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 whoās so smart and so liberated andā¦ I thought, āYes!ā
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 inā¦ the thing that was in the wardrobe room was a very low-cut tank top and a push-up braā¦
And I turned to the costume designer - whom Iāve worked with since, whoās wonderful - and I said, āWhatā¦ What is this?ā
And she said āWell, they wanna see what you look like in it.ā
And I said, āā¦but thisā¦ nobody in the military, no captain in the US airforce would wear thisā¦ while her male counterparts are wearing crew neck T-shirts andā¦ I cā¦ Iā¦ I canāt do it!ā
And she said, āWell, they just wanna see what you look like and take a picture andā¦ā
And I panicked because I thought I have just been given this amazing opportunity - I didnāt know it would last 10 years but I knew it was gonna be a kick-ass show - and I was likeā¦ āI canāt do itā¦ā
And I started to cry and I said, āYou have to go upstairs and tell them Iām not doing it. And if it means that they recast the part then recast the part but youāve cast a smart woman and youāve cast somebody whoās never tried to get a job based on her looks or her body. Iāve always played strong, smart women, Iā¦ I canāt do it. So if they wanna recast the part I totally get it but Iām not playing that version of this character.ā
But Iām saying this while Iām blubbering because Iām suffering that Iāve just lost maybe the best job of my careerā¦
And so she said, āOkayā and I said, āIām sorry, Iām sorry, Iām sorry, Iāve never been difficult, I donātā¦ but I canāt do that!ā
So she went upstairs and she came back down and she said, āOkay, no problem.ā
And I said, āOkay, so whatās my costume?ā
And she said, āWellā¦ā
And I said, āJustā¦ What are the guys wearing?ā
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 thatās where we went from there.
But that to me was the defining moment ofā¦
And I still cry about it because I still remember that young woman on the verge of breaking into theā¦ new something big, being petrified that she was gonna loose it, butā¦ I knew that I couldnāt play the TNA version of Sam Carter.
And to the powers-that-be, great credit, I donāt 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, āNo, absolutely not. Sheāsā¦ okay, whatever sheās comfortable in.ā
Andā¦ thank God that they went that route.
But that wasā¦ that was one of the defining moments.
~ Amanda Tapping ~
Shore Leave 2013
