Anthony Head

Britain’s Anthony Stewart Head, best known for playing librarian Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, clearly appreciates a cult following. His latest film—the supremely weird Repo! The Genetic Opera, in which he plays a Sweeney Todd–like widower—has been described as the next Rocky Horror Picture Show. (He also stars in the hit Brit series Merlin, coming here in 2009). Head spoke with Rebecca Milzoff about his dodgy past and two exceedingly odd pets.

So, I saw the movie. I’m still recovering.

I’ve only seen it in a theater once, and it was two o’clock in the morning. It was weird. There were a few people who left. But I thought, It’s a rock opera—and it’s by Darren Lynn Bousman [Saw II, III, and IV]. What would you expect but disemboweling and a bit of singin’ about it? Horror is in itself oddly campy, and I think part of Repo’s appeal is that it has its tongue firmly in its cheek.

As evidenced in the legendary Buffy episode “Once More, With Feeling,” you can sing. Weren’t you in a rock band called Two Way?

It sounds like a strange sexual deviance. The music was very eighties. There are record covers out there with me sporting a very dodgy look—including a tiny rattail plait.

What’s next for you?

Well, right now I go and pick up my daughter who’s in town. Then come back and muck out the donkeys!

Wait—you have donkeys? At your home?

Yeah, doesn’t everyone? [Laughs] We’ve got some stables in our garden with two cute Mediterranean miniature pink donkeys—although that description is misleading. They’re not that small.