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Dan Payne Questions and Answers
Dan Payne has kindly answered some questions that I have asked him on his fanclub mail list and on the Dan Paynes Fans Forum
New questions are added at the top.
All questions are mine except where noted, in which case they are used with permission.
Added 2006-12-13:
Shel asked: Hey Dan,
I was just wondering what it is you like most about meeting your fans?
And if you have ever had a bad fan experience.
(so that i dont do it if I meet you *lol*)
A: I love meeting fans because it is amazing to meet people who are as excited about what you do as you are doing it! It is inspiring and flattering to be able to share with people and when you meet fans there is an automatic common ground to launch from!! And so far I have been very lucky and have not had a bad fan experience. People have always been very respectful and considerate which is why I love to be there as well!
Cheers
DAN
Added 2006-12-13:
RSR started her question with a bit of poetry:
To clothe, or not to clothe: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The winds and stone of jagged cliff
.............
The fair Dan! Payne, in thy pictures
Be all your nudes remember'd. [William Shakespayne]
Q: Hey Dan!
Even though we've only seen a sampling of the calendar...
Did you come up with the idea to do the nude pics, or was it someone else?
If someone else, how did you first react to the suggestion?
What is it really like posing for photo's like that? Even though you've got pretty much the body of a god, did you ever feel mentally (like, what the h*** am I doing?) or physically (battling the elements: cold/hot stone; wonder what else is swimming in this murky water) uncomfortable posing?
Looking forward to seeing the rest (of the calendar, that is),
RSR
A: Dano, Dano, where for art thou clothes -Dano?
Yeah....naked in public...hmmmm.
The idea was to meet with my photographer friends and see if we could find a mutually beneficial situation. I get new pics and they fill a gap in their portfolio. They are long standing professional photographers so who could know what they would need! Hudson needed nudes! I must say I didn't jump at the idea right away but it grew on me as a challenge. One that I should accept to overcome fears and find new forms of expression. Next time though I will check the weather report. IT WAS FREEZING!
Posing is alwyas uncomfortable but add or I guess subtract clothing and there is a whole new element for the mind. Strangely once we started, it took about 5 minutes and I was just doing it and trying to make it work the best I could. Professional brain kicked in I guess!
It was a very cool experience in hindsight....and now people get to see my hind....area!
Cheers
DAN
Added 2006-12-09:
Q: In your 'behind the scenes' gallery, there's a picture titled "This costume smells funny" - I don't recognise the critter - where is that from?
It says Sanctuary - would that be the SGA episode?
I confess I haven't seen all the SGA episodes - baaad Anne.
I feel a new headline coming on: "Dan Payne, man of many faces - and some of them butt-ugly" .... ;-)
A: That costume did smell funny! It was for a pilot show called Sanctuary and the creature was known as SPF 1000 man. I can't say anymore!! .....oooohhhhh secrets!
DAN
Added 2006-12-09:
Q: In your 'Behind the Scenes' gallery, there are pictures of you getting a Wolfman makeover, but I can't see you listed anywhere as playing a wolfman.
I figure from the makeup lady's t-shirt that it was for Underworld - Evolution?
Perhaps Dan Shea dragged you into that one too?
I notice he did stunts for the movie.
A: *howls* Ahhh the Wolfman! That too was for Sanctuary the pilot. I was a multi-purpose monster man on that project! Too fun. I hope the series goes so I can find out what other transformations I can go through....eventually they will have to use me as ME!!!
CIAO FOR NOW!
DAN
Added 2006-12-09:
Q: Another picture in your 'behind the scenes' gallery shows you in 'red-nose' makeup - not quite a reindeer though ;-)
I don't see your name listed for it anywhere ....
Any other uncredited stunt jobs? Or do you want your stunt side line kept secret? ;-)
A: I consider stunt work to be bonus paychecks when they come along. It isn't very often but I don't take them as credits as you are often anonymous anyway! I also don't want to detract from the amazing work true stuntmen do by claiming stunts on my resume. I will do my own stunts if offered and feel I have the physicality should the opportunity arise. But I am an actor and have trained to be as stuntmen train to do stunts. So I just keep it on the down low! But some of the costumes look cool so I share the pic!
Cheers
DAN
Added 2006-12-02:
Q: Have you suffered a lot of abuse by codpiece envious costars and directors?
Maybe payneful jokes?
A: Ahhhhhh the codpiece!
Yes it has been 'Payneful'! Peter DeLuise would often yell out when I arrived on set to shoot a scene, 'could someone please buff that man's codpiece!'
I would also get asked if the codpiece was so big because I was hiding a large weapon in it!? Yes much abuse came my way - all in good fun....I hope!
Q: Hi Dan,
I'm still pretty curious about that polar bear job.
Was skating ability and height the only requirements for the role?
How did you see when wearing the suit - I didn't notice any obvious places for seeing out. Was the suit built for you?
Did they always intend for you to be the prince too?
