TV Tango recently took part in a Q&A session with Jewel Staite and Connor Fox, who star in the TV movie MOTHMAN, which premieres on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 9pm ET/PT on Syfy. Jewel and Connor talk about the mysterious Mothman legend, working in alligator-infested swamps, and their other projects.

Question: Could you both talk about the tone of the movie and where you think the cutoff age is for kids to watch this, especially given the opening scene of the bashing of the head?

Jewel Staite: "Bashing of the head." My God, when you put it that way, it is a little rough. It’s definitely for a more mature audience than I think most of the Syfy Creature Features are geared towards, but it still has a fun tone to it. Definitely the beginning is darker than what Syfy viewers are used to. But it’s still a lot of fun. It’s a bit campy and there’s lots of great characters like Frank to kind of lighten up the movie a little bit, so I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely dark.

Connor Fox: And you can’t really tell because I actually had my nephew over here and my sister. And my sister is 34 and my nephew is 12; my nephew loved it, and my sister had her eyes closed throughout it. She literally was shaking she got so scared at some points, which I thought was awesome because, you know, my 12-year-old is over here jumping around the couch excited, and she’s all scared huddled in the corner.

Question: Jewel, can you talk a bit about the next Stargate project which was Extinction, is that a video game?

Jewel Staite: No, Extinction is a movie geared towards DVD that’s kind of been in the works and kind of not. None of us have been approached yet. But I do know that there is a script floating around. So hopefully one of these days they’ll get around to actually making it. But, yes, I get asked about that a lot I guess because it’s on IMDB but IMDB isn’t necessarily reliable.

I remember once somebody was like, did you realize that IMDB is saying you did an Axe deodorant commercial with Nick Lachey. I’m like, no. So I wouldn’t believe everything you read, but definitely if they ask me to do a Stargate movie, I would be game for sure.

Question: What is it about this material that attracted both of you?

Jewel Staite: I really like fun kind of adventure movies, and this is definitely geared towards that. And also I knew it was shooting in Baton Rouge and I love Louisiana, and I had such a great time there. So I just wanted to do something for fun. And it definitely lived up to that, it was a lot of fun.

Connor Fox: Yes, I’m pretty much up for fighting any type of monster.

Jewel Staite: Totally, yes, and they gave me a shotgun; and that did it.

Question: Can you tell us what it was like being in the water with alligators?

Jewel Staite: That was intense. That was the last night of shooting, and we were in this murky swamp-type water. It just kind of looks like the type of place that some crazy creature would come out and bite your head off. And they were like, “No, no, everything’s safe; we’re going to have a diver in there with you.” And they had the stunt coordinator with a snorkel mask standing beside me looking under this murky water that you can’t even see through anyway making sure that nothing was going to come up and bite me, but it was so terrifying. That was the worst.

Connor Fox: Yes and all you have to do - you had to look back like you saw something and Jewel would be, like, screaming.

Jewel Staite: I was never faster at that moment getting out of the water.

Question: How familiar were both of you with the original story or the Richard Gere film before you joined this production?

Jewel Staite: I actually love the Richard Gere film.

Connor Fox: Me too.

Jewel Staite: I’ve seen it a few times. It is really, really scary. It’s more of an intense thriller type of movie than our movie. But I think our Mothman is a little more fun and silly.

Question: When was this movie filmed and what did you like best about filming it?

Jewel Staite: It was filmed last August. Well, my favorite part was being in Louisiana. I absolutely adored our crew and the whole place just has this soulful amazing southern vibe, and I just totally fell in love with it. Actually, when I left, I came home and I found a new house that reminded me of New Orleans. And we moved in because I just adored it. I love the architecture down there and that whole vibe; so that for me was the best -- and working with Connor of course.

Connor Fox: Well, we’ll start with working with Jewel.

Jewel Staite: Good man, good man.

Connor Fox: Okay. But I just really enjoyed the action in the film. Doing the action scenes. Every day you didn’t know whether you were going to be running or leaping or diving or being thrown or using weapons on set, which was awesome. So that was something I really enjoyed. It was fun in the sun.

Question: Mothman seems to be shrouded in a lot of secrecy, is there any reason for that?

Connor Fox: For me personally, the actual real story of the Mothman is kind of scary if you think about. All these people had these sightings of this thing. And within one year of these sightings, the largest bridge collapse in history of bridge collapses happens in the same place where these sightings were.

So people I think are scared that even though they don’t believe it. It’s kind of like you just don’t go look in the mirror in the dark and say Bloody Mary three times. Even though you know it’s not going to happen, you still don’t do it.

Question: Jewel, can you tell me anything about P5ych?

Jewel Staite: P5ych is this amazing script that I read about six months ago. And it’s kind of every great horror movie like Friday the 13th, and Freddy and all that kind of stuff rolled into one. And I’m really, really hoping that it gets made. I would definitely love to do it and Gary Harvey who is a great friend of mine would be directing it.

