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Fantasy Freedom Fighting with David James Elliott for Knights of Bloodsteel
by Troy Rogers
 After
ten seasons of playing Captain "Harm" Rabb on
the legal Naval drama J.A.G., actor David James
Elliott takes a hard left turn into the world
of humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, sorcerers,
and Brood Soldiers on April 19 and 20 on SCI FI
for the two-part, four-hour movie, Knights of
Bloodsteel.
Set in a fantastical world on an island continent where the most coveted element is bloodsteel, a sorcery grade ore that imparts potent magical abilities to anyone who is able to draw it from the earth, David James Elliott takes on the role of freedom fighter, Serragoth, the sworn enemy of the Dragon led Brood who works with an unlikely band to find the legendary magical Crucible, which is the source of bloodsteel.
Elliott and actors Christopher Jacot (a con-man), Dru Viergever (a menacing Goblin), and Natassia Malthe (a beautiful warrior elf) are enlisted by veteran actor Christopher Lloyd (the sorcerer elf Tesselink) to save the fantastical land of Mirabilis before it's overrun by evil at the hands of the villainous Dragon Eye (Mark Gibbon), his army of Dragon Soldiers, and a slew of dangerous fantasy enemies.
 Leading up to the April 19 premiere of Knights of Bloodsteel, we woke up one morning to find ourselves in a land far away in time between the phone lines where an army of TV goblins chased us to an island named "conference call" where we soon found other entertainment outlets like us waiting to talk to Serragoth the Bloodsteel freedom fighter ... aka, David James Elliott.
THE DEADBOLT: What attracted you to the project and the role of John specifically.
DAVID JAMES ELLIOTT: Well, you know, I grew up a fan of the fantasy genre. I read Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian books. I've always found it to be a fun thing to do and it's certainly a great departure for me having not done anything like it on film, ever. And the script was really well written and I was looking for a job; so all those things combined.
THE DEADBOLT: What kind of accent did you have? It seemed that when I was watching it would come and go sometimes?
 ELLIOTT: No, it was always there. I don't think it ever left. I'm Scottish. There were times when they felt that it might have been too thick, which would've made it difficult to understand, so they asked me to tone it down a bit.
It was odd, because in the filming, after a couple of days they said, 'You know, we're thinking maybe we should not do the Scottish accent.' I went, 'Guys, we're two days into the filming. Now is a little late to change your mind on the Scottish thing.'
So they said, 'Well, then maybe we can just tone it down a bit.' So if it felt like it was coming and going, it's because somebody, somewhere thought that it might've been a little thick at points. But I was told it was there.
THE DEADBOLT: Where did you guys film this?
 ELLIOTT: We shot it just outside of Vancouver in that magical place. It was pretty spectacular. Every location was just unbelievably beautiful.
THE DEADBOLT: I thought it looked familiar. But I wasn't sure if it was [Vancouver] or Romania, because Sci-Fi goes to Romania quite a bit.
ELLIOTT: Right. No, this one was in British Columbia. I would've liked to have gone to Romania. But this was strictly Canadian.
Other Conference Call Highlights:
David James Elliott on getting into his character:
"It was an intense period when I arrived. It was all happening very quickly and we were fit and wore kind of leather gear and leather pants. And I had to find my swords, my weapons, my boots, because I was really traipsing through some pretty nasty terrain. So I had to find stuff that not only looked good but was actually functional, right?
 "And then the hair extensions, which I wore for two months, and that was a daunting task, believe me. If you've ever had them, I don't know, but they're nasty. They feel like you have a bunch of raisins pressed into your head. And you're combing the hair, it's a nightmare to wash. So every day was a little challenging that way. Then I had to walk around in public with this bad head that hadn't been done by my hair department on the weekends. So I had to endure that and the beard, and all of that. But it was all fun. It's great fun to really dive into what was such a rich character. And so I enjoyed the process."
Elliott on whether this was a tough physical shoot:
"It was. I loved it every day. You know, I loved showing up every day. It was a pretty physical shoot. We were tramping through the forest and we were all over the province of British Columbia. And there was a lot of swordplay and action sequences. But it was good fun, you know? And the cast, we all got along very well and so it was a nice deal.
 "The crew were great. I just had a really good time. And the weather was outstanding, which is certainly not always the case in British Columbia. So, you know, the fates smiled on us."
On whether there are notable differences working in the fantasy genre:
"I mean, well certainly the dialogue is different on the set. You know, everything is different. I mean, sure, notable difference - we look completely different than I did on JAG, for instance. We're dealing in a fantastical world with different values and ... I mean there's swordplay."
David James Elliott on the physical challenges and mishaps:
"It had been a little while since I had and I had a little mishap one day. I almost lost my eye. But whenever you're fighting with swords - especially real swords or even swords that are just not as sharp as they might've been in the day - they're still pretty sharp and somebody is swinging them with some vigor. You're always on the edge of a mishap and I had one of the swords slice through my eyebrow and just miss my eye. But that was the worst."
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