I was not at the Writers panel, so am glad someone could write a report.
The Writers panel
The Writers panel included Jane Espenson, David Fury and Steven De Knight. It was great fun and the three had incredible rapport. Sadly I’m really struggling to recall all of it especially much of the banter. There was a running gag where David or Steve would name an episode they loved ask who wrote it and be amazed it was one of Jane’s episodes.
Q – About writers block
A – Both Fury and De Knight talked about how much they’d complain about how bad the scenes they’d written were and each writer would try and top the other in how badly they were feeling about their writing. In contrast Jane went for self praise so when she was uncertain about something she’d just tell everyone how great it was instead. As a rule though there wasn’t time for writer’s block the time pressure was such that they just had to get the script done no matter what.
Q – About co-writing episodes
A – Fury said he’d already answered this in his solo Q & A and I don’t recall Steve saying much. Jane said mostly it was done by dividing up the acts and that worked well because the writers would always have a very well worked out story line complete with act breaks before they went away to write. She did remember one time where she and Doug Petrie had tried a different collaborative style whereby they’d done alternate passes ie one of them wrote a draft and then the other re-wrote it. The problem was they tended just to cut out everything the other had done. David and Steve questioned why that had ever seemed like a good idea and Jane blamed it on Doug.
Q – About the Darla-Spike relationship
A – Fury felt Spike was too devoted to Dru to have been involved with Darla. There was some debate as to whether a relationship might have been possible later but as Fury kept pointing out Darla was dead by then. (Interestingly the question didn’t specify romance but that seemed to be how the writers took the question. Later another questioner filled them in that in fanfic Darla and Spike have a bad relationship because they both love Angelus. That seemed to surprise the writers.)
Q – Writing for dramas vs. writing for comedies
A – They all seemed to prefer writing alone and Jane said she can’t write with some one sitting next to her reading along and suggesting lines as some duos do. Jane talked about the way some comedies are written with all the writers sitting around throwing out lines and jokes and a script being put together that way with an assistant writing down the lines that were approved. This wasn’t a method she enjoyed and neither Steve nor Fury seemed to have worked that way.
Q – Other characters who they’d have liked to do backstory for
A – No one really seemed to have a good answer to this pointing out that Anya had been explored and as Jane pointed out a Jonathan backstory episode wouldn’t have been very interesting as it’d just be the home life of a nerd. I think Steve objected here that it would be his life story.
Q – Where would be their ideal place to live
A – Jane went first and said Sydney. Fury also said Australia and said he’d only been there last year with his family for a convention and loved it. He loved the people and the atmosphere and just about everything else he could think of. He said as a child his parents once told him they would be moving to Australia as a joke. However, he’d taken it seriously and was all excited to go. They also needed good TV writers. Steve asked if the pay was as good as in LA for writers and both Jane and Fury said no. Steve said he came from a small town in New Jersey and for him living in LA was his dream come true.
Q – About on line fan interactions with writers a good or bad thing. (I asked this question and aimed it primarily at Fury and De Knight which lead De Knight to ask if it was a penis related question)
A – Fury just loved mixing it up. He regarded it as an opportunity to get into bar fights and he’d be laughing about it all and not taking it seriously. Joss had introduced him to it on the Bronze and he thought it was great. They also discussed how Fury would be similar in the writers room and get into rows with other writers seemingly about nothing. They cited a row he had with Drew but I forget now what it was about but Fury just wouldn’t let it drop. He also recalled how he took to Steve because Steve would stir things up. Steve recalled an incident when Fury asked Drew for a pen and Steve turned to Drew and said “Are you going to take that!”Fury thought this marked him out as perfect for “Angel” and working with Tim Minnear.
Q – About which comic book character they’d like to bring to life
A – Steve talked about one he’d actually written (The Punisher?) which he’d pitched as very 1970s and dark but when he handed it in was told they couldn’t possibly make it like a 1970s movie and dark! Jane did answer but I’m blanking on her answer. Fury said “Little Dot”.
Q – Who should Joss cast as Wonder Woman
A – Fury suggested James, and was then interrupted by James asking what was going on from the upper balcony. There was discussion that he couldn’t cast a tiny woman for the role as Wonder Woman was an amazon. Someone in the audience I think suggested Gina Torres which Jane seemed to think was a decent idea.
