Q&A transcript (full, detailed, long)- JM at Shore Leave

Originally and very generously transcribed by Lameal2002 for jm.com -- expanded and
amended by Laurie at BAPS

From Lamea: First an explanation... I have transcribed this mostly word for word. I may
have cut a few intro bits from questions but mostly left things as they were. I didn't
include this, but he said "Hello" really sincerely (and often sexily without even
trying... the boy can't help it) and "thank you" for practically every person asking a
question. (and please forgive any wrong names or other typos, I was typing this in the
wee, wee hours this morning.)

From Laurie: I took advantage of Lameal's very generously donated hard work as a starting
point; checked it out against my own tape, and came up with this somewhat amended version.
It also fleshes out the few gaps that were contained in her version.

SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2002 at Shore Leave 24

JAMES: What I'd like to do is go straight to Q&A. I can talk like crazy about "Buffy"
because I'm actually a fan of the show, but I like to start off with what you guys like
to talk about -- that's probably the best way.

(First person goes to microphone.) You are a brave soul - thank you for starting.

QUESTION: When are you going to reprise your role as Charlemagne on Andromeda?

(Audience roars approvingly)

JAMES: [laughs] When they rethink their costume design. I saw that thing and I was like,
'You know, I'm not playing him gay.' A fine character but not quite in the script and
they're like 'Oh you know, just a little foppish. You know, remember Tim Roth in...'
[laughs] No, that was a lot of fun but unfortunately the new network "Buffy" is on, UPN,
stacks up exactly the same with the Andromeda schedule. So unless "Buffy" doesn't need me
for a long time, we may not be able to get to it. ... you'll have to wait for me in purple
another time... the second coming.

QUESTION: Excluding "Firefly", is there any television show, past or present, that you
would have given an appendage to be a part of...you don't have to tell me which appendage?

JAMES: You know it's weird. I came down to LA from Seattle doing theater. I just was
tired of being poor and I basically came down just for money. I was a complete snob. I
have to admit it, you know. I'd been taught to respect television as a medium. It can do
things that movies can't, especially a show like "Buffy" who takes its arcs - character
arcs and story arcs - long-term, it can actually delve into a character a lot more deeply
than any movie could... than any story telling device, save for a book. With that said,
(long pause) I don't think anything touches "Buffy" even remotely. [audience cheers and
claps loudly] Everybody has other opinions but I just happen to think that we create an
interesting universe that is delightful to watch from the outside but we also delve very
deeply into the characters. The writers are using themselves and us, and so that makes it
pretty dangerous at the same time. So in that way, I'm proudest of "Buffy", God yeah. ...
Mr. Ego... [funny voice] My show's the best... [laughs]

QUESTION: From your point of view, was the fact that Spike received a soul a good thing
or a bad thing, and do you really think he needed it?

JAMES: uh, yeah man... It's going to be a painful thing...[laughs] The producers called
me up and they're like, they're like, 'This year, it's all about happy. We're going to go
out and everyone's gonna-- we're not going to be so dark and we're not going to want to
kill ourselves and everything. And I got the first script and like, Spike is NOT happy
[laughing]. And I don't think he's going to be happy for like 200 years. [big laugh] I
don't know, guys... I don't know what's going to happen, guys. I really don't know what's
happened to Spike. What I do know, is that they usually fake you guys out. They feint one
way and then they go the exact opposite direction. If Mom's going to die... she's better,
right? Right before she kicks it. So, giving Spike a soul is probably his death knell as
far as I'm concerned. I dunno.

(Audience cries out No)

[laughs] Yeah, I don't really like to find out what's going on because I like to kind of
be in the same room as Spike... fight for Buffy, try to get her, lose, then get up and
try again.

QUESTION: I have a two-part question. First, as an actor, what characteristics do you
feel make a great director, and who is your favorite director to work with on "Buffy",
besides Joss?

JAMES: I was going to name him, yeah. Except he never -- whenever he writes a script,
Spike has like five lines. And I used to think that he didn't like me [laughs]. I was
like, 'Joss, some day we'll work together. Maybe after we get off this TV show we can
work together.' [pause, thinks] Man, they're such a talented group of directors and the
thing is, they've kept a lot of them through the years. And they are getting better as
they go too. Do you guys watch reruns? [audience claps, cheers yes] If you notice, the
shows are -- the quality just keeps getting better and better from a film-making
standpoint. I mean, even Joss, was just getting his legs together as a director - a lot
of people were - but David Grossman I think, is one of my favorites. Yeah, he's fabulous.
He'll kick you in the butt if you're not doing something... he has absolutely no fear of
or respect for the regulars at all. He's like, 'Shut up,' which I love. That's exactly
what you need to be as a director.

