Transcript (by Becky Dorrie):
Host: I'm really excited about the show, we have a very special guest joining us in the studio tonight, Anthony Stewart Head from the hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You might recognize Anthony from his continuing role in the popular Taster's Choice commercial series. Let's all welcome Anthony to the show! Hello.

ASH: Hello.

Host: How are you?

ASH: Very good, thank you

Host: All right.

ASH: We're very excited, we got our highest ratings last night [...] We were extremely pleased, everyone was jumping up and down and giving out hats.

Host: Wow. Congratulations.

ASH: And we've moved to Tuesday nights. If anybody missed it last night then they missed a great show, but it's moving on to Tuesday nights at 8:00

Host: Tuesday nights at 8, everyone. And, um, for those of you who don't know much about the show, why don't you give us a little background?

ASH: Is there anybody out there who doesn't know anything about the show?

Host: Well, they're stupid if they don't, but...

ASH: laughs

Host: You know, gotta cater to everyone.

ASH: There was a movie about....erm, 8 years ago or so, uh, Joss Whedon wrote, which was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was, uh, about a high school girl who finds out that she is the chosen-- the chosen one. There is one girl every generation who is chosen to, um, kill vampires, basically. Um, and, uh, the movie was a, a kinda cult success, it was sort of...it was a wee bit campy, and a bit sort of, it didn't go all the way that, that, where Joss would have liked it to have gone, and, so, when he was approached, uh, by the producers, [who asked] whether he wanted to do a TV series, he said "Yes, but we do it my way," and so, um, he, he's basically the helmsman, he's a genius. And, um, the whole premise is basically, he got tired of seeing the blond bimbo who is the first to fall and twist her ankle and get eaten by whatever monster happens to be going in whatever movie it is, and he said "Well wouldn't it be great if she was the one, you know, that, um, that has all the power?" And, um...so I play the Watcher, who's kind of her mentor, a guy that sort of comes to her and says "This is your gig, and um you've got it for life" It may be a short life. Um, so, you know, there's no going to the mall, there's no sort of chattin' up boys and going out with people who know sort of nail polish and girly talk, you know, there's serious slaying to be done.

Host: Right. So, what exactly, as a Watcher, what do you have to do for her?

ASH: Uh, watch a lot. laughs Um, you know, I train her. Um, and um, I'm sort of...I'm...whenever there's a question, whenever something, you know, comes up, "What the hell is going on", um, I'm the one who, who sort of, because I'm a school librarian by day, um, I look it up, up in me books. It should be explained that, um, we have more than our fair share of, of demons and, and vampires and monsters, because Sunnydale, which is where we are, is...happens to be over a Hellmouth, or 'Boca del Diablo' as, uh, you know, as the early Spanish settlers named it. So we have, you know...if anything's going to go wrong, it's going to go wrong here, basically.

Host: Got it.

ASH: That's what it's about.

Host: How did you get your, um, the role for Giles, and this gal would like to know, how could she get an audition for a show like this?

ASH: laughs Uh, well, um, the bottom line is that I auditioned like-- oh, I don't know, any number of actors. I don't know how many actors they saw for it. Joss, he said that once he saw me I, uh, I put the role neatly under my arm and walked away with it.

Host: Proudly.

ASH: Proudly...but um, you know, when I read the script I just said, um, you know, "I've gotta do this". I had two scripts and just said, this is great stuff, I want to be part of this. Um, and um, then I tested for the network and I tested for the studio and, there I was. Um, as far as other people auditioning is concerned, a number of people have said "Can we audition?" Um, I guess the thing to do is to write into the, the production company, and say, you know, "Are there..." Either that, or apply to someone like-- I haven't-- like, um, Central Casting, um, for extra work. We do use a lot of extras. But usually they are cast through a, um, a casting, uh, agent, and...because so many people would like to, to be part of it. I mean, we have stickers all over the door saying "This is a closed set". It's terribly secure here. Oh, you know, you try to get friends to come and see it...they get--

Host: laughs Forget it.

ASH: Oh, they get very shirty. laughs But, um, that's the best thing, and as far as, if they want to get a part, then they gotta get an agent, and they gotta be submitted to, um...well, actually, we don't have that many guests on--

Host: On the show, right.

ASH: We usually have like one, one main one. Um, but because there are so many series regulars, it's enough to get all our storylines in, without sticking someone else in there.

