Keating On Learning To Live With Malcolm

Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed) recently spoke about the ways in which he has learned to accept and develop his Enterprise character.

"I'm learning to free him up a bit," Keating told Star Trek Monthly. "I'm not frightened to have him be contradictory. He doesn't have to be this quintessential, buttoned-down, by the book English guy, who's shy of girls. He can also be all that I am. God knows, each in our own way, we are all a multitude and a mass of contradictions.

"I'm glad they didn't shoot me out of the gate as quickly as they did with one or two of the other characters," he continued. "I didn't have to make my mind up and make those split second decisions about the character, what his likes and dislikes were, and how he would react in given moments. It's been a nice trickle up from the boots, right up to the Prada Right Stuff boiler suit!"

But the actor has not always had such a good feeling about his character. "There was a time when I was getting a little worried that Malcolm was getting left out of things. And that this first thrust of the triumvirate of Archer, Trip and T'Pol, which they obviously had as a game plan, was going to be the plan for the duration," he explained. "I didn't say anything, but I started to get a little antsy. But luckily I just showed up, I was of service, and did the best with what they gave me. And it worked out, because they started looking at the dynamic between me and other characters, particularly Trip, and they got right on it.

"There were a couple of scenes in an episode, at about the one-third mark, where it was obvious that as actors he and I had a certain chemistry. We just finished a wonderful episode where we are in a room together on Shuttlepod One. It's him and me for 50 pages, and I never thought I would get that kind of experience and be presented with that kind of challenge as an actor on Enterprise. I've done some really hard-hitting plays here in London - new plays and award-winning stuff - and this was equal to that. And, of course, it's in front of a camera, so you know that instead of an audience of 900, it's going to be seen by an audience of millions. That's exciting!"

Keating went on to describe the surge of excitement he got from working on the show. "When I walk through what they call the Godfather Alley between Stage 8 and Stage 16 and I turn around, there's the Paramount water tower in the background. I get to my trailer with my name in embossed italics on the door...May that feeling I get never end, and I mean to keep that as close to my heart for as long as I can. There may come a day when that isn't there anymore, so I have to be really aware of it right now."

More from Dominic Keating can be found in the May 2002, issue 91 of Star Trek Monthly. Alternatively, a transcript is online here at DominicKeating.com.

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