You may not know J. Paul Boehmer’s face but you certainly know his voice. When he’s not appearing on Broadway (he co-starred in Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband”), he may show up on your television. The confirmed Trekkie first hit the small screen on “Star Trek: Voyager.” He later appeared on both “Deep Space Nine” and “Enterprise,” as well as voiced characters on two “Star Trek” video games. Other roles in shows like “Frasier,” “Lost” and “Nip/Tuck” keep him busy when he’s not at his day job, recording books for both Books on Tape and Listening Library titles. Paul took some time to talk with Movie Mikes about his upcoming film, “Skyline”.
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Mike Gencarelli: Talk about your role as Colin in the upcoming sci-fi feature “Skyline”?
J. Paul Boehmer: Well, basically the plot is “aliens invade Los Angeles.” (laughs) That’s really all you need to know. They wreak a lot of havoc and it’s going to be pretty exciting. I just finished doing some additional dialogue work the other day and what I saw was incredible.
MG: Even though the film would be classified “low budget” I understand it has a big budget feel. Do
you agree?
JPB: The main thing about this project is that these guys (co-directors Colin and Greg Strause) know what they’re doing. They’ve been doing special effects for years…they run their own special effects house. They knew what they wanted when they came to the table. They shot it the way they wanted to. And the great thing is, they can make a movie on a really low budget and make it look fantastic. You don’t need to spend the entire national budget of a small country to make a fantastic movie.
MG: What was the hardest part of working on the film?
JPB: For me, it was that I have a very bad end. I was hung from ropes for an entire day and was dropped six feet onto a pad all day long. It was really fun…I loved doing my own stunts. I had a headache at the end of the day but I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to do it again. It was really great.
MG: How was it working with the Strause Brothers?
JPB: They were incredible. They’re so together, they had everything ready to go. It was one of the nicest sets I’ve ever worked on. We actually filmed in one of their apartment buildings and in their parking structure. But let me also say that it wasn’t just any apartment building, it was one on Santa Monica Beach!
MG: You have done some work in the “Star Trek” world, tell us about it and would you consider yourself a “Trekkie”?
JPB: I grew up on “Star Trek.” I used to race home from school every day to see the episodes when they first put them into syndication. And that was the first big syndication “thing.” I grew up on it. I dreamed about it, made my own model ships. I did all the boy things. So to get to be on the show was a huge dream come true for me. And to be on the show as often as I was, and to play the great characters I got to play, was really exciting. I actually played a Nazi SS officer on both “Voyager” and “Enterprise.” For all I know it was the same costume! I have no shame about being a Trekkie. I speak a little Klingon…a little Vulcan…I’ve been known to watch all of the movies over and over.
MG: What else are you working on?
JPB: Nothing at the moment. I’ve had a couple of auditions but nothing back on those yet. I do narrate books on tape for my day job. I have more than 100 titles that I’ve recorded, including “Moby Dick.” I just did a recording of “The Jungle,” as well as Michael Scott’s “Necromancer.
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