James Marsters

It’s not every day I get to chat up a man who gets more mail—sent to my own mailbox, mind you—than I do.

That man with the mass-mailing, cult-frenzy appeal is, of course, James Marsters, with whom I chatted exclusively about his new gig on the WB’s Smallville. And because I love him so (and you fans have been waiting patiently)

Picking James’ Brain: In case you’ve been living under a rock and James’ fans don’t yet have your mailing address, you should know that James Marsters has been cast as Clark Kent’s (Tom Welling) new nemesis on Smallville in the coming season. His name? Brainiac, which is quite fitting for the man I still contend to be one of the smartest in Hollywood, a man who throws around words like verisimilitude. That said, it seems best to not let my nonsensical blathering get in the way of his words and just give it to you straight up Q&A style.

You know the fans are flipping out about you being on Smallville, right?

Yeah, and holy crap! It’s so cool. I mean, I’m very excited about Smallville. God, I had the best dinner with [executive producer] Al Gough, and granted, he was trying to seduce me into signing a contract with him, but I was struck with how normal he was, how down-to-earth and how much we talked about our families, and then about art. He was interesting on a number of subjects, and I think he’s got a good mind. I like his brain with the Superman mythology. You know, [Smallville] is a coming-of-age drama again, like Buffy, and those are fabulous, because we’re all coming of age constantly. I’m always trying to grow up, so you know, that story never gets old for anybody. "Become yourself." When are you not gonna need to hear that? And so, I love that.

You’re gonna have a completely different look than we’ve seen on Buffy. A tan, darker hair, no British accent. Do you ever slip back into the accent?

No. When I first got the role, I did all the time, but I don’t, no. I’m so happy just to be brown-headed James, like, ’Oh, hi!’ I hope people like my American accent.

Now, your character is a college professor named Dr. Fine who transforms into Brainiac, right? So, are you starting off as Dr. Fine? Will we see that transformation?

You’re gonna see it very early, and that’s all I know. I think I’m gonna start as something almost unrecognizable and become Dr. Fine. You’ll see me in the very first episode.

Rumors have been swirling about a Spike project. I know you had said you feel like there’s a time limit on doing something like that. Do you still feel the same way?

Yeah, I do. It’s weird. I just got off the phone with someone who talked to Joss [Whedon] yesterday, who claimed that it was very much on the front burner. Joss has never told me anything like that. He’s checked with me twice, to see if I was interested. I said yes twice, and both times he’s been very clear that this doesn’t mean that anything’s going forward, [he] just wants to have [his] ducks in a row. What he told me was, the first question to answer is if there’s a story worth telling. I thought there would be a lot of stories worth telling for Spike, but I think it has to be a story that he feels is worth telling, one that excites him enough. And I think if he finds it, there will be a Spike movie, and if he doesn’t, there probably won’t and there probably shouldn’t be.

Have you talked to any of your former Buffy costars about their new projects?

No. I’ve been so myopically focused on my own needs and concerns, as I guess most actors are. I’m afraid the constraints of parenthood makes a difference in your social life, especially when you’re an actor, and you don’t have as much time as you’d like for your kids.

Is it hard to be away from your kids while you’re shooting in Vancouver?

Of course, yeah. But there’s money to fly them in and out, and I’m not in all of the episodes, so I can come down. It’s workable.

Do you know how many episodes you’ll do?

I’m contracted for six to 10, so I hope it’s 10. If I suck, it’ll be six. I guess if I really suck, it’ll be one. Like, "Wow, he died in the first episode?!"

Doubt that! Smallville’s now on Thursdays at 8 p.m., up against Joey, Survivor and Alias. They need you.

Wow. It is? That’s gonna be interesting. [Deep, Terminator-esque voice.] Oh, we will smash them, Survivor with their weak story plot points. We will smash them with fiction. We will cream them with metaphor. Verisimilitude, my junky bottom. [Laughs.] We’re creating an immaculate reality that beats reality any day.

[Scratches head and reaches for dictionary.] Thanks, James!

Now, a special announcement for all you Marsters maniacs: James will be in Toronto the last weekend in August for a convention, where he will be performing a VIP private concert, doing a Q&A and much more. The convention info can be found on James’ official site, JamesMarsters.com.

Prizes! If you’re stuck at home, check out our next chat, this Monday at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT., where I’ll be giving away signed copies of James’ new CD Civilized Man and the Roswell Season 3 DVD, which just hit shelves. It has all 22 episodes of the third season of the show so many of us still sorely miss. (Read the rules for the Roswell DVDs giveaway and the Marsters CD giveaway.)

Now, since James took up a full two pages, and I’m sure many of you will scream bloody murder about that, watch me cram as much scoop as I possibly can into this final page—just watch me!