WE'RE SETTING IN A CONFERENCE ROOM AT THE Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, in the eye of a Nocturnal storm of fans, stars, press, parties, fancy dress and booze. Chaos abounds, but in our little sanctuary we have, at least, time to draw breath. Tall, ha ndsome, and virtually unrecognisable without his make up, Andy Hallett grins the grin of a man who might possibly do himself an injury were he to have more fun. In fact he already has, but more of that in a moment.

"I'm having a blast! This place is nuts. It's non stop partying. My girlfriend and I got to England a weak ago and we went up to Covent Garden and we just loved it! Every ay when we woke up, which by his way was about 11 of 12, people were out already star ring to drink. Just hanging out This place is THE BOMB, man! We wanna live here!" Can you see the Host doing karaoke in a gloomy sticky-floored pub? Neither can we.

Every single night - great bars, Pubs, clubs. We had a blast. Well, until two nights ago I'm so sore. I fell dawn to the whole flight, I stairs, in ane go. It was like, head first, I can hardly move my back. It was ripper that night, 1 couldn't dance at al l last night, but it's, a lot better now, so I´ll try a dance tonight ". Potentially fatal falls aside, it seems that Hallett - along with pretty much every other guest we encounter - is gratifyingly in love with the UK.

When it comes to being recognised on these shores, though Hallett doesn't mind passing under the radar of most Angel fans. "I love to talking to people. I find it fascinating that someone who 1 don't know at all is such admirer and feels compelled to say s omething to me. 1 think its, a huge compliment. I just love, love, lose this staff. This is my favourite type of I thing to do. It's SO about the audience ... It's the most important thing to me. " This is something that you feel stars spout automatically a s a diversionary tactic - a truism that will pacify the fans in public. Having said that, Hallett genuinely seems to mean it it. Extraordinary.

Speaking of the make-up, surely it must be absolutely torturous to apply. "It's torturous, but it's get old. " He laughs. "The first few times limes, it was really cool and then it was like, 'Okay, this again?'. It takes it about two and half hours, and t hen I have the contact lenses put in, and the hair. I have a little cycle I go through. I sit in the chair and they put the glue on my face and it´s like "Yeeuccchh because I HATE the glue. But then after I sit there for about an hour I get totally so ol with it. Then 1 go into the next chair and then they put the contacts in and I go back down again. Then I get used to that, blink a few times, and then they spray my hair with this really awful stuff and then I go back down again! It's a huge up and dow n cycle." A rollercoaster ride. 'Exactly! Exactly!' it sounds like he must be exhausted by the time he hits the set. "Sometimes I am, you're right!" He laughs. "I'm there three hours before anybody else is. When we hit the set I'm like [slumps in chair.Pre sumably those scarves and cravats ore there to cover up a gap in the make up, then. Or perhaps not. 'Strictly style. Sometimes I ask for them. Not that they do what I tell them to do. I LOVE wearing those."

The Host is, of course, the caustic, campy king of karaoke. Pretty much every major Angel star has stepped into the limelight at the Caritas her, and belted out a tune. Hallett, then, must surely be in the best position to reveal which stars have golden to nsils and which are solid tin. "J August Richards has the best voice, undoubtedly. The only (karaoke scene) he's done was with Charisma and Alexis (in "Redefinition"). They did one in a drunken stupor. They were like all over the place." Hallett briefly im itates a wavering, drunken cacophony but can't help unconsciously getting at least some of it in tune. "It was a riot. J has got a great voice. He is the bomb. He can sing better than 1 can sing." They even duet that night - see the convention report on page 32. "One time, when they did that crossover episode from Buffy when Mercedes come over - hilarious. she call probably sing better than she made herself out to sing, but that was hilarious..."

Actors long to be rock stars and vice versa, as the clichè goes, but it seems that both Buffy and Angel have an unusually musical cast. "James Marsters is great on guitar. Christian Mane is a helluva musician. We all have different styles. I'm so into old skool R&B - Aretha Franklin, Patty Labelle, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, all those girls. The divas! These guys are into a lot of new wave, modern stuff which 1 don't even know about yet." Those crazy kids and their newfangled music...

