Colm Meaney on Star Trek, Hell on Wheels, and Why Guinness Is Better in Dublin
Plus he shares a great story about making ‘Die Hard 2.’
With Colm Meaney’s new movie Pixie now in select theaters, on Digital and On Demand, I recently landed an extended interview with the busy actor. If you’re not familiar with director Barnaby Thompson’s Pixie, it’s a crime story set in Ireland about a girl named Pixie (Olivia Cooke) that’s forced to team up with a pair of misfits (Ben Hardy and Daryl McCormack) after a heist goes wrong. The film also stars Meaney as her gangster stepfather and Alec Baldwin as a criminal priest.
During my wide-ranging interview with Meaney, he talked about making Pixie, getting to work with Alec Baldwin, how the film is fast-moving and violent, what it was like making Hell on Wheels, how a one day shoot on Die Hard 2 turned into six weeks, why Guinness tastes better in Dublin, what it was like making Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, why he never wanted to direct an episode, his favorite Star Trek storyline, why saying the technobabble was always difficult, what it’s like being part of a series people want to talk about twenty years after it ended, and much more.
Trust me, if you’re a fan of Colm Meaney you’re going to enjoy watching this conversation. Check out what he had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Colm Meaney:
- What TV series would he like to guest star on?
- What movie or movies has seen the most?
- What props or costumes has he “borrowed” from set?
- When did he feel like he made it as a working actor?
- What was it like making Hell on Wheels?
- Shares a fun story about doing an action scene on the series.
- When he got asked to do a few episodes of Stargate Atlantis did he feel like he was cheating?
- How he was never a big science fiction fan growing up but he came around to it from his time on Star Trek due to the storylines they covered.
- Far and Away deleted scenes.
- What was it like playing the pilot in Die Hard 2 and was it a day of shooting?
- How his one day of shooting turned into six weeks.
- What did he do in Dick Tracy?
- Why does Guinness taste so much better in Dublin?
- What was it about the Pixie script that made him want to do it?
- How the film shows his character with his family and also doing the business.
- How the movie starts fast and features some violence.
- What was it like working with Alec Baldwin?
- What does it mean to him to be in 225 episodes of Star Trek?
- What is it like being part of a show that people still want to talk about 20 years later?
- Was he ever nervous DS9 would be cancelled?
- What was it like behind-the-scenes making TNG and DS9?
- Did he ever consider directing an episode of Star Trek?
- Talks about why he doesn’t understand why a lot of actors want to direct.
- How you have to hit a certain number of pages a day when filming.
- Did he ever ask the writers of DS9 why they always tortured his character?
- How often is he challenged to a game of darts?
- Would he ever consider playing Miles O’Brien again?
- His thoughts on the Lower Decks episode that calls O’Brien the most important man in Starfleet history.
- What was it like trying to make 26 Star Trek episodes a season?
- Did he have any favorite Star Trek storylines?
- What was it like working with Alexander Siddig?
- What was really tough to pull off making Star Trek?
- How technobabble was always a pain to say.
- How often did the script pages change?
- Did he watch the show as it aired?
- What drew him to living in Spain?
- Are theater audiences different depending on where he is performing and time of day?
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