So I think they’re just lining up all their ducks in a row. But when it goes, I’ll definitely be doing it. It’s a great script. It’s really, really scary. When I read it, I was like, “Oh my God, this is great.” So I would be kind of the Ally Sheedy-type character. She’s very dark and she’s been through a lot. Yes, I’m just really, really hoping that I get to do it. It’s a great, great project.

Question: Jewel, what was the experience like in a monster/slasher movie instead of being in space?

Jewel Staite: It was a lot of fun. And the best part is I didn’t have a lot of techno babble to spew out and memorize. Usually I have these speeches talking about spaceship mechanics and all that kind of stuff. So this was a lot easier for me. Yes, it was a great; it was a lot of fun. I had a really good time. It was very physical and I got to do a little bit of stunt work and weapons training and that kind of stuff. So it was really, really cool.

Question: Can you tell me about any Louisiana ickiness?

Conor Fox: Oh, yes. There was a kid who was on set there. He was a local hire and he was talking to his mom and talking to us about the gators in the waters. Oh yes, there are gators in those waters.

Jewel Staite: What got me was the water snakes. Somebody started talking about the water snakes. So I’m like, “What are you talking about?” And they’re like, “Oh, you know, I mean, they’re usually scared and they’ll stay near the banks and they won’t bother you.” And I’m like, “Usually.” I don’t like that word. What does that mean? It was very authentic.

Question: Do you get to ask for more money when you read a script and you realize that you’re going to do some scenes like this?

Jewel Staite: Oh, no, no. See, people are usually really smart about that. When you read that kind of stuff, I never put two and two together, I’m never like, ooh, that’s going to be really tough to shoot. I never think about it until I’m there on the day.

Connor Fox: I imagined in my head it would be shot during the day in the lake. With like a pier and maybe a guy on the far end fishing. I didn’t imagine swampy at night with gators

Jewel Staite: Well, and also they changed it to a night shoot later on. it was never supposed to be a night shoot. It was supposed to be during the day and then the Director decided that it would be a lot creepier if it were at night. You know, in this swamp in the pitch black.

Connor Fox: I was looking for the red eyes, they say look for the red eyes on the water.

Question: How awesome was the craft service in Louisiana versus Los Angeles?

Jewel Staite: Well, it's totally different. I mean, Los Angeles is very health conscious and, you know, there's more healthy stuff than the good stuff. And Louisiana was like mac and cheese and fried chicken and our caterers were these older ladies who have been making these recipes for years. So it was like gooey jambalaya and like all that good stuff, so it was awesome. I love Southern food. They just fry everything.

Connor Fox: Yes, well, depending on what scenes we were doing, I had to skip the fried food sometimes, but I tell you what, I would never miss the desserts that they had.  Their homemade desserts were unbelievable. They had a banana pudding with the wafers and with the chocolate graham crackers. I don't even what its name is. They all had names like husband's delight or something. They all had these Southern names. But it was so good.

Question: Now that you've successfully felled the Mothman, what monsters of myth and legend would you like to fight next?

Jewel Staite: Any and all. I'm game for whatever. Abominable snowmen maybe. But you know what? That would mean shooting in the snow. And I would rather go back to Louisiana and shoot there.

Connor Fox: That's a good one. Monsters. I don't know. I'll take on Bigfoot. I think I could take him. Abominable snowman is obvious. I could do that.

Question: Can you talk a bit about X-Files and Firefly?

Jewel Staite: Well, X-Files I shot when I was 13, so I was just a baby, but I remember having a great time. It was a really, really tough episode to shoot in that we were in a river in Vancouver in October and it was absolutely freezing. But they had this Jacuzzi that was just off the set -- that's what you get for big budget shows -- and so whenever we got too cold, we would just go and sit in the Jacuzzi. So there I was sitting there in this nightgown for my character with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson sitting in the Jacuzzi. It was just bizarre, very surreal.

And Firefly was just one of the best experiences of my life. I met a whole bunch of my best friends that are still my best friends today. And it was just - I can't say enough about that show, it was a really, really special time in my life, so I'm very, very grateful for that experience.

Question: Who inspires you?

Jewel Staite: Great actors inspire me, Meryl Streep and Al Pacino and all of the greats. Great movies inspire me definitely. Those chameleons inspire me too, like Cate Blanchett, you know, people that can just play everything.

Connor Fox: And for me, great performances. Whether I'm seeing a play or whether I'm watching a movie, if I just see an actor do something that's just amazing to me, it gets me so excited to get my chance to have my next thing. Jewel Staite.

Jewel Staite: Oh, God, please. I'll give you 50 bucks later. But every time I see performances like that, it's just so inspiring to keep learning. Definitely.

