James Marsters

How old were you when you first picked up the guitar and what was the catalyst for wanting to?

I guess I was so young I don’t remember picking it up the guitar. My dad played the guitar ever since I was born. I suppose it really was trying to play the songs that my dad played, like One Little Two Little Three Little Indians. I don’t know, maybe five, or seven, I guess.

Do you think the guys from Jackass are cool?

Totally cool! Totally awesome! I’ve seen all the Jackass..I’ve seen all the movies, I have all the DVD’s of the series and I think they’re just totally awesome, yeah.

Do you ever cook out or barbeque? If so, what is your specialty?

I do love to cook. I think that my specialty would be a bouillabaisse but I find myself more often than not making low fat cream sauces for my family. If you start with the roux, which is equal parts butter and flour, and cook that at a very low temperature for about 20 minutes, being very careful not to burn it. And if you’re just starting out it’s better to use a little more butter than flour to make it easier. But you’re basically cooking that roux until it doesn’t taste dusty anymore. And once that happens you add milk and you have a very thick, creamy sauce – but it’s tasteless. So I put some chicken stock crystals, not the liquid, but just the flavor crystals of dehydrated chicken stock or beef stock in it, and then you can kind of do as you want. You can put parmesan cheese, cream cheese, any kind of flavorings that you want and you can make any kind of cream sauce that you want.

Would you make a good cop?

I would make an excellent cop for one month and then I think I would go insane and I would shoot somebody or myself. I think the stress level is so high in law enforcement I think that I would burn out. I think for one month though, I’d be perfect and after that I’d do something stupid.

What is more important as an actor, the ability to empathize or fantasize?

What’s more important? They’re both so incredibly important – they’re the, uh, two pillars of acting. But I guess, to empathize really as long as you understand that everybody deserves love, that everyone has a story to tell and no matter who you’re playing whether it’s Jeffrey Dahmer or Jesus Christ, they have a point of view that you have to respect. And if you can do that, you can play almost anybody. Boy, it’s really great to be able to fantasize and make the performance more interesting, but I think that the real center of it is to realize that there are no villains and no heroes. They’re just people who are either making mistakes or being intelligent at that point.

Either/Or:

Guitar Hero or Rock Band?

Just the guitar, thank you. Man, both games are great, both games are great and I got nothing against them because they turn a lot of people into musicians in the end, but the thing is, I’m a musician in the end already , so I don’t need to, to…I know how to play the guitar. No offense, but it’s a lot more fun to play guitar.

Snowboard or surfboard?

Snowboard. I’m not…surfing, man. Surfing is like snow that moves.

Root beer or Dr. Pepper?

Hmmm. I do like a good sarsaparilla, but carbonated prune juice has to take the day. Dr. Pepper. Well, that’s what it is, you know, it’s just that they don’t use enough prune juice, if they used more prune juice it would taste better, but it is carbonated prune juice. Everyone’s like, what’s the secret flavor and I’m like prune juice actually.

Sweet or sour?

You know, who’s making up these “ors?” Those are both wonderful! (laughs) I like sweet and sour. Yeah, like lemonheads, they’re my favorite candy, man.