Post by buffysmglover on Sept 22, 2007 1:58:56 GMT -5
POSTED AT GATHER.COM
Buffy's Giles
by Cynthia B.
January 17, 2007 06:39 PM EST (Updated: January 17, 2007 09:40 PM EST) rating: 10/10 (1 vote) | comments: 5
I used to work for Buffy the Vampire Slayer magazine and I had a chance to interview many people connected with the show. One of my favorites was Anthony Stewart Head. Over the course of several years he spent hours and hours with me, chatting, giving me a tour of Giles' new apartment, and I even got to hear him sing. So I thought I'd pass along some of my interview material. Remember these were done back when the show was new but I think the information is still fun. Also, these are from my transcripts, not the finished articles I wrote so they're not grammatically correct.
Enjoy (T = Tony or Anthony Stewart Head)
# # # #
Cy : Tell me about the show
T: What can I say, It attracted me as an Englishman abroad. I was here and I get all kinds of scripts some of which appeal, and some of which kind of loosely appeal and some that don’t appeal at all. And this one, I was in a restaurant reading just laughing outloud and I thought this has to be something. When I went up for the interview, I stopped at a buddy’s up in the valley and said “I’ve really want to be in this. Something’s you go well, if they like me then fair enough. And some stuff I’ve turned down, well they want me but no, but this I thought was just great. I loved the concept. English people are either bad guys or the stupid stiff upper lip guy we have a set pattern of how we are perceive. Quite rightly I think. The bad guy thing comes from the fact that we’re fairly inscrutable so you can’t figure out where the English are coming from.
Cyn: Tell me about Giles.
T: Well, he bumbles through life. He knows what he knows but I’ve always had the distinct impression that Joss and I talked about the back story. He comes from a village that is known for their watchers. Some villages are known for their wine, some for their cheese, his is for watchers. I also had a feeling that he comes from a long line of watchers and his father might not actually have seen action. I’m sure there are a few watchers about and there’s only one slayer. I think this is the first time his family has seen action in some time. Have actually come across a real slayer. He found his way to Sunnydale, cause that was in his destiny but he no idea he was going to meet up with a real slayer.
He knows it’s locked in the stars but when he actually meets her and it starts to get a bit nasty it’s like ‘oh no what do I do now. I know all the theory but.... this isn’t like practical experience. Joss promises me that we’re going to find out about Giles’ true past, he’s not as Kosher as he seems. He didn’t and rightly so, tell me Joss hasn’t told me what the back story is cause I’d start to play it now, but there’s some dark stuff a comin.
He has a wonderful way of making the characters , and as we grow with them, he gives us something to play with, it’s great fun.
Cyn: You’ve changed some since the pilot. Giles was really bumbling in the pilot
T: As I say, my take on it was that it knocked him off his feet. He didn’t know what to do and all he knew was his books. Given serious practical use, he’s like “uh, somebody help me. There’s no watcher to help the watcher.”
Cyn: What’s been your favorite show
T: I loved the scene between him and Ms Calendar about how computers don’t turn him on cause they don’t smell. That’s a beautiful speech. I love that. There are various things that tickled me.
Cyn: What is it like being the older cast member.
T: Oh that’s all right, I’ve been there. I’ve never been the wise one before. They look to me cause I’m older. No , actually we all get on extremely well and I don’t think anyone thinks of me as old and wise. I have a different way of working, which is fun cause we bounce off he each other. What I’ve learned since I’ve been, here, the English are slightly Theater bound, and it’s great fun to play with stuff. They sometimes say you’re a method actor. And I say, I’m not exactly method but if I’m suppose to have a fight. I’d rather get on the floor and roll around and get myself dusted down then to have someone come over and dust me with a bucket. And Allison still won’t let me down about the time she started to pick some fluff off my jacket and I said “Stop that, what are you doing, get off. I rolled around on the floor to get this, excuse me.” We do have a good time.
CYN: Your theater training shows in your looks. You have great telling looks.
T: I have developed the look when I was doing Rocky Horror. Basically when I first got the gig, they’d been on the road and the guy I took over for hated it and had a horrible time and they said he couldn’t cope with the audience shouting back at you cause they learned from the movie. So it’s Frank’s job and the narrators job, no one else can do it, to put any heckles down. So I got this dictionary of put downs and made up a few but the first few times I went on, the show ran for hours cause I’d answer anything. Finally they said, you have to let some of them go, so I learned to put a heckle down with a look. We had a big auditorium, like 1500 to 2000 seats and I could put some one down in the back of the balcony just by looking at them. It was great fun cause they’d shut up.
CYN: Any wishes.
T: Joss has been running through where he’s headed. He’s limitless. Some of the ideas are just great. You say what’s going to happen to that character, he tells you and you go OH NO, you’re wicked. He really is wicked. Just really screwing around with the audiences mind. The audience may think a character is locked in and their not, you never know. There’s one he mentioned, an all singing episode. Where everyone can’t help but break into song. Such a silly idea. **
(But as we all know, that SILLY idea turned out to be a fantastic episode!)