The qualities for a television director... you need to be able to juggle in a
maelstrom... juggle in a hurricane. You're trying to balance the vision that you have
with Gareth Davies who is like Darth Vader, this tall going [folds arms across chest and
makes intimidating face] and like a cloud of cold comes on the set, and we're all
[whispering into the mike, can't exactly make out] 'Gareth is on stage. Geezus. We're
going, we're going...' And he's always saying, 'No you don't have enough time, just get
it in the can, go.' So being a director is trying to balance those two things and they do
it really well, I have to say. We were shooting in 16mm for the first two seasons...I
don't know if that -- that is just -- trying to get a good image on film using 16mm is
just almost impossible. And many people are even surprised that we did that. We got away
with murder.

Did that an answer your question <pause>, like at all? [laughing...] What was your
question... what's a good director... yeah, being a good director for TV is very
different than for film, very different from stage.

QUESTION: Are there any general characteristics you look for?

JAMES: Yeah, I think for a television director, it's most important to work with the
actors well. Because really in TV, as a director, you shoot it and then you pretty much
hand it off to producers and other people, and editors and stuff. And you do have some
input on how the thing is cut and some of the directors on the show do have the ability
to take a first pass at it before Joss radically changes everything [laughs]. Directors
in film... they often sit down with the editor and have a hands-on thing but often in
television it's going so fast, that director has to turn around and prep a new episode.
So the real big thing is just helping the actors inhabit that world and helping them not
screw up good words basically.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little about your latest audio CD project, "Storm Front"?

JAMES: Yeah, that was really interesting you know. I did it just to start to get into
voice over, but, as I read it, it seemed to touch on some more serious issues than I had
expected and I found myself when I was recording... we did it in two days ["wows" from
audience] yeah, they're like, [different voice] 'You're a machine, man.' <beat> Yes, I am
[big laugh] (cheers from audience). I thought that the writing was really kind of cool,
like Harry Potter grown up. Harry Dresden... I'd like to be like to be Harry Dresden
[laughs]... not take a shower for four weeks [laughs]. No, I look forward to... I'm
actually thinking of doing some more of that series, which would be kind of cool.
[audience claps, cheers]

QUESTION (ALANE): I've got a redemption question for you... over the past couple of
years, Spike's popularity has shot up, especially since "Fool for Love" and William
emerged. A lot of fans thought that the show was pursuing a redemption storyline for
Spike. It's obviously touched a lot of people but I'd like to hear your thoughts on why
you think there was an appeal of a redemption storyline for Spike.

JAMES: That is a really good question because they have taken so many pains to remind
everyone that Spike IS EVIL. [audience laughs, James laughs] And also I want to remind
you guys that Joss makes his living denying everyone what they want. Like I said
yesterday, how many times do you end up on Tuesday nights saying, 'Boy I feel better
now'? [audience laughs]. He is an agitator in the best sense. I know that we can't go
"Angel". We've done that. But guys, I mean, was anything healthy about Spike and Buffy
last year? Was there one little bit that you'd wish on your best friend? [audience
protests] ... Besides the INCREDIBLE sex. [audience roars]. Okay, yeah, that was fun.
Okay. But, you know, basically Buffy graduated high school and she's having to deal with
things that young adults deal with which is the fact that she has an unresolved
relationship with her Dad. Right? And that's going to lead her down the wrong path with
guys. She's going to try to fix that in the present. She's going to try to go back and
get what she didn't get from Dad. So here she is with another incredibly older man.
[audience laughs] ... Who acts like a child but you know...

Spike, guys [more serious voice], when he thought the chip was out, he went straight for
a victim and if it wouldn't have been for the chip, he would have killed that girl,
right? [audience says no] Yeah... maybe, I know you want to believe but... girls, repeat
after me... 'If a man is mean, he'll be mean to me'.

Now that being said, that was then [big laugh] and this is now and I don't know what the
hell is going on.

QUESTION (ALANE): The fan appeal... why do you think they preferred Redemption Spike over
Evil Spike?