A: Good questions! The ability to skate and height/size were necessities because the costume weighed about 120 lbs. It was heavy! The head had 32 motors in it so the face could move any way you wanted it to. I had to coordinate movements with another puppeteer who ran the face remotely! The head alone weighed nearly 50 lbs and was mounted on an elaborate strut system so my neck didn't break. I would lose up to 10 lbs a day from sweating. The crazy thing - I LOVED IT!
My head was positioned in the neck of the polar bear and I had to 'see' through video glasses that were wired to a camera in the nose....WHICH MOVED!! So not only was I watching a tiny screen on glasses but the picture jumped around everytime the other puppeteer made facial expressiona and moved the nose!! Good times!
The suit was built directly for me from a body cast they took in London, England at the Henson's Creature Shop. I actually got the part while livingin the UK. I went through the audition process which was rigorous. It was a total of 5 auditions and 2 meetings before the word came in.
We did movement workshop auditions, animal workshop auditions, acting auditions, then scene audition, and then final auditions which were followed by meeting with producers, creature makers and directors.
Then the film got cancelled as a UK production! But was later resurrected by a Canadian company who found me to do the bear because the suit had already been started for my body and I had done the audition process.
The prince was an after thought! The producers changed the ending and needed to cast a prince. They came to 'meet' the bear in costume and after when I stepped out of the suit - they met me and offered me the prince role right there!!
Overall amazing experience. :-D
Okay, I've "borrowed" this question from an online chat because like it so much ...
Q: Omega: When you are in costume, including make-up, ect, how do you eat your lunch?
A: I usually wind up eating half the prosthetic, most of the beard, with a touch of food to finish. The make-up ladies love me!!
Q: Dan's résumé says "Club Med Cabaret Shows, 3 years" - anybody have any information on that?
A: I can answer that question!!
I worked at Club Med as a photographer while I lived in Australia for four and a half years. My brother and I covered 5 resort islands doing the photography and Club Med was a mainstay!
As some of you may know, Club Med has nightly shows for the guests at the resort to watch that range from comedy cabarets to dance to musicals and audience/guest based shows (casinos/game shows type thing). As you may know I am shy, don't like laughing and hate telling stories so it didn't seem like a good idea .... YEAH WHATEVER!
It was perfect - I jumped in head first and did the comedy cabarets, learned adagio dancing (can't spell it but I did it!!), I got put throught the paces of dance (I wouldn't have made it onto the 'Dancing with the Stars but I had fun). It was all about dressing up and having a good time!
Perfect! Like entry level stage training!
Hope that helps!
Cheers
DAN
(Adagio is what I was told was the dance when I stand there and lift the women in interesting ways as they bend and fold around my arms and legs and ... other parts BUT fully dressed .... in tights .... so unfortunate - - AND NO I DON'T HAVE PICS OF ME IN TIGHTS!!!)
Q: Hi Dan,
You've mentioned that you love living in Vancouver, so I got to wondering - since you're such an athlete - if you've ever done the Grouse Grind? And if yes, how fast?
(The Grouse Grind is walking the Grind Trail up Grouse Mountain)
A: You bet I did the Grouse Grind.
I am not sure but I think you have to do it once or they kick you out of Vancouver!
I did it in 42 minutes! ....then went back and down the same way to collect any vital organs I may have left on the trail ...ie lungs, spleen!!!
It is such beautiful country out here and there is a book of trails you can hike from 1 hr to 7 day trips. It is part of the charm of the place that keeps me in love with it!
Thanks for asking!
DAN
Q: Hi Dan,
Do you ever play volleyball with any of the old Dinosaurs?
I just wanted to ask you a dinosaur question ;-)
A: Some of the guys were built like dinosaurs! But the 'dinosaur' element I came in contact with was the name of the university team I played for 'U of C Dinosaurs'. Although at the end of some practices we did move as slow as some dinosaurs and we often wondered if we got pushed much harder if we would all become extinct! So....
Ciao for now
DAN
Q: Hi Dan,
I'm a sports-tard, so I'll ask a stupid question:
You list hockey as one of your sports - since you're Canadian I figure it's ice hockey you mean? Not running around on the grass .....
I was going to ask if you skate better than the polar bear but then I noticed the hockey listing on your resume.
So is there any sport you stink at? Or never want to try?
(Later: I figured out hockey is the ice one and field hockey is the grass one)
A: That was me in the Polar Bear skating - which you know probably! I played hockey for 8 years as a kid up to the age of 15 and I play now with my cousin Rod for the past 3 years. I am addicted to ice hockey - love my Canucks too!
It has always been ice hockey for me to answer that question too.
I am super super duper competitive so I either haven't found a sport I stink at OR I have sub-consciously avoided those sports to keep that dream alive!
I will try any sport in the world! Except maybe the long distance race through the countryside that involved jumping through sewage runoffs!!!
I saw that on a show about crazy sports!
Let me restate my answer there is no skill sport with some semblance of reason that I would not love to to try!
Cheers
DAN
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03 October 2008