This
is the full text of an article which appeared in the Canadian
TV Guide for 8-14 August.
An
edited version which appeared in the Calgary Herald was
previously run on the Planet Buffy US news page.
Click
here for full size pic.
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"Salty
goodness" probably isn't a phrase that gets bandied about
much in your day-to-day life, but then you're not David Boreanaz.
Boreanaz's buddies like to kid him with him with the line, first
uttered on Buffy the Vampire
Slayer when Boreanaz debuted as Angel, the brooding, smouldering
vampire. Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) got an eyeful
of Sunnydale's then-newest hunk, and appraised him with those
immortal words: "Salty goodness." It's stuck
to Boreanaz since.
"Last
night, a very good friend of mine and I were reminiscing and
he said, "You did a great job and I'm real proud of you,"
recalls Boreanaz, taking it easy in a grey T-shirt, chicanos
and sports slippers. "So I reminded him of that line
because he's always giving me a hard time about that.
'Salty goodness' - We just laugh outta that. My friends
keep me very grounded."
A
solid grounding will come in handy when Angel soars onto
TV screens this fall season. The highly anticipated spinoff
of WB hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel stars
Boreanaz in the title role, a centuries-old vampire who has
split with soulmate Buffy and relocated to Los Angeles, where,
with vampy Cordelia in tow, he tries to right wrongs much as
Buffy does back in Sunnydale. A half-human/half-demon
named Doyle (Glenn Quinn) will assist Angel in his quest and
provide comic relief.
"The
show's in the same ball park but it'll just be a different city,"
Boreanaz explains. "There'll be a bit more of a touch
on the human level as far as why people do what they do, what
motivates them to do bad things and get away with it.
Angel's purpose is to figure that out, help people, and along
the way he'll save some lives and some redemption for his own
soul, which he has lost. It'll run the same kind of territory
but in a different level, maybe a bit more adult-oriented.
The dark side of the human condition is not always the best
thing to deal with from an adolescent point of view, but I think
it's gonna work out great for us.
"Angel's
stuck in this reality and he's living in a city with no reality,
basically - Los Angeles," Boreanaz continues. "[In
last season's Buffy finale], we parted ways in a very
Casablanca kind of a way, but I think there's another
story to be told about the two of us. But for now, separation
between the two characters is great. There'll be cross-overs
that occur - she'll come and visit me and vice versa."
Boreanaz
makes a good impression before he even shows up for an interview.
He's asked to meet at a Beverly Hill eatery just off Rodeo Drive
- but it's not your sleek, hipster restaurant typical to the
neighborhood, just a little dive that serves up big, messy Philly
cheesesteaks sandwiches. (Asked if he has adopted any
sort of physical regime to stay in shape for the longer hours
he'll be working, he just laughs and says, "Yeah, eating
these.")
Indeed,
in person Boreanaz gives off none of Angel's dark tormented
vibe; he's laid-back and good-natured and even capable of smiling.
"Man, I really fooled 'em all, didn't I?" he says
wryly. "Got my own show and everything."
"When
I first got the job [on Buffy], I was telling everybody,
'I'm playing a 244-year-old vampire with a conscience,' and
my friends would be, like, 'Cool man.' It just came out
sounding so wild, saying it in a nonchalant fashion. It's
funny when you think about it. It's not like, 'Oh, I'm
playing a doctor' or 'I'm playing a police officer.'"
Sarah
Michelle Gellar likewise lauds her once and future co-star's
unpretentiousness. "We had the most amazing working
relationship I've ever had," she says of Boreanaz.
"I've been very blessed with the guys that I've worked
opposite, but David and I had a very, very special relationship.
In three years of working together, we never had so much as
a disagreement, and that's just unbelievable considering the
hours we spent together.
"For
me, [his departure] is very, very daunting," she adds.
"You have this concern - part of the reason Buffy
worked was because of Angel - and what if I can't do it on my
own? But it's an exciting time for him, as well."
Buffy
creator Joss Whedon first mentioned to Boreanaz the idea
of a spin-off two years ago, so the actor wasn't that concerned
when Angel was ostensibly killed on the finale two seasons back.
Boreanaz says Angel's 240 years of "pain and torture"
won't always come across so grim in his new series.
"I
think that he'll be the befuddled action guy," he explains.
"He's really cool and then he does something that
makes him look like the biggest dork. He'll fall down
in his own muck basically, trying to save somebody; he'll look
real cool doin' it, getting set up to do it and all of a sudden,
he'll hit a post and it'll come crashing down on him and the
woman he's saving. They'll have to shoot their way out,
so he looks like an idiot. The humor will be through his
seriousness."
Boreanaz
grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and when he moved to L.A., "I
had a lot of odd jobs - I parked cars, I worked at sporting
clubs, passed out towels. I did anything to stay alive.
I lived downtown. They were hard times. And it's
a blessing when you get good things in increments, not everything
at once."
He
admits he's still learning as an actor. "I've found
that when I feel like I'm not hitting it, it usually comes out
fine. And then when you feel like you're -" at this
point, he mimics a self-satisfied actor sighing smugly - "it
comes off not so good. It's a weird thing."
Still,
Boreanaz insists that he feels no pressure, even though his
show had been declared a hit before the pilot was even shot.
"For
a year I've been waiting for this," Boreanaz declares.
"I had to shoot a whole season knowing that I'm getting
my own show. The table has been set. I don't feel
any pressure because I'm not out there to satisfy anybody.
I'm not out there to prove anything. I'm not out there
to live up to anybody's expectations. I can only do my
work and let it go. I can't try to determine what the
outcome is gonna be. Otherwise I'll end up killing myself."
That
sounds appropriately baroque given the character he plays, but
then Boreanaz adds, "That's useless energy that should
be used in a positive way." Positive energy?
The guy doesn't sound much like Angel at all, does he? BACK
TO THE TOP
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