His comments on how the writers purposefully made his character unlikable at first was interested. Snickered at the studio wanting to fire him and the producers blocking it due to their plan of making him likeable. Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing.
They wanted to make Bashir more like Data? I thought that was why Dax was there, or even Odo for that matter. Bashir never came across as even reminding me of Data.
I'm sure he meant more in regards to his infallibility rather than a quest for self discovery. Also, the story about quitting 24 to do a movie he promised to do(despite it being an unknown project) is pretty cool.
Siddig thinks that Bashir was unpopular until "Our Man Bashir"? Man, he's way off. I still disagree with his decision to sabotage lines where Bashir would make with the smart-talk. I prefer actors who see it as their job to do the best they can with the material they're given. But not surprising, this is also the guy who refused to show up for a promotional photoshoot.
Fired? I hadn't known that. Unfortunately, the interview does not capture his role in the poor relationship between him and the studio. And if I remember correctly, he has admitted in interviews that he was not generally serious about acting at the time (in comparison to his wife, Nana Visitor), and spent most of his time playing video games.
It is true that he was among the actors Piller and Berman considered for captain. From what Larry Nemecek has said, Brooks was the leading candidate from the first audition.
The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens reports that Siddig was absolutely approached by Rick Berman to play Sisko, based on the strength of his performance in the Lawrence of Arabia project. As the book tells it, Siddig wore a beard for the role and it made him look a lot older than he really was at the time.
Let's just remember there's more than one side to every story. I'd like to hear from the writers, producers and studio regarding their intentions. I'm not holding my breath on most of those.
I thought he was very, very good in "Cairo Time", but I never found he, or Bashir likeable on "Deep Space Nine" at any point, nor did I believe in the scripted friendship between Bashir & O'Brien. Deliberately screwing up lines & not showing up for photoshoots isn't cool either. I didn't know he was so unprofessional.
If the choice is between an actor who turns up, says the lines, takes the money and goes home, and an actor who's actually invested in the character he's playing enough to have an opinion and act on it, I'll have the latter please. Although I'm probably biased as I think the genetically engineered ass-pull was one of the two big character missteps that DS9 made, the other being the moustache twirling evil Dukat of Season 7 that threw away six years of decent character development.
It is worth noting that outside of the sudden shift in the character's direction, he never complains about DBIP. He complains about how the scriptwriters subsequently interpreted the new character trait, turning him inhuman. The issue of the illegality of overt genetic engineering was already established, so it is neither here nor there with regard to Bashir. All that said, the change is character, once ironed out, did lead to a better character, explaining his darker personality in the last seasons. It bolstered his cynicism by making it more that simply belly-aching. There were more episodes focused on his personality rather than as just the healer. Statistical Probabilities actually differentiated Bashir from the human computer. It was a good vehicle for introducing the Section 31 stories as well as made him seem like more of a military asset. And in general, he avoided being an unlikeable Wunderkind.
^Right. Could it be that the actor was having disagreements not related to the character at all and chose to sabotage lines mostly because of things happening behind the scenes or because of personality clashes? Could it be that his ego simply got the better of him? Not saying that's the case with Siddig, but it's not always as black and white as actors/producers/writers tend to make it out to be in interviews. Sometimes the black and white answers are better justifications for behavior, or are better answers for the fans, or are simply better answers from a PR standpoint. On the other hand, Siddig could be completely on target about the whole thing. In any case, I watched DS9 in its entirety prior to finding this board and prior to being influenced by the opinions of other fans, and I thought it was a brilliant storyline. And I still do.