Q – About the time scale from writing to an episode airing
A – Jane said it can be a long time citing how long it’s been since she wrote her Battlestar Galactica episode which is yet to air. However on Buffy and Angel it could be a few weeks if not days. She mentioned sometimes they’d be putting together the next days scenes for shooting and still not have a finished script. Steve mentioned how out of the blue Joss pitched them “Angel and Spike on a German submarine” with hardly any time to write the episode. They didn’t have time for any research so just took bits straight out of other films to give them background on German submarines.
Q – Complimenting on their use of Wicca on Buffy
A – None of them recalled doing any research and instead they’d just thrown it in because at some point it had been mentioned with regard to Willow and Tara. Mostly they just tried to bluff their way through and hope for the best.
Q – Did vampires change over the course of the show from simple monsters to something more complicated?
A – Fury didn’t think so; he just thought that in later seasons we got to know the vampires more but their basic nature was no different. Jane felt there had been a shift in tone from ‘monster of the week’ where the monsters were very clearly metaphors for teen age issues to more character driven episodes. She felt she was behind on that change as she was often pitching monster of the week episodes when Joss had really moved on.
Q – Was there something ‘racist’ to the idea that soulless demons should be killed while evil humans weren’t
A – Fury felt the soul was only really a big issue for vampires and they seemed to agree that other demons might well have souls. Fury’s idea was that a soul allowed a person the possibility for redemption which was not possible with a soulless vampire.
Q – About why Spike became increasingly naked as the show went on
A – Jane put it down to the increasing influence of Marti on the show. Fury commented that there was nothing wrong with naked Spike.
Q – How to deal with actors limitations – write round them or ignore them
A – Jane said on her current show they had an actor with a thick accent and were therefore writing to make sure he didn’t have any long lines to speak. However, if you had an actor who couldn’t express a range of emotions you probably needed another actor. Fury said that on Buffy one of the actresses who he would not name was unable to run so they’d use a stunt woman for any running scenes but when she did run on camera you had the funniest dailies ever. He then commented that the same actress was also unable to laugh.
Q – Something about writers’ importance
A – Steve said that writers had more power in television than they did in film and in television it was the directors who got treated like hired hands.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
James Q&A Queen Mary 2006
This picture and report are not mine. I was there and enjoyed watching and hearing James in action, but my camera was not good enough to take pictures, and my mind is not good enough to remember the questions and answers. He was just delightful.
The James Q&A
By the time we came back in from our hurried lunch there was already a line of people waiting to ask their questions. Since I usually waited until there were only a few people before getting in line I never did get to ask mine, nor did a few other people as quite a few people had lined up. It was a real exception over the weekend.
James bounded on stage announcing that he had just bought Darth Maul's light saber (I assume he was talking about getting one used in the film at auction?) He said it was really big but he could handle it. And with that entendre, we were off.
He was asked about the role he'd had in a stage play years ago (Scotland Row?) where he had grown a beard, and was asked how long it had taken. He said he'd been trying to look older, and the director had encouraged him to do it because it was something the character would do. It took him about a month to 6 weeks, but it was a goatee.
James was asked about his song lyric in "Up On Me" about why he was hopeless? He said the whole title was actually "You Can Give Up On Me" but when casting about for one he went with the shorter version and hadn't really considered the sexual overtone. His answer was that "I'm at a place in my life where I think I'm a real good lover but I don't have time to be."
I think he was asked about his response to the GotR video that had played over lunch and he said he had been asking people in the photo line to tell Himber to take the video off because listening to it made him cringe. He said one should never listen to a tape of live music, and that things were more forgiveable when heard live. Re: the recording he said "It sucks."
He was asked about his involvement with his friends' band the Vandals during high school and how the song "Button Down Vandals" had changed over the years since it was the first song he wrote. He said his friends would have him on stage with the band from time to time but he wasn't a member as he was off doing solo gigs at the time. He'd do a few solos on stage and then join in on a few songs. He said he thought he had done a Cars cover, and the band played a lot of Ramones and especially Clash. His friend Gordon wasn't in the band but co-wrote the song with him. They were all about 16 or 17, "We were all geeks who got a rock band together."
Yes, he believed in love at first sight, but also believes people spent the next 18 months figuring out if they'd got it right. He said nature gave people time to be friends as passion faded. I guess the questioner had been nervous because he then thanked everyone for having the balls to ask questions.