JAMES: Because I was doing everything I humanly could... with my eyes...and with my
acting... Yeah, it was my feeling that it was my job to keep the character something
that... I didn't want anyone... oh man...see, the more evil they put him in the writing,
the more I thought it was my responsibility to keep something that you could latch
into... and I guess they went for the acting not the writing [laughing] no... they're
having their cake and eating it too. Basically, [sigh as he gathers his thoughts] the way
the drama functions is that you go through the story behind the eyes of the lead
character. So everybody here, when you guys are watching "Buffy", male or female, you
guys are Buffy right? And so effectively, you guys have to want Spike to be better just
as Buffy's hoping that she can find something in Spike that's better and that she's not
as big of a fool as she thinks she's being... so it was really important for me to keep
tempting you guys to think there could be a good resolution to this, you know, and then
it comes smashing down at the end of the scene -- the hardest scene I've ever played in
my life -- that she was wrong... that this guy is not healthy, that he's not reallly
offering her anything good. [audience claps]. <beat> Sorry. But that was last year. This
year I'll be selling cupcakes [laughs]

QUESTION: I'm not asking here for a spoiler, but I would like to know, from the
perspective of someone who has been portraying Spike for so many years, how is he going
to deal with the guilt? He's going to feel a lot of guilt... 200 years of maiming,
violence, killing...[James is nodding his head energetically throughout this question]

JAMES: He was not a killer before he lost his soul and when the soul comes back, how does
he feel about what's been happening? Yeah, yeah. My internal feeling, which they've never
paid attention to, is that Spike wouldn't want Buffy within a hundred miles of him. He
knows that he's evil and he knows that she's not and he wants the best for her, and he
doesn't want to spoil her any more than he already has. So I think it would be a question
of 'Buffy, get away from me, I'm no good.' Now, dramatically that's kind of problematic,
you know [big laugh] so I think it's going to be forcing those two together a bit. But
then you know I don't know what's going to happen with Spike and Buffy. I have no idea.
But again, we can't do Angel, you don't follow a banjo act with a banjo act man. I can't
... they're not going to make me Angel. There is no way... [loud roars, claps from
audience, big laugh from James]

QUESTION: What would you like to happen?

JAMES: What would I like to happen?... [silence, thinking] I... see, and then I heard
[from the audience] 'more sex'. See the problem with the sex thing is, I'm always naked
and Sarah's always fully clothed, right? And, I'm sorry, but if you're going to have to
withstand teamsters for 18 hours a day wearing nothing but a sock, you want a partner who
understands how you feel. As opposed to Sarah, God bless her, who goes [laughing in funny
higher pitched, sing-songy voice] 'you've got a sock on....' She gives no quarter. She
tickles me before love scenes [audience laughter drowns him out]. Did I even answer that
question? I'm having too much fun now.

QUESTION: You personally, who would you want out of the Scoobie Gang to notice Spike's
soul first and why?

(Audience cheers 'good question', claps)

JAMES: Giles. [Audience roars approval] Giles ROCKS! [Audience cheers] Yeah, because he's
the best actor on the show and I've only gotten two scenes with him and I learn every time
I've worked with him. Because every time I'm thinking, 'Tony, you're not doing anything'.
And then I watch the show and I'm like, 'yee!'. Such good lessons from him. But also,
Giles is the most against -- he's the character who is most against Spike, he's the one
who never forgets who the guy truly is. And I think it would be really interesting for
him to have to take that new information in... yeah, and then I want to fight him with
that flaming bat.

QUESTION: As an actor, you get the ability to do a lot of things that most of us would
love to do but never get the opportunity to do. What is the best thing that you have
gotten to do because of who you are and what do you still want to do?

JAMES: You mean personally or acting?

QUESTION: Either one.

JAMES: Either one? Okay, let's stay away from personal. [laughs] Man, see, that is the
great thing about acting and the thing that saved me. Acting saved my life. I know a lot
of actors say that... because we're basically screwed up. [audience member says something
that makes James laugh] I just want to keep living man. I made it this far. Acting gives
me a chance to excise my demons, to explore my insecurities... especially on a show that
writes so close to the bone as this one does. You can't get away with not being pretty
honest about yourself and be true to the material. I kind of feel like I'm on this roller
coaster that is twice as scary as the one I thought I was going to get on. And so I don't
want to hope for anything more than I'm doing. I... I... man, ehh, I don't know how to
say this... but sometimes that show trips with my head, frankly, and I think this year is
going to be no different. I think I'm going to be Mr. All-Sorry-Pants on the set all the
time.

