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Charisma Carpenter - Interviewed on location for Carpe Noctem in Los Angeles, August 22nd 2001
Better than being Buffy
You originally auditioned for the part of Buffy - are you glad the way things turned out?
I think that the way it turned out is the way it was meant to have turned out. I鈥檓 extremely pleased that I wound up with the character that I have for a myriad of reasons.
Number one: because we got to see her growth. Number two: I got to do the spin-off with David, so you couldn鈥檛 ask for more there. Number three: I don鈥檛 know that I would have been ready for that kind of fame if I鈥檇 gotten Buffy. So, I think [Buffy] went to the right person.
From bitch to hero
How do you feel about the evolution of Cordelia?
The road Cordelia has travelled, the journey she has taken up to now has been such a joy to play as an actress, because there have been so many chances to do so many different emotions.
Heroic, vulnerable, just angry, possessed, funny - I get to be all those different things rolled into one. Getting this role, in hindsight... God I made a good decision, or they did.
Visionary acting (season 3 spoiler)
Are the visions difficult to play?
The visions aren鈥檛 really too hard to play but I have to say I wouldn鈥檛 include in that statement the last episode I did (That Vision Thing). That鈥檚 episode two of the third season.
That that one was really tough because [there] is this stigmata effect where the visions start manifesting physically upon me. That was a little bit more challenging than I had anticipated. It wasn鈥檛 your basic ordinary vision.
They鈥檙e not that hard to play. I don鈥檛 know. if they鈥檙e believable, great, if they鈥檙e not then they鈥檙e really hard.
Playing the queen, without much on (season 2 spoiler)
At the end of season two you became a queen. Was that fun and would you want the responsibility in real life?
Sure, I鈥檇 take the responsibility of queen any day. My inner queen sure came out. It was a bonus, it was great.
I had fun with the crew too. I had to be a little bitchy, more than I would normally, and just blamed it on my role, which was fun. Yeah, I got 'Princess' [from them] a lot. I don鈥檛 understand it, but that was fun.
It was an amazing outfit
I was scantily clad wasn鈥檛 I? And cold. It was tremendously cold. In fact in the last episode [of season two], we鈥檙e in Pylea. Groosalug and Angel are fighting and I run to Groosalug鈥檚 rescue. He鈥檚 fighting with Angel and Angel has to go 'extra hellbeast' to fight him, because he鈥檚 like the king of all fighting in Pylea.
At that moment I realise my love for Groosalug and I go to hug him, and he鈥檚 wearing a metal plate, and there was snow on the camera cases. So I鈥檓 in a bikini top with coins all over going brrrr - so cold.
That was fun, that outfit rocked. I loved that outfit (laughs). I wish I could wear that every day.
Did that outfit bring up the programme any more in the demographic do you think? I鈥檓 wondering how the ratings were for that punishment. Were they any bigger?
I think they were a lot higher.
Listen to him feed me my ego!
How Charisma nearly missed the Buffy audition
One thing that shapes Cordelia is that she鈥檚 a struggling actress. What was the most bizarre audition you鈥檝e ever had in real life?
I have a two part answer for that.
Answer A, in Angel, I think the most memorable audition I had was [the one where] I was suffering from the loss of Doyle and I get my first vision in the middle of an audition.
I鈥檓 doing a Tide or a Spray and Wash type product audition, and it was funny and pathetic and a real joy to play. Jim Contener directed that particular episode and that scene, so that was the most memorable audition scene I had.
Then, answer part B is the most bizarre personal audition I ever had. Not so much bizarre, but it was just a trek to make it.
I was auditioning for the role of Cordelia. It was the screen test with the whole network and I was running late for the audition because I was at work at [the show] Malibu Shores in Long Beach and I had to get to Burbank. It was raining and it was rush hour, so I borrowed clothes from Costume, and I鈥檓 high tailing it on the freeway, trying to be safe, trying not to get in an accident.