How would Spike have reacted if he had been the puppet rather than Angel? JM thought Spike would be more angry about it, would have sulked a lot, bit people, wouldn't have stuck to doing his job.
In what I thought was one of the more interesting comments that was never followed up on, JM was asked if Nina had been brought on the show as a love interest for Angel to distract him from Spike. JM replied that Jenny Mollen was Drew's girlfriend and was treated on the set "with a sexism that offended everybody." Unfortunately he didn't elaborate on what that treatment was, who was offended, and why nothing was done about it. Instead the conversation followed the whole Spike/Angel issue, and he said that when he did the "that one time" line he was pretty tired but knew as soon as he saw it that he was "going to hear about it." But clearly Spike would "try everything once in 120 years." He then asked if women liked watching gay guys the same way that men liked seeing lesbians. At the chorus of yes'es he nodded and said he had learned something new that day. (What? It's taken this long?)
He was next asked what women's parts in Shakespeare he would have enjoyed playing. He said Lady Anne, and Portia, and then went on about Shakespeare being a humanist and doing great parts for women. He added that the line "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" should also be "like a man scorned" as we should have both. He said Shakespeare wrote great female parts and then hired really good looking transvestites to play them. (I'm assuming he has no first hand knowledge of that).
Asked what would be an ideal romantic dinner he cited cornish game hen stuffed with apple, sausage and corn meal, a simple salad, and lots of fruit, sweet juice such as pasion fruit, but it couldn't be too heavy a meal. He said eclairs would be a last course, dessert would be much later in the evening.
What did he know now he wishes he had known at 25? That he was a good person and needed to accept himself more. "I was trying too hard for too long."
Asked about recurring dreams, he said he didn't remember them, and that he knew that if he didn't he must be repressing them, so he probably had very interesting dreams but didn't know about them. He asked how to change that. He then brought up a falling in water dream he'd had years ago, falling from a tower which was exploding and which had all his Julliard friends, but he was happy because he wasn't among them.
How does one conquer fears? Face them, they're never as bad as you think. He said that he suspected he had become quite fearless due to the bad leg injury he'd had as a child when he was told he wouldn't walk again, but he did. He said after that he felt he didn't have enough fear, and should have had better instincts to stay out of dangerous situations. His biggest fear is that he won't be able to provide long-term for his kids. He said he was excited because his son was doing well in school, getting all As "He's going to Harvard! ARGH!" He said as long as he could know for sure they'd be ok he could stop worrying.
If he could get three of his favorite artists in a room, what critique would he give them? George Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, Hillary Clinton "Yeah, I think she's going to be President." But he needed to talk to her before she was spoiled by Washington, well, she already was. He wouldn't critique them thought because he couldn't think of telling Shaw anything he did wrong. Then he changed his list to include Gandhi or Martin Luther King, and Gloria Steinem. As the questioner walked off he changed his mind again and said "Georgia O'Keefe."
Why doesn't he tend to write bridges for his songs? Lack of experience.
Who should play him in a bio of his life? Someone who has a lot of excess energy, Joaquim Phoenix would be good.
What was his most challenging role? Challenging as in how? As in which one he sucked the most in? Toby Belch in 12th Night. He was 20 years old, in a fatsuit, playing a 60 year old alcoholic and looking 14. He was told later by a teacher at Julliard that he had been given the role because he would be bound to fail in it. He added that he questioned himself too much then, didn't trust his own acting instincts. He asked why college students were often given such weighty depressing material to play such as one by a Russian writer he also had to do at the time.
Asked what he would do and where he'd go if he had a month of completely free time, he seemed to have a hard time imagining it. He said he'd probably spend it with his kids, or on a desert island with nothing, just having time to be bored. Asked if he could have one other person with him what would he do he said it would be bliss for a while and then they would fight.
Asked what was the most foolish thing he ever did for a girl he loved he said he bought her a 65 Mustang and then didn't even take it back when they broke up. (And something about not having his boullaibaise appreciated, I missed something in my notes.)
Asked what were his favoite stunts that he'd done, he said doing the wire work in "Destiny", which was fast and smooth, and lighting himself on fire in "Lover's Walk." He liked being trusted to do stunts.
