All pictures (c) Raven 2002

Q: What's the relationship of Spike to the other characters?

JM: Yeah, I mean, Spike and Xander get together like oil and water, you know? Spike didn't particularly like him, but Xander's been in his face so much. I think he's developing respect for Willow who seems to be coming into her own as a witch and as a player in the Scooby gang. I think great protectiveness for Dawn, because of a sense of great failure-basically he screwed up. At the end of last season he made a solemn promise to protect Dawn and he got his ass kicked! So, big time guilt about that! HUGE. He's a pretty wet puppy at the beginning of the season.

Q: Any upcoming appearances on Angel?

JM: This brings up the whole UPN thing-which is that there's not going to be any crossovers of any kind between the two shows, right now. Buffy and Angel? Boom, boom, g'bye!

Q: What can be done about getting UPN into markets where it doesn't currently have an affiliate, such as Cedar Rapids?

JM: This is the same question my mother has for me-U-P what? You're the Smackdown, now? Basically I think the UPN is counting on pressure from you people to call your cable company and say "I want Buffy." And that with that pressure and because of Buffy, a lot more homes will be getting UPN within the next six months.

Q: Do you smoke?

JM: I don't smoke at all. I've got the patch on now-I forgot to put my little patch on in the autograph line and I was getting a little bit bitchy! Yeah, I had quit and getting the role of Spike got me back smoking, then I quit again, when I was off the show, then I came back to do the show and started smoking again. Finally I got to where I don't smoke at all-I smoke these horrible herbal cigarettes on the show. My biggest problem with this is they really don't show up on film as well as tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke is so thick and heavy and beautiful and this other stuff is. *makes face* Back in the 30s all the scenes with the people smoking and the smoke drifting through the eyes and all that is so cool.

Q: When did you decide to become an actor?

JM: Uh, like fourth grade-I got bit real early. I was one of "those". Theatre nerds forever! There's a beautiful movie called "Illuminati," by John Turturro. On one of the first night's I went over to Joss' house, I like closed down the party and he decided to show me that movie. And it really gives you an insight as to what his kind of mindframe is about his little company of Buffy the Vampire Slayer-which is a bunch of theatre nerds who are weird and kinky and strange and outcasts and we're all freaks and none of us were popular in high school, and together, we make something quite beautiful. And so, if anyone wants to understand what the mindset of the guy who creates the show is for the people that he knows in his day to day kind of relationships, go rent that movie-because that's what his dream is.

Q: What's your schedule for the week?

JM: Four-thirty in the morning on Mondays. TV is a grind-everyone says it and it's true. Basically, because we have to get a new forty-eight minute movie out every two weeks. So, we start at four-thirty in the morning, we work a 12-20 hour day and we finish around the sun comin' up on Saturday morning. So, the only thing to stop the cameras from cranking is the sun.
Sun comes up. They're filming a vampire. Goodnight, guys. I go on set. I go in to my HUGE UPN trailer. I didn't even ask for a new trailer. I was in a little tiny cube, and that was fine by me. I walked in and there were parquet floors and stuff. I feel a little ill at ease, frankly. 'Whose house is this?' Then, I go on to makeup. And Todd Macintosh, who's an Emmy-award winning makeup artist on Buffy. The first and only winner of an Emmy so far. Rock on, Todd. You have no idea what that guy does. He slams through 25 vampires at a time. And basically, it moves really fast.
As soon as we get through a take where the lines aren't screwed up, we move on. So, it's usually one or two takes per seven Close up, long shot or whatever, and that's real quick. Let's slam it out, and let's go. My sense of the show is that as soon as I can get the lines correct, we move on. That messes with Juliet's head. That makes her crazy. She's like, "Oh, something I could have gotten there. And it's gone." "Let it go Juliet." As soon as we get through a take where the lines aren't screwed up, we move on.

Q: Who is your sire?
Audience yelling: "Dru! No Angel!" (It was funny)
JM: Dru. Okay, there is a big confusion about this because the writers changed their minds, guys. They are tap dancing as fast as they can. Sometimes, they have to fluff stuff, because they really are creating narrative as they go. Originally they decided it would be strongest if Angel sired me, and so I actually say, that "you're my Yoda, you're my sire," I say it right there, in "School Hard" and then they switched it. So, the reality is, they're going with Dru right now, but if it's more dramatic, they'll switch it back. Continuity's for wusses!

Q: Any improvisation?

JM: The script is delivered is word perfect. The writers are some of the finest in television. All of the best shows on television, from "Gunsmoke," down, it's the writers who are in control. It's not the actor saying-"I want chest armor, now! Or I want to be taller!" What the actors want is not really what is paid attention to, it's more the story and the actors are quite comfortable. I'm from the theatre and I used to write and I used to do a lot of that, actually-I'm good enough to know that the people I'm working with are twice as good as I am. And these guys spend half an hour deciding on what word to use-so I have no input whatsoever, but that's the way I like it-they're better at it than I am.

Q: What's your favorite episode?

JM: I used to answer that question as whenever I was either kissing Buffy or kicking her. 'Cause you know you're in the middle of things when one of those two things are happening! But I have to say that after "Fool For Love" last year, where we went back in time and kinda met William, that is my favorite one now. It scared the absolute crap outta me! I got the script and I thought my career was over. I wanted to go to Joss and say, "Okay Wonderboy! You write in this amazing world where all the great writers are and you have sophisticated kind of plot lines and your character development is three-dimensional and it's very sophisticated, okay, but out there in the real world of Hollywood, how sexy you are is how rich you are! And you just cut down my cool!" No! I was wrong and he was right!
I wish I could be right, just once! Like the whole Hawaiian shirt-I was all offended by that. He undercut my cool. What I didn't realize is that what they're trying to do is make Spike an underdog. They're trying to make him into someone you can root for and get behind. That's far from where we started. Now, in "School Hard" it wasn't like, "Oh, I hope he gets the girl!" So, to take that character that's functionally a disposable villain and turn him into an underdog is just and incredible feat and I'm amazed.
Audience: "Yeah, but you play him."

JM: Yeah, but I say the lines so they come out right, then I go home! It's so weird-to the sides of every shot, there's like three hundred people standing around manipulating the magic trick and we're all in on the magic trick, but like, Spike's cool and I love myself-but I'm not fooling anybody, I'm a dork!

Q: Can I have a kiss?

JM: I would start a huge orgy, which really would be fun. But we're supposed to be answering questions. I'm sorry. I'd really like to, though. *Ducks head and smiles*

Q: What about your character on Andromeda?

JM: There's talk of making him recurring, I know they're interested, but frankly, I don't think the people at "Buffy" are predisposed to want to let me out because they're paying for me and why would they?
Audience: "Couldn't you do it during your hiatus?"

