Alice Krige as the Borg Queen with Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard) in Star Trek: First Contact
INTERVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS
Longtime fans of Alice Krige won't believe their eyes. How can a veteran member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and an actress in such high-brow films like Chariots of Fire end up in a big-budget Hollywood production like Star Trek: First Contact?
Any shock over Krige's recent career decision to join the Star Trek universe as its newest and most gruesome baddie, the evil Queen of the Borg - an alien race of half-human, half-machine creatures - might be a bit delayed. After all, no one will recognize the South African-born actress underneath her layers of prosthetics and makeup. Which Krige, 42, says suited her just fine.
"I found the whole look very helpful," says Krige, speaking recently at a Los Angeles hotel. "It was a wonderful tool to be given to work with. It was excruciating and it was very grueling to work with, but it was just like a gift."
Initial auditions led Krige to believe that her personal prosthetic requirements would be minimal, but those plans quickly changed. Which Krige says didn't bother her at all. She always wanted to work in a big-budget Hollywood extravanganza, and if sitting in a makeup chair for hours on end was required so be it. Krige got her wish.
Alice Krige as the Borg Queen with Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard) in Star Trek: First Contact
"I spent six hours every morning having the head put on and then another hour being jiggled into this suit," says Krige. "I would emerge in clouds of Johnson's baby powder. They'd powder me and they'd powder the suit and then two people would pull me into it."
Going to the bathroom was out of the question, since it took Krige 45 minutes to unzip herself from her Borg Queen getup and another 45 minutes to squeeze herself back inside. And when the production clock is running, such delays end up being costly. So Krige accepted her 18-hour work days as part of the Hollywood package.
The returning crew members of the Starship Enterprise are glad she did.
"I think Alice is a fabulous actress and I think she really really devoured this character," says Brent Spiner, who plays Lt. Commander Data. "She's not a household name, but that was kind of perfect for it. There was interest from other actresses who you have heard of who wanted to play the role, but I don't think they could have brought what Alice did to it."
Krige says the complexities of the Borg Queen allowed her to push her performance.
"To be allowed to explore a kind of passionate pursuit of power is exciting," says Krige. "You don't get to break all the rules and kind of trample taboos in real life, and I just found her fascinating."
Guest villains are key to a film franchise's success, and if Star Trek: First Contact's excellent opening at the box office is any indication, audiences are reacting positively to Krige's Queen.
Movie villains often return in sequels. After all, their fans demand it. So will Krige be willing to undergo another grueling go-around as the Borg Queen?
"I'd be interested in playing her again," she says. "I'd be fascinated to see where they would take her next. It's actually quite wonderful to be given a chance every now and then to do something that big, to move that far away from kitchen sink dramas and to be allowed to go out there."
After a career based mostly in specialty films and stage work, it appears that Krige is thrilled with the idea of becoming a Hollywood Queen. Even if it does require her wearing a gruesome head and never going to the bathroom.©
CityBeat, Issue 3, Vol. 3 Nov. 27-Dec. 4, 1996