Asked what accent he was using for Braniac and whether or not we'd ever hear him using his own voice he had to ponder a moment what his own voice was and then decided "California relaxed." He thought Braniac seemed very stiff on the page and he wanted him to be more casual. He did a mid-Atlantic speech, which was what Julliard trained American actors to use when doing Shakespeare. When someone called out that he did his own voice in "Chance" he agreed and said it was because Simon was a goofy character, so that was probably when he'd use his own voice.
If he could talk to any actor, ever, who would it be. He said he'd like to talk to the Greek actors, though we only know the name of the playwrights from that time. He didn't want to ask them about acting so much as what it was like to be performing in front of a public which would be having what is similar to a church revival experience now. He also wanted to talk to Edmund "I have to get a shag on" Keane, whom he discussed a bit, but thought he'd probably bore Keane, who might say "Are you going to kiss me?" But he was apparently an actor with great depths of passion who was very inflammatory on stage.
Asked his views on Shakespeare adaptations he said there was nothing wrong with doing them as Shakespeare himself took material from other places, but he thought there should be a term that distinguished such works from plays more faithful to Shakespeare's writing and staging.
If he could rule the world for 24 hours what would he do? First, he'd create paper trails for voting machines. Second, he'd creat campaign finance reform so that all campaigns would be publicly financed and no on could spend more than the set amounts. "The person who was most creative in spendng the money would probably win," he shrugged but said at least it gave the public the chance to do the rest rather than having someone dictate what needed doing. Certain investigations would then start to happen and certain people would be in jail. He would also institute nationalized health care.
Asked what it was like to read a book to an audience he can't see he said it was pretty much like reading it to himself, that when recording a book on tape he wouldn't really read ahead but would discover it as he was reading it. Mistakes could always be re-recorded.
What would he want to ask Bobby Comfort, whom he played in "Cool Money"? He said he'd want to know more about his childhood which he felt was very glossed over in the (book?). "He got whupped by his Mom bad." Also knowing whatever was done with the money. He found the thefts a little romantic and noted that articles at the time mentioned rising violence for small sums but that in these major hauls of enormous sums no one was hurt. And someone on the crew of Buffy who was a Budhist had explained that it was a good thing to lose material objects(?) He was then reminded of another point for the King for a Day question, that "Everyone who has kids should love them."
He was asked why there was a double standard about women being criticized for liking Spike who was a killer and not a good person when men were never taken to task for being attracted to women such as Faith and Darla. He agreed this was a good point and said he wanted to be attractive because he wanted a career. He said a lot of women and men made the mistake of thinking that they can change someone and that if they pleased them that they can be loved in the right way. What bothered him about Spike was that the people on the show prided themselves on being subversive artists and he felt that the character of Spike was a cliche and not the truth, someone who was a vicious killer but who was always good to his girlfriend. But he could understand attraction, and mentioned that Harmony was bad in the best way, who wouldn't be attracted to her?
Asked if he'd ever go blond again he said it was possible. Thanks to Smallville he had gotten a high enough profile with dark hair that people realized he could play other parts than the ones he was typecast for while blond.
Asked at what age and with what play kids should be introduced to Shakespeare he said it had to be done by taking them to a really good performance, not reading it because the plays weren't meant to be read. They had to be absorbed in an easier manner, but paid attention to, the way one might watch "Law & Order." He suggested "A Midsummer's Night Dream" because kids would really enjoy the man turned into the donkey and it would be something for them to latch onto. He also said that Seuss was great, as it introduced them to language as more than just vocabulary, anything that used words that danced.
Asked if he was ticklish and where, he said yes, though he could pretend not to be if necessary. Locations were tummy, kneecaps and behind the ear. But he doesn't like to be tickled, especially when he's sleeping.
He was told the song he had played the night before, "Baby Blue" was one of the sweetest things the questioner had heard. He said he didn't write it, Keb Mo did but he wanted something that would be like a benediction at the end of the show.
How would he impress a girl, say, on a 5th date? He said he'd drive to Santa Barbara, have a good conversation in the car, have a picnic on the beach, stay at a nice hotel, have a shower, change for dinner, follow the wind for that, then dinner, then sex, then room service with pancakes at 2 AM, then sleep at dawn.
Asked about the "Dad" tattoo Katie had, and where it was. He said it was on the back of her neck, and she had a short bob haircut, and he'd see it standing in line for lunch. She told him he was apparently the only man who liked it.