Host: This guy says that Giles has really evolved a lot since the beginning of the show, where do you see your character going in the future?

ASH: Um, it's a good question, I mean, since, um...recently we had a situation where a, a, another Watcher--Slayer--turned up, because Buffy died, technically, she drowned at the end of last season, but was resuscitated. But um, as soon as one Watcher dies, another one is created, and it--uh, the one Slayer dies another one is created, and it presented the side that there is another Watcher, and there is obviously a community of Watchers out there. Um, now what this--how I fit into that, and, and where it goes, I don't know, but that's an area. The thing that amazes me about Joss is that his imagination is so phenomenal-- just lookin' to where the story arcs have gone this season, and the, the last episode, we're now on, about to do 17, which is dramatically fairly heavy for me. There's some wicked stuff happening, which is, I'm not in any way at liberty to tell you, but it's going to be phenomenal, I think it's going to air just after Valentine's Day. We've just shot our Valentine's Day, um, episode, which is very funny, it's great, and, um, it's heavy for Xander. Um, and then um, just after, um, just the next week, then I've got this one, and it's going to be extremely...ah...emotional. laughs As for where it goes next season, I dunno, I'm not sure there will be a next season. I mean, we haven't been given the go ahead but it's, ah, it's looking extremely good and, um, and uh, that's what amazes me, talking to Joss and he's already started to have ideas. I mean, we've all pitched a couple of ideas ourselves...

Host: Have any of yours made it to the--

ASH: No

Host: No?

ASH: No, I mean, there was a point when, uh, I had an episode which, it basically was about Giles' dark past, and um, uh, you know, at one point they said you know, any ideas would be greatly received, so I pitched a couple of ideas, and and and, they were, um, they went "Oh, hm, that's an interesting idea", and then went and did their own. Um, it was nice to be heard, and listened to, and the thing that's nice about working here is that people do listen to you, it's not, it's not, sort of, we're not just puppets, they really do take on board what we say.

Host: That's nice, that's gotta be really...

ASH: It's great...working with, you know, I mean, when the top of the tree is someone that's as open and as um clever as Joss, you know, he's very sharp, and he, basically, he's assembled an extremely talented bunch of people, um...

Host: How involved was he, actually, in picking out the cast members?

ASH: Oh, hugely. He wanted, um, he wanted to get this dead-on and he's very specific about what he wants, and he, he, you know, he's involved from everything, from costumes through to, um, props, through to, you know, if there's anything...

Host: So he's right there every day with you guys.

ASH: Oh yeah, yeah.

Host: That's really incredible.

ASH: Well, it's a good thing he's young, because otherwise, well, he wouldn't... laughs

Host: Right, he couldn't be doing it if he's older.

ASH: Well, no. laughs

Host: This kid says "Tony, your performance in the recent 2-part episode of Buffy was excellent-- as usual-- and I was wondering, how do you go from working on Taster's Choice commercials to being a Watcher for a Slayer that has a mind of her own"

ASH: laughs Well, thank you very much, first of all; and, uh, it's just, you know, it's another role, it's, it's, uh...I'm very lucky to have been given so much variety in my career. You know, and I've gone from Rocky Horror and doing Frank-N-Furter, to um...I've done a play called Rope by Frederick Hamilton, which was [...] very successful. I mean, complete opposites to doing the Taster's Choice guy, who's, you know, I tried to make him a bit of a klutz, just to make him human. Otherwise, he'd have been just--

Host: Far too perfect.

ASH: Um, but um, it's j-- when I read it...it's very difficult as an actor, because you...every script that you get, every part that you're offered, you think "Ooh, I could do that, ooh, ooh, let me have a go", but there are a few that as soon as you read it, as soon as you come to a page, you go "That's me, that's, that's my part, and no one else can do it better than me". And this is one of them, you know, and I'd, I'd, I'd, as soon as it came off the page I knew how I would play it. And I mean, I gave Joss and the casting director and the producers the option, I said, you know, this reads somewhere between Hugh Grant and-- and um, um, oh God I can't remember his name-- anyway, another English actor...

Host: laughs Some other guy.

