|
August 15th/16th, 2000 |
 |
 |
Many Thanks! to a Totally Kate contributor for the transcription |
Craig Kilborn: Throughout my next guest's 25 year acting career she has had memorable roles in such TV shows as Ryan's Hope, Mrs. Columbo and Murphy Brown. This season she enters her final year as Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Kate Mulgrew.
Kate Mulgrew: (Enters to much applause, hugs Kilborn and stands for a moment and waves to the audience!) Thank you!
Craig Kilborn: Umm… before…
Kate Mulgrew: (more applause!) Thank you…
Craig Kilborn: Yeah. Kate. Before we get started…before we get started talking about Star Trek: Voyager, the final season…
Kate Mulgrew: We're talking about Star Trek?!
Craig Kilborn: This is not… this is not your first time to San Petulina.
Kate Mulgrew: No
Craig Kilborn: I mean some of the biggest celebrities vacation here and I believe you are one of them.
Kate Mulgrew: I used to.
Craig Kilborn: You used to?
Kate Mulgrew: It used to be a marvelous resort town, San Petulina. Until George Bush bought the biggest villa and Dick Cheney took over the vineyards!
Craig Kilborn: Oooohhh! We should point out that Kate, you're very nice to drive 40 miles northwest up here. We sent a car… because you have to jet… you have to get back down to…
Kate Mulgrew: Well am I driving or jetting?!
Craig Kilborn: I like saying jetting but I'm wrong…
Kate Mulgrew: Jetting…Yes…!
Craig Kilborn: Right! Although we're running behind, we may helicopter you back to the convention… the Democratic convention you're going to tonight down in L.A.
Kate Mulgrew: Yes. Very excited about it because I have never been to a Democratic convention before and I wish to be educated. My husband is a politician and umm…
Craig Kilborn: That's right. You've been married recently…
Kate Mulgrew: I've been married for a very, very long time!
Craig Kilborn: How…?
Kate Mulgrew: Thirteen months! Fourteen....
Craig Kilborn: Thirteen months!
Kate Mulgrew: Tonight is actually sort of an interesting story, I think. The Kennedys have played a curious and serendipitous role in both my life and my husband's life. It's how we met. My husband Tim Hagan, who is a politician…
Craig Kilborn: In Ohio I believe.
Kate Mulgrew: Yes…
Craig Kilborn: The legendary…
Kate Mulgrew: He was an executive of Cuyahoga County for twenty-five years. But he has worked with the Kennedys both politically and personally for all of those years. My mother's best friend is Jean Kennedy Smith. Seven years ago I was in Ireland with my two young sons from my first marriage. And my mother called and said "My dear friend Tim Hagan is coming over to visit the then ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith in Dublin. Why don't you have one drink in Dingle."
Craig Kilborn: One drink in Dingle! That's what mom said?
Kate Mulgrew: Ahhh Mom! Oy Vey! She's sending me some big Democratic….
Craig Kilborn: Right!
Kate Mulgrew: (Snaps her fingers!) Like that I fell in love with that guy.
Craig Kilborn: Seven years ago? You had a drink with him…
Kate Mulgrew: Just like that.
Craig Kilborn: Maybe it was the water in Dingle?!
Kate Mulgrew: The drink lasted a long time.
Craig Kilborn: Might have been the fact you were in Dingle!
Kate Mulgrew: So! It's very important we get there, to the convention floor tonight, to honour the Kennedys in every way.
Craig Kilborn: Yes…that's a romantic….
Kate Mulgrew: Can I ask something of this audience?
Craig Kilborn: Yeah. Go right ahead.
Kate Mulgrew: May I make an observation of this audience? They look young, very attractive, ambitious, very intelligent. How many of you will actually get out and vote when the day comes?
Audience cheers and applauds.
Kate Mulgrew: Good for you! We can't lose our political passion, don't you agree?
Craig Kilborn: I… I think they're going to vote for the Emmy… the M.T.V. awards or something…
Kate Mulgrew: I don't think so… they look like Gore supporters to me!
Craig Kilborn: Oh! Heard a couple of boos… I don't know…. Um…can we talk Star Trek? That's what's important.
Kate Mulgrew: Yes. Of course we can…
Craig Kilborn: That's what's important. It's the final season.
Kate Mulgrew: Captain Janeway's a Democratic. You know that …
Craig Kilborn: Yes…!
