BB: When I was researching, there was the discussion of how the subject is generally contained within the community. They certainly didn’t talk about it during World War II. No one wanted to come home from World War II and [hear], “Grampa, what did you do in the war?” “Well, I kind of lost my mind.”

A lot of vets wouldn’t talk about war unless it was with other vets, and other people had been there. I think there’s an important component there. This community keeps it amongst themselves but it’s important for the rest of the community to understand.

All the veterans that came home from World War II, they came home to the GI Bill, to housing projects, and tremendous outreach from within the community. Everybody had somebody that went. The nation as a whole was aware of the sacrifice and they honored it. Even though in this day in age we’re aware of the soldiers coming home from Iraq, and the Middle East, and Afghanistan, and we’re not doing what happened in Vietnam, I don’t know that we’re fully engaged in the difficulties that they have.

These guys that go to the Middle East, there’s no place away from the front. They’re constantly in it. They’re in the middle of it. They’re surrounded by it. Then they come home for a couple of weeks and they get redeployed. They’re doing two, three and four tours. And at the end of the day that takes a tremendous toll on them. A tremendous toll.

So I think if we do this story well and we connect the dots, not only do you have a potent story about humanity and about war, and people’s lives … I guess it’s slightly political to say “Hey, be aware of this. Be aware.”

And even if it doesn’t change policy in the political sense, hopefully it will help the veterans themselves. It will help their families to understand they’re not alone in what they’re going for.

GW: This is about our people, and maybe deserve a little bit more attention than we’ve been giving them.

BB: That’s my particular take on the material. This is neither a pro nor anti-war statement. It’s been occurring throughout our recorded history. If we could say “There’s going to be no more war. We’ll have a much better way of dealing with all these problems,” and I could wave my magic wand, war is one of those things — along with pestilence and famine, the horsemen of the apocalypse — that I would get rid of. [Laughter] You would! Disease, war, suffering, you would wave your magic wand and you would get rid of them.

That’s not what this piece is about. We at least need to be aware and informed on the situation. I think it’s a topic worth covering, and I don’t remember it being covered in my US History class in high school.

GW: Any other updates since our interview you’d care to share?

BB: Went through pilot season, that was interesting.

GW: How many pilots were you up for?

BB: A few. I went up for more than a few. It was interesting. I still have other meetings. I still have the project with SciFi ["Going Homer"]. Those are ongoing and continuing.

GW: We’re all patiently waiting.

BB: I’m being as patient as I can be. That’s the cycle of being an actor. It’s not the first time in my career that I’ve had a quiet period. I sort of accept them as part of the gig. It’s what happens. Very, very busy for a while and then it gets busy again. I’m enjoying being with the family and being at home, so I can’t complain about it.

GW: Do you have the funding for it or are you still shopping around?

BB: I haven’t talked to Jonas in the last week or two. Jonas is still working on that. … He’s a guy who gets things done. He’s a very impressive individual. He’ a really interesting guy. You know when you meet someone and you go, “Wow, that’s impressive.” That tends to be my reaction to Jonas.

Jonas was there. It’s a big part of his life. This is not the project that you go to to think, “This is a box office blockbuster.” That’s not that movie. It’s a personal movie. It’s personal to Jonas. So talking about treating it respectfully, the subject matter itself demands that. At the end of the day you do the best you can to tell the best story that you can. And the truthful story as well.

GW: How has the YouTube viral video been received? What kind of comments have you heard?

BB: The comments that I’ve heard — and my comments are fairly limited to the people that I know — I guess surprised me. Most of the people that [I know who] watched it cried when they watched it. And if people had a negative response to it they didn’t tell me.Those people’s opinions I value greatly were touched and moved by the piece. It was nice to know that the piece had the power and the potency that I felt when I read it. It made it to the small screen like that.

GW: Well it’s pretty serious subject matter, and a lot of your fans are looking forward to you doing “dark and detached.” Got a little bit of it with Chrichton [in Farscape]. Got a great episode for Mitchell, “Collateral Damage” in Season Nine, and this is more of that. We’ve obviously seen you off-the-wall and play the straight military man, but I think this is going to be an interesting recess to go into and explore.

BB: When you say “recess” you mean “dark corner?”

GW: Dark corner, not like “let’s go down the slide.”

BB: Not “recess” like we’re playing dodgeball.

GW: No dodgeball.

BB: Not with this piece, no.

GW: Do you have a tentative shoot date?

BB: Right now we don’t have a shoot date. A little further down the road. Jonas is looking for the rest of the cast. That’ll be part of the equation as well. You need the other people, and those other people need to be right as well.

GW: I think you could do the movie all by yourself.

BB: Yeah, just me in a room with a DV camera. There’s a few more things that are contingent before you start shooting. It is not an expensive movie to make. It’s not like we’re trying to raise 50 million dollars to shoot a movie.

BB: When I was researching, there was the discussion of how the subject is generally contained within the community. They certainly didn’t talk about it during World War II. No one wanted to come home from World War II and [hear], “Grampa, what did you do in the war?” “Well, I kind of lost my mind.”

A lot of vets wouldn’t talk about war unless it was with other vets, and other people had been there. I think there’s an important component there. This community keeps it amongst themselves but it’s important for the rest of the community to understand.

All the veterans that came home from World War II, they came home to the GI Bill, to housing projects, and tremendous outreach from within the community. Everybody had somebody that went. The nation as a whole was aware of the sacrifice and they honored it. Even though in this day in age we’re aware of the soldiers coming home from Iraq, and the Middle East, and Afghanistan, and we’re not doing what happened in Vietnam, I don’t know that we’re fully engaged in the difficulties that they have.

These guys that go to the Middle East, there’s no place away from the front. They’re constantly in it. They’re in the middle of it. They’re surrounded by it. Then they come home for a couple of weeks and they get redeployed. They’re doing two, three and four tours. And at the end of the day that takes a tremendous toll on them. A tremendous toll. So I think if we do this story well and we connect the dots, not only do you have a potent story about humanity and about war, and people’s lives … I guess it’s slightly political to say “Hey, be aware of this. Be aware.”

And even if it doesn’t change policy in the political sense, hopefully it will help the veterans themselves. It will help their families to understand they’re not alone in what they’re going for.

GW: This is about our people, and maybe deserve a little bit more attention than we’ve been giving them.

BB: That’s my particular take on the material. This is neither a pro nor anti-war statement. It’s been occurring throughout our recorded history. If we could say “There’s going to be no more war. We’ll have a much better way of dealing with all these problems,” and I could wave my magic wand, war is one of those things — along with pestilence and famine, the horsemen of the apocalypse — that I would get rid of. [Laughter] You would! Disease, war, suffering, you would wave your magic wand and you would get rid of them.That’s not what this piece is about. We at least need to be aware and informed on the situation. I think it’s a topic worth covering, and I don’t remember it being covered in my US History class in high school.

GW: Any other updates since our interview you’d care to share?

BB: Went through pilot season, that was interesting.

GW: How many pilots were you up for?

BB: A few. I went up for more than a few. It was interesting. I still have other meetings. I still have the project with SciFi ["Going Homer"]. Those are ongoing and continuing.

GW: We’re all patiently waiting.

BB: I’m being as patient as I can be. That’s the cycle of being an actor. It’s not the first time in my career that I’ve had a quiet period. I sort of accept them as part of the gig. It’s what happens. Very, very busy for a while and then it gets busy again. I’m enjoying being with the family and being at home, so I can’t complain about it.

By David Read