I'm getting to sing in clubs with a rock and roll band and we are able to sell tickets.
But also realizing there's a danger there because a lot of actors have tried to do that
and unless you really have some good songs to offer, it's pretty embarrassing. So, I find
myself in a position of being in a dangerous situation, which I love so that is wonderful.
I would like to direct film. I'd like to produce film. Uh, I don't know about direct...
I'd like to produce film certainly because that's where the story telling is. On stage,
the actors are the storytellers. In film, it's the director who's telling the story, the
actors are just building blocks, and I really miss telling stories. I really do.

QUESTION: What's more satisfying to you as an actor, playing the 'Big Bad' or the
romantic lead?

JAMES: Kissing Sarah... hitting Sarah. [laughs, audience laughs] Uhm, whew... see I think
he is the same character. When we met him, he was the 'Big Bad' but also a romantic
character with Drusilla. And that was what was the interesting thing - for me was that
contrast - because it on its face seems to be a lie, which is sociopaths who are really
good to their girlfriends. [laughs] But I think that they've explored that contrast
honestly and they're really trying to say something meaningful with it, because initially
it was just some guy to kill off, you know? I really enjoyed getting back to being a lover
because we got back to that side of Spike, which we didn't see for a couple years. I like
where I am right now. I think that the work has gotten much more scary for me as a person
and so I like that a lot.

And I wouldn't want to go back. I don't think I could go back to that simplified Spike
who just enjoys killing people. I mean I could do it, but I would be using a lot less of
myself basically. And also, I think I'm growing up as a film actor on screen... because I
SUCKED in "School Hard" yo. Why didn't they kill me, man? [audience cries no] My first
line [more cries of no], yeah, yeah... 'You were there?' [in Southern accent] There's
nothing wrong with a Southern accent but from North London, you know? I was supposed to
be the Sex Pistols, you know. No, I learned a lot about what to do on film, and what not
to do on film. Basically, that entrance is one of my most embarrassing moments out of
"School Hard". I was doing a classic theater technique of 'taking stage' where you pause
in the entrance arc, you say a word or phrase, pause again and then enter speaking or not
speaking. And it's very effective on stage where you're having to control the eye of the
audience, right? You also speak loudly because you're upstage. Well, I had a microphone.
And they have this curious thing called editing, and the close-up. And I realized, and
I'm still realizing, how much you don't have to do on film. That if you just inhabit the
character and suspend your disbelief like you're asking the audience to do, it all works
out just a little too easily.

QUESTION: [young girl at microphone, very nervous] Hi, uhm.

JAMES: Okay, I'll turn around. (James turns his back to her so she won't have to look at
him.) [laughs and turns back]

QUESTION: No, no, no, don't turn around. As your acting career was developing, I was
wondering if you could explain that... like, how you started out, when you wanted to be
an actor, if it was a little child or a teen... you stared out like that but as your
career developed and you became as you were right now, I'd like you to explain how it
happened.

JAMES: Thank you, yeah. [very sweetly] Good question. [James claps for the girl and
audience claps] Oh that's the first time, they've never clapped the question before. I
started in Fourth grade... playing Eyeore [laughs]... and I was brilliant. But I got bit
by that really early. I had a kind of, or rather a very strange family life, and I
decided it was much more fun to say, 'guys, have fun with your very strange world. I'm
going to rehearsal.' So pretty much from the fifth grade on, I constantly was going to
rehearsal. And the thing that I loved about acting was that it was a group of freaks, as
actors are... [few whistles and shouts of 'yeah' from audience] ... Go freaks! [thumbs
up]... the interesting people in the world, thank you, damn straight. ... yeah, I just
enjoyed being part of a group that put aside their insecurities and put aside their
differences and came together and made something really beautiful. But I felt like I
really made a big leap as an actor when I came to LA... there's a thing in acting called
'Standing and delivering'. You just have to learn how to stand and deliver, and if you
learn how to do that, like, the world is yours. And it basically means that you've
realized that the audience is paying for the right to stare at you more than anything
else. It's really rude to stare at someone in real life and most of us don't get to stare
at human beings unless they're paying a ticket price for hours on end. And what you find
out when you stare at a human being, is you learn a lot about them. So, my job as an
actor then becomes just to be as real as possible. And I really discovered, like, I don't
have to put on a show. I don't have to be more interesting than normal. I really just have
to be honest, and that I am good enough. I am interesting enough by myself - as everyone
in here is. That's what you discover... that human beings are really complicated,
beautiful, horrifying, wonderful things. And if you get the courage just to say that I'm
not going to hide behind a mask of a character but I'm going to use acting to reveal my
real self.

QUESTION: Yeah, that is an important thing to know about yourself. That is a very
important thing to know.

