         Gatecon 2003 Day Three, 9:00-9:45 am Corin Nemec Without further ado: ladies and gentlemen, Corin Nemec. Great night lastnight, wow. [referring to the auction] That was really really wonderful, I was glad to be a part of that. [walks around to wake himself up] I was hoping they could wheel me out on a gurney. At least I’d be laying down. Want CPR? Might need it. Anybody got a question? Anything you want to know, or a topic you want to talk about? Anybody out there? Is this a pre-recorded audience? I saw you in Bladesquad on your rollerblades and I saw you in Drop Zone parachuting. What kind of sports do you do in real life? Hm. As far as sports go, I enjoy whatever I’m playing at the time. Um, I go to the gym and I run, that’s about the extent of my sports. I go hiking, stuff like that that has to do with nature. But I’m not like a rock climber or parachutist or anything. There’s not really a thing that I strive to perfect in relationship to sports. But you know maybe someday. It’s getting later and later… What was your most challenging Stargate episode, if any? You know what, I’d have to say the most challenging episode was the very first episode, Meridian. And it was challenging for a couple reasons because I knew that how that episode went really was going to determine whether or not I was gonna be working on the show with everybody else. And that went both ways, how I enjoyed working on it, and how they enjoyed it. But the reason why – the outfit and the way I was styled in that episode, I really didn’t like. And I was uncomfortable, you know what I mean. So I just kind of shrugged it off like, well hey the guy’s from another planet. So when we did get the go-ahead for the next season, that’s when I did my own thing with the character. And got the character, I felt, a lot more casual and a lot more relatable, I suppose. Easier to look at. [Cheers] In fact, the wardrobe, I wish they’d had that lastnight to auction off. Boy, I’d like to see that taken far, far away. Especially if we had any Tibetans in the house. You could have bought that thing and taken it up to the Himalyans. But the strange thing was, it was kinda like wearing a corset. The vest thing that they had me in was made out of like real firm, yet spongy material. It was alien, I’ll tell ya that. And it squeezed me really really tight. So I didn’t have freedom of movement like I normally am used to. So it made me feel really rigid and kind of stiff, and I guess it worked to a certain degree. But I definitely had a concern there about what the response would be to that character, that being the first time you ever see him. But I felt there were some scenes with O’Neill in that episode that were strong enough – and some scenes with Michael’s character – that were strong enough for that to be overlooked. Especially the hair. The pompadour. Kelownian pompadour. How’d you feel when you found out Beer for my Horses being nominated for a CMA award? You know, I only heard that here. I wish I could be at the award show. In a way, I’d love to strut out there in a little mini-skirt. Maybe I can work that out, I don’t know. But I think that’s great. In relationship to most country-western videos, I definitely think it deserves it. They don’t budget those videos very well, so if you can do something with them to make them turn out as well as that did – I mean, granted it was Toby Keith and Willie Nelson, who are big hitters in the country-western scene, and Willie Nelson is one of those rare ones who’s crossed over into mainstream. I guess it’s understandable they put a little bit more money into it. But I’m glad it got the recognition, and I’m so glad to be a part of it. I think it’s gonna be one of those videos that sorta goes down, not in history, I don’t want to be kinda cliché like that. But I think it’s gonna be one of those videos that’s consistently played. It’s gonna be like those first 80s videos they play all the time like Divo where they had those weird hats on – but nevermind, I’m rambling. Someone please ask me another question. Are there any parts that you would never perform? That’s tough. I don’t know. It really would have to come across the table. There has been some stuff – a couple of times, you know I’ve played murderers, I’ve played psychos, I’ve played the good guy. I’ve had the opportunity to play a pretty diverse range of characters in my career. So it’s not that I’m not open to playing almost anything, but it would really have to depend on how tasteful the character was written. So I can’t necessarily say that I’m opposed to playing any one pool of characters, but it just depends on how it’s being done, how it’s being portrayed. If you found a magic lamp, what would your three wishes be? Oh now this is a good one. Um…I can be so cliché on this one. ‘How about a Rolls Royce for everyone?’ No, I guess the first wish would be to like wish for a million more wishes. That would do the trick. If I ran out I would just wish for another million on my next wish. I have to say, not to be cliché, but I think ultimately the first wish would have to be for something to be done about the state of affairs in the world today. I mean, it’s just absolutely insane out there. And I’m really fortunate to be an artist and not necessarily – I have the option of being caught up in the world that is there or just going off to my own fantasy world. But I’m not happy with the way things are going. So I think the first wish would be for something miraculous to be done about that. And I’d have to say the second wish would have to be with the abuse of natural resources, man. I know I’m getting cliché and all. But that’s a big thing too. It’s kinda like – I can’t even think of a metaphor for it. But we have limited resources and the way that we’re going we’re using them all up – I was reading a book today and by around the year 2010 the world is going to be 50% reliant on Middle Eastern oil. And by the end of the year 2020, it’s gonna be 60% and they don’t have the amount of oil to support that. And what happens economically if that kinda stuff goes down. So why aren’t the major car companies and businesses striving towards putting out more of these smart cars and ecologically sane cars? They’re out there; people are driving them, but why not mass produce them. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. And the third wish would be that Gatecon goes on into infinity. This is your second Gatecon. What will you remember most about us? The abuse. No… You know, I gotta say, this is a great bunch of people. You guys must have an absolute blast to come up here, get to spend time together and hang out. To me, I’m not big into the convention circuit, but you know the majority of the groups. It’s more of an individual type thing. Each person is there for their own thing, and there’s not a real tight group feeling that I’ve gotten from them – they’re more corporate, I’d have to say. And this is like, this is more family. And I think that’s gonna be the main thing that I’m gonna remember, and that’s why I was jazzed about coming back this year too. That’s what I walked away with last year. You know, you get ‘oh hey, Gatecon man. These guys are hardcore. They don’t mess around. Stargate is their life.’ And I’m like I haven’t found that. These are just people that really like the show and wanna be a part of it, wanna come up here and raise some money for a great charity. And it was great. So I’ll definitely be coming back to this event. When I saw you in season 6 to now – you seem a lot slimmer. Did you kind of bulk up for it? Yeah, I definitely did bulk up for it. After standing next to Teal’c – Chris Judge – I was like oh boy. His shadow will eclipse me. And, yeah, obviously because of the nature of the show, I felt it was really important to – not necessarily look the part because the character could have looked like anything. But having watched a lot of the episodes, you’re required to pretty much do anything. And I wanted to be physically fit enough to be able to portray that. And, you know, to catch a flying staff weapon that’s being thrown at me without people going ‘Yeah right. Suure.’ So that was more – and then when I wrapped the show up, I got back into town and went to see my agent and stuff. And they’re like ‘Dude, you’re big. Where are we gonna send you?’ So basically it was a suggestion of my representation that I trim down a bit, which is what I was gonna do anyway. And I don’t know I also just haven’t been working out as regularly as I used to. But I have a – as I spoke about yesterday, I have a project I’ve been working on and the character that I wrote for myself is actually – the trimmer look is sort of a requirement of the character. He’s sort of – not weak, but not seen as being macho. Hope that answers it. At least I’m sticking to it, that’s my story. What was it like going from a child actor to a mature adult? Not mature adult, just adult. By age alone, sure. I’ve been asked that question before and there’s no real way I can answer that question. Because it’s like – I just started acting because I loved it. And that was like what I felt right about doing. I don’t know if I told the story last year or not, but basically my father’s in the industry, Joseph Charles Nemec III. He’s been production designer on Twister and The Saint and The Shadow and all these cool movies. So I was introduced to the film industry at a young age. And my mom works for a company owned by Fox Theatre out in south LA. She designed like play posters for Fox Theatre in Atlanta and the one in Los Angeles. So I would be at like theatre shows, plays, and my mom would take me to rock concerts. I was always at rock concerts backstage, meet like Hall and Oates, bands like that that nobody remembers. Daryl Hall and John Oates, I even remember their first names. Dig this, I saw U2 open up for the Jay Giles band. And they literally got booed off the stage. So I knew that I was gonna be involved in some kind of artistic field. Then when the Goonies came out, I was about 10 years old, about 2 years younger than those guys, like Sean Astin. And I knew after having been on set with my dad and backstage with my mom and all that – it was really pretend. I knew what it took to create this illusion. And I was like wow those kids just look like they had a blast. Hang on pirate ships, slide down water slides, booby traps and all this cool stuff. And I was like that’s what I want to do. That’s what I did in my own mind anyway, when I was off running around in the woods with my friends, playing with my Legos. In fact, I used to – I built this castle with my Legos, the Lego castle, and I’m like ‘there’s no seasons here!’ So I went to my mom’s bathroom and stole her like baby powder. She’s like ‘where’s my f***in baby powder? I got it all over the work table… So that’s what made me decide that’s what I want to do. The thing was I could never have a third party view of what it was that I was imagining, like in my life. And I thought it was so cool that you could go and live this alternate reality and then have it recorded, and played back for you. And you could actually watch yourself living this other life and doing these things that are totally realistically unreal to my normal everyday life. So that to me was pretty fantastic. So that’s what drove me to do it. Then when I started – I’m segue-waying into the transition phase from child to adult, trust me. So when I started acting, it was really for myself, and what it was I was getting out of it. And so it’s never been – I never saw it as a transition, it’s just what I do. And I maintain being in a theatre company. I’m still in one in Los Angeles, because there’s nothing comparable in Texas at this point. When I go out to LA, I still go down to my theatre company and do the exercises with everybody else in the company. And it’s great. So I don’t really consider – it’s a growth more than a transition. I’m just growing as an individual and this is what I do. This is my life. If you could bring back any extinct animal species, what would it be? A lot of them are extinct for a reason. But there is this like I don’t know what it’s called. It looks like a sea cow with hair. You ever seen that? Know what a sea cow is everybody? Manatee. Exactly, the manatee. If you wanna use the technical term. But have you ever seen those things? Looks like a manatee with hair, very docile. I think something like that. Everything else is a little eerie looking. Wouldn’t wanna wake up to one in the morning on the counter, I’ll tell you that. If the Stargate was real, would you go through it? And which planet would you visit? I don’t know. If the Stargate was real… are we considering all the planets that we’ve been – that the team goes through or are we just creating our own planets? Your own. Well it’d be a peaceful plaace with natural resources. There’s lots of housing, low population density. Um, how about a giant amusement park? Or stuff like that. Lots of Gatecon. Someplace fun where everybody can still be a kid, and not be burdened with all the crap we have to think about and deal with in order to survive. Someplace where we can have a good time. Lastnight when you took your shirt off… [Cheers] I was a little insecure about it, because I did that last year. I’m like ‘they’re gonna be like, has he lost weight?’ I noticed all your tattoos. Can you tell us what they are? Well, the Leonardo Da Vinci human figure tattoo, it’s minus the square and circle. But in sacred geometry, it’s called the squaring of the circle. It’s sort of a metaphysical term or analogy for bringing the physical matter into the spiritual. Or it’s a transformation of something physical into spiritual, or something spiritual into physical. And man, being created in the likeness of God as the Bible suggests, it’s also an analogy of that. So above, so below. So the concstruct of man, the proportional dynamics, are in essence perfect to each individual. Just as the supreme being is perfect in its own form, whatever that form is. So that’s the reason behind the original drawing was that metaphor for man in relationship to the spiritual and physical. And how we are the embodiment of both the spiritual and physical. And it also outlines all the shock points, the energy points in the body. So that’s the meaning of that one. The one on my back is actually an idea, a design that I came up with that I had the same tattoo artist draw up for me. And that’s a, uh, wolf which is trying to engulf a cobra which is trying to engulf the wolf. So each one is kinda coming out of the other one’s mouth – I know it sounds gross, but… For me, the way that I related to it is the wolf represented winter because they naturally tend to live in the northern type areas. And the cobra, which naturally lives down in the desert, represents summer. So it’s a never-ending cycle of seasons, each one tries to engulf the other one. And it’s laid down on top of the yin yang, which is negative and positive polarities of the universe. So it’s sort of relating the movement of time and space in relationship to the changing of seasons and cycles of life. And in the center, there’s a moon that’s half hidden by clouds and that’s sort of, you know, the light at night is just in shadows. So you’ve gotta look out for it to see it. It’s like a intellectual type of light, like when the light goes on ‘oh wait, I get something!’ And then [shows tattoo of woman on leg]. My present wife, when we dated when were in high school and at one point I wasn’t a real nice guy. So in order to make up for it, I took a photo of her down to a tattoo parlour when I was 18. I’m like, I have to put her on my leg. “I’m sorry. Look what I did.” And then I had my daughter’s name right there – Cindy Joy. [shows other tattoo] That’s my right leg, it’s like the leg I stand on – well I stand on both legs. But it’s the right, not the left. Whatever. Anyone? Anyone? I wanted to know out of everything you’ve done, what’s your favourite blooper? The drag is, when it comes to bloopers and stuff like that – when I do my work, I want to do it as right as I can do it. So I try not to break that character, separate that. So it’s not that it’s a drag, I do do bloopers but it’s mostly when I screw up my lines or something, you know, which isn’t very funny. But uh, I’m trying to think of some… Especially on a show like Parker Lewis, there had to be plenty of funny things that happened on that show. There’s not a moment that just like jumps out at me. Well, I’ll tell you. I have life bloopers. I have plenty of those. When I’m acting, I can go without falling or tripping or hurting myself. But when I was growing up in Atlanta, GA – I was born in Arkansas moved to Atlanta, but they literally knew me by name in the emergency room. I swear to God, they knew me by name there. I was always injuring myself, ‘cause I was just one of those kids. For instance, one time, there was this apartment we lived in. There was like this horseshoe-shape where they had the lower complex and upper complex, and this big steep hill that went around. It was one-way, you could go down this way and come up this way. So I get on my bike and I’m like ‘I’m gonna go down this hill. And I’m not gonna hit the brakes either.’ So I get on my bike and sure enough I’m going down the up side. A car comes right around, and the car stops. The car doesn’t hit me, I hit the car. So, you know, I got injured that time around too. I hit the whole front of the car. I didn’t have to get stitches that time, but I was very well bruised. Another time I was in the same apartment complex, me and my friend, see we were just baad kids. All these empty apartments and we would just break in, that was our hangout. So we were hanging out in this one it had stairs, upstairs and down, and so I’m like ‘I can jump down those stairs.’ My buddy’s like ‘yeah sure you can.’ I’m like ‘No, I can.’ ‘So do it then.’ I’m like ‘alright.’ So I jump down the stairs, but there’s a wall that comes out. Stitches on the top of my head, I’m covered in blood. Went back to my mom’s like that. Another time I was running up this hill, all by myself, my mom’s at work and I slipped and I fell on my hand and there was like the bottom of a beer bottle. I’ve got this scar that goes around like that on my hand. Cut my hand all open and everything. Another time, [audience laughs] oh yeah it goes on and on, same emergency room. Me and my buddy, Wes, there were these rope swings that nobody went on. Everybody knows they’ve been there since like 1961. And probably 1921. So me and my friend Wesley we were like ‘No, we can go on those rope swings.’ Other kids were like ‘yeah sure we dare ya.’ ‘You don’t even have to dare me, I’ll do it.’ So we both get on these swings, we’re like alright! By the way, it goes over a 70 degree decline straight down into the woods. So both of them snap. We went right down this hill and my foot like wedged under a rock. I had to get stitches right across the top of it. Another time…same hill! I go down on a skateboard, laying down. I went down it and couldn’t stop, went under the back of a car. Stitches. So, so many times. Uh, in class, over by where they had the coat racks. Bent down to tie my shoes, stand up, bam! Hit my head on one of the coat hooks. Stitches. Over and over and over again. Oh yeah! I got a new story. There was this bamboo forest in Georgia. When you plant that stuff, it grows like crazy and you just can’t get rid of it. And we had this fort we had built back there, we were running around like wild Indians – well actually like wild white men, because that’s what we were. Uh, and there was like a wood thing we built – I don’t even know what it was for, but I went to dive over it and when I came back up, I was like what was that? Big lump in my arm. A piece of bamboo and went in the skin and there was just a little hole. I was like oh, that stinks. Went back to my mom, she’s like ‘Not again!’ They had to pull it out and they put it in a little vial for me. I had it for awhile and then I lost it. ‘Look what was stuck in me.’ I guess it probably all started, I think the whole thing started when I was 3 years old and my mom was swinging me. I was like ‘I wanna get down, I wanna stop.’ She’s like ‘okay, just wait.’ I just let go. Went flying off, hit my face, had to get my first set of stitches here. X marks the spot. I think that’s where it all began. I could go on and on. If you guys don’t mind, I’ll share one more story with you. In my older years, this was my teen years, I had this girl that I was dating. And she lived on one of these cliffhanger houses. I can’t even say that it was my teen years, I was like 19 or 20. She had one of these cliffhanger houses that went right off the cliff. The only way you could go into it was it had that little bridge that goes over to it. Know what I mean? So, she always left the back door open, a sliding glass door. Which had a balcony and the roof went over it a little bit so the rain wouldn’t land on the balcony. So I show up there one night, it’s really late… I’d been drinking, I admit it. And I had my buddy drop me off, ‘cause I was gonna stay there that night. He’s like ‘she’s not there.’ I’m like ‘well she knows I’m supposed to be coming over. Well, her back door’s open. I can get in.’ So I get on the balcony like right there where the front door is and I climb on the railing and lift myself up on the roof. And I go on the roof and look down, I’m like ‘oh I can make that.’ So I literally lower myself over the roof, by the way, luckily I had had a few drinks in me because it was waay far down. So I lowered myself down and swung and landed. I was like I made it! So she comes home and I’m sitting in the living room and she’s like how the hell did you get in here?? And I wouldn’t tell her. There’s no way she would think that I would do something like that. So, again, the next time I show up it’s a little late and I didn’t tell her I was coming. So I knock and I’m like ‘she’s not answering! She’s not there!’ It’s like two in the morning, she’s asleep! So I’m knocking, knocking and I’m like ‘well I can do the same thing.’ So, by the way, there was this long long plank of wood that was up on the side of the house, it had just a little ledge on it so I could get my fingers on it. That’s how I pulled myself up the last time. So I’m thinking ‘I can do this again, I can do it.’ By the way…I’d been drinking. You know, when you’re 19… I don’t know if you guys have ever been 19 before. So I grab ahold of this thing and pull myself up, suddenly I hear this sound, and this like – it had to be at least a 15-20’ plank, pulled off the side of this house. I go right down, about a story and half, into all these bushes. I’ve got this plank laying across me. So I hear the door and, this sounded like half the house fell off, so I hear the little locks going. And she comes out and I can just see the top of her head up there. And she’s looking around, I’m like ‘down here!’ And a nail went through my hand. This was in LA, so luckily they didn’t know me by name. But she had to take me to the emergency room and I had to get more stitches. And that’s when I kinda drew the line…well, no… I went to Jamaica and I crashed a motorcycle. I wasn’t about to get stitches in Jamaica, so I just let it heal on its own. So those are some bloopers for you. Life bloopers. We were curious, did they name the Atlanta hospital after you? St. Joseph’s! That’s what it was called, St. Joseph’s Medical Center. And it’s funny because the very hospital I went to in LA, in Burbank, was St. Joseph’s. And my real name is Joseph, so in a sense, yeah. Although I was no saint. Earlier you were talking about all your tattoos. In your work as an actor, are there any areas where your agent says ‘Don’t come in with a tattoo on that spot’ or is makeup so good that it can cover it and you can just have yourself decorated all over? Right. Lately, everybody’s tattooed. I mean, I did it in the early 90s when I was still working on Parker Lewis, I got – primarily I have 4 tattoos, and I got 3 out of 4 during that period when I was working on the show. Then I got the one on my back a year or so after. And it hasn’t been a problem. The one on my shoulder, actually the one on my shoulder has been seen in the episode that Chris Judge wrote where we’re firemen. There’s a scene where I’m in the bathroom and I have like a cutoff shirt on and it’s there. But other shows that I’ve done, they’ve been fine to have them for the particular character that I’ve played. Otherwise, you know, they have makeup they can put over it if need be. But, for the most part, I’m usually covered anyway. So it hasn’t posed itself as being an issue. I haven’t lost work over it, nor gotten work over it either. Because we’re so close to the hundred thousand dollar US mark for the Make A Wish foundation, Corin’s graciously said he will help us auction off one more item this morning. Yeah, actually this is one that I’d suggested lastnight, I thought that this was really cool. But everybody wanted Jack O’Neill’s jacket, Colonel O’Neill’s jacket, more. But I thought that this with the staff blast wound is actually probably one of the coolest items I’ve ever seen after being here for the last couple years. You know, it’s got the special effects going on, Teal’c wore it, you can actually see this in the episode, very prominently in the episode Exodus. Unlike some of the other jackets, which are cool and all, and are really worn by the actors, but how could you really tell? I mean they’re guaranteed by MGM and all, but this one you can actually see it in the episode. You can watch the episode and go ‘there it is, this is that jacket.’ And I think that’s pretty cool. So you can kinda see how the special effects does the staff blast wound, anybody wants to touch it they’re welcome to. Caress it, hug it, love it. Snuggle it. THE END
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