AN
ENGLISHMAN ABROAD - ANTHONY STEWART HEAD
From the Sunday Times,
10 December 2000:
When did you know you
had made the grade from Nescafé man to star of the late 20th century's
greatest show?
It was clear to me at
the beginning, but neither the network nor the studio really understood
it, and they undersold it to the viewers, as well. In the end it was
the internet that made us. We did 13 shows [sic], and we were
waiting to find out if we had got an extra nine, to make 22, which means
you should get a second series. I was on the phone to Alyson
Hannigan [Buffy's friend Willow] and asked her if there was any word, and
she said: "Get a computer and look online." There were all
these websites devoted to the show. And there were sites about me.
So you escaped being
the coffee-advert bloke?
Not entirely.
The ads were shown in America, and when I was reading for the pilot, I met
Sarah Michelle Gellar, and she had seen them. She kept saying:
"I can't believe I'm sitting next to the Nescafé guy."
Do the audience
respond differently to you? You're not a blonde American
schoolgirl...
Every time I go to one
of those signings, I'm always convinced there's going to be huge queues
for everyone else and about five people for me, but then I end up signing
things for two hours. These conventions are unbelievable.
There are thousands of people screaming as you enter the room. It's
like being a rock star. The fans I get aren't any different from
anyone else's. They're a bit more deferential to me at the
beginning, until they realise I'm not half as wise as the character.
Then it's okay.
Do you get any weirdo
fans?
Not especially.
They're all pretty normal. I do have some fans among the librarian
population, and I've been on the cover of the Librarian Association's
magazine. Apparently the show is getting kids to visit the library,
though I burnt place down at the end of the last series, so I don't know
what they think now.
What do you think of
Juliet Landau's Britpunk accent for Drusilla the vampire?
I think it's
good. I spend a lot of time introducing British words into the
script. I'm proud to have got "pillock" in there.
And I got "bollocks" in as well, because Americans don't know
what it means. James Marsters [Spike the vampire] said it in one
episode - although they wrote it into the script as "bollix",
and that's how he prounounced it, so I had to correct them. Joss
Whedon [the show's creator] is a real anglophile. He lived in the
UK, and he even did A-levels. He has started hosting Shakespeare
readings every weekend where cast, crew and friends go over and do a whole
play. We're doing Richard III next.
Do you
get treated like a father figure by all the younger cast members?
I suppose I do get
asked for advice slightly more often that the others, but I'm really that
much older. Most of the cast are in their late twenties now.
The one thing I do get is Sarah and Alyson and the other actresses asking
me for massages, because I do very good ones. Amelia's only just
worked that out. So yes, I get to massage those actresses as part of
my job. It's tough.
Do you
believe in vampires?
Yes, of course.
Don't you?
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