Angel

Christian Kane Takes Direction from ’Angel’

By Kate O’Hare

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - At the end of the last original episode of 2003 for The WB’s "Angel," a Nov. 19 installment called "Destiny," longtime fans were treated to a final scene that reintroduced one of the series’ most popular recurring characters.

Throughout the run of the show, Angel (David Boreanaz), the vampire with a soul, has been at odds with the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart, foiling their plans while trying to help the helpless in Los Angeles. Last season, W&H appeared to fold, handing over its L.A. office to Angel and his team.

One of Angel’s early foes at W&H was Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane), an ambitious lawyer with a lot to prove. He also had a teeny bit of a conscience and occasionally took Angel’s side. Lindsey eventually left town in a battered pickup truck two seasons ago and was not seen again — until "Destiny," when a very tattooed Lindsey appeared to be in cahoots with Eve (Sarah Thompson), Angel’s mysterious liaison to W&H’s unseen Senior Partners.

"It’s good to have Christian back," Boreanaz says. "He’s my bud. It’s all good. He’s a great guy. I have fun with him, the tiny Texan. I was the one who recommended it. I told Joss [series executive producer Joss Whedon] to bring him back. I told Christian I wanted him back. I initiated it at the beginning of this season, and it came to fruition."

After his brief scene in "Destiny," Kane’s first full episode is "Soul Purpose," currently scheduled for Jan. 19. In that, Lindsey makes contact with Spike (James Marsters), the other vampire with a soul, now working with Angel. It also marks Boreanaz’s debut as a director.

"It’s not funky at all," Kane says of being back. "The character’s very familiar to me. I don’t have a problem with it. It was a little weird when I walked back the first episode, and Boreanaz directed. This guy, when he was single, we were out drinking beer until the sun comes up.

"All of a sudden, I’m walking in, taking direction from him, which was probably one of the best times I’ve ever had. He had an idea for what he wanted, and it was great. He really trusts me, I think he trusts James, so he let us run."

Kane did, though, have some requirements for his return. "I was in New York doing ’Taxi’ with Queen Latifah, and Joss called and said, ’Hey, Whaddyah think about coming back on "Angel"?’ Right off the bat, I said, ’Absolutely. I always would have.’

"But I told them, I didn’t want to get beat up by chicks anymore. I still would have done it, even if he said, ’Every girl on the show’s going to beat you up,’ I would have said, ’No problem,’ because I still want to work with him, and I still want to work with Boreanaz.

"I got beat up by everybody — Darla, Drusilla. I was sick of it. But it’s a new Lindsey now. In the past, I wasn’t comfortable sometimes playing it, because everybody else got to be a superhero, and I was just a suit. But this is now probably one of the most fun roles I’ve played."

As for the tattoos, Kane says, "I can’t give anything up, man. I went online the other day, and people are already onto them. I can’t tell you what they are or anything, but they have a big part, obviously, or they wouldn’t be on."

The episode also gave Kane — who has his own Southern rock band, Kane — the opportunity to do a little jamming with Marsters, who plays in a band called Ghost of the Robot.

"As soon as we’re off the set," Kane says, "and we’ve got a little time, he comes over, or I’ll go over to where he’s at, we’ll jump in somebody’s trailer, and me and him will just trade songs back and forth on the guitar.

"He’s got this little bitty amp that I’ve been trying to get him to get me one. We just sit there and trade songs. We should do a show together."

There just might be a record deal in Kane’s future, but it might entail a move to Nashville.

"That’s where the deal is," Kane says. "That’s where some of the writers are that they want us to write with. Hopefully we don’t have to move. If they say, ’Here’s a record deal, let’s make a record,’ then I’ll definitely take however much time off that’s needed, if it’s six months to a year."

Even if he does have to spend some time in Music City, Kane says it won’t change the band’s sound. "Just because they move me to Nashville doesn’t mean that I’ll play country."