Buffy's Giles
by Cynthia B.
January 17, 2007 06:39 PM EST (Updated: January 17, 2007 09:40 PM EST) rating: 10/10 (1 vote) | comments: 5
I used to work for Buffy the Vampire Slayer magazine and I had a chance to interview many people connected with the show. One of my favorites was Anthony Stewart Head. Over the course of several years he spent hours and hours with me, chatting, giving me a tour of Giles' new apartment, and I even got to hear him sing. So I thought I'd pass along some of my interview material. Remember these were done back when the show was new but I think the information is still fun. Also, these are from my transcripts, not the finished articles I wrote so they're not grammatically correct.
Enjoy (T = Tony or Anthony Stewart Head)
# # # #
Cy : Tell me about the show
T: What can I say, It attracted me as an Englishman abroad. I was here and I get all kinds of scripts some of which appeal, and some of which kind of loosely appeal and some that don’t appeal at all. And this one, I was in a restaurant reading just laughing outloud and I thought this has to be something. When I went up for the interview, I stopped at a buddy’s up in the valley and said “I’ve really want to be in this. Something’s you go well, if they like me then fair enough. And some stuff I’ve turned down, well they want me but no, but this I thought was just great. I loved the concept. English people are either bad guys or the stupid stiff upper lip guy we have a set pattern of how we are perceive. Quite rightly I think. The bad guy thing comes from the fact that we’re fairly inscrutable so you can’t figure out where the English are coming from.
Cyn: Tell me about Giles.
T: Well, he bumbles through life. He knows what he knows but I’ve always had the distinct impression that Joss and I talked about the back story. He comes from a village that is known for their watchers. Some villages are known for their wine, some for their cheese, his is for watchers. I also had a feeling that he comes from a long line of watchers and his father might not actually have seen action. I’m sure there are a few watchers about and there’s only one slayer. I think this is the first time his family has seen action in some time. Have actually come across a real slayer. He found his way to Sunnydale, cause that was in his destiny but he no idea he was going to meet up with a real slayer.
He knows it’s locked in the stars but when he actually meets her and it starts to get a bit nasty it’s like ‘oh no what do I do now. I know all the theory but.... this isn’t like practical experience. Joss promises me that we’re going to find out about Giles’ true past, he’s not as Kosher as he seems. He didn’t and rightly so, tell me Joss hasn’t told me what the back story is cause I’d start to play it now, but there’s some dark stuff a comin.
He has a wonderful way of making the characters , and as we grow with them, he gives us something to play with, it’s great fun.
Cyn: You’ve changed some since the pilot. Giles was really bumbling in the pilot
T: As I say, my take on it was that it knocked him off his feet. He didn’t know what to do and all he knew was his books. Given serious practical use, he’s like “uh, somebody help me. There’s no watcher to help the watcher.”
Cyn: What’s been your favorite show
T: I loved the scene between him and Ms Calendar about how computers don’t turn him on cause they don’t smell. That’s a beautiful speech. I love that. There are various things that tickled me.
Cyn: What is it like being the older cast member.
T: Oh that’s all right, I’ve been there. I’ve never been the wise one before. They look to me cause I’m older. No , actually we all get on extremely well and I don’t think anyone thinks of me as old and wise. I have a different way of working, which is fun cause we bounce off he each other. What I’ve learned since I’ve been, here, the English are slightly Theater bound, and it’s great fun to play with stuff. They sometimes say you’re a method actor. And I say, I’m not exactly method but if I’m suppose to have a fight. I’d rather get on the floor and roll around and get myself dusted down then to have someone come over and dust me with a bucket. And Allison still won’t let me down about the time she started to pick some fluff off my jacket and I said “Stop that, what are you doing, get off. I rolled around on the floor to get this, excuse me.” We do have a good time.
CYN: Your theater training shows in your looks. You have great telling looks.
T: I have developed the look when I was doing Rocky Horror. Basically when I first got the gig, they’d been on the road and the guy I took over for hated it and had a horrible time and they said he couldn’t cope with the audience shouting back at you cause they learned from the movie. So it’s Frank’s job and the narrators job, no one else can do it, to put any heckles down. So I got this dictionary of put downs and made up a few but the first few times I went on, the show ran for hours cause I’d answer anything. Finally they said, you have to let some of them go, so I learned to put a heckle down with a look. We had a big auditorium, like 1500 to 2000 seats and I could put some one down in the back of the balcony just by looking at them. It was great fun cause they’d shut up.
CYN: Any wishes.
T: Joss has been running through where he’s headed. He’s limitless. Some of the ideas are just great. You say what’s going to happen to that character, he tells you and you go OH NO, you’re wicked. He really is wicked. Just really screwing around with the audiences mind. The audience may think a character is locked in and their not, you never know. There’s one he mentioned, an all singing episode. Where everyone can’t help but break into song. Such a silly idea. **
(But as we all know, that SILLY idea turned out to be a fantastic episode!)