JM: There's a chance of that, since they're on a different schedule. Basically, he's a genetically perfected human being who's kinda egotistical about that. He was a little more feminine in the scripts than I made him. They were looking for a fop and they kept talking about Tim Roth and I kept saying, "Well, you know what, Tim Roth was kick ass in the film." He wasn't a fop-he was an aristocrat. I mean, he had lace, he put all the stuff on, but he was no wimp-he had spunk. And you have to make a difference between someone who was brought up in a refined way and someone who's just. *strikes a feminine pose* They're two equally legitimate characters, but I didn't see the reason for setting the character up like that.

Q: At what point did you realize that you had hit the jackpot?

JM: Um, when I got the audition, I refused it. I got the audition for Spike and I was like "Buffy the what...? Spot?" And my agent says "James. James-you'd be surprised. Just watch the show-everyone's buzzing about it. It's on an upstart network, just check it out." And I watched the show and it was so amazing, I got nervous! I was like, this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen on television, 'cause I'm sick of realism! I watched it that night and I became an instant fan, like everyone else!
Audience:-"Which episode was it?" He has a blank look on his face before he responds.

JM: The Master was drooling. That's all I remember.

Q: What was it like to work with Joel Grey?

JM: Joel was amazing-he's just like one of those lights. He's just graceful. I know the film "Cabaret" really well, so I was kinda like... *jaw drop* We kinda bonded, because we're both from theatre and so we'd just be talking theatre all the time. He gave me his phone number in New York and I call him and I stay in touch with him. He has grace, is all I can say. He's so cool.

Q: What were the cast and crew's reactions to the Emmy snubs?

JM: Ah, the Emmy snubs. We all have our own reaction to the Emmy snub-and it is a snub. I kind of like it, frankly. I like being the underdog. I like being the under appreciated. That's where we're used to being. And frankly, the combination of the snub of the Emmys combined with switching networks, makes us all feel like we have something to prove. So, in the sixth year of a television series, we're hungrier than we were in the fifth season. We're like out for blood now! And really the only person who has to get an Emmy is Joss. It has to happen. If anyone else... I mean, Todd getting his Emmy is fine, 'cause that's make-up, but if any acting awards go out before writing awards, that's gonna just be too weird for words. I don't know I would ever do.

Q: What about Sarah?

JM: Sarah? Absolutely deserves an Emmy! Oh, my GOD! Nobody realizes what a good actress she is-I don't know why people miss it. You guys don't miss it, but a lot of people in Hollywood miss it. Like, there's an episode last year where Sarah, she switched up acting styles in the middle of an episode, which is something that we do quite often, actually. We go from farce to naturalism-a bunch of different acting styles combined and morphed in an episode. And she had to, in one scene have a hyper-naturalistic scene, with a lot of emotion, talking to Dawn about breaking up with Riley and trying to keep it together for her little sister and explain in simple terms, what went on, when all she wants to do is break down and cry. But that's all passed and she'd just talking simply. Then she turns around, talking to Xander, twenty minutes later and suddenly, she's Mary Tyler Moore and she's switching up acting styles seamlessly and I'm sorry-I've worked with a lot of other actresses and a lot of people can't do that. Plus, she's the quickest study I ever met. I used to be the quickest study I ever met -she buries me!

*At this point, Jamie offers JM her guitar, which he had signed & played the day before*
Q: Would you?

JM: I'd love to. Here's a song by Tom Waits. I'm tempted to do a rock song-but this is a song that grabbed me last summer after my girlfriend broke up with me.

Audience: Several offers to replace her are made. James indicates that she's already been replaced.

Who Are You by Tom Waits &K. Brennan (c)1992 Island Records

They're lining up
To mad dog your tilta whirl
3 shots for a dollar
Win a real live doll
All the lies that you tell
I believed them so well, Take them back
Take them back to your red house
For that fearful leap into the dark
I did my time
In the jail of your arms
Now Ophelia wants to know
Where she should turn
Tell me... What did you do,
What did you do the last time?
Why don't you do that
Go on ahead take this the wrong way
Time's not your friend
Do you cry, Do you pray
Do you wish them away
Do you still leave nothing
But bones in the way
Did you bury the carnival
Lions and all
Excuse me while I sharpen my nails
And just who are you this time?
You look rather tired

(Who drinks from your shoe)
Are you pretending to love
Well I hear that it pays well
How do your pistol and your Bible and your
Sleeping pills go.
Are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes?

Well I fell in love
With your sailor's mouth and your wounded eyes.
You better get down on the floor
Don't you know this is war
Tell me who are you this time?
Tell me who are you this time?

Then someone says that their friend shares the same birthday with James and would he give her a hug, which he does. He even though that person never says Aria's name, he remembered it. He even says Happy Birthday, Aria! And then another fan claims its her birthday, too, so she gets a hug, too. JM asks her what day her birthday is, & he's still nice to her even though he knows she lied.

Then, he recognizes someone in the audience, who's waiting to ask a question, as someone whom he'd seen by the elevators, earlier that morning. James apologizes for being not quite rude to him, due tothe fact that he hadn't yet had his morning coffee.

Q: Are you excited about the music episode?

JM: Oh my God! Yeah-so much so. Joss is so excited about my songs. We were on the dance floor in London this last summer, and he like stops everything and he's yelling at me, "I'm writing your song, I'm so excited about it!!" and I'm like *puts hand to ear* "WHAT?" But mostly, I'm excited about it because Joss will be directing it and I'm going to be in it... quite a lot. And I don't know if you guys have noticed, but whenever Joss directs, I am like WAAYY in the back, like three lines...I'm like "Joss, what's up, don't you like to work with me?" And he was like "No, James, that's not it-it's just that it happens to be that it didn't work out, but yes, I love to work with you-That's why you're not dead!"
He's very specific with his direction. He, more than anyone else, knows what he wants, moment to moment and that makes you a little more nervous, that you're not doing it right, but at the same time, when you see it on screen, the specificity of the moments, the beats, are so clean, in his episodes. I would have loved to work on "The Body", last season. He showed me the script, and he's like, "You know, we talked about the fact that I never direct you and here's my next directing script." And I was like, "Joss, I read the script, it's beautiful and Spike doesn't belong anywhere within fifty MILES of that story." He's like, "I KNEW that you'd get that." So, no hard feelings, but I'm so looking forward to working with him.

Q: Are there any bloopers or out-takes from the show available?

JM: *Deadpan* There are no bloopers. It's interesting, the way they cut the reel-it's not so much bloopers as it is a celebratory kind of reel that Ryan, in post-production makes up. And yes, there's a rockin' one for the hundredth episode from last season. But a lot of it is not so much mistakes made by actors as meeting people behind the scenes and just kind of celebrating that we made it though another year.
But a lot of times-practical jokes on our show-we just don't have time for. There are so many set ups-we try so hard to match the quality of feature film and we have therefore the time constraints of TV. I mean one of the reasons it is one of the best shows is because we don't screw around. We have a lead-Sarah, who does not screw around. She is a gracious, wonderful person, but at the same time, she does not want to hold the roll to fix her hair, or get her Evian water or anything. She wants to sit in her chair, get her lines down and get it done well. But she sets the tone.
And we joke around a lot, we give each other enormous amounts of shit when we're being called on to work, and we love each other to death, but really, we're climbing a little bit of a steeper mountain every week than a lot of other shows which might have a lot funnier reels. So, we love each other, but we don't play a lot of jokes. *smiles* And we never make mistakes.