JAMES: Exactly, and it takes an amazing amount of courage, you know, to say that I don't
have to be superman... I don't have to be [funny voice] Mr. Entertainer or anything. I
can just stand here and talk to you and that's good enough. Yeah, that's the biggest
lesson I ever learned.

QUESTION: Thank you so much.

JAMES: You're welcome. [audience claps] That's the new Meryl Streep guys.

QUESTION: First, I come from Brazil...

JAMES: Did you give me that shirt? [very sincerely] I love that shirt... a Brazil soccer
shirt.

QUESTION: Spike is the one showing up most in the polls on the "Buffy" site on Fox Latin
America. All the questions are about Spike. It's beating 'X-Files', it's beating all the
other shows.

JAMES: That's because we're better. [laughs] Mr. Carter is never going to hire me now.

QUESTION: My question is about 'Seeing Red', the bathroom scene. I read that you said it
was a hard scene to do but how did you do it. You come across as such a sensitive person,
so sweet and so nice [audience laugh as James looks kind of embarrassed]. It must have
been very, very hard for you. Where did you go to get that going b/c it was so believable
and so real.

JAMES: Yeah... uhm... yeah. [looking kind of pained] oh god, I was a wreck [laughs an
uncomfortable laugh]

QUESTION: I'm sorry.

JAMES: No, no, it's okay, man. It's good to talk about actually, you know. This is one of
the reasons that I'm proud of the show. It makes me go to places I don't want to go, that
I don't have the courage to go by myself. Uhm, I have a thing...it's my own personal
thing... I cannot watch scenes where women or children get attacked, especially sexually.
You know, sometimes in movies, it's an artistic choice that's a good one to
make...sometimes it's just puerile. But it doesn't really matter for me... I can't enjoy
the rest of the movie. I want to kill the guy who's in the scene doing it. I want to kill
the actor who played him and I want to kill the writer who thought it up. As it turns out,
the writer who thought that up was exposing himself in a very honest and dangerous way,
was talking about a mistake that was made and laying it all out in a brave, brave way.
Uh, ... but I got to tell you all I was concerned with... I mean I knew I was having
problems approaching the scene, like I got the script and I knew that this was going to
be hellaciously hard for me to do. I also knew, if that was true of me, it was at least
doubly hard for Sarah to go through. So, I, frankly, didn't give a damn about the acting.
I just wanted to protect Sarah. I just wanted to make sure that she got through it with
dignity. [oohs and ahhs from audience]

QUESTION: That is so sweet.

[James can't continue for a moment; regains his composure.]

QUESTION: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

JAMES: [Looking honestly upset and pained just remembering] No, babe it's alright. It's
alright. I've already exposed it, man. You're not learning anything new. But yeah, so I
went into hyper fight-choreographer mode basically. That was the way I dealt. I went down
and I broke -- as soon as we rehearsed it, I broke the scene down into the different
stunts that were involved and I tried to make decisions which would make the least impact
on Sarah as possible. Because the different in our acting techniques is Sarah can turn it
on or off. Sarah is a weird hybrid of old school and method. She will never admit this,
but she internalizes characters like Brando but she can turn it on or off like Olivier.
Me, I can't turn it on and off. So I knew that she was going to be concerned with me
getting too far into the scene and losing control - even though I'd never lose control
but still it's, you know, hell - so I just was trying to remind her at every juncture
that I was not the character, that I, like, as soon as cut was called, I would move away
from her trying not to scare her more than I had to.

QUESTION:

[faint; paraphrased] Did she do the closeups or did they use a stand-in?

JAMES: No, she stuck right in, all the close-ups, everything. She didn't even need to be
in there; she still stuck in. [audience applauds]

QUESTION: What did you think of showing that other side of Spike as the almost big
brother to Dawn, as the only one who actually knew what was going on with Dawn when
everyone else was ignoring her.

JAMES: Yeah, I think those two see eye-to-eye [laughing] because Spike's emotional level
is right about the same. He is the least mature vampire I have ever heard of. He's
learned nothing in 120 years. Yeah, it was really cool. I love that scene down in the
crypt where he's telling a monster story. He's a monster telling a horror story [laughs].
But you know, they have their cake and they eat it too... because in one way they're
baiting you into thinking that Spike has turned cuddly and that he's really a great
father figure and all. But in reality, if it weren't for Buffy, Dawn would have been
food. He was telling a story of him searching... the story that he was telling Dawn was
hunting down a little girl and finding her in a coal bin. Yeah, we're baiting you guys so
bad. [laughing] That's what I love about storytelling... 'come here [he curls fingers
invitingly], whack!' But, you know, that's life you know... right upside the head
sometimes.

