Behind the Scenes: Anthony Stewart Head:
Anthony Stewart Head is at present the resident "grown-up" among the cast regulars. He portrays Rupert Giles, Buffy's Watcher, and the librarian at Sunnydale High School.

Born in Camdentown, England, he has enjoyed a long and successful career with roots in musical theater, following completion of his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. His first break came playing Jesus in Godspell in the West End. He has also appeared in British theaters in The Rocky Horror Show as Frank N. Furter, Julius Caesar, The Heiress, Chess, Peter Shaffer's Yonadab, and Rope.

In America, he attracted attention as regular cast member Oliver Sampson on VR5. He has guest-starred on Highlander, NYPD Blue, and many BBC productions (including his first TV role, in Enemy at the Door.) He also appeared with Jim Belushi's in the Showtime movie Royce, and in feature films, including A Prayer for the Dying and Lady Chatterley's Lover.

His long-lasting fame as the romantic and intriguing "coffee guy" on the long-running Taster's Choice coffee commercials is gradually being supplanted by his new image as the sexy librarian on Buffy. When he asked to visit an American high school library in order to research his role, the librarian he interviewed was thrilled at the prospect that a librarian would be featured so prominently in the show--and played by a handsome man, at that.

"She said it was really good to have a spokesman for librarians because somebody could finally tell the true story of the hard time that librarians have. For instance, she said, did I know that there were more libraries in state prisons that there were in schools? I promised that I would try to get that in a script somewhere."

Of his role as a heroic librarian, Tony adds, "I don't think Giles is a very good librarian, actually. No one ever comes into his library. The library's all over the place, and I think that's part of his charm."

He was surprised by the strong reaction to Giles as a sex symbol.

"I have played a number of types before now," Tony says, "but usually on TV I have played dark, the character himself quite sexy. Nice sort of thing. I have to thank Jeri Baker [of the Buffy hair department], because when I first sat down in her chair and we talked about what we were going to do, I suggested parting my hair on the side and flattening it down for a really, really geeky look.

"She said, 'No, please, don't do that. You're a good-looking man, and I promise you there are going to be women out there who would rather see you looking attractive.' So I said, "All right, fair enough.' So I am thankful to her, because otherwise Giles wouldn't have had any fans at all."

Fans he does have, including his loyal GASPers on the net and members of the American Library Association. He is quite appreciative of their attention. They have sent him many gifts, including a T-shirt laden with "Buffyisms." [Note: this shirt was a gift from the Sunnydale Slayers. --bentley]

In addition to soliciting his input on his character's appearance, Tony has been consulted by the Buffy production staff about how to decorate his haunts: the library, his office, and his apartment. He and production designer Carey Meyer share a love of Art Deco, which shows in Giles's furnishings. Tony suggested having a bedroom loft. A support beam in the apartment reminded him of one of the tenets of Feng Shui, and he decided that Giles would probably be a devotee of the Chinese spiritual philosophy.

So Tony was quite charmed to discover that someone had added some hanging crystal prisms used in Feng Shui to his apartment set. In addition, he decided that Giles had at one time been an archeologist, and so there are photographs and memorabilia about digs in his school office. He based this part of his characterization on a friend from his youth, "who is or was" a librarian and an archeologist, and was fascinated by the occult.

"It always used to worry me," Tony confides. "I have always hated those Ouija boards and things. I've always thought there were dangerous."

His suggestions for his transportation--Giles drives a barely functional Citröen DS--were not heeded, however, as he explains, with a grin:

"I was severely pitching for a motorcycle and sidecar. With Sarah on the back of a 1950s, 1960s BSA. An English bike. You used to be able to get a double sidecar. Willow and Xander would ride there. I think I got the image from The Aristocats.

"But Joss says there are times for humor and times for seriousness, and rolling up like that in a moment of great urgency wouldn't work."

Tony comes from a theatrical family. His mother is an actress, probably best known for her role as Madame Maigret in the BBC television series, Maigret. His father, a documentary-film producer, founded the British production company Verity Films. And his brother sang the role of Judas in the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar.

He's working on a script of a musical he's written with a collaborator, as well as talking to a stateside producer interested in reworking a project into an animated feature. He misses singing, "because it is a great means of self-expression, a completely different buzz" from acting. The only singing he does at the moment is at charity functions and the like. As he removes his makeup, he chuckles at the memory of a recent benefit casino night, where he sang one of his favorite songs, by the Police: "Every breath you take, every move you move, I'll be watching you," without making the connection to the fact that Giles is a Watcher, prior to selecting the song. The audience loved it.

However, he's very pleased with the acting opportunity that Buffy presents him: "It is a wonderful thing being able to do the story arc of a character. It is extraordinary. I thought I was pretty lucky in VR5 to have the story arc that I had then, but this is even better."

Do you have a favorite moment, either off camera or on, since you've been on the show?
Tony: "There was a moment in 'The Dark Age.' Certainly as an English actor, real emotion is consummate to be discovered and looked for--not having to create an emotion, just finding an emotion there. I have always had great technique, but it is something to really break down and cry. There was a scene with Buffy, and my line was that I didn't know how to stop the demon without killing Jenny. I just wept. Ever since then I have not had any problem with emotions at all.