Q: Your character has been portrayed onscreen in a variety of different time periods-we've seen you in nineteenth century, we've seen you in Boxer Rebellion, we've seen you in seventies punk and in print at the outset of World War II. Would you like to have some more portrayals of Spike in the past or would you rather see what Spike would be like, twenty years from now?

JM: He'd be old! No, really, Alyson was kidding me "You know who the only person who's not going to be in the feature films is? It's you! Because vampires can't age and you'll be old!" So, yeah, I would love to do whatever they write. I hate to keep coming back to it, but it's basically, they're taking me on a roller coaster ride, and it's always kind of scary and also, it's really exciting. But I think we learn something new about him every we go back in time and so that's always nice. Plus, wigs are so much fun!.. By the way, that was the one wig in Hollywood that fit me. I have this enormous head and I tell everybody that, but there was not time to make a wig for me, so they pulled all the wigs in Hollywood out. Can you imagine if it had been an Afro?
*Audience laughes*

Q: How did you get the scenes between you and the Buffybot on the air?

JM: You would not believe, what they cut out! There is a scene, where, I think Xander interrupts Buffy and I, and they turn and I'm buckling my belt. And well, there are some shots that they didn't include! Yeah, that was fun! I don't want to lightly joke-and it brings up an interesting question in Hollywood, which is love scenes. Love scenes are really kinda problematic for actors because we have girlfriends and your partner has a relationship as well. So, I can joke on about how, "Hey, this is Sarah, this is gonna be cool," but she has a fiancee, who will kick my ass! I mean, if someone talked about my fiancee that way! With all respect to Fred... it was just another day! *Innocent look on face*

Q: You had a theatre company in Chicago a few years back-are you interested in returning?

JM: Yes, I would love to get back to Chicago. *Applause* The thing I love most about Chicago is that it has no Second City mentality. They have Second City comedy. I went from Chicago to Seattle. And unfortunately, I kept hearing in the theatrical community, "Our show is as good as the Tapers. Our shows are as good as the ones in New York." In Chicago, man, we didn't CARE what they were doing in New York. Our shows were going to New York.
We were teaching THEM how to act. That kind of pride creates a theater scene that feeds on itself. That can keep going strong for almost ever. It was heartbreaking to go to Seattle and think that was going to happen and watching it not happen. So if I ever go back to do theater other than New York or just because it's easy LA, it will be Chicago in a heartbeat. Chicago rocks. I was in Seattle, they'd be like, *in a snobby voice* "James, not in our theater." Because I'd always do Chicago acting choices. Really like bold acting choices. When I did Macbeth. I was one of the murderers and I just wanted to take a knife and we go in to kill MacDuff's wife. And she has a little baby. It was just a little basket. And so I said, "How about this." *Making baby crying sounds that abruptly go silent as he pretends to lean over a basket* I thought that was a really cool little bit, and that was way over the top! It was "horrifying."

Q: Are you interested in getting into the production side, as far as the show?

JM: Yeah, I used to produce. So I'm very much interested in producing. But I'm not a producer on "Buffy," and that's never going to happen. I'm trying to learn about camera direction and all of camera language in order to start directing, and then jump from there to producing. But right now, I'm hired to act. But the people on "Buffy" are like, "We'll teach you. We won't necessarily let you do it, but we'll teach you how." And that's something. Very much interested. That's a lot of work, and you don't get a trailer.

Q: What was it like working with Amber Benson on her movie?

JM: Amber was beautiful, God! Absolutely marvelous. The script that she showed me was one that started out like it was going to be hip and cynical and safe. It turned out to be something much more courageous and much more warm and vulnerable and sweet at the end-and truthful. It's a love story. She did what I'm talking about doing. She made a movie. She taught me a lesson, which is "Stop talking about Macbeth, James." Do a movie that takes place in the real world of today so that you can actually film it, because it's so much cheaper to do that, shooting video. She bought her own video camera. She put together a really professional crew. The crew she had on that show, that movie, was as good as any crew I've worked with. As a director she was wonderful. Her notes were concise, but very much at the center of things. She made me look good. Seriously, we're talking about her like the new John Cassavetes. She's spurring some of the writers to do some of their side projects. Seeing her do her thing, now Mere Smith has got a movie up. Doug Petrie is writing a movie he's been thinking about doing. We've got our own little dream factory that's like feeding on one another. That's really cool.

Q: The lady commented that seeing as how JM was from her generation had he experimented with Viagra, yet? (My tape recorder didn't really pick up her question, sorry)
*He blushes and looks down before answering*

JM: I have not experimented with Viagra, but God help the world when I do. I'm not going to need it for a while. I'd be a maniac. I really would.

Q: Was there ever a time in your career when you felt like you wanted to quit?

JM: No, I wanted to kill myself a couple of times. No seriously, at Julliard they told me I was no actor. I was too intelligent to be an actor, and I would never make it, and I should quit before I got bitter. At which point I really almost threw myself off Julliard's roof. But ultimately I told them I had been quite successful before I came to college. I had done professional work before I came to college. I seemed to remember the audience responded very well to me. And I wanted to go back out in the world of theater and find out if they were right or not. What I found out immediately was that they were completely wrong. No, acting has been my lifeboat, all my life, through a lot of crap.


Q: I notice that you have an accent on the show. I was wondering you got the accent, how you do it?

JM: I have a functioning accent for anything that I'd be cast in. It's not perfect but it's enough to audition with. So, anything English, Irish, Scottish, French, Italian, German, Slavic accents. And all the accents of America. Those are all I can pretty much pull out of a hat. They aren't all perfect yet, but they're enough to show a director that I could do it. So, I had a decent one going in. But I was also really lucky, because the breakdown for the character was that he supposed to be Sid Vicious. And I knew that The Sex Pistols came from North London which has a very specific accent.

And I happened to be doing a production of Tempest where Caliban was from North London. So, I'm like, "Could you just read this for me?" And he read it and he's like, "What is it?" I'm like, "Shut up. It's tomorrow, and it's none of your business." He could have gotten that role. He was really, really good. You'd be talking to him right now. That and actually Tony Head is not from North London, but it's close enough that I pretty much sound a lot like what Tony sounds like in real life. Tony is putting on an accent that is as fake as mine. *He gives an example of Tony's "real" voice, then does the "Giles" voice* "That upper crusty he does for the show is not real a'tall." We're all a bunch of fakers. We're just lyin' scum!