ASH: Yeah. And, um, you know, which way do you want it? And, um, they said, well, kind of in the middle, and basically we'd like to see what you want to do with it, so I did it right in the middle between the two, and, and um, ah, came up with basically what there is, and I just saw, you know, saw him as being a bit, bit stammery and a bit, bit flustered when he, when he's off guard, but when he knows what he's talking about he's, he's quite strong. Um, which, is nice, nice to play. And the thing that's almost very flattering is that people...I mean, I went to a promo for, for the WB for the changing over of nights, we all went and did some stuff in front of blue screen, um so that everybody would know that we're changing to Tuesday, 8:00

Host: Right. Tuesday at 8:00, that's Tuesday at 8:00

ASH: That's Tuesday at 8:00. Um, and the makeup artist, um, basically he thought, 'cause he was a fan of the show, he got very confused when I walked in. He thought I'd, that I'd had mad rampant sex or something over the weekend, 'cuz I was, I'm slightly different from Giles, I'm a bit looser, and you know, suddenly he saw this guy come in with an earring and uh, and uh, my clothes are a bit funkier than Giles', and he said "Whoooah, what happened to you over the weekend? You obviously had a good time." And then had to apologize actually said "I'm very sorry but I thought, you know I, you were so different" It's flattering to know, you know, that people believe in Giles.

Host: No, absolutely means you're doing an incredible job as you know, as an actor.

ASH: And I hadn't had rampant sex, I'm a long way away from my girlfriend, she's in England now and I'm here.

Host: That's gotta be tough

ASH: It is, extremely tough but I just went back for, for, for a few days

Host: You did

ASH: Just to see her and the kids

Host: Good - How often do you get to go back?

ASH: It's been, in the last couple of months it's been good I've been - I went back at Thanksgiving and then I had two weeks at Christmas and then I just got ba.. I had 6 days off so I went back for a few days but 6 is the magic number 'cause it takes about 3 to travel - you lose a day when you go back

Host: Right

ASH: And so I need, I need 3 days with them, otherwise it's sort of a bit whistle stop and it worse, worse going than it is if you

Host: Right than it is if you just do the telephone thing

ASH: Yes, it's hard but these are the breaks. Here I am involved in a hit tv show that you know a lot of actors would kill to do um so you can't complain

Host: No

ASH: So I'm not

Host: We feel for ya

ASH: Thank You

Host: Tell us what your favorite episode was, has been so far of Buffy?

ASH: Oh God - Umm well I was, I really, really loved the Dark Age which was, which was the one about Giles' past because it just, it gave me room to play, you know I mean I was able to stretch myself a bit when it was being set up David Greenwald who is one of the executive producers was saying you know you've earned it so we're going to let you have have a go. Laughs I think otherwise from the first season I really liked Nightmares, ah, I thought it was a really well told tale and a number of people have said how much they liked Nightmares. I didn't see it when it first, first aired, 'cause I was in England and it wasn't one of the ones I was sent for some reason I can't recollect. They sent me all the episodes, so I got it late. I didn't get it until I started the new season and checked it out. But I mean, I dunno, I loved TED this season, I thought it was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, I mean it's, it's, there have been some really good episodes, really, really special and and one of the things thats, I think that makes the series a success is A) it's the writing, it's extremely intelligent writing. It doesn't talk down to anybody but it doesn't pretend to be, it doesn't take itself so seriously that people turn off, it actually, you know , it's got a great floater and Joss has a really good ear for, for, for the how people talk to each other. But the other thing, I think is, is the strength of the cast, I mean, there isn't a weak link, and everybody involved in the show is um, has a different contribution to make and I mean that's one of the things that Joss has cast people for their voices, for the different things they can add. It makes it a fascinating show.

Host: What are the other actors in the cast like?

ASH: Lovely, um I mean um an exceptionally talented, Nick um Nick Brendon is going to be a star, Alyson Hannigan is going to be a star, Sarah already is. Um, David's, David Boreanaz is is on his way up there, Seth Green who's just joined us as Oz, is remarkable, um Charisma Carpenter who plays Cordelia, just really special um it's right across the board it's been you know it's really exceptional, exceptional people. It's a great pleasure to work with them

Host: I bet - It's gotta be really good to have that, to enjoy the people you work with to actually feel

ASH: Well it helps

Host: I think so

ASH: I've been very lucky, I must admit in, in, in a fairly long career, not to have work with too many prima donnas and it's, it's, it makes all the difference in the world. I mean, when you do work with someone who makes it hard it just makes it, um, um, you know, it becomes a job. Whereas, you know the one thing that's extraordinary about being an actor is that you're being paid to do something that you love doing. And when everybody else is doing that and, and, and helping and they're all enjoying it too it makes the whole experience really, just makes it easier to create, let's put it that way just makes a much better working environment

Host: Absolutely. Have you ever thought of doing anything other than acting?

