David Boreanaz

The cover story of TV Guide’s November 7th, 1998 edition was entitled Leaders of the Pack, with an interview between both David Boreanaz and Keri Russell. It reads as follows.

Felicity’s Keri Russell and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s David Boreanaz are hip, flip and on one heck of a trip

Keri Russell and David Boreanaz are red-hot - especially with the sun beating down on them as they stand near Tinseltown’s famed Hollywood sign, the skyline of downtown Los Angeles below them and the rest of the world seemingly at their feet. As the sexy and undead Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Boreanaz, 27, has made it in a town that thrives on fresh blood, nabbing his own spin-off series, Angel, for next fall, and a new Mercedes-Benz to boot. At 22, Russell, who starred in Aaron Spelling’s 1996 series Malibu Shores, is this season’s It girl as the lead on Felicity. And with a film tentatively titled Mad About Mambo due out next year, we predict she’ll soon be trading in her Nissan pickup for a new set of wheels. Having met today for the first time, the two WB stars camped it up for our camera in the lobby of the trendy Mondrian hotel and agreed here to pose like rascals on an amorous date. But Hollywood is nothing if not a land of illusion: In real life, Russell has a boyfriend (musician Tony Lucca), and Boreanaz has been married for more than a year to wife Ingrid, whom he calls "a loving force." Journey with them on fame’s wild ride.

TV Guide: Keri, your show has received so much attention. How’s the pressure?

Keri Russell: Being the title character is.... [She laughs nervously] If it does badly, people are going to say, "Oh that’s that crappy Keri Russell series." But Ithink we have the quality to back up all the hype.

TVG: When you read the script, did you think, I am Felicity?

Russell: I think and feel everything Felicity says. She’s just a caricature of me. I make all those lame faces, just not always to strangers. I have a little censor in my brain that says, "Don’t do that." She doesn’t have that yet, and that’s great. Iwish I had more of her in me.

TVG: David, care to fill us in on the details of your spin-off series?

David Boreanaz: [Angel] goes to L.A. and fights for humanity. He fights inner demons. The demon is like a monster that comes out, and he fights [it]. I’ll have an interesting sidekick. A lot of people from Buffy will come visit me, and I’ll come back and visit them.

TVG: How does it feel to be recognized as Angel?

Boreanaz: It doesn’t bother me. Everyone is very friendly. I get letters from people inviting me to vampire dinners in Transylvania. It’s scary, but it’s what makes them happy.

TVG: Do you have paparazzi following you around?

Boreanaz: I did get accosted in New York. In Los Angeles, there’s more space. You see [stars] all over the place. But New York is more compact. You run into more photographers.

Russell: Other than at the events you have to go to?

Boreanaz: Oh, just wait. Just wait until your show hits.

TVG: Did you want to be famous?

Boreanaz: I didn’t think about it. If I’m recognized, I embrace it. You can’t run away from it. That creates more of a problem, being too cool for it. That’s your ego playing out. [Jokingly] That’s so Siddhartha, so Hermann Hesse.

Russell: "Deep Thoughts With David Boreanaz."

TVG: What do you think about fame, Keri?

Russell: [Acting] is something I fell into. It’s like a party that I just haven’t left. But the celebrity part trips me out. It’s definitely an art-showing up places and smiling into the right cameras. But I like [Felicity], so I understand the importance of doing all this.

TVG: Tell us how you landed the role.

Russell: It had been sent to me, and I never thought they would pick me for it. The type of roles people want me to play are stereotypical pretty girls. Ithink she was written as dowdy.

TVG: People have this image of young stars going out to trendy places all the time. True?

Russell: The last time I went to a club, they would not let me in, and I almost cried. I’m going to tell you what club it was because I want it to be in print: Jones. [See "Hot Spots," page 28.] I went to meet my friend for a birthday party. I had my hair in a bun, no makeup on. And this English guy-he was, like, wearing a beret-said, "You can’t go in there." I was traumatized.

TVG: David, any similar experiences?

Boreanaz: Idon’t go out that much. Television is such a fast turnaround. There’s no time. And when you do go out, you’re [exhausted]. You’re in another world. Dazed.

Russell: Yeah, and all your friends are talking, and you’re just...

Boreanaz: Quiet and sitting there. It’s kind of weird.

TVG: Is there pressure to be hip when you’re young and on TV?

Russell: I don’t feel pressure. We can be whoever we want to be. Sometimes in photo shoots, they’ll make you cooler than you really are.

TVG: What is hip?

Russell: You just are hip.

Boreanaz: It’s one of those things. It’s like buttering an English muffin. An English muffin is hip. Because it’s so good.

Russell: What are you talking about? Again, "Deep Thoughts With David Boreanaz."

Boreanaz: You define your existence by being truthful to yourself. If people photograph you and say that’s hip, fine.

TVG: As role models, your looks will be copied. Felicity, for example, wears a lot of big, baggy sweaters....

Boreanaz: The Keri Russell look?

TVG: Yes. And maybe it’ll become as big as the Jennifer Aniston look....

Russell: And thank God! I hope big, baggy sweaters come in style, rather than hot pants. I hope 14-year-old girls start wearing them.

TVG: What’s the biggest misconception about being a hot young actor?

Russell: The misconception is that it’s easy. It’s a rarity if I get to my house by 11 P.M. There’s no meeting your friends for dinner. But we also get paid a lot more than our friends who work at Burger King. So it’s a give-and-take.

TVG: Do you hang out with your castmates at the end of the day?

Boreanaz: It depends. We’re very close. Sometimes we go to a movie or go get a drink. We were all supposed to go surfing last week, Nick [Brendon] and Alyson [Hannigan] and I. But I [couldn’t] go.

Russell: I hang out with Scott [Foley] and Scott [Speedman], and Amy Jo [Johnson] is incredible. We all really get along.

TVG: How else do you spend free time?

Boreanaz: I like to be outside, run around with my dog. I like hiking, mountain biking, traveling. Ilove to spend time with my wife. I build little birdhouses.

Russell: [Laughing] And practice origami.

Boreanaz: And golf. Everyone in Hollywood golfs now.

Russell: My answer is [almost] the same as David’s: anything outdoors.

TVG: What are your ambitions?

Russell: Who knows what I’ll be doing in a few years? I may live on a ranch in Colorado and have 10 kids.

Boreanaz: What sign are you?

Russell: [To interviewer] Are you getting this cheese on tape? I’m an Aries, right on the cusp of Pisces.

Boreanaz: I’m a Taurus. I get along really well with Aries. You have an earth-mother thing about you. [Russell stares at him incredulously.]

TVG: Were there hip shows that you watched growing up?

Boreanaz: I’m a huge Planet of the Apes fan. And The Six Million Dollar Man. Sanford and Son.

Russell: Scooby-Doo.

Boreanaz: Scooby-Doo is hip! See? It’s simple. English muffins, Scooby-Doo. Scooby rocks, man.