大象传媒 Cult - Printer Friendly Version
Anthony Stewart Head - Season 7
Myths and legends
Whose decision was it to shoot over here?
Basically, Joss had always wanted to shoot in Britain. He announced that he wanted to shoot some scenes with Willow in England, and I was very excited, because it鈥檚 my neck of the woods and it meant I could stay longer with my family before I went back to the States.
Then he said he wanted to shoot in and around Bath, because that鈥檚 where we said we'd set it if we ever do the Ripper series. I鈥檇 pitched Bath as an interesting environment, a good backdrop because it鈥檚 a cool place. Somerset is just riddled with myths and legends and folklore - ley lines and all sorts of things 鈥 it鈥檚 very spiritual
Joss said yes, so when it came to shoot Giles at home he said, 鈥淐an we do it at your house?鈥 I thought I鈥檇 better ask my partner, Sarah, and she said, 鈥淕o on.鈥 I said, 鈥淵eah, but a film crew?鈥, and she said, 鈥淕et over it, it鈥檒l be fine!鈥 Actually the house loved it, it was very 鈥榮miley鈥 鈥 it loved having all the attention. It鈥檚 a lovely house.
Horse power
Were you riding your own horse in Lessons?
Yes, we鈥檝e got nine, and Sarah works with twenty two at the farm now, where Sarah works. The horse鈥檚 name is Otto, by the way.
We scouted locations on the Friday. There was glorious sunshine, and I said to Joss, 鈥淚f you want a vista, come up to the farm and check it out." There are beautiful rolling hills.
We had a big struggle, because he wanted me to ride without a crash hat, and the reason we have the farm is because a dear friend of ours came off her horse, not wearing a crash hat, cracked her head open and died. She left Sarah some money, and that鈥檚 how we were able to invest in the farm, so we felt quite strongly about not showing riding without wearing a crash hat.
I showed Joss me in a crash hat and he said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not quite the image I was looking for.鈥 So we conceded and said, 鈥淎lright, but only at a walk.鈥 But, ultimately, it鈥檚 only a concession and it isn鈥檛 right. In fact I balked recently when somebody else asked me to do a riding shot.
Rain stopped play
Presumably the British weather affected the shoot?
I said, stupidly, 鈥淥f course, I can鈥檛 guarantee the weather鈥. And we all laughed, because we鈥檇 had a week of solid sun 鈥 it had been beautiful. But come Monday, as we began to film, it started to bucket down. So the shot of me on Otto has rain running down me 鈥 my hair is plastered to my forehead, but you wouldn鈥檛 know. It looks glorious because our brilliant director of photography made everything look great.
There was one shot of Alyson which we shot in the hallway instead of an exterior. It was supposed to be out in the fields and I was supposed to ride up to her on the horse and dismount. We ended up shooting this scene where the taxi comes, and I put in picking up an umbrella and going outside. The Director of Photography said 鈥淢aybe we should shoot one take without the umbrella and I said, 鈥淐ome on, it鈥檚 bucketing down鈥. In the end he had to use the shot without the umbrella because you wouldn鈥檛 know I was raining the way he had shot it - you could not tell.
Propping up Giles
Was Giles' inability to touch things a problem?
No, no, because the rules were slightly vague about what you could and couldn鈥檛 do. I was constantly asking, 鈥淐an I do this or not?鈥 What was patently clear was that I couldn鈥檛 touch any props, to everyone鈥檚 great joy, because I have a tendency to use props a lot. Part of the way I work is to try to bring some of the outside world in to the scene, rather than just play the scene off the page. You have a life and the scene happens to be part of that, and so, quite often, I鈥檇 involve something, so everyone thought it was very funny that I was stuck not being able to use props.
It proved a challenge because I had to make sense of it - why would Giles come in and not touch anybody, not hug anybody, not involve himself like the usual thing? I was basically playing stuff had become so important and so serious and so fast with the First, and I was suddenly saddled with the responsibility of bringing all these girls in and finding them all over the world without the Watcher鈥檚 Council. I internalised it all and was in my own little world of seriousness, trying to deal with everything, and had shut down and wasn鈥檛 allowing myself to be friendly.
