When I started Stargate, I got the part, I was sooo thrilled to have this incredible character, to be playing someone in the military and I had so much respect, to be playing someone whoâs so smart and so liberated and⊠I thought, âYes!â
I had two weeks to move from Toronto to Vancouver. I flew out there, I had my first wardrobe fitting. And one of the things that was in⊠the thing that was in the wardrobe room was a very low-cut tank top and a push-up braâŠ
And I turned to the costume designer - whom Iâve worked with since, whoâs wonderful - and I said, âWhat⊠What is this?â
And she said âWell, they wanna see what you look like in it.â
And I said, ââŠbut this⊠nobody in the military, no captain in the US airforce would wear this⊠while her male counterparts are wearing crew neck T-shirts and⊠I c⊠I⊠I canât do it!â
And she said, âWell, they just wanna see what you look like and take a picture andâŠâ
And I panicked because I thought I have just been given this amazing opportunity - I didnât know it would last 10 years but I knew it was gonna be a kick-ass show - and I was like⊠âI canât do itâŠâ
And I started to cry and I said, âYou have to go upstairs and tell them Iâm not doing it. And if it means that they recast the part then recast the part but youâve cast a smart woman and youâve cast somebody whoâs never tried to get a job based on her looks or her body. Iâve always played strong, smart women, I⊠I canât do it. So if they wanna recast the part I totally get it but Iâm not playing that version of this character.â
But Iâm saying this while Iâm blubbering because Iâm suffering that Iâve just lost maybe the best job of my careerâŠ
And so she said, âOkayâ and I said, âIâm sorry, Iâm sorry, Iâm sorry, Iâve never been difficult, I donât⊠but I canât do that!â
So she went upstairs and she came back down and she said, âOkay, no problem.â
And I said, âOkay, so whatâs my costume?â
And she said, âWellâŠâ
And I said, âJust⊠What are the guys wearing?â
So she handed me a black T-Shirt and the BDUs, which is what my character would wear in the field with her male counterparts, and thatâs where we went from there.
But that to me was the defining moment ofâŠ
And I still cry about it because I still remember that young woman on the verge of breaking into the⊠new something big, being petrified that she was gonna loose it, but⊠I knew that I couldnât play the TNA version of Sam Carter.
And to the powers-that-be, great credit, I donât think that it was Brad or Jonathan or Rob or any of those guys who were asking for it, I think it might have been, you know, much higher up.
But to their great credit they were like, âNo, absolutely not. Sheâs⊠okay, whatever sheâs comfortable in.â
And⊠thank God that they went that route.
But that was⊠that was one of the defining moments.
~ Amanda Tapping ~
Shore Leave 2013
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