Asked about his character in "Winding Roads" he said that he was a good, simple guy, not ambitious, probably would have been a great father but wouldn't make good conversation over dinner. But the movie was not his story. "But I was so cute and good in that!"
He overcomes writer's block by going and creating something else. He said he'd finished a song recently and knew it was because he was rehearsing a play. That everyone should have the moments of being really happy with their work "I'm a genius! I'm Tolstoy!" and then coming back to it the next day and realizing "I'm not Tolstoy!"
Asked again about the song "Button Down Vandals" he said that he and his friends weren't really vandals, because although they liked breaking into places they had a rule about not damaging anything or giving anyone any idea they'd ever been in there. They would break into churches, but just sit on the pews and talk and be respectful in it. They liked climbing down ropes from skylights into such places, thinking it was really cool. He added that one thing they did vandalize were their school walls, which were built in a way to beautify the school, the idea being to have wavy walls with rocks in them but there wasn't enough money for the rocks so there were just pockmarks in it. They'd spray paint quotes from Thoreau, the Dalai Lama, philosophers, and then make a big deal of being forced to paint over these words.
Asked if he liked to dance he said yes, he did but most people were afraid of looking goofy and alcohol helps you not think about that. He said he'd be doing some very goofy dancing in "Teechers" but he wouldn't be drinking this weekend.
Asked why he chose the play "Teechers", he said that among his ex-wife's many skils was finding plays. She would read plays and playwrights from many countries and then pass them on to him. She had difficulty with that one, because of the way the play was structured. "We were peeing in our pants in rehearsal." He said two plays he had done were sure-fire audience pleasers, festival plays, "Teechers" and "Kvetch" by Stephen Burkoff, the latter of which is about people sitting around talking at a dinner party and worrying about things. When the questioner thanked him and walked off while he was still discussing it he said "You can just say 'shut up', my friends tell me that all the time."
Asked why his middle name was Wesley he said it was because his mother wouldn't let his father name him completely after himself. Asked about his son's name, Sullivan, he said he wanted it to be John. Being born in 1962 he felt there were 7 names a boy could have and not be picked on and his wife was coming up with all sorts of weird and biblical names. Then they were watching Ken Burns' Civil War documentary and were struck by Sullivan Ballou who wrote wonderful romantic letters to his wife. But he thought John was a great name.
He was asked what was most frightening in a horror movie and he said it was when the audience didn't know what was going on.
Asked what was the best gift he could give to fans, he was somewhat stumped and said that the whole meeting experience was generally so rushed it was very difficult to do anything meaningful. He thought perhaps it was when people would bring their kids to see him, trusting that he would give them a good experience and not be "Oh yeah. Great to meet you" in an insincere way.
At this point the Q&A was brought to a close and Himber announced that there were a few items up for silent auction, a poster from "Shadow Puppets", a promo photo of James for Smallville (the pink shirt profile one) and one of Humber and James where James appeared to be "tweaking my nipple. That's not what he was doing but I was rather titillated." The auctions were for the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation and raised about $2K. Also at this time they brought up other con guests on stage, such as Kevin Sorbo who did photos and autographs but no Q&A at the con. He took the mic to say that the last time he was on the Queen Mary was as a teenager when he was doing a fashion show for Adrian Paul."
The James Q&A
By the time we came back in from our hurried lunch there was already a line of people waiting to ask their questions. Since I usually waited until there were only a few people before getting in line I never did get to ask mine, nor did a few other people as quite a few people had lined up. It was a real exception over the weekend.
James bounded on stage announcing that he had just bought Darth Maul's light saber (I assume he was talking about getting one used in the film at auction?) He said it was really big but he could handle it. And with that entendre, we were off.
He was asked about the role he'd had in a stage play years ago (Scotland Row?) where he had grown a beard, and was asked how long it had taken. He said he'd been trying to look older, and the director had encouraged him to do it because it was something the character would do. It took him about a month to 6 weeks, but it was a goatee.
James was asked about his song lyric in "Up On Me" about why he was hopeless? He said the whole title was actually "You Can Give Up On Me" but when casting about for one he went with the shorter version and hadn't really considered the sexual overtone. His answer was that "I'm at a place in my life where I think I'm a real good lover but I don't have time to be."