ASH: Well I write, I write um, music

Host: You do! Music, What kind of music?

ASH: Oh um, kind of contemporary rock I mean, it's, it's, I guess it's soul driven - Uhm

Host: Good - we like that

ASH: I used, you know I used to have a band and all that, when I was younger But uhm, In the end, I mean. It's very different here, but in England they have a very ah, specific attitude about uhm, mixing rock and roll and acting.

Host: Really?

ASH: Yeah they, you know, well England's a very strange place. I mean they, they, I love it dearly - It's my home but um we do have some strange attitudes,and uhm, ah, there is a thing I mean there are very very few rock and roll performers who, who are allowed to make it over to acting and vice versa. Jimmy Nail is one of the few exceptions and I don't know if he, he played (Nagaldi?) in the movie of Evita, which actually I was probably close to getting myself which was, they gave it to an extrememly talented man. But it was between me and him and another guy.

Host: That's interesting

ASH: Yeah, well he's, he's a you know, very talented lad. And Sting has I guess has done a crossover. But very few, very few are really allowed to. So anyway, that's a long way around to saying that basically I decided that I'd you know I'd concentrate on the acting. But the meantime I was allowed, you know, I did a few musicals, I did Chess and I did Godspell and I did a slightly dodgy thing called Around the World in 80 Days. It was dodgy but I was ________ in it.

Host: You were?

ASH: Yeah, it was the kind of singing that really is not my bag. I mean, I'm, I like rock and it was, uhm, it was a little bit more old fashioned basically because, it's you know, a Victorian story, set in Victorian times. Um and ah so it was ummmm - not hugely enjoyable. But um

Host: But a good experience?

ASH: Um a wonderful experience. Uhm - no it wasn't actually. (laughs)

Host: Oh no! Well it's behind you, you don't have to worry about it anymore.

ASH: Actually I'm in the - what was strange was I mean, I actually did, I didn't sound bad. Uhm and ah, We released a single from the show, a ballad that I sang which somebody found in the bargain bin about 6 months later. But um, I do like doing musicals when they're good. And um, so I've written one meself. Which...

Host: A musical?

ASH: Yeah

Host: Alright - a rock musical?

ASH: Yes!

Host: Fabulous, like a Tommy?

ASH: No - I mean basically, as a model I used, I mean I used a Rocky Horror because, because Rocky, is, is so simple, it's small cast, I wanted to get, I'm tired of seeing huge spectacles and I don't mean glasses. I mean um, I'm tired of seeing, you know, those huge weighty musicals that rely too much on effect and on 40 piece orchestras sawing away under the stage. I'd like to get back to, you know, the simplicity of, of Rocky which is just, just serious fun, it's very light and, and uhm, it's a bit moody in places, and a bit, sort of a bit, um, it touches on a few subjects which, not my musical but Rocky, which uhm, makes people think a bit. My musical doesn't make anybody think about anything. But, uhm, it's fun - and we've got some interest, we're talking to a producer over here and BBC radio is talking, is interested in it over in England

Host: So you're shopping it both in the States and...

ASH: Well yeah, I was actually, I was concentrating just in England and I suddenly thought - what are you doing? Because musicals don't - I don't know how how they work here, I don't know how stage musicals get off the ground here, the country is so huge. In England it's really simple, you just basically find a producer and you go on the road for about 6 months and you bring it to the West End and give it a shot. But here, the um it's um, I don't know the trail that it takes to get to Broadway. So um, it just suddenly occurred to me, I met somebody at a party we just got to talking and I suddenly went Duuh Why not get that way, so we, we're talking. It's a funky sort of Rocking Gothic tale.

Host: Well I hope that we get to go and see it someday

ASH: Well, so do I, and pay enormous amounts of money

Host: Huge amounts of money at least $150 to see it

ASH: Absolutely. (Laughs)

Host: So are we ever going to get to hear you sing on Buffy?

ASH: Not this season, I mean, maybe the 4th season. Uhm, Joss did talk about, at one point he had a very funny idea,I don't know whether we're in the position to do it now, of having um, you know, an episode where everybody is forced to sing to each other all the time.

Host: Do it!