QUESTION: I just wanted to say that we really enjoy your acting, and we really enjoy your
music, and I know you're very talented and creative. I know you collaborated on some of
the comic books - the Spike and Dru ones - any interest in doing a novel, on your own?

JAMES: I've never even thought about a novel. I don't know about novel structure frankly.
I'm much better at dramatic structure.

QUESTION: I think you'd have a great "voice".

JAMES: Thank you. Thank you. You know, right now, you know what I'm doing to Joss,
actually? I'm sending him [laughing] ideas and scripts for "Firefly". He's not going to
take any of them, right. But we were talking about it, he came over to my place and we
were talking about it. He's describing the series, and I said, 'You're doing 'Hill Street
Blues' in space, man.' And he said, 'EXACTLY. That's it! How did you -- Ah!' It's a 180
degrees from Star Trek.. It is not about who we want to be, which is an admirable thing
to talk about... which is always pointing the way... and what I love about Star Trek....
but it's always interesting to turn it on its head and talk about who we really are,
which is a pretty messed up species really. So - [laughing] I don't know if I should say
this but Joss is a really fabulous actor, okay. He is. We read Shakespeare together. I
saw, like, his Hamlet was incredible. His Iago was the BEST I'd ever seen. And he wanted
to take a small part on the show. And the people at Fox didn't want to let him do it. And
I was just, 'Would you just give me the phone number of this guy at Fox. Let me tell him
about casting, and what I know and don't know about casting, and why you're a great actor
and why you should be on this show if you want to be. And the fact that you never do
anything out of ego. That the reason you want to be an actor is the same reason you
wanted to write the musical... not because you wanted applause but because you could do
it. You had something to offer.'

But he wanted to play this little squiggly guy. I was like, 'Joss, what are you doing?
You want to kill your career before you even start?' If you want to play something, play
something like this and then I gave him 18 pages of this cool guy, really dangerous but
everyone busts on him for his religion, for his hair, for his family life. Nobody takes
him seriously when in fact he's the most powerful, dangerous person on the whole show.
That was fun. That was fun. I did it just for my own edification. I have a computer up in
my room right now and I'm finishing up another script about basically thinking that one
thing is going to happen and finding out that you're absolutely wrong... about the
planet, about everything, that you're completely ignorant, and you're screwing it up. I
think that's cool. [laughs]

QUESTION: Will you get story credit for that?

JAMES: No, man. [laughs] If Joss uses it, it's going to be completely unrecognizable.
That's how good writers work. No, no, no, it was just fun. I had been thinking of the
same kind of series that I wanted to do. I wanted to do -- Like, I wanted to do -- I
wanted actually to write the first -- I wanted to do "Enterprise" really. But I wanted to
do it as the very first star ship, back when Earth was still at civil war, when they'd be
spying on each other up in the space ship and they'd have to try to make the peace. Cause
I was always wondering... I used to love Star Trek and still do... how do you go from the
civil war and all the messed up part to this utopia that they found and that's something
they've never talked about. How do we bridge that? So I thought it would be interesting
for the Captain to try to create in microcosm on this little ship what the Earth was
trying to attain as well. And it would be about betrayal... it would be about mistakes,
it would be about messing up, about thinking you're a lot wiser than you are... And it's
kind of the same road that Joss is going with... although his, and again, completely
different from my idea, but thematically similar. So I just went on fire when I heard
"Hill Street Blues" in space, I was like, 'I've got so much material for that,' which
he'll never use because he has real writers. [laughs]

QUESTION: [Basically said they wanted to hear about his reaction to Sept. 11th.]

JAMES: Yeah, how do you go back to work after that, you know. Wow. I went on 'Politically
Incorrect' and I was trying to make a point. I felt like we found ourselves in the middle
of a bar fight. I don't feel like there are any white hats or any black hats in this. I
feel like we have destabilized a region for a long time and the chickens are coming home
to roost... the pigeons are coming home to roost. I made the analogy of the bar fight,
right? You go with a friend, guys, you know what I'm talking about here [laugh]... you go
with your jerk friend, who you love but makes mistakes... you go to a bar, he drinks too
much and picks a fight with a Hell's Angel. Knives come out, what do you do? You back up
your idiot friend. Right? And that's what I felt like we were in... you have no choice. I
was all for going to war but at the same time, I felt like I was backing up an idiot
friend because I've been for solar power for so long, you know. But at the same time, the
next day after the fight, your friends in the hospital, you go to the hospital bed and you
say, 'I am never going out drinking with you again. How did you get me in this situation,
I'm going to fix it.' So that's what I feel like we're not doing right now is trying to
change the basic elements that led to this. Cause, basically, they have something we're
addicted to, and mostly they hate us. So, as Spock would say, 'This is an illogical
situation. This is not going to go on forever.' At the same time, it was an unspeakably
brutal act, not forgivable necessarily, and we as a country got to make damn sure that
babies don't die on our homeland anymore.