I think he was asked about his response to the GotR video that had played over lunch and he said he had been asking people in the photo line to tell Himber to take the video off because listening to it made him cringe. He said one should never listen to a tape of live music, and that things were more forgiveable when heard live. Re: the recording he said "It sucks."
He was asked about his involvement with his friends' band the Vandals during high school and how the song "Button Down Vandals" had changed over the years since it was the first song he wrote. He said his friends would have him on stage with the band from time to time but he wasn't a member as he was off doing solo gigs at the time. He'd do a few solos on stage and then join in on a few songs. He said he thought he had done a Cars cover, and the band played a lot of Ramones and especially Clash. His friend Gordon wasn't in the band but co-wrote the song with him. They were all about 16 or 17, "We were all geeks who got a rock band together."
Yes, he believed in love at first sight, but also believes people spent the next 18 months figuring out if they'd got it right. He said nature gave people time to be friends as passion faded. I guess the questioner had been nervous because he then thanked everyone for having the balls to ask questions.
How would Spike have reacted if he had been the puppet rather than Angel? JM thought Spike would be more angry about it, would have sulked a lot, bit people, wouldn't have stuck to doing his job.
In what I thought was one of the more interesting comments that was never followed up on, JM was asked if Nina had been brought on the show as a love interest for Angel to distract him from Spike. JM replied that Jenny Mollen was Drew's girlfriend and was treated on the set "with a sexism that offended everybody." Unfortunately he didn't elaborate on what that treatment was, who was offended, and why nothing was done about it. Instead the conversation followed the whole Spike/Angel issue, and he said that when he did the "that one time" line he was pretty tired but knew as soon as he saw it that he was "going to hear about it." But clearly Spike would "try everything once in 120 years." He then asked if women liked watching gay guys the same way that men liked seeing lesbians. At the chorus of yes'es he nodded and said he had learned something new that day. (What? It's taken this long?)
He was next asked what women's parts in Shakespeare he would have enjoyed playing. He said Lady Anne, and Portia, and then went on about Shakespeare being a humanist and doing great parts for women. He added that the line "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" should also be "like a man scorned" as we should have both. He said Shakespeare wrote great female parts and then hired really good looking transvestites to play them. (I'm assuming he has no first hand knowledge of that).
Asked what would be an ideal romantic dinner he cited cornish game hen stuffed with apple, sausage and corn meal, a simple salad, and lots of fruit, sweet juice such as pasion fruit, but it couldn't be too heavy a meal. He said eclairs would be a last course, dessert would be much later in the evening.
What did he know now he wishes he had known at 25? That he was a good person and needed to accept himself more. "I was trying too hard for too long."
Asked about recurring dreams, he said he didn't remember them, and that he knew that if he didn't he must be repressing them, so he probably had very interesting dreams but didn't know about them. He asked how to change that. He then brought up a falling in water dream he'd had years ago, falling from a tower which was exploding and which had all his Julliard friends, but he was happy because he wasn't among them.
How does one conquer fears? Face them, they're never as bad as you think. He said that he suspected he had become quite fearless due to the bad leg injury he'd had as a child when he was told he wouldn't walk again, but he did. He said after that he felt he didn't have enough fear, and should have had better instincts to stay out of dangerous situations. His biggest fear is that he won't be able to provide long-term for his kids. He said he was excited because his son was doing well in school, getting all As "He's going to Harvard! ARGH!" He said as long as he could know for sure they'd be ok he could stop worrying.
If he could get three of his favorite artists in a room, what critique would he give them? George Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, Hillary Clinton "Yeah, I think she's going to be President." But he needed to talk to her before she was spoiled by Washington, well, she already was. He wouldn't critique them thought because he couldn't think of telling Shaw anything he did wrong. Then he changed his list to include Gandhi or Martin Luther King, and Gloria Steinem. As the questioner walked off he changed his mind again and said "Georgia O'Keefe."
Why doesn't he tend to write bridges for his songs? Lack of experience.
Who should play him in a bio of his life? Someone who has a lot of excess energy, Joaquim Phoenix would be good.