ASH: Which would be funny but um, cuz he likes musicals. But I don't know how Giles would sing. Probably in a manner that I'm not, I mean, it appears that in my past life I was a rock and roller there is a picture of me as a base player in a band so maybe Giles has got a bit of funk in him. Uhm

Host: I think maybe just a little

ASH: Um there was an opportunity originally in the scripts of the first of the 2 part we just had which aired on Monday night which was Buffy's birthday party and ah, apparently Giles was going to dance but it didn't work out, well I feel actually, he'd probably do a bit, he'd suddenly unleash a bit of James Brown and then stop

Host: Like he'd be dancing away and then

ASH: Yeah just like, you know, ah, it would actually be, be quite funky. Everybody thinks he's such an old fuddy-duddy and it would be funny if he suddenly actually sort of launched into something,

Host: It'd be great!

ASH: Did the split and sort of (laughs)

Host: I can see it now

ASH: I'm not sure that I can, the thought of it has brought tears to my eyes.

Host: What do your friends in the UK think of the show now that it's shown there

ASH: Well it's only just got there and it's on satellite which is not nearly as widely received as as cable and satellite is here uhm, it's I mean, basically how shows seem to get a start in England now. I mean, X-Files started of on, on Sky. And as far as I can tell it's been extremely well received. I mean, two weekends running now it's been the critics choice viewing for Saturday night 'cause it's showing on Saturdays there. Which is cool and not in anyway surprising, cause there's nothing else like it on tv. Uhm, that's the bottom line, you know, there's nothing else that is as funny or, or as sort of exciting all in one go. Joss a long time ago said that, that's what he set out to prove that you can have horror, and thrills, and at the same time be funny, it doesn't have to be camp, it doesn't have to be spoof. It's ah you know, you can have real, real humor about real things, real people and you can you know at the same time have somebody coming after them with you know pointy teeth. And believe it

Host: Right

ASH: I hope

Host: Absolutely

ASH: Well I believe it

Host: That's what matters really that you believe it believe in the monsters

ASH: If I don't we haven't got a chance of selling it

Host: Exactly Did you have to do any cool research for the part?

ASH: Uhm, I spent, I spent a day at a high school before we did the pilot. And I you know, I hung around the library for a while and talked to a librarian who was really sweet and said that it was really nice that finally librarians were have a voice. And could I, could I make a few sort of you know, political statements.

Host: For librarians?

ASH: Well basically for you know that, that, that libraries are, are extremely undervalued. That people don't use them enough. I think one of the strongest statements that we make in the show is the fact that nobody goes in the library, apart that when they do, they get given a hard time. But uhm, ah she wanted to point out that there are actually more libraries in prisons than there are in schools.

Host: Really

ASH: Yeah

Host: That's fascinating

ASH: Yeah, uh, she was fun and ah we talked about how you order books and how you do all ... The thing that was most of a blast was just hanging around in the school because I'd never been to an American high school and it's so different from, from English, English school, grammar school is the equivalent. You know I mean, I felt very much like Giles, basically, very, very ill at ease, you know, not ill ease just out of place like a fish completely out of water.

Host: Right

ASH: And it was, that was great experience cause it wasn't too hard to draw on that un, when we shot, basically.

Host: What would you like to do as Giles that you have not been able to do so far? This person also says thanks for chatting with us again.

ASH: Do what?

Host: They say thanks for doing this chat.

ASH: Very welcome. Uhm, well I thought, told Joss that I wanted to do some sword fighting at some point, cause I did sword fighting at school and I thought it, at drama school

Host: You taught it?

ASH: Humm?

Host: Did you say you taught it?

ASH: I did, you know, I did stage fight at drama school, and I used to like, like fencing. But um, yeah, we talked about maybe sort of you know training. We're actually steering away from training at the moment cause there's so much else going on. But um, um, I don't know what else I'd like to I mean, what's fascinating is that they keep, they throw stuff at you that you just go Oh that's cool

Host: Right

ASH: I mean the stuff that's coming up in this episode - is just um, well it's great! It tests and, and stretches as much, you know, as I want which is wonderful. Very rarely do you have a job which, which delivers uhm, the stuff that you want as an actor. You know, it's the first four episodes normally you say oh great that's how the characters grown and that's about as far as it's gonna go. But this, this changes all the time uhm, and it's my second show that I've had in America. The first was a show called VR.5 which actually offered me the same thing I mean the character developed incredibly over the space of 12 episodes which normally doesn't happen, you know, normally the character gets kind of fixed and then it's about the reaction between the protagonists. In both VR.5 and in Buffy the characters have changed. The experiences that have happened to them within the time frame have changed them which is great writing. You never get dried up

Host: You never get bored with your character, constantly growing.

