News

Upcoming

James Marsters

Articles

Galleries

Mailing List

Featured Picture

Who Is That?

Banners

Disclaimers

Links

E - mail  

Marsters loves life playing the undead

He feels lucky to co-star as vampire Spike on 'Buffy'.
May 9th 2000
By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret News television editor
(C) Deseret News. No Copyright Infringement Intended.

---

BURBANK, Calif. -- It isn't hard to pick James Marsters out of a crowd -- even a crowd of several hundred people on the Warner Ranch, just down the street from the Warner Bros. backlot. What with that bleached-blond hair, he's pretty easy to spot. But hearing him is another story. Fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (Tuesdays, 7 p.m., WB/Ch. 30) might be shocked to hear the native of northern California speak without the British accent he affects so convincingly in his role as the vampire Spike. What surprises Marsters, however, is that he's still on "Buffy." Moreover, that after two years of occasional guest appearances, he became a regular in the show's fourth season. "I was supposed to die after three to five (episodes). I was reading scripts last-page-first to see if I died," he said. "But the fifth one came and I didn't die. Of course, I could have died. If the money hadn't worked out -- bye-bye Spike." Not that it was easy to incorporate a character who remains at heart unrepentantly evil into the show on a weekly basis. "I really didn't see it coming," Marsters said of Spike, the vampire whose goal from the beginning was to do in the star of the show. "I saw the character as a functioning villain and the thing about a villain is that he can't achieve his objective. He can't kill the slayer, because then we're all unemployed. But if he keeps failing to do so, he becomes stupid. He becomes foolish and bumbling and ineffectual. So he has to stop trying. And so I didn't know what the heck they were going to do because Spike's whole thing was all about killing slayers."

What he didn't see coming was that creator/executive producer Joss Whedon would cook up a plotline in which the Initiative -- a secret government organization devoted to hunting vampires, demons and the like -- would implant a computer chip in his head that would prevent him from killing humans. And that Spike, always a surprisingly funny character, would replace Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) -- who left for the "Buffy" spinoff "Angel" -- as a comedic center of the show.

"What Joss said was, 'You're going to be the new Cordelia.' Which meant to me that I'm the guy in the corner saying, 'You guys are all dumb. It's stupid and this is not going to work. We're all dead and I'm outta here,' " Marsters said. It all makes sense in a "Buffy" sort of way. And Spike is certainly one of the most interesting characters on any TV show -- a genuinely funny presence (the bit where he tried to stake himself earlier this season was hilarious) who remains, at the same time, a menacing presence. "I'm not given a soul. I'm still a sociopath. I'm still the biggest jerk in the world. It's just that I'm kept from actually hurting people," Marsters said. "It's more like -- well, I'm not the actor Malcolm McDowell is -- but it's more like 'Clockwork Orange' when he's been experimented on and kept from doing what he wants to do. "I'm going around going, 'I'm evil, damn it. Even though I can't bite you, I'm evil!' But that frustration is wonderful to play. Trying to figure out how to ask for things. How do you ask for help when, basically, as a vampire, you get immediate gratification? Whatever you want, you take it. I mean, vampires don't carry wallets. They don't have cash. I like that coat -- you're dead. So having to deal with all the things that human beings have to deal with is interesting." And he's intrigued by Spike's storyline. "He's been taken down a peg. He is going through kind of a hero's journey of testing," Marsters said. "But, in typical Whedon fashion, it includes a lot of humiliation. And I just think it's brilliant." It's that brilliant writing that attracted Marsters to the show. Before "Buffy," the Julliard-trained actor had done most of his work in the theater with only occasional guest roles on TV. "I think it surpasses its genre. Most fantasy shows are not nearly so well written," he said. "And I think it's better written than it has to be to reach its targeted demographic, and that's why it expands beyond that. Anybody who likes good writing, if they are lucky enough to discover it, is kind of hooked. "I've got so many actors around this country hooked on this show -- actors who gave me untold amounts of crap about, 'You're on what, James? You used to do Moliere!' I'm like, 'Dude, just watch it.' And, immediately, they give me a call. Tuesday night, 9 o'clock -- ring --'Oh my (gosh)!' "

And he deflects any praise he receives for his portrayal of Spike. "I think that would be giving me too much credit," Marsters said. "I mean, I like my acting. I'm not trying for false modesty. I'm proud of myself. I worked very hard to become an actor. But I haven't worked with someone as good as Joss ever. And I've worked with Tony Award-winning playwrights." He's also Sarah Michelle Gellar's biggest fan and is obviously pleased when told that the woman who plays Buffy has kind

words for him as well. "Sarah is so good. She's surprisingly good. You don't think so, because she's real pretty," Marsters said. "The two things I like about Sarah are her acting and also the way she uses her power on the set. She uses her power to make sure everybody is working and not screwing around. She's always on time. She always knows her lines better than anybody else. She never misses work. She is always there for your off-camera stuff. She is a pro down to her last fiber. She had been mistreated before she was on 'Buffy.' She has had jobs where, maybe, the lead actor was not so nice to her. I'm not going to name names, but we all know what we're talking about." (That would be Susan Lucci on "All My Children," by the way.) And Marsters rhapsodizes about his favorite episode -- an installment earlier this season in which Spike and Buffy, under the influence of a wayward spell, fall suddenly and totally in love. It was hilarious, largely because Whedon told the actors to play it straight. "And , wham, she's tearing it up. She's just right there and it's just amazing," Marsters said. "She has the ability to just go there immediately. And I'm trying to discover how to do that. I'm used to having rehearsal upon rehearsal, weeks upon weeks to kind of work into that. She just jumps right there. I'm learning a lot by watching her, actually." He pretty much loves everything about being Spike -- except for that bleached-blond hair. "Oh, aaargh!" he said. "What I have to say is, if you ever meet a dyed-blond, man or woman, they've got (courage), I'll say that. Because they have to do it every 10 days. And, you know, the scalp would just peel right off after a while." The first couple of years were really hard on his head. "My scalp would start to bleed. I'd be walking around after the dye job and a little puss-pocket would break and start dribbling down my forehead. It's like -- oh my gosh!" he said. "And then your scalp starts to fall off. I mean, it peels. Big, thick clumps of it come out." Things have been "much better" this season since a new hairdresser started working on it and tried new products. Not that Marsters is complaining about the hair trials he went through. "I mean, some people dig ditches for a living. I have to get my hair dyed. Big deal," he said. He's in the midst of a two-year contract on "Buffy," and he wouldn't mind staying longer. "As long as Joss is there, I'm there," he said. And what about rumors that his character might go on even after "Buffy" calls it quits? We've already seen an "Angel" spinoff; is there any possibility of "Spike"? "I would love it," Marsters said with a laugh. "I don't think Joss is going to want to keep doing 'Buffy' forever. There are some really brilliant writers on that show. I would work with any of them again. But I don't fool myself. I would love to win the lottery, too."