What was his most challenging role? Challenging as in how? As in which one he sucked the most in? Toby Belch in 12th Night. He was 20 years old, in a fatsuit, playing a 60 year old alcoholic and looking 14. He was told later by a teacher at Julliard that he had been given the role because he would be bound to fail in it. He added that he questioned himself too much then, didn't trust his own acting instincts. He asked why college students were often given such weighty depressing material to play such as one by a Russian writer he also had to do at the time.
Asked what he would do and where he'd go if he had a month of completely free time, he seemed to have a hard time imagining it. He said he'd probably spend it with his kids, or on a desert island with nothing, just having time to be bored. Asked if he could have one other person with him what would he do he said it would be bliss for a while and then they would fight.
Asked what was the most foolish thing he ever did for a girl he loved he said he bought her a 65 Mustang and then didn't even take it back when they broke up. (And something about not having his boullaibaise appreciated, I missed something in my notes.)
Asked what were his favoite stunts that he'd done, he said doing the wire work in "Destiny", which was fast and smooth, and lighting himself on fire in "Lover's Walk." He liked being trusted to do stunts.
Asked what accent he was using for Braniac and whether or not we'd ever hear him using his own voice he had to ponder a moment what his own voice was and then decided "California relaxed." He thought Braniac seemed very stiff on the page and he wanted him to be more casual. He did a mid-Atlantic speech, which was what Julliard trained American actors to use when doing Shakespeare. When someone called out that he did his own voice in "Chance" he agreed and said it was because Simon was a goofy character, so that was probably when he'd use his own voice.
If he could talk to any actor, ever, who would it be. He said he'd like to talk to the Greek actors, though we only know the name of the playwrights from that time. He didn't want to ask them about acting so much as what it was like to be performing in front of a public which would be having what is similar to a church revival experience now. He also wanted to talk to Edmund "I have to get a shag on" Keane, whom he discussed a bit, but thought he'd probably bore Keane, who might say "Are you going to kiss me?" But he was apparently an actor with great depths of passion who was very inflammatory on stage.
Asked his views on Shakespeare adaptations he said there was nothing wrong with doing them as Shakespeare himself took material from other places, but he thought there should be a term that distinguished such works from plays more faithful to Shakespeare's writing and staging.
If he could rule the world for 24 hours what would he do? First, he'd create paper trails for voting machines. Second, he'd creat campaign finance reform so that all campaigns would be publicly financed and no on could spend more than the set amounts. "The person who was most creative in spendng the money would probably win," he shrugged but said at least it gave the public the chance to do the rest rather than having someone dictate what needed doing. Certain investigations would then start to happen and certain people would be in jail. He would also institute nationalized health care.
Asked what it was like to read a book to an audience he can't see he said it was pretty much like reading it to himself, that when recording a book on tape he wouldn't really read ahead but would discover it as he was reading it. Mistakes could always be re-recorded.
What would he want to ask Bobby Comfort, whom he played in "Cool Money"? He said he'd want to know more about his childhood which he felt was very glossed over in the (book?). "He got whupped by his Mom bad." Also knowing whatever was done with the money. He found the thefts a little romantic and noted that articles at the time mentioned rising violence for small sums but that in these major hauls of enormous sums no one was hurt. And someone on the crew of Buffy who was a Budhist had explained that it was a good thing to lose material objects(?) He was then reminded of another point for the King for a Day question, that "Everyone who has kids should love them."
He was asked why there was a double standard about women being criticized for liking Spike who was a killer and not a good person when men were never taken to task for being attracted to women such as Faith and Darla. He agreed this was a good point and said he wanted to be attractive because he wanted a career. He said a lot of women and men made the mistake of thinking that they can change someone and that if they pleased them that they can be loved in the right way. What bothered him about Spike was that the people on the show prided themselves on being subversive artists and he felt that the character of Spike was a cliche and not the truth, someone who was a vicious killer but who was always good to his girlfriend. But he could understand attraction, and mentioned that Harmony was bad in the best way, who wouldn't be attracted to her?
Asked if he'd ever go blond again he said it was possible. Thanks to Smallville he had gotten a high enough profile with dark hair that people realized he could play other parts than the ones he was typecast for while blond.
Asked at what age and with what play kids should be introduced to Shakespeare he said it had to be done by taking them to a really good performance, not reading it because the plays weren't meant to be read. They had to be absorbed in an easier manner, but paid attention to, the way one might watch "Law & Order." He suggested "A Midsummer's Night Dream" because kids would really enjoy the man turned into the donkey and it would be something for them to latch onto. He also said that Seuss was great, as it introduced them to language as more than just vocabulary, anything that used words that danced.