The potentials
Where there problems filming with so many new girls?
No, all it meant was that every scene that we had with them all in we had to shoot it in 500 different directions. One of the problems of shooting a show like Buffy or Angel is that you鈥檙e limited for time, and it cuts down your choices 鈥 you can鈥檛 walk from this side of the room to that side of the room because it means that you have to cover the shot again from a different point of view. So it comes down to, 鈥淲here can I move without actually increasing the time that we have to have on camera?" It鈥檚 a little limiting, but ultimately, for the pay-off, which I thought was well worth it.
I asked Joss on the last week, 鈥淲hen did you come up with this twist?鈥 and he said 鈥淥h, about a year and a half ago!鈥 He鈥檚 got an incredible brain, and everything had been working towards that for a year and a half. So the pay-off was worth any amount of extra coverage we had to shoot.
Giles kicks butt
Were you glad to return for a number of episodes?
They said a minimum of ten, but it ended up being twelve or thirteen. The year before it meant I was able to shoot some stuff here and especially spend more time with my family instead of constantly going backwards and forwards. In year six, Joss had said very specifically after I had left that he was going to bring me back a couple of times, for things like the wedding. He called me and said, "Do you mind very much if I don鈥檛 bring you back until right at the end, because it would be more valued". I think he was right 鈥 I made a really great entrance, to disappear for that many shows and then kick butt 鈥 briefly.
I was very flattered that Joss went on record to say that he鈥檇 underestimated my part in the show and I was missed. So it would have been churlish to say, 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not coming back,鈥. As it happened, my involvement in season seven happened in chunks, so I was able to spend a lot more time here. I was pretty much able to fly back between each episode, so I was getting back once every two weeks, sometimes less. I鈥檇 shoot two days on an episode and then they would let me go, so I could come home, so that was fantastic. When I was a regular, it was that much harder 鈥 getting back once every month and a half or so. There was a very different feeling about the whole thing.
On song
Did you ever choose between acting and singing?
It is a bit of a decision in England, because in America you can do anything you like 鈥 it doesn鈥檛 matter. But in England people do think you are a dilettante in one area or the other if you haven鈥檛 paid your dues. We did all that 鈥淲e鈥檙e a recording band 鈥 we don鈥檛 gig鈥. I wish we had gigged, because it would have been fun. Basically, I don鈥檛 think we had the bottle for it 鈥 we were too scared of how people would receive us.
We actually wrote some good music, but then the band fell apart. I stuck together with the bass player and then somebody turned out a couple of singles, which were alright actually, a couple of our songs. But it was make your mind up time and then the acting really took off.
Now, at the age of 49, it鈥檚 very interesting to have an audience. I was really chuffed with the album. It was one of those, 鈥淒o you want to do it? situations鈥 and I said, 鈥淎s long as I don鈥檛 come out like David Hasselhoff!鈥 I don鈥檛 think I do.
When they gave me the opportunity to do it, Sarah said, 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you get a bunch of friends and just jam, and write some songs that mean something, rather than waffle," and so I wrote songs about things I was thinking and stuff I was observing, and I think it has a place.
Relating to Manchild
Was it your idea to bare your bottom in Manchild?
It certainly wasn鈥檛 mine, you can be sure of that! The bottom line is that there鈥檚 a bit of all of us in all the characters that we play. I鈥檓 not like him, he鈥檚 a sad piece of work!
What he needs to do is get away from Terry, the Nigel Havers character. He鈥檇 looked up to Terry since secondary school and has always wanted to be a Terry. He鈥檇 come late to the making money bit, and so was climbing on the bandwagon, but I don鈥檛 particularly relate to him. I don鈥檛 ride motorbikes 鈥 I鈥檇 crash them if I did. I鈥檇 crash fast cars if I drove them. I鈥檓 not particularly whizzy like that, and I鈥檓 certainly not a dentist.