Q: I don't know why the man hasn't made a CD, yet because he's got one of the best singing voices I've ever heard. Why doesn't Tony Head cut a CD?

JM: He actually is cutting his own CD. I sang background on it for one song. I came in to the recording studio and I'm like, "So, what do you want?" And he said, "I want to have a 'Chain Gang' thing." I went, "Tony... we're white." *Audience laughs* It's true! Have some respect! And he shows me, "I want this..., oh wella, wella, HUH!" And it's this whole tradition. *James in a mocking "happy" Tony voice* "And we're just going to be in a chain gang!" We tried it. We'll see how it works. But I was kinda feeling like I was trotting on ground that was not mine. He's working with, I forgot the guy's name, but the guy who's producing the CD is really very good. A lot of artists around LA are quite all about him. He has the most amazing voice. He's going to be all over the musical. But if you notice, he does sing a lot like David Bowie. I wonder if he sings like, "Come on. Give me something." You never know.

Q: How did you like appearing on "Strange Frequency"?

JM: It's like a rock 'n' roll "Twilight Zone." Basically, I sell my soul to be a rock god. I start as a roadie and go to rock god in twenty-four minutes. And I got to act with Roger Daltry. And he was totally cool. It was a high point. I really had a great time. I had to do a lot of guitar work that was a lot beyond what I can do-I was faking the soundtrack. Just to do a believable fake I was studying three or four hours a day. 'Cause I'm a rhythm guitarist, and this was all lead that they wanted me to be doing. And the director called me up and said that the producers are using my episode as the premier episode for the series and that my guitar work was best. He said nothing about my acting!

Q: Are you going to do anything with your music?

JM: I would like to. But at the same time I want to do it right. Right now, I have about six original songs that about half of them may be ready to start thinking about recording, but as far as putting out a whole album. I don't think I'm ready yet. And I don't want to put out a bad one as my first one.

Q: What kind of guitar do you have at home?

JM: I just have an acoustic. I need to get an electric-I've been borrowing a Strat forever. Actually, I have a Yamaha that Roger Daltry gave me! He signed it, right, and I was like "Roger, I'm going to use this guitar-Don't expect me to hang it on the wall like a relic. You gave me a guitar, so I'm going to be playing music on it. So, this may get scratched out, so don't be offended if you see me and like, your name's gone!"

*JM sings an original song, "Good-bye," which he wrote it instead of smashing up his apartment when he broke up with his girlfriend.*

Goodbye
Music and lyrics by James Marsters

I don't care what people're gonna say about it
I'd just like to sit here and drink your sweet wine
Know they're gonna say you're too young for me but
I think if you kiss me that would be fine

Know how it's gonna end before it ever starts now
Gonna give me love sweeter than pie
Part your lips as if you're gonna kiss me
Say those words that's gonna break me

Bye, bye bye bye goodbye

Christopher Robin gave old Pooh up
Grown up, didn't need Pooh no more
Babe, believe me this ain't the first time
I've been thrown down on the playroom floor

Bye, bye bye bye goodbye
Bye bye, bye bye goodbye

Bye bye baby, baby bye bye
Bye bye

Bye bye baby, baby
Sorry baby, I'm just fast


Q: What was it like, writing your own comic book?

JM: They approached me ... uh-oh ... I'm going to go ahead and be honest here, okay? They approached me, Chris Golden came to me. Great guy. Christopher Golden. Taught me a lot. When Dru and Spike were leaving after, Season 2. I thought, and everyone else thought, that that was the end of the two characters. Things had changed. They had wanted to kill me off and make Dru much more powerful and link up with Angel and be the villains. They decided to keep me alive, and that switched things around. So, that didn't allow Dru to become as powerful as she was told. And I was also sick to death of the wheelchair. So, I wanted one last hurrah for the characters. I wanted my dream for the characters. I wanted them to rock. I wanted her to be beautiful and powerful. I wanted him out of the wheelchair and kicking ass. I wrote to Christopher what I thought and what I felt was very clear to the editors was a twisted romance. I wanted to explain how ever they could get back together. What happens when Dru wakes up in that car? What's her first move? She jumps out of the damned car. He goes, knocks her over the head again and puts her back into the car. How long could this go on? How could they
ever become together again? And my answer was that story. You screw up so bad that she has to save you, and they get back together. I found out later.
The art came out. And then it was drawn hideously ugly on both characters. What the head of Dark Horse told me was they wanted to do --what's that called? --it's a certain style. It's not Goth. It's horror comic book. They wanted to do a horror comic book for "Buffy" in that kind of style. But they couldn't because all the other actors had legal protection in their contracts, but I didn't. That's why they came to me. And I was uhhh. "OK, well, I'll talk to you later then."

They do so really well, and they'd like for me to come back, but I don't trust them. I hate to be sour grapes about it. What I did find out is that I found out an important lesson. I thought that I had control. I thought that someone had finally given me control over the characters. The narrative. I was like, "Ha, ha!" Guess what? I was just the writer. I was treated like writers always get treated in LA. Which is not very well. "Yep. We used you, and we're going to tell you right over the phone. Have a nice day." Fine. A little vim and vigor there.

Q: What was it like to become a Season 4 cast member?

JM: I was told I would be the new Cordelia. Joss said, "Functionally, you're the one who's going to be an aside going, "We're all stupid. We're all going to die." That's what keeps Buffy from being too much like "Scooby Doo" actually. Or, one of the many things. Quality being the first and foremost.... Of course, the movie's going to be great. In my head, I wanted to say, "Joss, I don't see how you are going to do this." But, I didn't. I was like, "Fine. Put me in the show." But in my mind, "I can't, for the life of me, see how he's going to fit in." And we got into it, and in the first season, it was a little weird. I had the sense the writers didn't quite know ... how do you bring Spike out into the daylight without making him a little namby-pamby, without taking away from being Spike. What's really nice is, I think Spike is exactly the same. We're learning more about him. Now, we know why he was so gentlemanly to Dru, whereas he was a sociopathic murderer to everyone else in the world. He's love's bitch! Guys, try it. It's fun!

Q: When do you have time to practice for all the fight scenes? Do you have a trainer on set, training you?

JM: There's a fight choreographer, but there's no trainer. Sarah is trained in martial arts. So am I. But in all honesty, we have stunt doubles, too. I should just talk about myself. Coming from stage, I can do a lot of my own stunts. That's really helpful for the directors because they can intercut my stuff easier. But basically, if Spike's feet ever leave the ground, that ain't me. So, if I'm just waving my arms around and ducking guys and spinning around and doing moves-which is tough, and people get tagged and hurt doing that stuff all the time-that's me, and I'm proud of that kind of work.