"It was a huge breakthrough, a lovely moment. Although they used a slightly less emotional take, it was still there."

Do you know why they used a less intense take?
Tony: "Joss's feeling is that you shouldn't push the emotion. The tear welling up is enough. The tear rolling down the cheek is too much. You have done the work for the audience, and the audience can move on. As another example, in 'Passion,' after I have assaulted Angel, I come out sobbing. It was dry sobbing. It was basically a man who is just spent of his emotion, at the end of his rope. They turned the sound down a little and muted it.

"A number of people on the set who saw the scene actually had to walk away because they said it was really embarrassing watching it. A grown man sobbing. They found the moment almost too powerful. You don't want to take the audience out of the story. You want to keep them with you. You don't want to turn them off.

"Joss walks a very fine line, but I have to say, I take my hat off to his instinct. He is a very sharp cookie."

Do you have any scars, tattoos, or distinguishing marks?
Tony: "When I was seven I fell off a coal bunker and broke my nose. This was in the 1960s; in England, it's cold, so you had coal. At least, some households did. We were playing in the garden and I jumped up on this thing, which is about five feet tall. I put my foot through the lid, went straight off the end, and landed on concrete. And so, I have an interesting shaped nose.

"Another time, I was playing a villain, running away from somebody. The scene was being filmed in three sections, and in each [my pursuers] were supposed to get closer. Like an idiot, I said to the director, "Why don't I turn around to look and see where they are?" Which obviously slows me down.

"The director thought it was a good idea. I completely lost my balance and found my legs running away from me, and just piled into the concrete. I tucked and rolled, as I had learned to do in drama school. So I dislocated my shoulder. I could have an operation, but I don't have the time to have my arm in a sling for two or three months."

Do you really wear glasses?
Tony: "I have astigmatism. I wear them for driving and for the theater and the movies. But in fact, I believe very strongly that you can tell when glasses are fake on TV and in the movies, and so it was important to me for them to be integral. I have prescription lenses and I wear them most of the time unless they reflect the lights during a shot, and then I will wear a flat, nonreflective pair. I try to avoid that as much as I can. I've been wearing my prescription lenses a lot."

Has it affected your vision?
Tony: "A little. I went bowling last night and bowled a few frames very badly. I thought maybe I should put my glasses on. Suddenly I could see everything. Not that it actually improved my game very much, but I could see.

"Actually, I have to pretend that Giles wears bifocals. My prescription is for shortsightedness, while Giles wears glasses to read. I saw somebody take his glasses off to read in a movie the other day, and I think that would have been quite cool, a nice bit of business. Real stuff that brings your life outside of the scene into the scene is what I find interesting; the reality outside the theater. The choices you make against the scene that makes the scene live.

"There was a scene I did with Alyson and just off the top of my head, I thought I should be eating an apple, perhaps one a student left me. I was munching away and she gave me something of Ms. Calendar's, and so I suddenly forgot the apple and just put it down. It means the scene is about people and life and it is not just about what is written on the page."

So are you a method actor?
Tony: "I don't know what 'method really is, but I just know there are things that you can do to help yourself. I tried something today [for a torture scene]. I wanted to cause myself some discomfort while I was being tortured. I asked Jeri [for advice] because she used to be a nurse. She came up with the idea of chili peppers.

"I got the hottest peppers I could. My fear then was that I was going to be kissing these girls and set their lips alight. I must admit that I was buzzing.

"I was able to use the discomfort and went into a bit of a shudder, which wasn't difficult, and I felt a bit sweaty. It made me feel right.

"But there are times when the director says, 'I want you over there. Find something to do.' Something I was pleased with the other day, was that they stuck me behind my desk because it looked good in the shot and I thought, 'What the hell am I going to do down there?' Everyone else was [on the other side of the library] and Buffy was coming in to say something big. I think it was in 'Passion,' when she comes to say that Angel has been in her room.

"I decided to stamp the school address in the library books. Then, because Buffy has said something earth-shattering, I wandered into the scene with the stamp in my hand. It was just a little thing, but those are the kinds of things that bring life into scenes. I didn't look for props for their own sake."

How did it feel to do the scene when Giles discovers Jenny Calendar's body?
Tony: "Joss is a genius. I thought it might be better if we didn't see Jenny killed when Angel chases her. That we might leave it over the commercial break...did he or didn't he? Then you would see someone entering my apartment and think it was Jenny, and then you would get the big revelation: 'Oh, my God, she is dead.'

"But Joss knew the audience discomfort would be that much increased knowing. It was really clever writing."

Tony smiles for a moment when we discuss Marcia Shulman's delight in casting him for Giles on her first day. He says, "When I went to audition, it felt very good. I remember going to the Fox [screen] test and seeing Joss there, and I knew that I was going to know him.... [It's like] when you see somebody and you just know that you are going to know them for a long time and they are going to be a friend. I just knew it."

Sources

Page created 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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