James Marsters

Marsters discusses his iconic television roles, including Buffy, Smallville and Torchwood. by Eric Goldman

US, March 25, 2009 - I recently spoke to James Marsters about his role as the villain Piccalo in the upcoming film Dragonball: Evolution. You can read Marsters thoughts on the role (whose source material he’s very familiar with) over at IGN Movies.

In this second part of my conversation with Marsters, we turned to his impressive television work. Marsters discussed his recurring roles on Smallville and Torchwood, and whether we might see those characters – Brainiac and Captain John Hart – again. We also talked about his most popular role, as Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Marsters gives his thoughts on what it was that made the character so iconic.

IGN: It’s been funny on Smallville this season, because Brainiac has been a presence, but you haven’t been a presence unfortunately.

Marsters: [Laughs] They’re sick of paying me so much money. They were very generous about offering me some money up front and something told me, "Yes, we’re going to work with you James for a good amount of time…" But if you notice, it’s been like that a lot. They talk about the character, but… It’s a good group of people, but I think that may be over.

IGN: Ah, so you don’t think there’s much of a possibility of returning?

Marsters: You know what, who knows? That series just seems to be immortal. It’s done so well. So if the future is long, I’m certainly open to it. If they need me, I’d love to come say hi to everybody. But at the same time, they may not need me. They’re very imaginative about how they do things.

IGN: The last time they had your character, in some form, they sent him off to the future to become Brianiac 5 – the good character from the Legion of the Superheroes.

Marsters: Oh, cool!

IGN: Yeah, it seemed like there was a door there for you to come back in a very different way.

Marsters: That’s cool! [Laughs]

IGN: [Laughs] I might be throwing you a curve ball here, but would that be something that would be fun for you, to play such a different take on Brainiac?

Marsters: Oh yeah. I think that would be wonderful. I would also like to go back and be evil for them too. It’s fun to be evil! It’s fun to play a robot who doesn’t really care and who’s only pretending to. But it would be fun to play a robot who actually did care at the same time…

IGN: You’ve played a lot of villains, but you rarely play exactly the same kind of villain.

Marsters: No, not at all. And as a matter of fact, I just played Buzz Aldrin. I’m doing Buzz Aldrin in a TV-Movie called Moonshot for BBC and History Channel. That was fabulous, because he’s a very complex character. He’ll still deck you if you offend him. He’s like 77… Check him on You Tube. There’s a dude who followed him around going, "You never went to the moon! You’re a liar!" And Buzz is like, "Shut Up, leave me alone." "Liar!" And he just turns around and BAM, decks the guy. He’s 77 years old! That was really fun. And then I played a cowboy who is ridden with guilt and heroic, so I am branching out. But yeah, villains, you have to admit, are fun. Anyone who plays them can’t deny that.

IGN: I also wanted to ask you about Torchwood, which has quite a following. The new season is a very short miniseries, but have you talked to them about returning down the line?

Marsters: They know that I would come at any time they would like. They are so fun to work with. I had such a blast, both playing the role and hanging out with the cast. And also hanging out in Cardiff. The combination almost feels like a vacation. So yeah, I’ve extended my open invitation and I would love to come back. I can’t move to Cardiff, but I would love to come and keep doing guest spots and stuff. But yeah, with a five-episode arc, John isn’t in it. I don’t know why such a popular series gets cut down to five [episodes]. But in the English world, series often only go three years. Doctor Who and Eastenders are about the only examples of something that doesn’t get cut. I don’t know what’s up with the BBC. "Yeah, great show. Everyone’s watching it. The whole world loves it. Cancel it." [Laughs] What the hell? But they have different rules, you know? They’re probably doing it exactly right. I love that show. I hope it stays on the air for awhile.

IGN: So I have to out myself as a huge Buffy and Angel fan.

Marsters: Right on. Me too. I didn’t write it. I didn’t produce it. I didn’t direct it, so I can say, "That was a good show!" I just stood on tape.

IGN: Your character clearly went through some incredible changes through the years, and you got to play him through very different incarnations. Looking back, is there a period of Spike that you enjoyed playing more than others or was particularly fun to play?

Marsters: Definitely the beginning. All the real evil stuff was the most fun. As soon as he fell in love with Buffy, it was all about pain. And by that point, I was really internalizing the character and it was fairly method for me, so I was really fairly depressed. And then he gets his soul and goes insane… [Sighs] That was… I mean, I’m proud of the acting, and I didn’t make my cast members have to deal with me. But just on a personal level, I was feeling pretty low… chasing rats in the basement. Because basically, I was having to just dredge up every single thing I felt guilty about and then flagellate myself with it to bring myself closer to Spike. Because Spike got his soul and he was having to revisit all the murders that he did and that’s just not a healthy thing to do to yourself. I don’t think any psychologist would say that’s a good thing. Really effective as an actor, but that’s why they say acting is necessarily healthy. But yeah, when it was just chasing teenagers and biting them, that was fun. [Laughs]

IGN: Personally, I felt like Spike got revitalized by moving to Angel that last year. What was that like for you? It’s the same character and you’d worked with David [Boreanaz] and knew some of the people, but at the same time, it was a very different dynamic. Did that give you a new energy?

