Battlestar Galactica Troupe Heads into Third-Season Production

The "Battlestar Galactica" troupe is heading into third-season production feeling spurred on by the fresh wave of acclaim that's been coming to the Sci Fi Channel show, reports Edward James Olmos.
 
"Normally, the sci-fi genre doesn't get the affirmation dramas get. But since Time magazine named ours the best show of 2005, people have found it and are starting to talk about it," he notes. He's referring to the year-end story in which the series was called "a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror."
 
Olmos isn't getting much in the way of down time before heading up to Vancouver to start shooting the series. He just finished launching "Walkout," the HBO movie he directed simultaneously with shooting some of last season's "Battlestar" episodes. The telepic continues airing on the cable network into April.

He'd like to do more work with Alexa Vega, who stars in the real-life saga of Paula Crisostomo -- who led some 10,000 students in five high schools to walk out in a 1968 protest against educational conditions and anti-Mexican-American bias.
 
"She is phenomenal," he declares, referring to the "Spy Kids" cutie. "Her whole performance is subtle and mature, and we see her go from a young little girl to a very strong mature person in the process of the story. I don't think since maybe Elizabeth Taylor has there been a 16-year-old who's shown this level of understanding in a film. Even Jodie Foster didn't have as much demanded of her in a role at that age." Whew.Cuba Gooding Jr. says be afraid, be very, very afraid of the volatile on-screen duo he and Helen Mirren make in the upcoming film "Shadowboxer," directed by "Monster's Ball" producer Lee Daniels.

"We put some thangs(cq) on 'em in that one," declares Gooding, who plays Mirren's adopted son-cum-lover in the film due out in May. "Helen and I play assassins in a story of sexual deviancy and issues of incest," he explains. "Her character raised mine since he was 7, and we just take the whole family nucleus and shatter all prior images. It's a dark piece, but a very important healing movie." How far do they take this twisted relationship? "Well, you'll see," he says, adding, "from the cradle to the grave y'all! This is another one my (real-life) mom should skip, that's all I've got to say."
 
Gooding also recently finished shooting "What Love Is," with Anne Heche, Sean Astin, Gina Gershon, Matthew Lillard and Val Kilmer. "That's my romantic comedy," he says, "so maybe I can take Mom to that … Though actually I do a little cussing in that one, too. Maybe I'd better wait till I get back to the family films."
 
FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT:

"Beautiful People's" hunky 22-year-old Ricky Mabe admits it comes as a surprise to him when he gets recognized by fans. The ABC Family Channel show films in Mabe's Canadian homeland, but doesn't air there. "Going down to the States is a shock because I forget that people are watching the show," he claims. "I was at a truck stop in Davenport, Iowa, and one of the employees came up to me and said, 'You look like that kid from "Beautiful People." I was like, 'Yeah,' and he said, 'Great show! I watch it with my wife.' So I definitely wasn't expecting that, but I'm just glad so many people are enjoying the show and watching it." In fact, playing a teenager has been quite a treat for Mabe, who says it's like getting a second chance at high school. "I get to have the knowledge of a 22-year-old and still play a 16-year-old," notes Mabe. "You often talk to people who say, 'I wish I could go back knowing what I know now.' That's what I'm doing."
 
GIVING IT HIS ALL:

Designer/landscaper Eduardo Xol, who is a part of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," is delighted to be part of the show despite its notoriously punishing schedule. "We do travel all around the country, so we're gone about 10 days at a time, including travel time," he notes. "It's grueling when we don't have time in between shows. For example, like last season, it was normal that I was on the set for 10 days and then back home for 10 days. That's challenging. It's long days, we're up really late because we're doing this in real time; we're really building a house in seven days." Xol says the deciding factor between sleep and no sleep is having enough volunteers. "There have been towns that are very small so we run short of volunteers, and then it's literally us staying up all night doing the work, but then we'll go other places where there's an overabundance of people wanting to help so we're just supervising," he adds. "It's crazy, but it's fulfilling. We're just happy that we get to help other people out and inspire them."

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)