Kate Mulgrew: Am I pushing this a little too much?!…I'm sorry. Forget it…
Craig Kilborn: Is she…? How do you want the character to … this is the final season… how do you want your character to say good bye?
Kate Mulgrew: I can tell you exactly.
Craig Kilborn: Okay.
Kate Mulgrew: Now I may stand alone in this and I'm sure it's going to be controversial.
Craig Kilborn: Is she in a voting booth?
Kate Mulgrew: I think it should be poignant… (laughs at Craig Kilborn's joke!)
Kate Mulgrew: But… she's in a voting booth for somebody else! I think it should be stunning!
Craig Kilborn: Stunning…
Kate Mulgrew: Unpredictable.
Craig Kilborn: Okay.
Kate Mulgrew: Heartbreaking. The audience should gasp. It should be the last frame of the last episode… an extreme close up of a beloved character…and out!
Craig Kilborn: Are we fading to black or…
Kate Mulgrew: …And I’m not allowed to say…I think you see the ship going up in flames deck by deck…
Craig Kilborn: Wow… you're going to…you're going to die…
Kate Mulgrew: I was told not to speak of this, as you can see I'm a big blabbermouth…
Craig Kilborn: She's going to die…and she just said it on the Late Late Show ladies and gentlemen.
Kate Mulgrew: I did not…You're going to get me in so much trouble…
Craig Kilborn: You said fade to black.
Kate Mulgrew: I didn't say Janeway was going to die.
Craig Kilborn: I misinterpreted what you said. You are by the way… you were the first female captain?
Kate Mulgrew: I am the first female captain.
Craig Kilborn: And you're sort of a role model …
Kate Mulgrew: And still standing.
Craig Kilborn: Yes…
Kate Mulgrew: I've been told that I'm a role model and I believe I have been to young women in particular.
Craig Kilborn: Explain.
Kate Mulgrew: Although there is a young male demographic that finds Janeway…(rolls her eyes and shrugs!)… what can I do?! I'm kidding …I'm kidding…!!! I think I have influenced young women, particularly in the science fields, which is a powerful and marvelous privilege for somebody in my position because an actress doesn't usually have that opportunity.
Craig Kilborn: Yeah… I always wondered on those science fiction shows, do you know… do you guys know like anything about space ships?
Kate Mulgrew: Ask me. Ask me anything.
Craig Kilborn: Okay. I can't even come up with a question.
Kate Mulgrew: Do you know what a …
Craig Kilborn: What's a photon? What's a photon rocket? Or I don't know any of…
Kate Mulgrew: A photon torpedo? You're dead! Next.
Craig Kilborn: Okay. Okay this is… this…
Kate Mulgrew: Can you imagine how I felt in the first season? I had never watched Star Trek. I was completely unfamiliar with science fiction. It was a genre that had escaped me altogether. I got this script. I am telling you Craig, I said "why don't they just send me the script in Japanese?"
Craig Kilborn: It's complicated.
Kate Mulgrew: The technobabble was… something just went… my whole body went to ice. And when the director said "Action" that first moment of that first day (she whispers) "I don't think I can… I don't think I can do this…" He said "you can do it". So I got up (she rises) and I walked out on the bridge (she walks forward) You know. Do you know the bridge..
Craig Kilborn: Bridge… you bet! Used to be on the Enterprise…
Kate Mulgrew: I don't know if any of you ever saw the first episode, probably not, you all look so young… and I greet Mr. Kim and I greet Mr. Tuvok and I say hello to my first officer and I sat down in the chair (she sits back down) and I said (she leans back, crosses her legs, throws her arm forward) Oh the hell with it… "Engage"! Right!
Craig Kilborn: There it is! You get the script and you say … if Shatner can do it… I can do it.
Kate Mulgrew: Right!
Craig Kilborn: I love Bill. Bill's a friend of mine.
Kate Mulgrew: I love Bill Shatner.
Craig Kilborn: He's a friend of mine.
Kate Mulgrew: Wonderful wonderful captain.
Craig Kilborn: Good guy. Good people.
Kate Mulgrew: I had the ….
Craig Kilborn: Loves himself.
Kate Mulgrew: He does.
Craig Kilborn: That's why we get along so well! I know you gotta run and you're either taking the jitney back to L.A. or we're jetting you down.
Kate Mulgrew: He's fixated on how I'm going to get to the convention floor.
Craig Kilborn: Have fun there. Make sure you vote on November 7th.
Kate Mulgrew:
I will! (She stands up to leave) Vote!
