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 whoβs so smart and so liberated andβ¦ I thought, βYes!β
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 inβ¦ the thing that was in the wardrobe room was a very low-cut tank top and a push-up braβ¦
And I turned to the costume designer - whom Iβve worked with since, whoβs wonderful - and I said, βWhatβ¦ What is this?β
And she said βWell, they wanna see what you look like in it.β
And I said, ββ¦but thisβ¦ nobody in the military, no captain in the US airforce would wear thisβ¦ while her male counterparts are wearing crew neck T-shirts andβ¦ I cβ¦ Iβ¦ I canβt do it!β
And she said, βWell, they just wanna see what you look like and take a picture andβ¦β
And I panicked because I thought I have just been given this amazing opportunity - I didnβt know it would last 10 years but I knew it was gonna be a kick-ass show - and I was likeβ¦ βI canβt do itβ¦β
And I started to cry and I said, βYou have to go upstairs and tell them Iβm not doing it. And if it means that they recast the part then recast the part but youβve cast a smart woman and youβve cast somebody whoβs never tried to get a job based on her looks or her body. Iβve always played strong, smart women, Iβ¦ I canβt do it. So if they wanna recast the part I totally get it but Iβm not playing that version of this character.β
But Iβm saying this while Iβm blubbering because Iβm suffering that Iβve just lost maybe the best job of my careerβ¦
And so she said, βOkayβ and I said, βIβm sorry, Iβm sorry, Iβm sorry, Iβve never been difficult, I donβtβ¦ but I canβt do that!β
So she went upstairs and she came back down and she said, βOkay, no problem.β
And I said, βOkay, so whatβs my costume?β
And she said, βWellβ¦β
And I said, βJustβ¦ What are the guys wearing?β
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 thatβs where we went from there.
But that to me was the defining moment ofβ¦
And I still cry about it because I still remember that young woman on the verge of breaking into theβ¦ new something big, being petrified that she was gonna loose it, butβ¦ I knew that I couldnβt play the TNA version of Sam Carter.
And to the powers-that-be, great credit, I donβt 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, βNo, absolutely not. Sheβsβ¦ okay, whatever sheβs comfortable in.β
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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