ASH: Its cool

Host: it's great. How long does it actually take to make a show

ASH: We have an 8 day turn around, not including weekends. We don't shoot Saturday or Sunday. They do a 6 day week in Canada but they do a 5 day week here. Yeah, we shoot 8 days straight through, which is sometimes quite remarkable. It doesn't stop. I don't quite know how Sarah bears it cause she's on all the time. Well she's young.

Host: Yeah, she is, exactly

ASH: But um, you know recently uhm she went and did Saturday Night Live, we've got interesting plot lines that sort of take her out for a second which you will see in a couple of weeks.

Host: Good - look forward to it. Do you get a lot of fans now, are they following you around and stuff?

ASH: Not following me around but I mean, I get, I get a lot of, you know, I'm used to people stopping me in the street and waving and doing all that because of the old Taster's Choice gig. What's nice now is that they actually, people come up to me and uhm, say wow it's Giles, the librarian. Again because I don't look like him in the street, uhm, oh occasionally someone who's seen me as Frank-n-Furter comes up and stops me and then it's a completely different conversation. But uhm, yeah, it's, it's, it's very pleasant, I mean, I've been, I've been in people's living rooms for some time now, you know, I mean sort of as a, as a welcome, or sort of unwelcome

Host: Well I think welcome if they're watching your show

ASH: But generally, I mean, the thing about that was always, that, that people weren't, they knew they knew me sometimes they weren't quite sure you know, why and they actually thought that I was a really good friend. And I'm shortsighted and have a bad memory so I wouldn't be able to disillusion them for a while. And sort of OH is it the commercial? Oh yeah but now, people have got the name and they've got the face and it's cool. It's very cool.

Host: This guy would like, actually it's a woman, she wants to know what was the final outcome of the TC commercial and Who got the girl?

ASH: Aaah - Well not there isn't any final outcome. There is a competition that's been run basically in magazines just before Christmas which took a vote I think it was in conjunction with, oh I can't think who it was in conjunction with. But the result of that is going to be published sometime in February in Soap Opera Digest. Uhm, but there isn't, there isn't going to be a final commercial.

Host: That sucks! - What about us man?

ASH: Well I know, well what about me? I've got no closure.

Host: You poor thing

ASH: I'm hanging out there in the ether. It's basically down to a number of contributing factors. We, we, we were under contract up until November last year and there was the time to shoot a last commercial but whatever it was that went down I don't know. But uhm new management or whether they need broom sweeping clean of who knows. I don't know if enough people write to them, they might change their minds.

Host: Right you hear that? Guys, write Taster's choice tell them you need a resolution you can't sleep at night until you know.

ASH: It's going to be years of psychoanalysis and dealing with people

Host: You seem to have a busy career - do you have any future plans at the moment?

ASH: My future plans? Well I'm gonna be here until uhn end of March and I'm gonna hang out for a little while to see if there's any movies during the hiatus. And I'm doing this musical is going to occupy my time to a certain extent uhm, and I'm talking to another writer about a lesser feature uhm, you know, basically that I might write. So it's entirely fascinating, thats the thing about America is there's an enormous amount of creativity out there and it's nice to be part of that. As I say the only thing is that my family are at home. And they're there basically because our home is there we, we, we bought a house about 3 years ago which is ah um, just beautiful. We have horses there and 10 acres of land, and dogs and cats and fish,..... everything.

Host: Everything - your family

ASH: It is. So uhm, I don't know, you know I don't really want to lift them

Host: relocate

ASH: But it definately seems to be, this is the place for me to be at the moment in terms of career. There was a series that I did, I did, one or two episodes I think just before I started Buffy and um, that unfortunately was shooting about the same time as Buffy so I had to let that one go.

Host: Right but you made a good choice?

ASH: Oh yeah! oh definately. Uhm, but, uhm, I've just been, somebody's just walked in to the office and some new caps just been handed out and they've got phenomenally long peaks they look like Woody Woodpecker.

Host: Why? for extra sun protection?

ASH: I don't know they were designed by Gareth Davis who's our producer, our on line producer, and he's Welsh. So I'm wondering if it's got something to do with the Welsh. A Welsh tradition to have extrememly long peaks on your baseball cap.

Host: Are you putting your cap on now?