But if Spike goes flying against a wall 20 feet up and falls down... in a church, that's not me! If Spike's thrown out a window onto a bush, that's not me. And if Spike jumps up and does amazing cool karate kicks, that ain't me either. That's all Steve Tartalia.
He's an amazing guy and also an amazingly psychotic stunt performer! He'll do anything. Last year, right after I cattle prodded and chained Buffy up and asked her to love me. People were actually mad she didn't take me up on it! Girls, what would you do? Bzzztt! *Mock cattle prod noise* Love me? Anyway, he chains her at the end of the episode, and she hauls off and smacks him and he goes flying into a chest of drawers. Steve took a header straight into the cave wall and opened up the side of his face. Bloody... just horrible.
So they took super glue, which was invented by people during Vietnam, by medics. It's designed as an instant bandage and stunt men still use it as that. So, they glued him together, and he went back and did the same stunt three more times. Taking that face-which is an open wound into cave walls. And he acted like "What? Man that was cool." Crazy. Crazy.

Q: Are we ever going to have Buffy slaying vampires again? Who is the season villain this year?

JM: Buffy The Anything But Vampires Slayer. Who is the season villain basically this year? There always is. We haven't met them yet. I like to keep myself in the dark at this point. I don't want to know what's coming up because Spike doesn't know. Like, I don't know if Buffy and Spike are going to get together. That's something I haven't even asked anybody. I don't wanna know, because I'm afraid they'll tell me. Spike doesn't know. He thinks he doesn't have a chance in hell, actually, but he's still going to try.
I think that the only other choice other than having a season villain, or at least a recurring one, is to have a lot of little villains. Joss came up to me, after he didn't kill me and said, "Don't mistake the fact that I didn't kill you off as thinking that this is going to be all about you now. It's not all about you. The show's called "Buffy." I know you are getting fan mail. But don't let that get to your head. The only reason you're here is so we don't have to kill off a new guy every week. We are going to kill you-but not now."

So, yeah, I think we will definitely see a long arc. I mean, that's the nice thing about Buffy is the season arcs. There are arcs that go throughout the season and throughout the entire show. That was the whole thing with "Angel," is they discovered they wanted to do the same thing. They had imagined "Angel" as an episodic, which is the stories would begin, middle and end in one episode. Which is a lot easier to write, actually, than the long arcs of "Buffy". But they just discovered very quickly that the episodic was not good enough for them-they got bored. So, they are really trying to get those long arcs back in "Angel" as well. So, yeah, I'm in the dark, too, but I'm just hoping that Buffy comes back. "Sarah, have you had enough time off yet? I think the audience would like to see your pretty self."

Q: How long does it take to do the makeup for your vamp face? And also, in the episode last season, when Glory kicked Spike's butt, the "beat up face," how long did that make up take?

JM: The melange makeup, which is what we say when we get beat up. No, nobody says that. That was just the title of my makeup book in high school. "Melange." *Grins*
He could beat a guy up faster with paint than a guy does with a pipe. I'm serious. Spike sorta got that messed up and it took longer. Todd did that to me in like 5 minutes. I'm serious. The vampire make-up used to take an hour and 20. Now, it's down to about 20. He's quick. He's also started using an airbrush, which makes things a lot quicker too. He is just amazing! And like all geniuses, he's never better than when his back is up against the wall. So, he's constantly saying, "I can't do that. I can't give you 20 demons in an hour and a half." He does it. So, they know he can do it, so we're going to give you 25 or 30 next year. That department is just amazing. Efficient.

Q: What's going on with the chip in the head?

JM: I don't know! I would rather see Spike decide whether or not to be evil. I'd rather that be an internal conflict rather than something that's decided externally by a machine. I think that frankly, now that Spike is in love with Buffy, he wants to get in Buffy. He's not going to do anything to piss her off! Everyone who she loves immediately becomes very important to him. So, I don't think we need the chip anymore. But, what happens when he falls out of love with Buffy. What happens if Buffy spurns him? That's the thing about the whole love interest-it can catapult him into great acts of heroism or evil. Any way you want, love is the tempest. So I'm just hoping that the chip comes out. It's like the wheelchair. But, then it's better than what I would do. You ask any actor what he wants to do next season and he'll say, "Kick more ass and bag more babes." Every actor in every TV show in all of Hollywood... they'll give you whole paragraph, but it really boils down to those two things. So, it's to writers to give us something better than that.

Q: I've heard you do drawings. If so, would you ever put them up on your website?

JM: I do some painting. I don't think I'm very good! I like to paint because it forces a person to sit down and notice the world. How light plays on things. You end up noticing the beautiful things in life. You end up noticing the reflection of light on water more. The quality of light of the day. Whether it's a sharp, harsh, crisp light or whether it's diffuse light. And all of that. That's the reason I paint. I don't really show my paintings, 'cause I'm not really, really all that good. I'll sing a song for y'all.
But paintings...Ahhh....We'll wait on that. I do that more for myself than think it's worth anyone's time to look at it.

Q: Have you ever sat down and actually tried to watch an episode of "Passions"?

JM: No, what's it like? Sarah liked it for the irony. She loves really bad TV. And she turned Joss on to it. He loves the same kind of stuff...So, he just had to. Now "Passions" is referencing "Buffy." So, we love you guys! We're making fun of you! I haven't watched it, but it sounds like it's very brave!

*Audience: The show just throws me off my lunch and can be used for torture!*

JM: Worse than Klingons?? I don't want to diss another person's show because I know how hard they are to make. So, in basic terms, I have to give them props because they don't stand around the kitchen sink and talk about their feelings. Again! They are trying to leap out of realism, which I think has been confining cinema since it first began. For some reason filmmakers think that film can't take a heightened acting style or a heightened style, and they're being proven wrong so consistently now. The Coen Brothers are a great example of nonrealistic film-making-In "Barton Fink"-the hotel just explodes into flames! It just does. It's just right for the moment! It's so right for the moment no one cared to ask how it got into flames! Obviously, Joss is not realistic. So I have to give them props for that. Let's get off "Passions." I don't want to offend anyone. "Now on "Passions." We hate you now."

Q: Is it possible that "Spike" could appear on the BBC spinoff series "Ripper"?

JM: I would do it in a heartbeat. Joss has asked me if I'd be willing. He hasn't said that there's a place for me. But I get that sense that since both characters are from England, it's a good fit. I don't think I'll be called on to be a permanent fixture in that series. But I think that there's be a place for me. Whether it ends up happening is a different thing, because again, they are tap-dancing as fast as they can. The story they cook up for it may or may not have a place for Spike. But, they're interested in having the character in on it, and I'm interested in doing it. So, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to be popping over to London, 'cos it's a great idea. "Ripper." Omigod! You should have seen Tony. He was picking out weapons. "This is a sharp one. I want to pick out weapons!"

Q: How long did it take you to realize how big "Fool For Love" was going to be?

