Video, photos and quotes from today's panel with James Marsters at the Philadelphia Comic Con!
Intro:
Q: I heard from someone that Joss wasn't a big fan of yours?
A: No! My second day of work Joss came up to me and screamed, "You beautiful actors! With your looks and women, you get everything! And we writers get nothing!" I said, "But you gave me the hair...If I look cool, it's your fault." Joss: " But you got those cheekbones!" And he put his hands on my face like he wanted to rip it off. "You're going to get laid all your life off this role."
Q: What was your least favorite costume to wear?
A: Andromeda, why did they dress me in Purple?
Q: You were sick as Brainiac in Smallville. My favorite villain ever. Do you prefer playing villains or heroes?
A: Villains! (Applause) When you play the hero you're always running and sweating. When you're the villain you just lurk!
Q: You're so pretty. I loved you as Buzz Aldrin and I was wondering what it was like to play a real, historical, idolized person.
A: I'm with you, I'm a huge nerd, love history. I was afraid the real Colonel would come and say, "You're making me a wimp!" (gestures punching) I was terrified.
Below Video: Which Angel episode were you really proud of?
Q: Ad libbing? Did you get to do a lot of that on Angel & Buffy?
A: Um, there was NO ad libbing on Buffy or Angel. If you had a comma wrong they'd re-take it....and I was under no illusions that I could improve upon their dialogue. That was the best writing I've been given in my life and I wouldn't change a single word.
Q: How hard was it to banter with puppet Angel?
A: Ben [Edlund] who wrote The Tick wrote it and we were waiting for the script and we weren't into it. He said, "Dude, I gave you the best scene of the whole script. Just take the paycheck and take the week off."
Below Video: Spike or Angel?
Q: Do you stay in touch with actors from past shows?
A: The truth is about actors is that we're shattered people. We have bad childhoods and when the job goes you never speak to them again. (Crowd: "aww") Guys, I'm an artist, I'm not healthy and I don't have a lot of friends.
Q: Who was your favorite writer on Buffy/Angel?
A: That's a hard question because there were so many good ones. You know what? The best writer was Joss. He didn't like me! I knew if he showed up on set I had the week off. He wasn't into the whole Anne Rice thing. He got talked into the character of Angel by David Greenwalt. When I came on I was supposed to be dirty and dead. So the best writer was the one who didn't write anything for me! But it's ok, he didn't fire me!
Below Video: James Marsters "How did I feel about the rape Scene on Buffy? I wanted to commit suicide that day"
Q: If you were given and opportunity to create your own character for your next role, what would it be?
A: I wanted to develop a Star Trek series about the very First Starship.
Q: My absolute favorite episode was the musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling". Can you describe that time?
A: You know, we didn't have fun doing that. It was like Joss asking us to juggle chain saws. "You're going to ruin everyone's career", we thought! Joss hands me a cassette tape for material for the next week. It's Joss and his wife Kai, and neither one of them can sing. And Joss can't play the piano. They're warbling and I said to myself, "He's lost his mind! This is a joke." I walk out of my trailer and everyone else has the same face on. He's believed his own press and thinks he can do this! Tony Head and I were kind of cool with it because we're both singers, but we all fought it. Sarah had two vocal coaches. We all though we were going to die. But then we saw the Xander/Anya dance scene which was done first and we all realized it was going to work. We all went from that to "triumph" in one week.
Below Video: Torchwood Question, "What was it like making out with a male actor?"