ASH: It's next to me. I am putting it on now cause I said I would

Host: What is your favorite role that you've played so far?

ASH: Ever?

Host: Yes on stage or on television.

ASH: It's a hard, its a choice between Frank which was the most extraordinary experience, playing Frank-n-Furter. Just the most phenomenal power. I mean, No-one has ever experienced anything like that because, when you're playing something like a two thousand seater and uhm, the audience has learned to heckle, through, through watching the movie and being all part of that. But two characters on stage can answer back that's Frank-n-Furter and the Narrator and so having the responsibility of putting the heckles down, keeping the show going. My big problem when I first started doing it was the fact that I answered everything. There was this constant banter going on between me and the audience, and the show went for nothing. They were like come on get to the songs. So I learnt to put someone down with a look. And being able to do that in a two thousand seater is just, the power. You know to just stop somebody in their tracks just by looking at them and get the whole audience on your side just by flashing your eyes at them is just, just power. And it was you know, incredibly very free, you know, sexually very free and kind of you know it was extraordinary. I had good friends who who who came round to the dressing room afterward and they wouldn't be able to talk to me until I took me makeup off. Cause they were scared by me.

Host: Really?

ASH: Yeah, I'm quite a powerful Frank. I'm a bit demonic. I'm not cutchy and cuddly, I'm actually, I always thought of him as being a bit of a demon. Uhn so my Frank has got a bit of edge to him. The other part was Rupert Cadell in Rope which, which uhm, I played in the West End. And uhm It was just a beautiful play, a wonderful play, It had very little to do with the movie that Hitchcock made. The play is drear.., a psychological thriller and it's just extraordinary and the most wonderful part and I got some very nice notices, you know, critical things said about me which is very nice, it's encouraging to know that, that you're on the right track, basically.

Host: Absolutely

ASH: Yeah, so I guess it's somewhere between them, I've played all sorts of fun things and I'm, you know I've been in the game for about 21, 22 years? I've had some good times, and long may they continue.

Host: We only have time for one more question. This is funny: Tell us what your most embarassing moment ever has been as an actor.

ASH: Oh god, that's one of those questions that I dread cause I must admit, my mind goes a complete blank. Uhm, it's probably the most embarassing moment ever was I was doing a trade show uhm for I think it was huge corporation had something to do with banking or computers or something.

Host: What were you doing at the trade show?

ASH: I was presenting it, I had presented one, very successfully where I'd had to lip-sync to a pre-recorded track and they had dancers, and lights and you know, basically it's one of those gigs that as an actor you do earlyish in your career and you know, it was worth about 2000 pounds you're like wooow, cool and uh, I did the first gig really well and they asked me back to do the second gig and we had about three days rehearsal and I had to learn this verbage that was just uh well I could have been reciting a shopping list as far as I knew cause it was just meant nothing to me at all. I had to play this scene with a woman where I was selling her, I don't know, insurance or something and uhm, I just basically I just blew it, I just lost the plot half way through, and stopped still on stage and said I haven't the faintest idea what I'm to say next. And there was this sort of gasp from the audience cause no-one had ever done anything like that before and she bless her heart helped me out and gave me the line and a huge sigh of relief came over me and I carried on and two seconds later I couldn't remember the next line and on about four or five times until I just wanted the earth, the ground to just swallow me up. And afterwards uhm you know, somebody came back, one of the prodution managers came up and said "Well done." And I said "Well, I don't think you'll be seeing me again" Needless to say, they didn't

Host: Right

ASH: But it uhm, it actually, it put me off for ah, for about a year, you know, it was one of those experiences that actors sort of suddenly, I didn't want to do it anymore, cause I thought, oh, I've lost the plot. And uhm, I did a production called Patriot For Me which actually we brought over here about 15 years ago with Alan Bates and ah, the character I played is on stage for about, oh 40 minutes, 35-40 minutes and he had about 6 lines. So I was deeply attracted to this, all I had to do was come on stage and emote, you know just get really upset cause, cause, it was at a party, a sort of really vicious party and I just get, I'm being insulted all the time and I just, I don't say anything I just get upset. It was really nice, you know, it kind of got me back into it and from that moment (Frank's voice) I haven't looked back

Host: Thank Goodness

ASH: Thank Goodness

Host: Thank you so much for joining us tonight, it was great to have you on our show

ASH: Well, thank you for having me

Host: Of course...

Sources

Page created August 1998; last updated January 1999. 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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