Angel

Exclusive Interview: ANGEL’S ANDY HALLETT TALKS ABOUT LORNE MUSIC AND EDITING

Fan favorite actor looks to explore some new venues in the future

Fans know him as the loveable karaoke demon Lorne on Joss Whedon’s show ANGEL, but Andy Hallett has more going for him than just having an amazing tenor voice and a charming personality, even without the green skin. The silver-tongued devil was present at a comic convention in Los Angeles and iF MAGAZINE was there to corner the actor and chat him up about what he’s been up to and where he’s heading.

iF MAGAZINE: Do you have any plans to do an album?

ANDY HALLETT: I’m in talks with different studios to do an album. I’m very interested in doing one. I’ve worked on several songs with my friend John Allen who is a wonderful songwriter. He can play the piano like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve recorded six songs with John already, but we don’t know exactly where to go from here. One place wants to do the album as a ‘Lorne’ type of thing and another does not, and I just don’t know which is the better option. One would be more recognized as being part of the show ANGEL, but I’m not sure. I think doing it the route of COMMON ROTATION[BUFFY alumnus Adam Busch’s band] or KANE ANGEL [alumnus Christian Kane’s band] is a good way to market. Appeal to fans of the show but make it more broad based. That’s the best way especially now that the show is resting. It’s resting. [Laughs]

iF: Are you surprised at the continued fan following that you and the show still has?

HALLETT: Definitely, I am surprised, and without question. It’s funny because, there are new friends of mine that have no idea about the “Whedon-world”. I took them onto some websites and showed them around and they were in shock about how much stuff was out there. It’s interesting coming in fresh with a newbie and showing them, because they have no idea what to think of it. Especially knowing it has been about a year and a half since ANGEL ended. I can’t believe it’s been that long! I suppose I knew when the “Save ANGEL campaign” was formed just how dedicated the fans were. I never would have guessed they were that dedicated. They did everything they could to save the show, with the exception of storming the network offices and jumping up and down on the desks. They give it their all and they even sold candy bars! It was all done, as far as I know, through private contributions too. It’s so wild. I’ve never even seen anything similar to that level of commitment from the fans. STAR TREK is the closest thing I can think of with the cancellation of the original series. But with us, I was in shock, still am in shock. It was so cool.

iF: Shawna Trpcic was a new costumer on ANGEL in season 5, did it make any difference to your costumes?

HALLETT: She made suits especially for me. She gave me light shirts to wear. Shawna is the best I just love her. Thank God she came onto the show. Some of the older suits were heavy wool suits and three-piece suits. Then on top of that I had to wear over coats and every kind of coat you could imagine. It was so hot with the masks too. But Shawna took very good care of me. She had a lot of cool prints for me to wear. A lot of my clothes were custom made just for me. I felt so special, and like a big wheel when Shawna came in. I loved her!

iF: Have you gotten all the toys and comics connected with Lorne?

HALLETT: Lost of them yeah. The last figure by Diamond, the “Las Vegas” Lorne with the sequins was a crack up. The gold outfit from Vegas was down to a “T”. The figure could have come with the “blue meanie” coat accessory. [Laughs] It’s just a riot to see all of these toys coming out. It would be a hoot to see Lorne with the blue coat. I need to pick up copies of the latest ANGEL comics, because I’ve heard that Lorne was in them.

iF: Your interests lie with the field of editing film as well correct?

HALLETT: I want my friend’s editing system. She has the Avid editing system. She just barged right into the scene and got the best kind of equipment. She came over to house and I was showing her a little bit of the I-Movie program that I was using, and after that she went out and just bought this system that make’s mine look like a kid’s starter kit. But yes, that’s work that I am interested in pursuing.

iF: Are you moving towards behind the scenes work in the future?

HALLETT: At the moment, I’ve been focusing on music, and not really moving towards a whole lot in film. In talking to you I realize that I have to start moving towards something, because I’ve been taking it easy. Health-wise I wasn’t doing so hot, to say the least, and I’m doing better now. My doctors told me to do nothing for a year, and when they first said that I responded ‘I can’t do that’ but I ended up taking it easy anyways. We kept a crazy shooting schedule on ANGEL. It went from one extreme to another for me. It was long intense hours, and at the end of the series I was in the hospital.