Katee Sackhoff on “Longmire”
By Abbie Bernstein
In LONGMIRE, A&E’s new Sunday night drama series based on Craig Johnson’s novels, Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) is the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, where he and his small staff are the only law for miles upon miles of prairie. Although this sounds like the premise of many a classic Western.
LONGMIRE is set in the present. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone and everything in Absoroka has caught up to the twenty-first century.
Katee Sackhoff plays Deputy Victoria “Vic” Moretti, who gave up a career as Philadelphia police detective to follow her husband to Wyoming and ends up solving crime on the open range. Though this is Sackhoff’s first gig as a law officer of the New West, TV viewers are used to seeing her playing authoritative characters handling weapons. The actress, who originally hails from Portland, Oregon, won enduring science-fiction fame as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA’s heroic Kara “Starbuck” Thrace. More recently, Sackhoff played a femme fatale attached to the counter-terrorism unit in the final season of 24, had an arc on CSI and appeared as herself on an episode of THE BIG BANG THEORY. Sackhoff also stars alongside Vin Diesel in the currently untitled but already-wrapped sequel to THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK.
Sackhoff has just finished doing a Q&A panel at the Television Critics Association press tour for LONGMIRE alongside fellow actors Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips and Bailey Chase, executive producer/show runner Greer Shephard and executive producer/writers Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. However, the actress kindly remains available to answer some additional questions.
For starters, between BATTLESTAR, 24 and LONGMIRE, does Sackhoff think that casting directors peg her as someone who exudes authority? Sackhoff says she believes it may be more her own inclination when it comes to roles. “I think it’s that I’m so I guess un-authoritative in real life that it’s something that I guess I’m just drawn to. I don’t know. I say that in movies, they always want me to be the hooker, but in TV, they want me to be a police officer,” she laughs. “I don’t know where this came from. [In one film], I had bright fake pink nails and bright red hair and I was in clothes that were barely there, and I was like,” she emits a fake sob at the thought of her overall look. “So in my films, I play very different roles. [The character Dahl in] RIDDICK is the first tough character I’ve played in a film, but in television, I get to play more. It’s fun. I enjoy it. I would rather go to work and kick some ass and have the guns and get to do the stunts at work on a daily basis, because that makes a TV show more fun.”
Sackhoff says that playing Vic gives her a lot to do as an actress. “It’s the reason why I went in to audition for this role. I walked out of that room and I called my manager and my agents and I said, ‘I don’t care what you have to do, I have to do this role.’ Because of these people.” She indicates the LONGMIRE producers who are still in the room. “I love them.”
LONGMIRE, Sackhoff continues, represented liberation for her on both the physical and figurative levels. “I think the last two pilots I had done were on network [as opposed to LONGMIRE, which is on A&E cable], and I felt so stifled and so punched in a box I don’t fit in.”
The makers of LONGMIRE provided the opposite of that experience. Sackhoff says she was told, “‘Freedom, just find this character and be this character. You are this character. Have fun.’ It was like, ‘I’m so home.’” For the producers/writers, she adds, “Thank you so much.”
So what is Vic like as a character? “One of the things that I was so drawn to about this woman,” Sackhoff explains, “and this is backstory in the books, she moves for her husband, which I think is a common thread for a lot of women. Not that I’m married, but I’m just going to go out on a limb here - I think we as women tend to let men make a lot of the decisions, and I think that she followed her husband to this place. And then he left and he’s working and she’s home. And she’s like, ‘I used to be a homicide detective, and you brought me here, and now what do I do? Okay, I have to make this work for me.’ And so she goes and she gets a job. She moved to Wyoming with her husband, but these people [at the sheriff's department] become her family. I loved that this is about, you move to Wyoming with a man you think is your family, and then you find your family by accident. I just really, really liked that.”
Something else Sackhoff likes about her character is that she gets the chance to lighten up as an actress. “She’s strong, but she’s giddy. I think for the first time [on a TV series], I actually got to laugh. I think I might have even giggled. So I think she’s the closest to myself that I’ve ever played, and that excited me, too. It was just fun.”
Even so, Sackhoff adds that she could never be a real-life law officer. “Not at all. I am way too wimpy. I am such a baby, I am way too needy, I am way too much of a whiner. It would never happen.”
However, there are certain sorts of emergencies where Sackhoff says she’s confident she could rise to the channel. “I am convinced that I could fly a plane. I don’t want to, I’m scared of flying, but in the event that a plane was going down, I think that I could be that person, and I think I would accidentally raise my hand, and they’d be like, ‘Do we have a pilot?’ And I’d be like, ‘Oh, totally, me. I could do this - keep it level, right? How hard is it? Just talk me through it, it’ll be fine.’” Sackhoff laughs at the scenario. “I get reminded every once in a while. [BATTLESTAR costar] Tricia Helfer’s tougher than I am. It’s not good. I have this like crazy syndrome in my head that makes me think that I’m actually these characters, and I’m really not.”
Vic has a different energy than the Wyoming-based characters, Sackhoff notes. “I had wanted her to be at a different pace than everyone else. She’s kind of like, ‘Come on, guys, is everyone on break? We don’t break in Philadelphia. We don’t get a break. There’s no crying in baseball. Let’s do this.’ And so I did want that to resonate.”