QUESTION: [Asked about his band]

JAMES: The name of the band is Ghost of the Robot, and we've been together for two
months. [laughs] We have an album and we've toured France. And we rocked Paris!

QUESTION: [young girl, talked about the Eiffel Tower and how it was a romantic city and
Buffy and Spike should go there]

JAMES: Wouldn't that be great? Walking along the Seine with Buffy Summers... at night.
[laughs] Yeah, I love Paris. When I went into Notre Dame for the first time, my knees
wobbled. That place is incredible. Yeah, Paris is beautiful but I was there alone... oh
it SUCKED. [laughs] Another beautiful place I wish I could share with a girl... another
beautiful place I've been...

QUESTION: I actually have a question related to acting, being one of those weird,
screwed-up people myself.

JAMES: Yes!

QUESTION: You touched on it a little bit, but do you use a particular technique of
acting, such as Meisner or Method, and do your cast mates also? And if not, where do you
go for characterization considering it's not like you've had the opportunity to go out
and be a vampire.

(Audience laughs)

JAMES: Yeah, I use substitution a lot. I think the Method is very conducive for film and
television because the Method is suspending your disbelief like you're asking the
audience to. So you build an imaginary world and then release yourself into it. Sean Penn
calls it the Cage. Meryl Streep calls it the Box. I call it the Sandlot. But basically,
once you know the parameters of the world, you can improvise and you cannot make a
mistake, because you're in the world, basically. So, as sick as it sounds, in my head
there's a little Sunnydale, and [in funny voice] a liddle Buffy and a liddle Spike. And
Spike wuvs Buffy. [big laugh]. But you get on stage and the Method becomes more
problematic. Because on stage you are asked to tell the story, to keep your eye on the
pacing, to keep your eye on the plot points that need to be kept clear and to always know
where the audience should be looking at all times. As you probably know... there are so
many exercises that you do on stage, like with the little orange ball. Where is the
audience supposed to be looking, and you take focus, you grab the ball or the ball is
given to you... but every actor in a theater play at every second should know exactly
where the audience should be looking and there are a million techniques to do for doing
that. But if you're totally subjective about your experience and you're doing the Method
on stage, you're not going to be worried about that objective list of things that's your
job.

So, I only really started to release into the Method when I came down to Los Angeles. I
tried to internalize as much as I could because you want it to be believable, but at the
same time, the things that you get by being believable and real from stage often stop
about there. [holds his arm outstretched, palm up, drawing a barrier] And for you guys,
it would be a great performance but for 3, 4, 5 rows back, it would be, 'what is he
doing, he's just muttering.' So, on stage, you're really playing for effect a lot.
There's a lot of techniques. You're basically trying to convey the inner workings of the
mind to the back row. And usually the inner workings of the mind are invisible to your
best friend when he's this close. So, there's all sort of things - big physicality, the
rhythm with language - that you can do to cue the audience to how you're thinking and
feeling. And that stuff is death on film, absolute death... and if you doubt me,
reference 'School Hard.'

QUESTION: First, I think it's fantastic that you think about Spike so much. That's really
cool.

JAMES: [laughing] I'm really embarrassed.

QUESTION: I wanted to know... I was a fan of the show from the very first episode, but I
never became a crazy, insane fan till I went on the Internet, and I wanted to know how
aware you are of the Internet fan presence for "Buffy" and what do you think of it in
general.

JAMES: This is kind of hard for me to talk about because I don't want to offend anybody.
Let me explain. I've come to learn over the five years of this experience that celebrity
and fame is not psychologically healthy. There is nothing about the experience of being
this popular to everybody that is going to allow you to grow and become your best self.
And the people that I've noticed that are not going South as they say and losing their
perspective are people that take active steps to normalize their life. What I noticed was
that when I go on the Internet, or used to, my head would swell. Why am I an actor? God
knows but some of it's got to be the need for acceptance and stuff, right? So I'm just
drawn to that stuff like honey and at some point I just had to say, 'James, get off the
'Net, go back, clean your toilet.' Now I find myself, I'm like a mentor to the guys in
the band because they're tasting it too. And I'm like, 'Charlie, get off the Internet.
Get off your fan site. Get off now. You're losing it.' And he's like, 'Yeah, boss,
right.' [turns back toward invisible keyboard].

