| The Borg Queen's Heady Role By Louis B. Hobson BEVERLY HILLS -- It's not easy being queen of the galaxy. In First Contact the newest Star Trek adventure, Alice Krige plays the infamous Borg Queen. "When I got the role, the producers told me the Borg Queen would be bald. I thought that was cool. I was even prepared to shave my head," recalls Krige. Months later Krige arrived for her first costume fitting to discover that special effects wizard Todd Masters had created an entire facial and head prosthesis for the Borg Queen. "I literally had my heart in my mouth that day. What they had created for me was so awesome. Something this stunning is a wonderful tool to be given to work with." Krige quickly discovered the magic had its drawbacks. "It took six hours to have the head pieces attached and another hour for me to jiggle into the body suit. On our first day of shooting it became apparent I couldn't drink anything in the mornings. It took 45 minutes to get me out of the suit and another hour to wiggle back in. It proved to be a very expensive bathroom break." At the end of a day's shooting a new make-up crew arrived to spend two hours easing Krige out of her make-up. "They did it very slowly so as not to tear my skin because the pieces had literally been glued on." Krige spent 12, 18-hour days filming the Borg Queen's scenes. No sooner had she put away her costume than Krige found herself in Winnipeg working on the Canadian film Twilight Of The Ice Nymphs. Krige was born in South Africa and educated in England. She first attracted international attention in 1981 when she played the opera singer in Chariots Of Fire. Copyright by the Calgary Sun November 22, 1996 |