Robin Dunne dropped a bombshell over the weekend about his famous friend, the fan-dubbed Grand Empress of Sci-fi Amanda Tapping.
"I would like you to be the first to hear this," said Dunne, 36, who for four seasons appeared alongside Tapping on Sanctuary. "[Tapping]'s an insane person. She's crazy and totally selfish. It's all about her. Tantrums. She kicked me once. Its all just a big PR smokescreen. It's like the Wizard of Amanda: behind the curtain, it's terrifying."
Okay, he was joking. Dunne's affection for his co-star is abundantly clear ("Amanda's amazing. She's so inspiring and the thing about her is she's so generous. She was very communal with [Sanctuary]. It was all of our show") as is his proclivity for humour of the dry variety.
The latter was on display earlier this month when he co-hosted The Rush, and on full-blast as he performed his assorted Fan Expo duties.
WE caught Dunne for a whirlwind three-minute interview in the midst of his busy Fan Expo Vancouver convention day (a brief interlude between signing autographs and a panel with Tapping). Not one to take frequent pauses (or breathe) while speaking, Dunne covered a lot of territory during those three minutes.
In addition to pulling back the curtain on his co-star, Dunne was eager to spill the beans about Space Milkshake, a feature-length sci-fi comedy romp co-starring Dunne, Tapping, Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville; Beauty and the Beast), and the inimitable George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu and social media guru).
Dunne wore two hats on Space Milkshake: actor and co-producer. As co-producer, he's now navigating the treacherous world of motion picture distribution. "The learning curve is inverted almost, it's so steep," he said.
Clearly Dunne was deeply affected by his time on Sanctuary, because just like Sanctuary — which began as a pay-per-download web series before being picked up by a traditional television broadcaster — Space Milkshake will attempt to skip traditional distribution routes altogether. "I think what we're going to do is instead of having the middlemen having control over who sees it, we're going to direct market it to the fans," he said. "Fans can come to the website, pay a small fee, download the movie no matter where they are in the world and that way it gets out."
It's a concept that was downright revolutionary in 2007, and according to Dunne, the world is now truly ready for it. "It's full circle for me," he added.
For all the latest on Space Milkshake, visit SpaceMilkshake.com; to experience Dunne's dry hilarity in real-time, follow him on Twitter (@RobinDunne).