I got these [cell phone] pages from my manager, and I was really broke at the time so I didn鈥檛 have a cell phone or anything. I鈥檓 just like, "I know this is my agent, please hang in there, please hang in there, I can鈥檛 get off [the freeway] yet, I can鈥檛 get off yet".
Finally I get off and I go to the Seven Eleven and my agent has paged me six times. I know what she鈥檚 telling me, "You鈥檙e late, they鈥檙e going to leave," and it would just make me panic.
So I get to the Seven Eleven [call her and ask] "Why are you calling me so many times, like 13 pages in half an hour?" She goes, "You鈥檝e got to get there, they鈥檙e going to leave," and I go, "You tell them not to leave, you tell them to order a pizza, you tell them something but tell them to wait". So they waited, and I got the part. That was my most exciting real personal audition.
Dancing Queen
I heard that you have a talent for dancing. Is it true you trade dance routines with J August Richards?
We鈥檙e not a dancing team, but we do like co-ordinating stuff. We鈥檙e together all the time dancing. We did a good Thriller version working on [the episode] First Impressions, J鈥檚 big episode.
I was breaking him into our group, and I鈥檓 there for him or whatever. We had some really long nights together, so we entertained ourselves making up Thrilleresque dance routines from the 80's, like old Michael Jackson stuff. We had a lot of fun.
Living on the edge
I heard that you鈥檙e into dangerous sports like sky diving, which the network weren't too pleased about?
It was never officially told to me that I couldn鈥檛 do [the skydiving] any more. I had been warned not to get on a motorcycle, sort of. I think there is a clause in most general basic contracts to keep yourself in one piece and not alter your looks without telling them first.
There鈥檚 a pretty good chance that you鈥檙e going to go down when you鈥檙e on a motorcycle or if you鈥檙e sky diving or whatever, but that happened before I even got this job, and I haven鈥檛 sky dived since.
No nightingales on Angel
Does Charisma sing better than Cordelia?
No, I鈥檓 a horrible singer, I鈥檓 awful. This is funny because I just had a job over the summer for VH1, a project I did called Strange Frequency where I got to play a Goth rock band singer.
I thought that my fans would really enjoy seeing me in that and I totally wanted to be my character. I really wish I could sing so I could front a band, because that would be a dream come true, totally. I want to sing. Can鈥檛 do it though.
A hairy problem
What made you change your look and hair?
I wanted a change from the first season because I had to wear a lot of curlers every day. It wasn鈥檛 fun and it was hard to maintain continuity-wise. My solution, since I couldn鈥檛 cut my hair, with that whole fiasco with the WB telling USA Today ""Nobody can cut their hair", was to go in the opposite direction and get longer hair.
I got much longer hair and I started to have repercussions from that. It was too much for my scalp and it was just creating a lot of ickiness and hardship and was not the right thing to do.
So I begged, half way into season two, for them to let me cut my hair. They did and then it was darker and they didn鈥檛 like that dark edge for Cordelia. It wasn鈥檛 as warm and effervescent as she is usually, so they wanted me to go shorter and blonder. Hence, I鈥檓 growing it back out because I think I鈥檓 going to go back to season one style. It will just make life a lot easier.
Best loved episodes
What鈥檚 your favourite episode?
There are so many. One is the last episode I did - season three episode three - because I felt a very strong connection performance-wise. I felt really confident in my growth as an actor and I felt really good about the opportunity I was given to go deep. I don鈥檛 know what the outcome was or how the fans or my producers felt, but I felt really good about it.
Then Expecting, there was so much fun in that episode. In season one, Expecting and Rm w/a Vu. I don鈥檛 know from season two, nothing鈥檚 really coming to mind.
A ghost around the home.
Would you like a Phantom Dennis in real life?
Oh heck yeah, I totally would love to have a Phantom Dennis in real life. That would be great. A built in alarm system that freaked everybody out, nobody would mess with me.
Maybe he could feed the dog when I wasn鈥檛 available or scrub my back, or give me a massage. That would be great, and there鈥檚 no clingy relationship issues. That would be cool. Yeah, why not?