Angel

Tales from the "Angel" Set

An on-set report from the season five episode Damage featured in Angel Magazine #10.

Tale 1 - Day 6

At one point, over by the monitors, a smirking David Boreanaz, has a flustered Jefferson Kibbee (Director) attempting to explain the mythology of the Slayers. Kelly Manners explains: "Because [Jefferson] is such a lovely man, and naive to a degree, David [Boreanaz] just loves to torment him by asking stupid questions over and over again. He’ll ask, ’Is Dana a Slayer or is she a demon?’ or ’Is she psychotic and if so, is she still a Slayer?’" Jefferson does his best to answer David’s questions, but, ultimately, fails miserably. "He just explains to [David] on and on, when it’s obvious that [David] knows the answers much better than Jefferson," Kelly says with a chuckle.

Tale 2 - Day 6

Our setting is the Northridge Veterans Administration Hospital, which is being played as the Asylum that holds psycho-slayer, Dana. While the crew sets up the first shot of Angel and Spike arriving, Kelly manners grabs a camera operator and catches a quick shot for Episode 12, Angel’s 100th episode. Kelly yells, "cut!" and the small group applauds. David Boreanaz teases Kelly that it technically isn’t the first shot of Episode 12, since the episode doesn’t start shooting for two days. The two squabble in jest until the first assistant director calls David Boreanaz to set.

At 3.30am, production comes to a screeching halt when the building’s fire alarm goes off. Strobe lights and a deafening wail of sirens force the crew to evacuate the building. It takes 20 minutes to silence the alarm. However, the strobe lights remain on. Grips and electricians run around the building, taping over the lights with black tape so that shooting can resume. No one is sure what caused the false alarm, but the slightly mischievous grin on David Boreanaz’s face tells its own story. Kelly reveals with a laugh, "He actually copped to it. He called me the next day and said that he may have caused a small delay."

Tale 3 - Day 7

Meanwhile, David Boreanaz continues to quiz Jefferson Kibbee about Slayers and their ability to speak Romanian. Ignorant of Slayer mythology, Jefferson concedes, and with a sigh asks, "If I say all Slayers can speak Romanian, will you leave me alone?" David responds with yet another hard-hitting question regarding Slayer’s abilities to speak Chinese, too.