JM: When I got the script-after getting over being really afraid of it...after I was able to embrace William and understand how William actually was Spike. And once I was comfortable admitting to the world that William actually was James Marsters when he was younger... I was like "How dare you? How dare you expose me in that way? I tell you my secrets and you just broadcast them!" After I knew I could do that and that piece of the story was not going to fall flat, I knew that it was going to be memorable. And we filmed the William stuff first and Joss was there, he was a little nervous there in the back, I could tell he was covering up the fact he didn't know if I could do it or not.

It went really, really, really well. Kali Rocha, who played the girl in the scene was a wonderful actress from New York. We got along very well. I was pretty confident. Except for that part. The rest of it was pretty...lot of fighting and stuff with Buffy. And I loved the scenes with Buffy. Such a complex relationship between those two characters. There's also an incredible shattering of time. Jump cutting between stories, which I thought was really inventive of Doug Petrie who wrote it. Doug came up to me. "All righty, Episode 7, you know your episode?" And he looked kinda nervous. And I'm like, "Well, d'you need anything...like wash your dog? Anything to keep you in the office writing." He's like "Well, you drink that Red Bull, right? Does that work?" I'm like I'll be right back." I brought him a case of Red Bull. The next day his eyes are all like *He makes a wild-eyed expression* "It's great! It's great! I have all these ideas, man!" He slammed the script out, high on Red Bull. And I think he's an addict now.

Q: Do you watch any TV for fun or read or watch movies?

JM: I watch movies. I don't really watch much TV. I had to admit this to myself. The cable company came in with this big box. There's like 5 million HBO channels and all of this whacked-out TV. And like three months went by and I never figured out how to use it. And I still haven't cracked the manual. And I'm good at that stuff. Like VCRs and stuff. I finally had to admit that I'm not watching TV anymore. I'm just hanging, playing guitar, playing video games and renting movies. So, I rent a lot of movies. Like there are shows that I absolutely love. Like "Sopranos." But, I can't be counted on. I'm like a bad boyfriend... I'm a good boyfriend. But for TV shows, you just can't count on me on whatever night the thing is going to be on.

*Audience: "My daughter's name is April, so we really enjoyed the April-bot episode."*

JM: That was supposed to be Britney Spears, by the way.

Q: How long are you going to be around...how long is your contract for?

JM: Forever and ever. It's all nailed down. It's all certified. I'm on board. There never was any question, but we had to work it out. Lawyers had to go fist -fighting and yen... nen... nen... I told Joss, "Can we just pretend this never, ever happened?" In renegotiations there was some question... There was some talk of putting me on "Angel." Possibly putting me evil on "Buffy" and then switching me over to be evil on "Angel." But that flew out the window with the whole move to the UPN. And I think that was out the window before then. I think that was early last year and they kinda switched it up. I'd like to go back on "Angel," though, and kick his ass. Angel's ass. Have to be very careful about that. David himself is a good guy. But Spike HATES Angel.

Q: How many episodes have already shot, so far?

JM: We are just wrapping the second one, which is actually a two-parter that I think they are going to broadcast the same night. I think it's going to be a special two-hour "Buffy." Oh, I wish I could tell you want we were doing. It's really good and I think it starts out really strong. And Buffy-less, which is really weird.

Q: What actors inspired you when you were growing up and what kind of styles of acting did they teach you at Julliard?

JM: Julliard dealt with all the old acting styles. The joke was, "We're never going to use this, you know." We could do Moliere. We could do Restoration. We could do Shakespeare. They didn't really do so well with naturalism and realism, I have to say. There's no preparation for film at Julliard at all. A lot of what I had to do going into film and TV was to "stop acting." Stop doing all the things I studied so hard to learn in college. Like taking stage, for example. On stage if you have a good entrance, if you are like a major character that has a very powerful dramatic entrance in the script. You stand up stage. You enter from up stage. It's called up staging people for a reason. When you're up stage, you're in the power position. You stand in the frame of the doorway for a second. You say a couple of words, you pause, and then continue. That's the way you take the stage. I did that in "School Hard" and I looked like an idiot! "You were there." Beat. Beat. Beat. And I go in. I didn't know that you don't have to take stage. The stage will be given to you in close-up. They just smash right to your face. And you have focus, dude. You don't have to shout. "Why is he talking so loud?" "Stop acting!"

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is about to audition for "Macbeth"?

JM: What I tell you about Lady Macbeth may not get you the role! Because most people think she's a bitch, and I don't think so. I don't see her like that at all. If "out damn spot" is going to work, you cannot lose the audience. You have to have the audience's sympathy and empathy for that character. So, by the time she's gone insane, the audience's heart is broken. I think the reason that she is driven insane is because her husband has to keep secrets from her of the people he's killing. So, her dream of becoming the golden couple shatters. So, whereas they get all the goodies, they are no longer really a couple and so true love dies, and that drives her insane. She loses her husband, even though they are sleeping together in the same bed.

I think that Lady Macbeth has every reason to take after her husband. He wimps out, says, "I don't know if I should do this." And she's like, "What are you, a man or what?" I always imagine Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, jackin' a car.. *At this point, JM acts out an imagined scene between DeNiro and Pesci, using modern dialogue, and imitating their voices.*) So when Lady Macbeth is like, "What's up with this? He is in our house, it's going down tonight! And you're having second thoughts?" And everyone thinks she's like this castrating bitch, when I just think they are two criminals, and one of them is getting shaky knees. She just takes after him, like criminals do. "We're going to do this thing." And I think if you play it that way and then you play the heartbreak of losing him. There's not a lot of language in the intermediate part of that play.

God, I'm rambling on about Macbeth....I don't think she's a bitch. I think she's strong. I think there's a difference. I think a lot of directors don't know how to create a strong woman. They often shade toward bitch. But I think she is just a good, strong woman.
She should be queen. She'd make a great queen. And in real life she did for forty years-before they died bloody. But we can't have a play that long.

Q: Are you a fan of the Horror genre?

JM: I'm a fan of any genre that's not realistic. I mean I like realism. But I'm also enjoying jumping out of that. And I think that especially the horror genre, the way Joss uses it. Joss is like the jester-I say this all the time. A lot of you guys have probably heard this before. I look at Joss as the jester. He calls himself a fool. Because, like in the Medieval court, it was the jester who could tell the king, the only one in the court who could tell the king the truth. "Sir, you're a fat idiot. Sir, you don't know what you are doing." But it had to be funny. As long as it was funny, he could cut right into the bone. "Your jealousy is unmaking you, sir. I think you are a toad...Just kidding!" And so, that's what Joss is doing. Joss is able to write things that are much more honest and are much more painful. And much more honest. And then just say, "Hey, man, it's just vampires." And so, he has that cover. And so, that's why we're able... we're able to have that guy in the bell tower with the automatic rifle, right after Columbine.
*Talking about the episode "Earshot"* I mean, I was proud of that episode. When you get to the center of the episode him talking to Buffy about why he's up there, and his feelings of alienation. I thought that that was one of our stronger episodes, actually. I thought it was marvelous. And I wish they would have broadcast it closer to the event. It would have brought up a lot more useful conversation about "Why?"

