Here's some thoughts from James Marsters about his character from his appearance at Shore Leave in Canada. A friend sent it to me....I wasn't there, alas. What I think is interesting, for a writer, is how much thought he has put into the character. Because a lot of his thoughts about character development are similar to what we go through in developing a character on the page, and for those of you who are budding screenwriters, it might be interesting for you to hear how an actor can change the material without altering a word. He also discusses, a little, the difference between being on the stage and being on film...which is something writers need to remember too...that a screenplay is not the same as writing a play (actually one author I read said that writing a screenplay is closer to writing a novel in many ways, which I thought was interesting). Anyway, for what it is worth...here's Spike...uh, James Marsters: QUESTION: [Marsters is asked whether Spike getting a soul was a good thing or a bad thing.] JAMES: Uh, yeah man... It's going to be a painful thing. The producers called me up and they go, 'This year is all about happy. We're not going to be so dark and we're not going to want to kill ourselves and everything.' And I got the first script and Spike is NOT happy. I don't think he's going to be happy for like 200 years. I don't know... I don't know what's going to happen, guys. I really don't know what's happened to Spike. What I do know, is that they usually fake you guys out. They fake one way and then they go the exact opposite direction. Mom's going to die... she's better, right? Right before she kicks it. So, giving Spike a soul is probably his death knell as far as I'm concerned. (Audience protests.) [laughs] Yeah, I don't really like to find out what's going on because I like to be in the same room as Spike... fight with Buffy, lose, then get up and try again. QUESTION: A redemption question for you... over the past few years, Spike's popularity has shot up, especially since "Fool for Love" and William emerged. A lot of fans thought that the show was pursuing a redemption storyline for Spike. It's obviously touched a lot of people but I'd like to hear your thoughts on why you think there was an appeal of a redemption storyline for Spike. JAMES: That is a really good question because they have taken so many pains to remind everyone that Spike IS EVIL. And also I want to remind you guys that Joss makes his living denying everyone what they want. Like I said yesterday, how many times do you end up on Tuesday nights saying, 'Boy I feel better now'? He is an agitator in the best sense. I know that we can't go "Angel". We've done that. But guys, I mean, was anything healthy about Spike and Buffy last year? Was there one little bit that you'd wish on your best friend? ... Besides the INCREDIBLE sex. Okay, yeah, that was fun. But, you know, basically Buffy graduated high school and she's having to deal with things that young adults do with. The fact that she has an unresolved relationship with her Dad. Right? And that's going to lead her down the wrong path with guys. She's going to try to fix that in the present. She's going to try to go back and get what she didn't get from Dad. So here she is with another incredibly older man. ... Who acts like a child but you know... Spike, guys, when he thought the chip was out, he went straight for a victim and if it wouldn't have been for the chip, he would have killed that girl, right? [audience says no] Yeah... maybe, I know you want to believe but... girls, repeat after me... 'If a man is mean, he'll be mean to me.' Now that being said, that was then and this is now and I don't know what the hell is going on. QUESTION: The fan appeal... why do you think they preferred Redemption Spike over Evil Spike? JAMES: Because I was doing everything I humanly could... with my eyes... It was my feeling that it was my job to keep the character something that... I didn't want anyone... oh man... the more evil they put him in the writing, the more I thought it was my responsibility to keep something that you could latch into... and I guess they went for the acting... no... they're having their cake and eating it too. Basically, the way the drama functions is that you go through the story the eyes of the lead character. So everybody here, when you guys are watching "Buffy", male or female, you guys are Buffy right? And so effectively, you guys have to want Spike to be better just as Buffy's hoping that she can find something in Spike that's better and that she's not as bad as she thinks she's being... so it was really important for me to keep tempting you guys to think there could be a good resolution to this, you know, and then it comes crashing down at the end of the scene... the hardest scene I've ever played in my life... that she was wrong... that this guy is not healthy, that he's not offering her anything that's good. But that was last year. This year I'll be selling cupcakes. QUESTION: >From the perspective of someone who has been portraying Spike for so many years, how is he going to deal with the guilt? He's going to feel a lot of guilt... 