Katee Sackhoff Talks About Joining The Boys Club That Is Riddick

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Katee SackhoffBetween star Vin Diesel, director David Twohy, and a cast that prominently features a bunch of beefy dudes—including at least one former professional wrestler—the upcoming sci-fi adventure Riddick promises to be a manly movie for men who like man stuff. You know what I’m talking about, fighting, action, monsters, that type of thing. Adrift in this veritable sea of testosterone and misplaced male aggression, if you look carefully, you might just notice the sole female presence in the film in the form of Katee Sackhoff.

Being the lone female in what is otherwise an almost exclusive boys club could be a bit concerning to anyone. In a recent interview with Collider, the Battlestar Galactica star touched on that the topic. She plays a tough as hell bounty hunter named Dahl, who is, for all intents and purposes, the only woman in Riddick—there are others, but only in the very early going.

For Sackhoff, the nerve-wracking part was not necessarily holding her own with the guys, but the pressure of being the lone representative of her gender in the film. She says:

There’s nobody to take focus off of me, if I’m not good. That was my biggest fear. There’s so many guys in the movie. They were all amazing. Every single one of those guys are phenomenal actors, and they really brought such life to their characters. But, when you’re the only woman in most of the movie, there’s a lot of pressure. If you’re not good, everyone is like, “Well, the girl sucked!” It’s not like people can go, “Which one?”

Since Riddick is also the highest profile movie project she’s ever worked on, Sackhoff also notes that there’s a tremendous upside, saying that she’s scared, but also excited.

One of the things that attracted her to the role of Dahl is how hard and tough the character is. Though some will likely make comparisons to other strong female roles she’s played, Sackhoff is going for something different. She usually brings layers of vulnerability to her roles, but not with Dahl, who has not readily apparent weaknesses. She says, “If she [Dahl] has a vulnerability, you’re never going to see it. That was really, really daunting and different for me, but I loved it.”

That’s definitely one way to survive in a violent, male-dominated world full of soldiers of fortune that hunt and kill for money. You can bet that the slightest chink in your armor is immediately revealed and exploited.

Riddick co stars, Karl Urban, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, and Jordi Molla, and opens September 6, 2013. While you’re here, enjoy some more Katee…

Katee Sackhoff