Asked if he was ticklish and where, he said yes, though he could pretend not to be if necessary. Locations were tummy, kneecaps and behind the ear. But he doesn't like to be tickled, especially when he's sleeping.
He was told the song he had played the night before, "Baby Blue" was one of the sweetest things the questioner had heard. He said he didn't write it, Keb Mo did but he wanted something that would be like a benediction at the end of the show.
How would he impress a girl, say, on a 5th date? He said he'd drive to Santa Barbara, have a good conversation in the car, have a picnic on the beach, stay at a nice hotel, have a shower, change for dinner, follow the wind for that, then dinner, then sex, then room service with pancakes at 2 AM, then sleep at dawn.
Asked about the "Dad" tattoo Katie had, and where it was. He said it was on the back of her neck, and she had a short bob haircut, and he'd see it standing in line for lunch. She told him he was apparently the only man who liked it.
Asked about his character in "Winding Roads" he said that he was a good, simple guy, not ambitious, probably would have been a great father but wouldn't make good conversation over dinner. But the movie was not his story. "But I was so cute and good in that!"
He overcomes writer's block by going and creating something else. He said he'd finished a song recently and knew it was because he was rehearsing a play. That everyone should have the moments of being really happy with their work "I'm a genius! I'm Tolstoy!" and then coming back to it the next day and realizing "I'm not Tolstoy!"
Asked again about the song "Button Down Vandals" he said that he and his friends weren't really vandals, because although they liked breaking into places they had a rule about not damaging anything or giving anyone any idea they'd ever been in there. They would break into churches, but just sit on the pews and talk and be respectful in it. They liked climbing down ropes from skylights into such places, thinking it was really cool. He added that one thing they did vandalize were their school walls, which were built in a way to beautify the school, the idea being to have wavy walls with rocks in them but there wasn't enough money for the rocks so there were just pockmarks in it. They'd spray paint quotes from Thoreau, the Dalai Lama, philosophers, and then make a big deal of being forced to paint over these words.
Asked if he liked to dance he said yes, he did but most people were afraid of looking goofy and alcohol helps you not think about that. He said he'd be doing some very goofy dancing in "Teechers" but he wouldn't be drinking this weekend.
Asked why he chose the play "Teechers", he said that among his ex-wife's many skils was finding plays. She would read plays and playwrights from many countries and then pass them on to him. She had difficulty with that one, because of the way the play was structured. "We were peeing in our pants in rehearsal." He said two plays he had done were sure-fire audience pleasers, festival plays, "Teechers" and "Kvetch" by Stephen Burkoff, the latter of which is about people sitting around talking at a dinner party and worrying about things. When the questioner thanked him and walked off while he was still discussing it he said "You can just say 'shut up', my friends tell me that all the time."
Asked why his middle name was Wesley he said it was because his mother wouldn't let his father name him completely after himself. Asked about his son's name, Sullivan, he said he wanted it to be John. Being born in 1962 he felt there were 7 names a boy could have and not be picked on and his wife was coming up with all sorts of weird and biblical names. Then they were watching Ken Burns' Civil War documentary and were struck by Sullivan Ballou who wrote wonderful romantic letters to his wife. But he thought John was a great name.
He was asked what was most frightening in a horror movie and he said it was when the audience didn't know what was going on.
Asked what was the best gift he could give to fans, he was somewhat stumped and said that the whole meeting experience was generally so rushed it was very difficult to do anything meaningful. He thought perhaps it was when people would bring their kids to see him, trusting that he would give them a good experience and not be "Oh yeah. Great to meet you" in an insincere way.
At this point the Q&A was brought to a close and Himber announced that there were a few items up for silent auction, a poster from "Shadow Puppets", a promo photo of James for Smallville (the pink shirt profile one) and one of Humber and James where James appeared to be "tweaking my nipple. That's not what he was doing but I was rather titillated." The auctions were for the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation and raised about $2K. Also at this time they brought up other con guests on stage, such as Kevin Sorbo who did photos and autographs but no Q&A at the con. He took the mic to say that the last time he was on the Queen Mary was as a teenager when he was doing a fashion show for Adrian Paul."
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