Q: Is there anything you won't do as an actor?

JM: No. I made my professional debut, strapped, spread-eagled, naked. So, after that, everything else...there's no embarrassment left.

Q: Are there any superstitions you have?

JM: I'm not superstitious at all. I think we are blind to what's really going on around us. I think there is deep mystery in the world. I bow to it. I think there are things that we will never truly understand about our situation. I read a book a long time ago that said there are three things human beings will never be able to get over. Death. Toil. And ignorance of the future. And people have been selling snake-oil and telling each other they get over one of those three things, when in fact, it's impossible.

So...Yeah. No, the thing about put a nickel in your shoe, you'll get the part. None of that. None of that. That's a long-winded answer to that question. I guess I should have a little less coffee.

Q: How do you feel about the archetypes being portrayed in games? And about the prospect of a "Buffy" RPG? *Role Playing Game*

JM: I think role-playing is amazingly wonderful. And it's the closest thing to acting as you can get, really. I used to do Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. I had the most intense experiences just sitting around a table with graph paper. Just amazing. I mean, I don't know. We've got Buffy lollipops. Chewable popsicles, by the way Someone in the audience tells him about a Spike tin* Uh, huh. I have that tin, also. I love all that crap! A Spike doll. Look what he's doing to Buffy! I have Spike and I have Buffy in my trailer, and they do things they've never done before. Totally kidding, Fred...I'm really lying about that.

Q: What kind of video games do you like?

JM: I like fight games. I like drive and shoot games. I like shoot people in the head games. I cannot do any sports. The same thing that was true in school is still true now. Football, baseball, basketball, soccer video games. I can't! This 13-year-old was trying to show me how. He was like, "Pass! Pass!" *JM's imitating hands on a control pad* All these buttons, man. I don't have time to perfect the pass. Those sports games are beyond me. It's not because of lack of desire. I would love to be able to, but I just can't.

Q: Will you and Dawn have more interaction this season?

JM: So far, yeah. I have a scene with her in the beginning. * In an effort to clarify for audience* He's talking about Michelle Trachtenberg, who plays Dawn, and how was it to have her in the show, especially when there was a controversy in the beginning about putting her in. I think it's good to have Spike and Dawn together, because it shows Spike's mindset. Which is that anyone who Buffy loves is very important. So, he will protect anyone Buffy loves. Don't hurt Buffy. Don't hurt anyone that's important to her. Keep them safe. As far as there being a controversy when Dawn started, that was designed to be that way. Joss wanted you guys to hate her. If you go back and you watch those episodes of the beginning of last season. She's always in the way, she's always messing stuff up, she's always saying the wrong thing. And the other characters are like, "Ahhh. Fine Dawn. OK." She's introduced with no explanation. She's like, "What are you guys doing?" Because he wanted you guys... he's setting that character up to be like Joss was, like we all were when we were young. Outsiders. We were loners. We were on the outside of things. We were underappreciated. We were shuffled off to the side. Now, it's like, "Oh, Dawn. Is she's going to be ... Oh, what's wrong?" We all feel guilty for judging her so harshly in the beginning. That's not your fault. That's Joss doing that to you. He loves that!

Joss told me the first year I met him that he's more Capra than Kubrick. and I think he's so wrong. He told me once, he said, "Don't give the audience what they want. Give them what they need." He wants to piss you off. He wants to irritate you It works, doesn't it? Arrrrr! He's not necessarily a feel-good guy. In that way, I think he's closer to Kubrick than he knows.

Q: I wanted to know [how] you feel about the concept of the musical episode?

JM: I think it's brilliant. In every season we manage to do one episode that scares the bejesus out of us...and this is it. It has him coming back to direct, which is really wonderful because he's stepping back a bit. If you notice, once every season he throws up the cards... straight up in the air. Like...they were telling him that he was the funniest writer on TV, like his dialogue is the snappiest, so what does he do? He does "Hush."
No dialogue whatever. And it's just a narrative. Completely dry. No jokes at all. Or, the jokes are visual. They told him that his stories are what compel. Then it was, "His narratives-that's what makes him amazing. His narratives." He's like, "Oh, I'll do a dream episode with no narrative whatsoever."
That was wonderful. That was the season finale... two years ago. What season was it? Fourth? They said he was the funniest writer in Hollywood. So he did "The Body" without one joke. So, where do you go from there? How do you top yourself? He is stretching himself. He had never directed before, and now he's one of the best directors I've ever worked with. I can't wait.
So, basically we're throwing ourselves off a cliff, and we're either going to fly or SPLAT! And, so we're flapping with all of our might. I think we are going to end up soaring, actually. I've heard some of the songs he's been experimenting with, and he's a wonderful songwriter. But still claims that he can't play piano. I'm like, "Joss, just get over it! You can play piano!" But it's by ear. Damn genius, Wonderboy.

Q: Is Spike now as selfless as Buffy?

JM: Ummmm ...Well, I mean, yeah. No, not selfless, just...horny. Did I contradict myself? Oh, was I not supposed to do that? No...uh...yeah.


Q: He's selfless without knowing that he is?

JM: Oh man, you know how it goes. Your girlfriend says she doesn't like those shoes. What happens to those shoes? They are eighty-sixed, man. My present girlfriend told me ONCE she didn't like my white tennis shoes. They were gone, you know, without even thinking about it. You just try to get an in. He's in love with a good person, and that's gotta rub off somehow. He was in love with Dru, and she's not good. "We noticed that, James."

Q: Dru wanted a monster. Buffy wants a man?

JM: Yeah. But the question is will he ever get to a point where, where...she's out of his league, man. Why would she mess with him? He's some toady, evil guy. In the world of Sunnydale, he's, you know, "ick." He needs to be staked.

Q: He tries harder?

JM: Yeah. He tries harder. He becomes honorable. He has to find honor. Or, she will never touch him with a 10-foot pole, if he doesn't have honor.

Q: He found it in "The Gift"?

JM: He's starting to. He's started to. I mean he's...hopefully that being in contact with that much good will rub off on him and show him that it's better to be that way. Although, it's not so fun to act...No, no problem. That's interesting, actually.

Q: Is it difficult to act in the vamp makeup?

JM: It's very hard to act with the teeth. The teeth make you lisp. *imitats the lisp* "There's nothing scarier than a vampire with a lisp." Every guest goes through the same thing, "These teeth just make it impossible for me."
The makeup actually does a lot of acting for you. When I first got the makeup on I experimented with what kind of expression was good with the makeup and I found that the makeup is so soft, the foam rubber they use is so soft and pliable that it moves with your face. I realized very quickly I should stop worrying about what expressions are good with the makeup and just play it normally and let the makeup be like an old Greek theatrical mask and have its own effect. Actually it makes thing very much easier. And it doesn't show when you are tired. Which is getting to be my problem.