Marsters: Big time. Big time. It was almost like getting back to the original Spike. The only big difference was that he wasn’t really eating people anymore. But he still didn’t really care about too many people. He was still a snark. But yeah, I got back to the fun of the character. It was kind of like… Have you ever been dating that girlfriend and you’re really into her and she’s just not that into you and you just can’t get away and you can’t get away, and then finally, something happens and you’re torn away and you’re free? It’s kind of like that. You’re kind of liberated from your own love in that way.

IGN: What do you think it was about the character that resonated so much, and continues to, with the fans?

Marsters: I think it was a happy accident, actually. The thing was, was that Joss [Whedon] was really uncomfortable with Spike’s success. He wanted to write a show about vampires getting killed, not vampires that we would care about. He wanted vampires to be a stand in for all of the problems that you have growing up. The bullies, the bad teachers, whatever it is. But the satisfying thing at the end of all the episodes is you kill the damn vampire. There is a reason that they’re so ugly when they fight. We’re just not supposed to be drawn to them. And he got talked into the character of Angel by his partner David [Greenwalt], and then the character of Angel just took off. And then he had another character of Spike, which wasn’t designed to be romantic, but kind of turned out that way, kind of. And at that point, he’s just like, "Goddamnit, my show is being taken away from me! Thematically, it’s crumbling beneath my feet. So I am going to make sure that I keep Spike in control." So immediately, when he decided not to kill me off, he put me in a wheelchair. So basically, you can see that Spike gets muzzled from that point on. And I can completely understand why he did that. He’s trying to protect his theme, which is basically a modern day Hamlet, if I can be really self-important about it. Or Catcher in the Rye.

How do you get between being a kid and being an adult without becoming totally disillusioned and giving up? How do you open your eyes to how messed up the world is without just hiding? So I respected him for protecting that theme, but the interesting thing that happened was that he was writing a show about outsiders - characters that weren’t in the mainstream and who were kind of outcasts. And it called out in the audience to everyone who ever felt like an outcast, which is basically everybody. But he didn’t realize that he was creating an uber-outcast in Spike. In a gang of outcasts, I was the outcast. And so I don’t think he planned it that way, but I think that partly explains why the character was potent in that way. It’s weird how that can happen, you know?

IGN: You get to a point where you have a sect of fandom who’d like Buffy and Spike to end up together as a happy couple. What did you think about that?

Marsters: I think it’s possible. And I can understand that… I think I played a good love with Sarah [Michelle Gellar]. [Laughs] We did some good scenes together and I think we both understood what the deal was. I think that is definitely possible, although by the time Spike is mature enough for her, I wonder how old she would be. By the time he’s finally ready to be a full on good boyfriend…

IGN: [Laughs] He’ll show up on her doorstep when she’s 90.

Marsters: Yeah, exactly. [speaks in Spike’s British accent] "I’m ready! I’ve finally ready! I’ve figured it out, Buffy! I’m a man. I’m finally a man."

IGN: Fans can’t help but hope to see these characters in live-action again someday. Do you think it’s just too unlikely at this point, or is it a never say never scenario?

Marsters: I think you never want to say never. Joss came to me a few years ago and I’d actually written a story and it almost kinda of happened. But the thing is, Buffy has always been an uphill battle. It’s always been swimming upstream. And unfortunately, trying to talk people into a Buffy project, especially one that doesn’t include Buffy, is very difficult. But who knows? I told Joss that I would prefer to stop thinking about filming Spike in seven years, because I’m aging and Spike’s not. That’s one of the coolest things about being a vampire, is you don’t age. [Laughs] That’s the cool part. So that’s my only concern is that I’d be talked into something and ruin the character. I don’t want to do that.

IGN: We’d heard there was talk of doing a straight-to-DVD movie or something. Was that the project you and Joss were talking about?

Marsters: Yeah. I had an idea where Spike loses the girl, gets beaten by the monster, but wins anyway… only because he gets a new pair of shoes. He wins! That’s an inside joke, because for like six years, I had the same pair of boots. They wouldn’t give me any new shoes, and I finally couldn’t even fight in them anymore, because the heels were all coming off.

IGN: I’m sure a fan would love to have those!

Marsters: Yeah, I don’t know who got them! Someone got them.