an Anthony Head fansite
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BBC Online Chat June 1999
What do you enjoy most about your character’s
personality? There is a warmth and generosity about Giles. If I met him in person I think that is what I would be attracted to. In terms of what I enjoy about playing him – the social ineptitude, and the intellect is great fun too as I don’t have one! What is your favourite episode of Buffy? I have to say Passion. Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy) accused me of saying that because I largely featured in it, but it was because it was a beautifully shot episode and a beautifully written one, but they are all great. What is Sarah Michelle Gellar really like? And
what is it like working with her? She is remarkably talented, her head is screwed on and she is very generous. There are very few actors who give the amount of emotion that she gives on camera. If there is an emotional scene between us, she will say "Would you like me to give it all" and I say "yes" – and she gives it all! This is very rare and she is extremely generous – there is a great mutual respect between us which I enjoy. How many series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are
you thinking of doing? Five in all. Then we may make a movie or two at the end of the 5th series. Who do you get along with most on set? I guess I get on most with Nicky (Nicholas Brendon – Xander), Alyson (Hannigan – Willow) and Seth (Green – Oz). We have been out a few times. I have got to know David (Boreanaz - Angel) more this season. I am great friends with his wife Ingrid and they came up to San Francisco to celebrate my birthday this year. I would say also Joss (Whedon) and his wife. Did it feel weird being the only British person in
the cast? No. The moment it felt weird was when I was going to an American High School Library and had a long chat with the librarian and learnt about card indexing etc, then went and sat up in the lunch area for about 1/2 hour and I felt so alien and out of place – it was the best research I could have done. How successful did you think Buffy would be? Did
you ever think it would be as successful as it is? I always thought it would be successful, but you never know how an audience will react and you never know what people will like. Joss seemed to be a lot more confident and he said specifically that this will not be an overnight success - it will take time and it will be a question of word of mouth, but it is going exactly where I would have hoped. There has been a lot of speculation on the
Internet that Sarah Michelle Gellar hardly does any of her own fight
sequences. Is this true? Basically, there are sequences that she cannot do because if she breaks something we are totally up the creek without a paddle. She always does pieces of the fight and the close-ups, but the producers won’t allow her to do some of the stuff and we have an extremely good stunt double called Sophie, but Sarah will always muck in! Do you believe in any of the pagan rights you use
in the series? Most of it is out of Joss’s head – there has to be some believability in the actor to make it work and at that moment I believe it. There is one part of the ceremony that got built into reality in the library which is "smudging", which is burning sage. That is what the American Natives used to do and it is very good at cleaning bad energy. Because we talk about so much stuff in the library, the library gets a bit gummed up sometimes and there are back-to-back and very long scenes and by the end of the second day we are champing at the bit. So I say, "let’s do a smudge" to clean the air a bit. Do you enjoy any other Science-Fiction/Fantasy
programmes? Yes, I loved Hitchhikers Guide. I liked the original series of Star Trek. I was working with Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) the year before he worked on Star Trek. I used to love Doctor Who – that is really cool. The Matrix is fantastic, just brilliant, absolutely wonderful and a bunch of sequences that leave you breathless, not mind enlarging, but just wonderful. Are you as misunderstood as Giles? No. I actually don’t think Giles is misunderstood and I don’t play him as somebody who is misunderstood. I play him as learning, and always ready to concede that he doesn’t know something. If you could be any of the bad guys from Buffy who
would you be and why? Spike is pretty cool, but I don’t think that I would be cast. Giles has had a very dark past and is not necessarily Mr Nice. Do you live in America or do you still live in
England? England is my home. I spend an enormous amount of time in America but I get back here as much as I can. What do you miss about England? My children and my girlfriend – that’s it really, and my dog, Christie. What made you choose acting instead of any other
job? I liked it! Had you not made it as an actor, what would you be
doing right now? Maybe writing. I always used to enjoy writing and I still do and it is probable that I would want to have some artistic outlet and I would have probably been a novel writer or a screenplay writer. What do you do for fun? Write. I am not into sports, although I used to ride a lot. I do a bit of D.I.Y. odd jobs and take my kids out. I love going to the movies. Is your room a mess? Yes. I have an unpleasant tendency to leave my clothes in a pile until it gets to the point to take them to the wash. If there is a chair in the room, I will always cover it. It’s never going to be better!!! It’s an area I am still working on. What are your plans for the future? Whatever! Just see what comes, it is very difficult to plan for the future and I am very open to see what life hands me next. I would like to see the animated film, ‘Dark Secrets’ put into play, and there is a film project we are working on that I would like to see go into script shortly. I might direct an episode of Buffy next season - I would like to direct. What is the most recent movie you have seen? My Favourite Martian – the TV series was better. What would you like your epitaph to read? "Been there done that." And "What am I coming back as next time?" |