr Gaius Baltar, who may or may not have played a part in sending humanity into nuclear oblivion. The charismatic and self-preserving Gaius travels a galactic roller-coaster of faith, belief, guilt and redemption over the course of the five seasons.

Also in the cast are the always excellent Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, Michael Hogan and Aaron Douglas.

Battlestar Galactica...well, it's just brilliant. The most excellent thing. Storytelling at its peak (apart from a few dud eps and the slightly disappointing finale). Despite the very minor flaws, everyone should watch it. It should be frakkin' mandatory!

James Callis 'Helen of Troy'
2003. James takes the role of Prince Menelaus, King Agamemnon's brother in 'Helen of Troy'. Rufus Sewell plays the 'teetering on the edge of madness' Agamemnon, while James plays his wiser, slighter, and ultimately more pragmatic younger brother. Both of these warlike Spartan brothers are in love with Helen, and Menelaus, through a quirk of the Gods, is the one who marries her before losing her to Paris (of Troy).

James Callis 'Dead Cool'
2004. James plays Josh, an immigration rights lawyer and dream of a husband, who is father to two young sons, in the British film ‘Dead Cool’. In a rather strange film that's an uneasy and unsuccessful mix of black comedy and tragedy, Josh gets run down by a bus, has his organs given away by his wife (who, rather strangely, has no understanding of Jewish cultural and religious practices), and gets to haunt his older son, for better or worse...mostly worse.

I don't think this film could make up its mind to be a 'coming of age' story, or a ghost story, or the story of the blending of two dysfunctional families. The real tragedy is, James is so bloody lovely in this film, it's worth tracking it down just for his awesome loveliness -- oh, and also the rather wonderful Liz Smith, who tends to steal every Jamesless scene she appears in, playing a rather stellar granny.

James Callis Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
2004. James reprises his role of Bridget's gay friend Tom in 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'.

James Callis One Night with the King
2005. ‘One Night with the King’. Yaaaay! James gets to play the psychopath! As you can see from the images, James is very intense in this role. He's all broody and dark, with wild hair and opulent turbans, and there are many gorgeous lingering shots of those wonderful eyes. 'One Night with the King' is the retelling of the biblical 'Story of Esther'. The film explains why Purim is a time of celebration in Jewish households to this day. James plays the role of the courtier, Hamen, whose intrigues and plottings are responsible for placing the Jewish people in peril.

Aside from the wonderful James, ONWTK is a very slow and plodding affair. Where did they find this awful director? Apart from a few interesting camera angles, the direction is very pedestrian. The characters remain two dimensional and the overall story is a bit bland. The dialogue is also disappointing. And, another major peeve is that Peter O'Toole gets top billing for a wobbly two-minute cameo. Good one, Pete!

James Callis Book of Beasts
2009. James is cast as Merlin in the Sci Fi (Sy Fy) television movie, ‘Book of Beasts’. James plays a crusty and very curmudgeonly Merlin, with a growly Welsh accent. He's shy, and grumbly, and very reclusive, but underneath you just know he has a heart of wizardly gold.

'Book of Beasts' is nicely directed (some lovely moving camera shots and imaginative set-ups) and has some lovely cinematography (some visually stunning set pieces in the Vancouver woods). But, ultimately, this is a Sci-Fi TV movie (which is budget tv on a second-hand shoe-string) and no end of prettiness, or growly acting is going to save it. The cast does well with this pedestrian tale which really holds no surprises. The expositionary dialogue takes the viewer from A to B to C in the right order (unfortunately), but the evil Mordred's psychotic motivations are never really explained, or explored, and Merlin's past life is only mentioned in passing. Pity, as this film could've had a lot more intelligence and heart to cover for its lack of budget, but this film remains Merlin-Lite.

And, the plot device of having everyone carried away by giant eagles because you need to get a move on to the finale, well, I won't go there -- (unless a giant eagle carries me).

James Callis Pilot of the proposed 'Meet Pursuit Delange'
James Callis Film? of the proposed 'Meet Pursuit Delange'

James Callis Numb3rs Season Five Finale (S5.23) 'Angels and Devils'
2009. James plays a charismatic and sociopathic cult leader in the Numb3rs season five finale. Mason Duryea is a brilliant, self-educated, and ultimately self-deluded man out to make his social-revolutionary mark in the world (he wants his own t-shirts and he's willing to kill to get them). After leaving prison, he founds a quasi-tribal love-cult, and, surrounded by his beautiful, willing and expedandable ladies, plots his own unique brand of anarchy. A really enjoyable episode of Numb3rs. Well directed, nicely written (Is a coyote insane because it eats your poodle?), and James gets a great showcase to play his psychotic side (mostly via those beautiful eyes of his) with a pretty convincing growly Okhlahoma(n) accent.

James Callis Re-Uniting the Rubins
2009. James has taken the role of Danny Rubin in the British comedy 'Re-uniting the Rubins'. The film is the story of a death-bed wish to re-unite a very dysfunctional, very disparate Jewish family. Also starring are the wonderful Timothy Spall, and the wonderful Honor Blackman.

(This film is now in post-production. *dances*)