Joss is infamous on set for his sometimes cruel sense of humour, and the actors on both shows never know quite what they're going to find when they read a new script. Ha llett recalls his reaction to a certain rather drastic scene. "It was the very lost pa ge of the script, The last line. 'And now the Host's head appears on a plate.' They were trying to play a nasty trick on me. Thanks to David Greenwalt, it didn't happen. The script usually gets delivered to my house, so no-one's around when I'm reading it at home. Joss wanted me to just get the script and, like, freak out. David Greenwalt called right before 1 was about to read it. He was like, 'I'm not supposed to be phoning you, but 1 thought it was such a nasty trick, 1 couldn't let it happen. You're gon na read this, but don't worry about it!' He forewarned me. I still wondered where they were going with it, though.' As well he might.

Apparently the Angel producers wouldn't let him keep the head, but didn't say why. "Because it was about $15,000." Oh, well, okay. "I know my dad really wanted it. He was like 'Oh c'mon, just grab it'. He was like, thinking he was being a shot: 'Tell them I'll pay for it, I'll pay up to $ 1,000 dollars.' Dad, it was like $15,000!"'

The Host has become pretty much part of the regular gang towards the end of Angel´s second season, but Hallett certainly never expected it. 'Never, never, never. Originally it was written to be perhaps just a one-time thing. They got a good response from f ans and they liked writing him. He's a completely different kind of character to write for on that show. He's much lighter, that whole comic relief thing. 1 never envisioned it going as far, or as deep with the character as they already have. 1 was thinkin g, 'How many times can people come into the karaoke bar without really getting sick of seeing the Host? Ifs the same concept over and over.' 1 was kind of nervous about that and 1 didn't want to be someone who everybody hated. They started bringing the Hos t out of the bar and getting him involved in other situations. But then they make every scene in the bar so fun and so animated. Everybody's rockin' in there! 1 was thinking about this the other do everyone´s had a chance to sing in there. Lindsey sang, Darla sang, demons sang, I sang, J, Charisma and Wesley do that one all together, David, Harmony... Which is a riot to me."

Surely, sometimes he must just look around and wonder just what the hell is going on. "It's so funny that you mention that. One of my most crazy moments was the day we were in the homeland, Pylea. I walked onto the set for the first time and we´re on loca tion on a ranch about an hour and a half out of LA and I walked up and saw 100 people literally looking like the Host!

Their make-up wasn't as elaborate as mine, but they were very good, all having prosthetics. All having their hair and faces painted, wigs - tons of wigs. That was the moment where I thought 'Oh my God! We've created a monster!'"

Hallett wasn't a watcher of Angel, and he wasn't one of the multitude of unemployed actors skulking about LA looking for a role in the Buffy spin-off. But then maybe that's because, prior to Angel, Andy Hallett wasn't even an actor, but a nightclub singer! I'll admit 1 wasn't a big fan of Angel. It wasn't because 1 didn't like the show. I just never watched it. I did watch Buffy because 1 knew Joss. If Joss hadn´t have known me and have gone to the karaoke bars and the club I was singing at then I wouldn't have gotten the job. But the casting process was so real. David Greenwalt was so sceptical. Joss said to him 'If it comes down to Andy and another guy, and ifs 51 % the other guy and 49% Andy, then choose the other guy. We need the person that's best for this role'. David was really against this, but now he's become a big fan. David was the one who pitched my big episode, episode 13."

Suddenly, the cheeky chap turns the tables on us. 'Can I ask you a question: You guys saw the first episode? The Host was the first one to walk out on stage. Between the music and the first close-up of the face, with zero expression - what did you assume? Did you assume he was good or bad. What did you think?" Well. Taken that Angel is so cleverly written, you never know what to expect. You can't ever assume a character is good or evil, because the second you do you'll be confounded by the writers. Is that okay? He seems happy with the answer.

Everything about Hallett, his huge grin, the unaffected enthusiasm in his voice, renders this next question redundant yet strangely important. Is it the best job in the world? "Yeah. It's great. I love it. Sure is." We've finished, but unexpectedly Tad, the lead singer of Four Star Mary, is ushered in. He's starstruck, and gets a handshake, a photo, and a vague promise that Hallett will sing with the band at some point. In this strange little world, even the stars are fans.
 
 
 

Article by: SFX, August 2001, S. 54 und 55
Source: Katie (mit freundlicher Genehmigung)