To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Deep Space Nine, Starfest invited the lovely Nicole de Boer who graciously filled in for Amanda Tapping who had to pull out of the con to film the series finale for Supernatural. De Boer played Ezri Dax, the unwilling successor to Jadzia Dax, but you may also know her from The Dead Zone and the cult classic, The Cube.
Here are some of the highlights from her Q&A at Starfest 2013:
How Jeri Ryan Almost Cost Her the Part of Ezri
At the beginning of the Q&A, de Boer told the room about how she became Ezri Dax, and how, at her final audition, Jeri Ryan almost ruined it for her. Apparently, when she saw the buxom, lycra-clad Ryan, she thought that she had no chance at getting the part (“THIS IS WHAT THEY WANTED?” she cries in mock despair) because she looked nothing like the woman we Star Trek fans would come to know as 7 of 9. She then chugged her water, choked on it just before she went into the audition room, and had to stand in the bathroom coughing and trying to figure out how to escape.
Fortunately for her and her fans, the bathroom didn’t have a window for her to crawl out of and she did the audition anyway and landed the part.
Haven
There is good news for fans of Haven, and de Boer, of course. Explaining that her character, Marion Caldwell, the girl whose emotions affected the weather, “didn’t die in the first episode”. De Boer announced that she was returning to play the same character for the show. Indeed, filming will start up in the next few weeks.
Is Worf or Bashir the Best Kisser?
I am ashamed to admit that this was my question. But really, if she’s going to brag about how she finally got the Trekkie cred she always wanted by kissing Worf, it really needed to be asked, “Who’s the better kisser? Worf Or Bashir?”
According to de Boer, kissing Worf was no picnic, and the Klingon teeth descending on her was more than a little terrifying. Kissing Bashir, however, was even more awkward if only because they were half-naked in bed, and kept getting interrupted by their fellow actors. The first being Micheal Dorn (Worf), who ran in to yell at Bashir that he had better keep his hands off his women, and then Colm Meany (O’Brien), who did the same only to Ezri.
Blue Days on The Cube
De Boer recounted that on the set of cult classic, The Cube, the color would reflect the mood, and for some reason, blue days became the days the would sing 80s throwback tunes, with a heavy dose of “Tainted Love” thrown in.
Future for Ezri
De Boer made no bones about it. She wants there to be a new Star Trek series and wants it to be about Ezri captaining her own ship. This does actually happen in the DS9 relaunch series, where she switches to command and eventually becomes the Captain of the USS Aventine.
Meeting Shatner
Meeting Shatner for the first time? You probably don’t want to do it in the middle of an audition like de Boer did. Apparently, she hadn’t realized that Shatner was in the room until she swiveled in a chair to speak her lines… and then she noticed. It was Shatner! She then broke character in order to scream/inform him of who he was. Needless to say, she did not get the part.
Other Things Nicole Wanted to Be
At the top of the list is marine biologist, though this was largely because swimming with dolphins sounded cool. She even toyed with being a lawyer, seeing as when she bothered to go to class, she was pretty good at it.
She concluded her Q&A by saying that her thoughts on the matter changes every day. She respects the art of acting, and some days she will say there is nothing better than doing it, but other days she wonders if there isn’t something else she could do.
For now, though, fans shouldn’t worry. She’s still in the business of acting and we can look forward to seeing her return to Haven in the near future.