Question: How important is it to you all to be a part of sites like Twitter?

Jewel Staite: I think it's super important because I want to remain a real person to my fan base. I think that's important. You see all of these huge movie stars that are just kind of enigmas and they just seem so far away from reality, and so I always want people to get to know me as a person. And, you know, thank God for Twitter, it's such a great avenue for that.

Connor Fox: Yes, Twitter and Facebook are the kind of things that for me as a younger actor in the business, I need those kind of avenues for people to know I exist outside of the film. When you see the movie and if you like my performance then you'll know where to look me up. So those things help me get my name out there.

Question: How do you pick your projects?

Jewel Staite: I look for great characters. That's my number one. I look for strong female-type characters and in sci-fi there are a lot of those. I mean, if you look at the Ripley's and that kind of thing. So it's not necessarily me looking to stay in sci-fi, it's just me looking for great characters and they always happen to be in sci-fi. So if that trend keeps up then I'll definitely be doing it more.

Connor Fox: Jewel could definitely crush a straight comedy though.

Jewel Staite: Aw.

Connor Fox: Take it from me, this girl is hilarious.

Jewel Staite: Well, not everybody gets my humore but luckily Connor does.

Question: What do you think it is that's going to really draw the viewers in to watch Mothman?

Jewel Staite: Well, hopefully we'll draw the type of viewer that loves to have fun when they're watching something. This isn't the type of movie that's super serious. It's a good time at the movies, so hopefully we'll draw that type of viewer.

Connor Fox: And I'm hoping also the people who actually enjoy the Mothman -- like the stories of the Mothman -- because our film is basically a modern-day version of it as if the Mothman happened in the 60s. That whole Mothman Prophecies is in the 60s, so if you skipped time and came to the present day, you’d basically have the Mothman reoccurring...coming back. So anybody who actually enjoyed the previous stories of the Mothman can live in this next chapter.

Question: Jewel, could you talk a little bit about what you'll be doing in Warehouse 13?

Jewel Staite: Well, in Warehouse 13 I'll actually be acting opposite Sean Maher from Firefly and it's great. I'm kind of the Mary Jane to his Peter Parker in the episode and he gets to pine for me this time. He's in love with me this time. So yes, we had a lot of fun doing it, so I'm looking forward to it. And it should be airing some point early July, I believe. As soon as they said Sean Maher, I was like I'm in.

Question: Connor, do you have another creature thing coming up?

Connor Fox: Yes, I got Yaksha, which starts filming this summer. Yaksha is about these kids who all go out to a cabin in the woods to work on this play that they're putting up and what ends up happening is that they end up awakening this abomination. It's actually a descendant of the 18th Century Hindu Tribe and he's known as the Yaksha.

Question: When you were kids, is this what you thought you would be doing?

Jewel Staite: Well, this is what I was doing. I've been in the business since I was five. When I was three, I think I wanted to be a teacher.

Connor Fox: I used to go to archaeology camp. I wanted to be a treasure hunter. That's what I wanted to be. And I actually still want to be that as well as an actor. That's on the back burner though. For now.

Question: Do you find improving scenes harder or easier then reading the script?

Jewel Staite: I always find improv harder. I'm an actor, I love to read what's on the page. That's always challenging to think on your feet, definitely.

Connor Fox: I actually kind of like improv better because sometimes the words on the page aren't' the words you want to say. So when they give you free reign, for me it's kind of like I feel like it's my chance to stick in my own take on my character. But you have to really think about it. You have to work to make sure the lines are right.

Question: Is there anything that you filmed for the movie that was cut that you wish they had left in?  Or something that they filmed that you wish had been cut?

Connor Fox: Yes, there's a scene where she comes out of the bar and she sees my truck for the first time and she's making fun of the truck I'm still driving. We have this kind of cute little moment and then as I was actually driving the truck away, the truck stalled out. And she was saying what a crappy truck it was and I was saying it works great. And it stalls out and I couldn't back up and then it stalled again. And this happened for real, it was like a blooper, but it would have been perfect for the film.

And they cut out the scene where Casey battles the Mothman to explain how he got away. Now he just got away and it's like "how did he get away?"

Question: What do you think it is about creature features and monsters and kind of the other-worldly that speaks to people in general?

Jewel Staite: Well, I think it's all about escapism. It's fun to kind of get lost in a fictional world. And I think that's why sci-fi fans are so large in number because it's fun to let go of your regular life and get lost in somebody else's world.

Connor Fox: I think that when you're a kid, you have such a wild imagination that anything is possible, and so when you get older, you slowly are taught that those things you were as a kid believing are not good to think. You got to stop being a kid, you got to grow up. And when you get to watch these movies, you get to take in that time you're watching and part of you gets to let go of that idea.