QUESTION: I heard you had an album or single coming out. When is that available?

JAMES: Both. The first single is written by Steve Sellers. It's called "Valerie." And
that is, well [laughing], it's sitting in boxes in Sacramento, frankly. They shipped it
wrong. It should be available now. We were supposed to be selling it in Paris. I was
supposed to be selling it here. The band is so depressed because unlike me, they need
money. [laughs]. The second single will be a song called "David Letterman." [cheers from
audience] And with any luck, that is going to be performed on his show. Of course you
don't get on Letterman by announcing that you're going to be on Letterman before he even
hears of you. But I hope the song tickles him and I hope that Sarah doesn't make it on
show that year and maybe they'll want me. [laughing]

But the album... we finally, we think... we are finished mixing and we're going to final
mastering over at Sony and that's going to be ready mid-September. And it's called "Mad
Brilliant." There's 13 tracks. It's an eclectic album, mostly about heartache and girls I
guess, but that's true with everything. [laughs]

QUESTION: How, realistically time-frame-wise -- when are you going to come play in DC?

JAMES: As soon as humanly possible. We're planning a European tour for next summer. We're
thinking that we want to bump out every other week during the season. The thing is, one of
the band members is still in high school. He has to finish high school and I got to finish
"Buffy", so we're a little tied to California right now. But that's going to change. You
could think about a year, because if it doesn't happen in the season time, it's going to
happen in the summer after that.

(Young boy comes up to ask question)

JAMES: Oh good. Whew. I was having trouble. Could the girls stop being so cute please.
I'm having a hard time thinking. Okay, a guy... head's clear. [laughter all around]

QUESTION: I was here yesterday, and you said that when you do your stunts, whenever two
feet are off the ground, you don't do it. But do you do that flippy thing where you get
knocked down and then you jump back up?

JAMES: Yeah, kipping? Yeah.

QUESTION: You do that?

JAMES: Yeah.

QUESTION: Is that easy?

JAMES: [solemnly] No. And that one hurts when you mess it up. [laughs] They had me do it
on cement and I was afraid I was going to land on my head.

QUESTION: I tried it.

JAMES: [laughing] Oh yeah? How'd it go? [The boy shakes his head implying not well. James
laughs saying to the audience, 'you had to see that, he went (and repeated the motions the
boy made)]

JAMES: Hello luv.

QUESTION: I was wondering whether there are ever times, when you have a scene that, at
the end of the day when you go home at night, do you ever have trouble letting go of a
certain scene?

JAMES: Yeah, all the time. All the time. I think I'm going crazy sometimes.

QUESTION: Anything in particular that you recall?

JAMES: Pretty much all the stuff with Buffy. That's the stuff that cuts the closest. It
didn't really become problematic until about mid-way through last season when things
started to get complicated. But yeah, that's the thing guys, acting is not necessarily
that healthy either. You really are asked to dredge up things that probably any therapist
would tell you don't touch any more, you know, and to really just bathe in pain sometime.
And I don't think anybody, any friend is going to tell you that's a good idea. And yeah,
I pay for my... the way I work is that I really do internalize things. The saving grace
is I know the difference between reality and fantasy, but yeah, it still lives in you
because all day, you're inhabiting this imaginary world hoping that it affects you
emotionally and you don't just turn that off like a spigot. It keeps coming. Yeah, the
worst of it was the bathroom scene. I went home in tears. I was crying in the bathtub,
'I'm not a rapist.' Oh, that was horrible. Ehhhh. I feel like going to the writing
staff... [mimes hitting them with the mike] [laughs] no, I love them all.

QUESTION: Would you sing for us?

JAMES: Yeah, if someone could grab the guitar out of the case, we'll do that. [Julie
Caitlin Brown appears immediately with his guitar]. I want to do one I wrote. This one I
wrote about a really beautiful person who doesn't really know it. This one's for Helena.
It's a song I wrote called, "Angel."

[After singing,...]

JAMES: Thank you. This has been as much fun for me as you, frankly. Thank you. Probably
more. Because I don't have to stand in line. [laughs] So, get to it guys. I'll see you at
the card table.

The end!