Katie Sackhoff plays the woman in “Riddick.”
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In “Riddick,” Katee Sackhoff co-stars alongside Vin Diesel as Dahl, the only female member of a team of mercenaries — but also one of its toughest. It’s terrain Sackhoff knows well, thanks to her star-making turn as Starbuck on “Battlestar Galactica,” and she’s more than happy to give viewers a little bit more.
“Riddick” is very funny, surprisingly.
My best friend is terrified of scary movies. She’s going to the premiere and she was like, “How scared am I going to be?” And I was like, “Sweetie, it’s not scary. It’s more like ‘Battlestar’ scary in that this s—’s actually happening. There’s some jumps and stuff, but you’re not going to be afraid of the dark when you go home.” It’s just more awesome, it’s more action in this one. There’s some great gore. The stuff with the mud demons was awesome.
You’re playing a tough female sci-fi character, which you’re a little familiar with. Do you worry about doing what you’re already known for when looking for parts?
I think people spend too much time trying to understand this business when you can’t understand it. I don’t think there’s any real right way or wrong way to do this. Truthfully, I feel blessed that people want me to do it at all, and if that’s science fiction and action, I’d rather do that than so many other genres. So I’m good. It doesn’t mean that I can’t do and haven’t done things outside of it, it’s just where fans want to see me right now. You give them what they want, you know?
There’s been this massive shift in quality on television and how seriously it’s taken. Do you like to take some credit for that with “Battlestar Galactica”?
Of course, of course. I think that if you’re going to say “The Sopranos” changed television, you’ve got to put “Battlestar Galactica” in with it. They were on television at the exact same time, and they were both breaking barriers down on different networks and in different genres and for different audiences. It’s been so long, I almost don’t feel like I was a part of it anymore. I don’t think I could go back and play Starbuck again. I don’t think I would know how to. There was an intensity in her vulnerability that she was trying desperately not to show people, and I don’t think that I have that anymore. That was a piece of me in my 20s that just isn’t there anymore.
