Hollywood Goes Gaming:

Grace Park of Battlestar Galactica and Command & Conquer

Legions of gamers know Grace Park as Sharon Valerii, or Number Eight, from the Sci-Fi Channel"s Battlestar Galactica TV series. Park jumped from one science fiction universe to another in the new Electronic Arts videogame, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™. In this real-time strategy game, Park plays Lt. Sandra Telfair in the game's full-motion video sequences that bridge the in-game single player action. Park said her first interactive experience was a lot of fun.

Park plays Lt. Sandra Telfair in Command & Conquer 3.

To Command and Conquer
"It was one very intense day of full-on GDI in the world of Tiberium Wars," said Park. "Pretty much most of my day was interacting with the camera. Other than that, I worked with Michael Ironside, who played General Jack Ranger. It was different because, for the most part, we were speaking to the camera rather than avoiding the camera or speaking to other actors. But for some reason it went really smooth."

Park said it was much simpler doing the green screen for Command & Conquer because she was mostly addressing a TV screen that they filled in later on with CGI. On Battlestar Galactica, the actors are inside a spaceship, inside the world of the green screen.

"It's pretty strange working with green screen," said Park. "Sometimes it's nice to know who you're doing beforehand. You don't know what it's going to look like. Later on, you're like, 'That looks so much better than what I imagined.' Now I know why I'm an actor and not doing special effects."

Inside the Game World
Park said she approached her character, Sandra Telfair, as a person, by figuring out her values, what motivates her in life, who she's interacting with, and what she thinks of them. She said it didn't feel any different than the preparation she does for a film or TV show. But it was a different experience actually seeing herself in a videogame for the first time.

I'm not much of a gamer lately, but seeing what
the graphics and special effects look like is amazing.
There's so much depth to games now.
—Grace Park

"I just saw a clip of the game," said Park. "What always throws me off is when they show a scene from the game. It's like, 'Whoa, that's not real life.' With enough clips of seeing the other actors and seeing the story evolve, pretty quickly you just fall into that world and just believe the battle scenes. It's weird because I guess I expected everything to look like a movie, but I forgot it was a game and you have to interact with it."

When it comes to what the Xbox 360™ can do with games today, like Command & Conquer 3, Park said it totally blows her mind.

"I'm not much of a gamer lately, but seeing what the graphics and special effects look like is amazing," said Park. "There's so much depth to games now. I've been watching the DVD extras and some of the making-of, so I haven't played the game yet. But when I get to play the game, I think how the game adapts to your playing style will be mind-blowing."

When not watching actors like Park, you can always play the game.

Battlestar Galactica on Xbox LIVE® Arcade
Xbox gamers who enjoyed Vivendi Games' 2003 Battlestar Galactica™ will soon get an exclusive Xbox 360 game on Xbox LIVE Arcade that offers single-player and online multiplayer action between the Cylons and the Colonial Fleet.

"I think the Battlestar world is so complex that I'd love the Command & Conquer people to do a game," said Park, when told about the Xbox LIVE Arcade game. "I think there's so much going on that it's more than just shooting people. I like that in Command & Conquer you can get into the psychology on each side."

Series creator Ron Moore has said he'd love to see a full-on next generation game and Park concurs.

"I think if they're going to do a full game, I'm really excited to see what they would do with that," said Park. "There are so many avenues to go down. There's a lot of adventure there."

Article by John Gaudiosi