And here's the final portion of the BAPS report:
(and, again, beaucoup de thanks for BAPS for granting permission to post without having to link.)
Continuing our report from where it left off. Same caveats
apply as before.
19. Someone asked if James was ever going to go back
to blond hair. James: "No." Then he continued, "I will
probably go back to the blond hair one more time to do
a Spike TV movie."
20. Someone asked him what was his best class in
school. James replied that his best class was English
and his worst class was chemistry. The funny thing
was that his chemistry teacher was an actor, and he
took James under his wing and tried to mentor him
but he was still terrible at it.
21. Someone asked if after all the conventions
James has been to, was there anything he regretted.
James replied that "I said a lot of things with this
mike that I wish I hadn't said."
22. Someone asked what his favorite song was.
James replied that "This Town" was his favorite.
He was pleased that he finally wrote a song that
wasn't about "she's hot" or "she hurt me." He
finally wrote a song that wasn't about himself
but that told a story, and he was very proud of
it, and didn't know if he'd ever write a better one.
23. Someone asked if he got nervous or shy
before his concerts when he went on stage.
James (paraphrasing): When I come out on
stage (acting), I feel like there has been no
better actor since Edmund Keane. My ego
is like this (he gestured with his arms up
and wide). "And when I come out on stage
as a singer, I don't feel it. And it's digging
into my soul. I've taken two f*cking years
of voice lessons, and I don't cut it."
People went *awww*. James: "No, no,
don't feel sorry for me. The only dishonor
is in not admitting that."
24. Someone asked a very politically
charged question, and got a very politically
charged answer. But since we don't talk
about politics on BAPS, we're not going to
get into that particular question. Suffice
it to say, his imagery was fairly graphic.
25. Someone congratulated him on Macbeth
and asked if he would favor us with a reading
from Macbeth. He asked if he could do
something else, and the audience cheered.
He then treated the audience to a lovely
rendition of Caliban from The Tempest.
26. Someone asked if he had any upcoming
concert plans for the East Coast. He said
"not currently." The questioner then asked
if he'd play the Stone Pony in NJ. He basically
said *in an instant, but I don't think they're going to
ask us.*
27. The next question was easily voted "best
question today and one of the best questions
ever" by Alane and myself. Question: You've
said that in retrospect, you think you played
Spike *too soulful* before he had the soul,
because once he was resouled, you didn't really
have that much more you could do with him to
show the difference. But you've also said that
as an actor, you have no control over the show
or the character; that you're just one cog in the
machine, so to speak. Which is it? Do you
have the control, so you could have played it
differently, or do you have no control? Wouldn't
the director(s) have told you to play it differently,
if they didn't like how you were playing it?
James: It's both. In filmmaking, you have no
control, and you have ultimate control, because
everything goes so fast. They didn't have time to
tell me not to do that. As long as you get the lines
right, they get their closeup and tell you to move on.
Theater people come to tv and are shocked that
you don't get any direction in an entire day as to
how to play a scene. The actor is in a vacuum.
You can do whatever you want to do. I was just
trying to mean it, and speak with conviction. Back
then, nobody knew what the journey was. I'm not
regretting it. But if I had known what the whole
journey was going to be, I might have done it a
little differently.
28. Someone asked about the "Dresden soul gaze" --
Dresden's ability to see into peoples' souls -- and
asked James how he would play that if he got the
Dresden party. James replied that he would do
it by "confronting the horror that is in people".
Because if you really look inside people, you see
the complexity of the human being, and it's
unsettling."
29. Someone asked about the cross scene in
Beneath You, and wondered if he would have done
it any differently, if it was his words instead of the
writer's, to show how Spike was different and what
it meant to have a soul. James: "I wouldn't change
a thing. Self-knowledge is self-loathing." We filmed
another version and it sucked. Joss came to me and
said "James, we don't know what to do with you this
season, and your episode sucks. But I'm going to
save you." And he rewrote it. I'm f*cking proud of
that scene."
30. Someone asked him how he got the part of Spike,
and did he know he had it right away. And we got
a different answer than the usual! James: I was
dating a girl, and we were having the hottest sex!
Questioner: That's not exactly the question I asked,
but -- James: "I walked in there thinking I was the s*it,
swaggering around, among all these other Spikes.
And I was so going to f*ck with your your heads; I'm
going to make you pee in your pants. And I got up
in the middle of the room with all these Spikes, and
started doing Shakespeare. They all pulled back
(he gestured), and I told them, *can't you do that?
Good luck in there.* It was MY role. I f*cking took
it by the throat." (very emphatic)
31. Someone mentioned that her favorite scene
ever was the porch scene in FFL. James replied
that that was Marck's work, he directed it. And
that the scene was so characteristic of Marck.
"Breathe. Cut."
32. Someone asked for acting advice. She felt
that Stanislawski (sp?) was too consuming, and
asked for recs on other schools of acting where
you can stay in the part without it consuming you.
James referenced Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando.
He also did an amazing Brando impression. He
asked her if she was acting for film or for stage.
He told her that "what the camera is asking for
is not an intellectual recreation of a moment,
which is what happens on stage. What the
camera is asking for is a real moment. (and
he went on to say some really cool stuff that
alas, neither Alane nor I remember. Sorry.)
33. Someone asked what else he would have
liked to have done with Spike. James replied
that he had the full plate with Spike. "I got to
light myself on fire. I did everything. I'm just
glad I survived it."
34. Someone asked what do you think happened
to Spike after the fade out at the end of Angel.
James: "I think he died. I think they all died.
And that's what's beautiful -- that they were
willing to die. But there's a tv movie so
obviously Spike didn't die.
35. How did you react when you saw the
script for Smile Time and saw that you
were going to be beaten up by a puppet?
James: "So cool. Now you read a script,
and watch your castmates work, and you
have a day off, and another day off, and
another day off. And then you get to do
your scene, and it's the highlight of the
episode. It was a low tech gag. They
wired it to me with coat hangers, and I
had total control of the gag. And it took
five minutes to film."
36. Someone asked him about House
on Haunted Hill, which she had seen
years ago and just recently saw again,
and was stunned to realize he was in it.
James said he did that movie because
he wanted to meet that actor. (He never
mentioned the name, but it was Geoffrey
Rush.)
37. Someone asked him about the accent
of the character "Marconi" from The Dresden
Files, wanting to know what accent James
had used. He seemed confused by the
question at first, but ultimately replied that
he had used a very rich, proper accent
(which he then switched into as he continued
to answer the question to the delight of the
audience). He noted that the character uses
words as a weapon and repeated some of his
lines.
38. Someone asked if he played any other
instruments besides the guitar. James: No.
I barely play guitar.
39. Someone asked what's up with Dresden.
Any chance he might get the part. James
replied that it was actually possible (and
sounded surprised when he said that). He
said that Nick Cage is producing it. It's
with Nick and Norm Golightly through
Lion's Gate. "If you were casting for
physical type, I wouldn't be called. But
I can do that film noire, and play hung over
and grumpy." He did not have an audition
scheduled -- he said they were not to that
point in the creative process yet. But he
said that the production people were aware
of him, and he was in their minds as a
possibility. "We'll see."
In the interests of taste, we will omit to describe
the numerous requests during the Q&A for hugs,
close-up photographs, and unwrapped, partially
sucked lollipops, all of which were cheerfully
dispensed by James.
Alane and Laurie