Q: Will any of the original cast be doing voice-overs for the animated series?

JM: Joss has said that he would prefer it to be that way. I went in to do my voices for a video game. It was interesting. Spike is all about underplay. Very simple. The character comes out in body language. He comes out in the way ...the looks he gives people, stuff like that. Just doing voice-over for a video, they were always saying, "Give us some more of that Spike stuff."
I was like, "Oooooh, I don't know how to inject everything that I usually inject into my body into my voice." So, what they might find for the animated series is whereas we know our characters so very well, we may not be the best technicians for the job. Frankly, when it all comes down to it, there may be people who do voice-over for a living who can inject the emotion into the voice. I, for one, would like to, at least try. I think we'll be given a chance, at least. He's hoping it works out. Basically, I think what Joss is saying is "If they don't suck, they can do it."

Q: Do you ever give the writers any input into Spike's character?

JM: *Shaking head emphatically no.* Other people do. But I feel that that's disrespectful. I'm not there for my storytelling, I'm not there to write. Ahhh...When I used to do writing, and actors would be giving their input, I'd be, "Why are you?...That's not your job. That's not your department. Let me work and you work. And everything will be fine. The artistic director didn't read your input, didn't read your sample writing and hire you. He hired me, you see. So let me do it." So I'm very much like, "Know your place and shut the hell up." Within that, within the close up, the close up gives the actor enormous control. It doesn't matter how much money has been spent on the set. They come into close up, and the whole world is your face. So, whereas I say we have no control over the words, there's enormous control for an actor in film over how those words are delivered. Yeah, all of my power is behind the eyes.

Q: Coming from a theatre background and with TV having a much faster pace, do you prefer it to, say, film, where you have to do things over and over again?

JM: You know, I haven't had that much experience with film, frankly. What I do know about film is that it takes longer, but the length of time is for the set up, for the technicians. But the actors don't actually get that much more time. They sit around more. One of my favorite actors in the world is Meryl Streep. I think she's absolutely phenomenal, and she doesn't do more than three takes. She will tell the director, "If you want to work with me, that's fine. Make sure your camera crew doesn't screw up any takes because I won't give you more than three. Because after three, it gets stale."
I think there's something to be said for flying through it, because your best stuff is the stuff you don't know you are doing. If you know your character and you know your lines so well that you can't screw them up, as Stanley Kubrick says, then if you let go and trust, then interesting things happen.

Q: Did you have anything to do with the choice of "I Want to Be Sedated" in "Crush"?

JM: Yeah, actually, I did that. They said that they wanted a Ramones song. And that's the one I picked. It was the one that pushed the boundaries of being too far. There's a lot of punk songs that you can choose that they would never allow on television. I tried to find one that was classic enough for Spike. I thought he'd want to probably sing something that was original to the '70s, early '80s. I love that song. "I Want To Be Sedated." That's pretty...I want to be drugged up? For a kids' show, that's pretty crazy. Joey Ramone rocks! That and the term, "Pidge." They stole from me, I notice.
That's what I call my girlfriend, "Pidge," from "Lady and the Tramp." Now they've got Spike calling Dawn, "Pidge." Thief.

Q: What's your political preference?

JM: I am a die-hard bleeding liberal. Passionately so. I don't want to get quite into all of it. It sounds like I'm preaching to the choir. In basic terms, level the playing field. Inherited wealth does no one any good. Basically, that's what I think.

Q: In terms of the New Mercury Theatre, can you tell us some of the difficulties you had starting and running that troupe?

JM: My theater company started in Chicago as the Genesis Theater Company, actually. And I never got more criticism, more...bile, than when I tried to build something myself. It was interesting. All the critics who had been on my side as an actor, all of the rest of the theatrical community, had a negative reaction to me starting a new theatre. My first show was absolutely panned, although it sold out and the audiences loved it, it was absolutely trashed in the press, and I learned a big lesson-when you extend yourself, don't be surprised when people take you down. That's just a human reaction. "Just who the hell does he think he is?" I had to overcome that. Duck down. Jesus. Eventually, it was like "Oh, screw the press. Just do it for yourself."


Q: What about your martial arts training?

JM: Green belt in judo. That's what I know most of. But it's tournamental style, which it's little, not quite so much. One year of karate. One year of jujitsu. A little kung fu picked up on the side like in classes. And a little too much street fighting. And on the job, stunt fighting throughout the years, on stage.

Q: How do you keep your ego in check with groups like this?

JM: That's a really good question. How do I keep my ego in check getting stroked like this? I told myself after I got off the phone with Joss, after he said he wanted to make me a regular. I was like, "Omigod. This is a whole new world. A bunch of money's going to get dumped on me and a bunch of praise and if I can get through this... First of all, I'm going to save my money, but most importantly, I want to get through it without becoming an ass."
I don't think that celebrity is a particularly healthy place, psychologically, for someone to be. You really don't have people around you telling you when you are being an ass, and we all need that. I just try to remember that Spike is a magic trick that a lot of people have a hand in other than myself. So that when I hear it's working, I take pride in that, but remembering that I'm one person in a lot of people. And a lot of people deserve credit for anytime you like what Spike's doing. There's a whole lot of people lining in the credits at the end of the show who have a lot to do with that. That's how I'm trying. Watch me in a year, though. I'll be like *Striking a pose* "What? Who are you?"

Q: How did you feel when they killed off Buffy?

JM: I went up to Joss and said, "You can't kill Buffy! She's the show. Joss!" And he's like, "I'm your boss. I can do whatever I want. I can kill her. Calm down, boy." Another very interesting choice. And he also explained how she's....Guys, she's not, she's going to come back. Buffy's still...we're going to have Buffy back. I don't think I'm spilling too many beans by saying that she's brought back in the most interesting, the most dynamic, and most surprising way. And nothing like I would have imagined. God, I wish I could tell you guys...I could lay down a story that I didn't write, that would fascinate you. As a storyteller I'd love like..."Picture if you will." Ah, next question. I'm going to start spilling the beans if I don't move right on.

Q: Do you get feedback from your family on your work?

JM: They just enjoy it very much. They've always been supportive of me as an actor. They never once said, "You can't do that" Even though a lot of other people did. And they're just very happy that I'm not poor anymore.

Q: Will you be at the upcoming Chicago Con?

JM: No, I'm not going to be in the con. Basically, I'm sorry, I don't do a whole lot of cons during the filming season. But we thought there was a strike. That's why I'm here because I didn't think I'd be working. 12 to 20 hours, five days a week, you really need that one-and-a-half day's weekend that you get to sleep. To prepare for the oncoming battle. So, I'm afraid that most of my con stuff is going to be next summer.