Most of Sackhoff’s previous acting work has been on soundstages. LONGMIRE uses New Mexico to double for Wyoming, but its wide open plains are the real thing - as is its snow. “I love being outside,” Sackhoff says. “Of course, it’s kind of nice to not be in a flight suit.” Then Sackhoff points out an intriguing similarity between LONGMIRE and BATTLESTAR. “It’s the same thing that’s very interesting, like what drew me to BATTLESTAR, is the people being confined in the small space. This is people in a huge space, but having this small-town mentality where everyone still knows each other. It’s a big space, but it’s a small space.. I love it. It’s so beautiful in Santa Fe.”
On the other hand, when it looks cold on screen, it’s cold on the real-life outdoor location. “It’s freezing,” Sackhoff confirms. “Let’s be honest. My little butt was shaking the entire time. I think I lost weight while I was there. The scene we were shooting with the hair dryer - my character has to melt [snow covering] that entire field to try and find one slug with a hair dryer. And so she’s on her knees, freezing. And so I’m shivering, trying to work. And we only did [the take] twice, because I was like, ‘This may be the best acting of my life, because I want to get home and have a drink.’ I was like,” laughing, she does an impression of someone speaking through chattering teeth, “‘Are we good, we got it?’”
Sackhoff is so work-oriented that she says she’s working on developing hobbies. “I think I’m trying to create my own traditions. One of the things I started doing was collecting records, because I don’t really have hobbies. My hobby is my job and on days when I’m not doing my hobby, or my job, I’m at a loss. And so I don’t want to be that person that sits alone in a room and doesn’t know what to do with themselves when they’re bored.”
Another project Sackhoff embarked on several years ago was teaming up with Helfer to make a documentary about female motorcyclists. “Tricia and I formed a company called the Acting Outlaws, and every year, our goal is to do a different ride for charity. I think it was a bit ambitious - I think we’re going every third year now. And the goal ultimately would be to be advocates for female riders and clothing lines and all that fun stuff. [Motorcycles are] a passion for Tricia and I, and I’m looking for something to do with my life when the business thinks I’m too old.”
Right now, Sackhoff is refraining from motorcycle riding. “I have a Harley-Davidson, but I hurt my back, so I haven’t been on it for six months.” There’s another reason, she adds. “It’s in the contract that you really shouldn’t ride. They know I do, I just don’t want to rub it in their faces, just be as safe as possible.”
Something one would never guess from looking at Sackhoff’s slim frame is that she has had to battle with food. “I think that people around me would say that I do make very good [food] decisions,” Sackhoff reveals, “but up until a couple years ago, I was a compulsive overeater. I binged all the time. I was really bad at it, and I would go to the gym for six hours the next day. And that’s the way that I managed it. I stopped. I made a very big life decision for myself, and I did what was best for me and it scared the shit out of me, and I did what was best for me for the first time in my life and I just stopped. It’s very hard and I have to be very diligent.”
Certain strategies have to be adopted to avoid temptations on sets, Sackhoff relates. “If I know that craft [service] is here, I would bypass it all day long. I’d go totally around it. Because once I start eating candy or things that are bad for me, I can’t stop. And I know that about myself. So I try to avoid it. I can’t have cereal in my house. I mean, if I have milk and Cap’n Crunch in my house, I would eat the entire thing on a Saturday morning. So I just tried to start forgiving myself. I got into my thirties and was like, ‘I don’t give a shit, I’m never going to be a Size Two. This is the best me that I can be - stop not loving yourself.’ And it’s hard. Therapy helps. It’s nice to have real people around me. It’s hard, though. I grew up in a family where we loved vegetables. So I eat peppers like I’d eat an apple, and I eat tomatoes that way. So I do have a taste for good food.”
Where does Sackhoff think Vic will go as a character this season? “I’m really curious. Because I know that there was an idea to have her go off with Walt, I know they kind of thought she would go off with Branch [Bailey Chase]. I’m kind of hoping that it’s me and the Ferg [Adam Bartley] in a field.for the entire season, because Adam Bartley is one of the most beautiful finds that I’ve ever seen in this business. He is completely unmolded - he’s just this green kid who came in and steals the pilot. He’s a better actor than all of us. He’s amazing. And he doesn’t even know he’s being sweet, he doesn’t know he’s being funny - he just is that guy. And he’s amazing.”
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Sackhoff’s parents are understandably proud of her work, although, Sackhoff notes, “I think they were really excited, but I think what happens is what always happens. I think that the fun of it wore off and now it’s just my job, which is what it is with me, but my dad’s a builder, and I remember the first time he went on set and saw a whole house built on a stage, and he was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ He was going around kicking [set walls]. He was like, ‘I don’t understand - is there a foundation?’ It was one of the best moments of my life, I loved it. That’s the fun about doing this, is giving your parents that fun stuff.”
Before she leaves, Sackhoff would like to cite another similarity between BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and LONGMIRE. “Everyone talks about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and it’s lightning in a bottle. The thing that I haven’t had until BATTLESTAR, and then I haven’t had after BATTLESTAR is this family camaraderie.” On LONGMIRE, “As soon as we all flew [to New Mexico] - everyone was on the plane but Robert - we were family before we got off the plane. And then we met Robert and he folded in, and every single one of us loves each other, and that’s no bullshit. We’ve been hanging out all the time. We just love each other and that’s what keeps a show on the air - that, good writing, good producers and a network behind you, and we have all those elements.”
By Abbie Bernstien Buzzy Mag Entertainment Reporter