200 years of violence, maiming, killing... JAMES: He was not a killer before he lost his soul and when the soul comes back, how does he feel about what's been happening? Yeah, yeah. My internal feeling, which they've never paid attention, is that Spike wouldn't want Buffy within a hundred miles of him. He knows that he's evil and he knows that she's not and he doesn't want to spoil her any more than he already has. So I think it would be a question of 'Buffy, get away from me, I'm no good.' Now dramatically that's kind of problematic you know, so I think it's going to be forcing those two together a bit. But then you know I don't know what's going to happen with Spike and Buffy. I have no idea. But again, you don't follow a banjo act with a banjo act, man. I can't believe... they're not going to make me Angel. There is no way. QUESTION: You personally, who would you want out of the Scoobie Gang to notice Spike's soul first and why? JAMES: Giles. Giles rocks! Yeah, because he's the best actor on the show and I only get two scenes with him and I learn every time I've worked with him. Because every time I'm thinking, 'Tony, you're not doing anything.' And then I watch the show and I'm like, 'yeah.' Such good lessons from him. But also, Giles is the character who is most against Spike. He's the one who is most against Spike, who never forgets who the guy truly is. And I think it would be good for him to have to take that information in... yeah, and then I want to fight him with that flaming bat. QUESTION: What's more satisfying to you as an actor, playing the 'Big Bad' or the romantic lead? JAMES: Kissing Sarah... hitting Sarah. Uhm, whew... see I think he is the same character. When we met him, he was the 'Big Bad' but also a romantic character with Drusilla. And that was what was the interesting thing - for me was that contrast - because on its face seems to be a lie, which was that there are sociopaths who are really good to their girlfriends. But I think they've explored that contrast honestly and they're really trying to say something meaningful with it. Initially it was just some guy to kill off. I really enjoyed getting back to being a lover because we got back to that side of Spike, which we didn't see for a couple years. I like where I am right now. I think the work has gotten much more scarey for me as a person and so I like that a lot. I don't think I could go back to that simplified Spike who just enjoys killing people. I mean I could do it, but I would be using a lot less of myself basically. And also, I think I'm growing up as a film actor on screen... because I SUCKED in "School Hard", yo. Why didn't they kill me, man? My first line, yeah, yeah... 'You were there?' [in Southern accent] There's nothing wrong with a Southern accent but from North London, you know? I was supposed to be the Sex Pistols, you know. No, I learned a lot about what to do on film, what not to do on film. Basically, that entrance is one of my most embarrassing moments out of "School Hard". I was doing a classic theater technique of 'taking stage' where you pause in the entrance arc, you say a word or phrase, pause again and then enter speaking or not speaking. It's very effective on stage where you have to control the eye of the audience, right? You also speak loudly because you're upstage. Well, I had a microphone. And they had this curious thing called editing, and the close-up. And I realized, and I'm still realizing, how much you don't have to do on film. If you just inhabit the character and suspend your disbelief like you're asking the audience to do, it all works out just a little too easily. QUESTION: What did you think of showing the other side of Spike as an almost big brother to Dawn, as the only one who knew what was going on with Dawn when everyone else was ignoring her. JAMES: Yeah, I think those two see eye-to-eye because Spike's emotional level is right about the same. He's the least mature vampire I have ever heard of. He's learned nothing in all those years. Yeah, it was really cool. I love that scene down in the crypt where he's telling a monster story. He's a monster telling a horror story. But you know, they have their cake and eat it too... in one way their baiting you into thinking Spike has turned cuddly and that he's really a great father figure and all. But in reality, if it weren't for Buffy, Dawn would have been so dead. He was telling a story of him searching... the story he was telling Dawn was hunting down a little girl and finding her in a coal bin. Yeah, we're baiting you guys so bad. That's what I love about storytelling... 'come here, whack' but that's life sometimes... right upside the head sometimes. QUESTION: I think it's fantastic that you think about Spike so much. JAMES: [laughing] I'm really embarrassed.