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Cybernet2000.co.uk, July 1998. Article by Cynthia Boris.

Interview With a Watcher, at http://www.cybernet2000.co.uk/pages/tony-2.html

Anthony Stewart Head has discovered the secret to playing Rupert Giles, the Watcher on the WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; mothballs. "I learned a long time ago, " says Head, "that smell is very important." So when he accepted the role of Giles he racked his brain trying to figure out what Giles would smell like. Then it came to him. The watcher spends a good deal of his time immersed in piles of old books. Old, musty, smelly books. That was when he came up with mothballs. "Much to the chagrin of my companions on the set." When Head asked the costume girls to toss two mothballs into the pocket of his jacket, they put in six. "I walked on the to set and people fell over," says Tony with a laugh. He does love a good laugh and that's what attracted him to Buffy in the first place.

In the series, it is the job of Rupert Giles, the watcher, to train and protect the newest vampire slayer. In this case, Buffy, a sixteen year old with ideas of her own. No matter how often he lectures her on the matters of duty and responsibility, Buffy would rather be dating or hanging with her friends. And so it is left to Giles to help her balance the two worlds she lives in.

When Head saw the first Buffy script he knew it was something he had to be a part of. When it comes to casting Britishers, he says, "we have a pattern of how we're perceived. We're either bad guys, or that stupid stiff upper lip guy." But Giles was neither of those things. He was an intelligent character with dry wit and some of the best lines.

The Toughest Job Of All

According to series co-star James Marsden, who plays Buffy's nemesis Spike. Tony has the toughest job of all of them. "Every week he comes in and has all the heavy labour. He lays out all the back story, the things that most actors just shiver to have to do and he makes it sound so dangerous and scary and so serious. Then it switches over to my scene and I don't have to worry about being scary. It's been set up so well, I can just be flippant."

James and some of the others, suspect that Tony's abilities stem from his theatre training in England. They are fond of teasing him for his method acting. But Tony explains, "If I'm supposed to have been in a fight, I'd rather get on the floor and roll around and get myself all dusted down, than to have someone come over and brush me with dust."

It was a very unusual stage part that taught Tony the ability to capture a scene with only a look (check out some of the deadly glares that he gives Buffy week after week). It wasn't long ago, that Tony starred in the London stage version of The Rocky Horror Show in the infamous role of Frank N' Furter. Tony claims it's a role he always coveted. "Other actors want to play Hamlet, I always wanted to be Frank N' Furter," he said at a Rocky convention. Picture stuffed shirt Giles in ripped stockings, high heels, a teddy and a feather boa.

"When I first got the gig," says Head. "I got this dictionary of put downs and memorised them all." Rocky Horror is somewhat interactive and it's traditional for the actor playing Frank to handle all the insults and jibes that are hurled at the stage. Unfortunately, with Tony at the helm, hurling back the show ran for hours. After the performance he was told to let a few barbs slide for the sake of time and so he perfected the look. "I could put a heckler down at the back of the balcony with that look," he says proudly. And from the comments of Rocky Horror aficionados, he did it with style and panache.

An Unlikely Character

The rumour on the Buffy set is that Tony takes the prize for the actor least like their character. "More so than you would think," giggles Robia LaMorte who plays Giles' ladylove, Ms. Calendar. "And he is pretty sexy in those fishnets."

This about a guy who earned his fame as the dashing next door neighbour in the Taster's Choice coffee ads. Yes, that was Tony and much to his chagrin he is still recognised from those spots that started over eight years ago. Still he's not complaining, much, "The money from those ads gave me the opportunity that most actors dream of. The opportunity to pick and choose roles and not have to take one to pay the rent."

While the ads gave Tony a famous face if not a name, he says that neither his Buffy role nor the role of Oliver Sampson in the sci-fi series VR5 came directly from the exposure.

Face it, he says, "Giles is about as far away from Mr. Smoothie as you can get." Not to mention a sweet transvestite who hails from Transsexual Transylvania.

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Page created August 1998; last updated January 2000. Original material © Betsy Vera (bentley@umich.edu). This website is for information and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to infringe on copyrights held by others.

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