Auberjonois: Directing Deep Space Nine
3 min readWhile on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Rene Auberjonois directed eight episodes of the show, but unlike some actors, he prefers to stick to acting.
The directing jobs came as a result of Rick Berman. “I blame Rick Berman for putting me through that,” said Auberjonois. “It was a real education.”
“Rick sort of nudged me into it and he was very supportive,” said Auberjonois. “I did eight of them and I’m going to say this off the top of my head, so it’s not anything that should be carved in stone, but I would say that of the ones I did maybe two of them were shows I was really proud of, where I thought I truly brought something to them. I thought maybe four of them were fine. They were exactly what was written on the page and I delivered that. Everyone was very professional and did outstanding work, so the shows were good shows.
“If one stands out, it’s probably Hippocratic Oath, which was a Dr. Bashir episode with people on this planet dying of a strange disease, and he ultimately figures out what’s going on.”
After his directing experience on Deep Space Nine, Auberjonois was asked if he would direct other shows. “I’d look at these people like they were crazy,” he said. “I had no interest in going to a show where I didn’t know the actors and the crew and the producers and everyone involved, where I wasn’t part of the whole world, so I wouldn’t really know the story. I mean, I could watch other episodes, but I wouldn’t be as immersed in anything else as I was in Deep Space Nine.”
Auberjonois is currently working on an episode of Bored to Death. “I’m playing someone named Henry, who is the father of an old girlfriend of Jason Schwartzman’s,” explained Auberjonois. “I hire him to protect a very valuable necklace that my daughter is going to be wearing. It’s a guest spot and my real reason for doing it is it’s a paid vacation and a trip to visit our son Remy, who lives in Brooklyn, and his wife, Kate, and our adorable two-and-half-year-old granddaughter, Sunde.
In addition to television work, Auberjonois is appearing at Star Trek conventions. “I’m doing a bunch of Creation events,” he said. “I started in San Francisco in May and I’ll be in Vancouver this month and also in Parsippany and Chicago. And I’ll be in Las Vegas, at the big show, in August. Nana (Visitor) and I are doing our show, Cross Our Hearts.”
Cross Our Hearts is “a collection of poetry and short stories that do not directly relate to Odo and Kira,” said Auberjonois, “but have to do with love, all different kinds of love, like romantic love and love for your dog and love for children and love for life. And then there’s a direct Odo-Kira reference at the end of it.”
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