Scrunched into a director's chair on a soundstage at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, "Angel" co-star Alexis Denisof munches on fruit and ponders his future.
It's nearly his last scene on his last day of shooting the supernatural drama's last episode, airing Wednesday on WB.
"It's been a roller coaster of emotions," Denisof says. "The WB did us a favor by telling us (we were canceled) early, as opposed to going into the hiatus and wondering if you're coming back. In a way, it's been a lot better. You know you're ending it, so you take more time to appreciate the people and the world before you say goodbye to it."
Denisof began his stint as British Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce on "Angel's" predecessor, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," where he also met the woman who would become his wife, "Buffy" co-star Alyson Hannigan.
"That's the best," he says, smiling. "I can't think of anything better that I could have gotten out of this. I'm very lucky."
With two units working on two soundstages -- which, says series regular J. August Richards, has interrupted an ongoing Scrabble game -- the mood is brisk and busy.
The episode is titled "Not Fade Away." Directed by executive producer Jeff Bell from a script he wrote with series co-creator Joss Whedon, it has all the action, operatic emotion, mass destruction and earth-shattering special effects fans have come to expect from the tale of a vampire with a soul (David Boreanaz) trying to redeem himself and fight evil in Los Angeles.
"Another finale, another apocalypse," quips James Marsters, whose character, the Britpunk vampire Spike, died in a blaze of glory in the "Buffy" finale, only to be resurrected last fall on "Angel."
This season, Angel and his crew went into the belly of the beast, taking over the L.A. branch of the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart. It has been a year of soul-searching and sacrifice, and the intensity continues into the show's final frame.
"Joss and the writers come up with great stories," Denisof says, "and for all the demons and special effects, it's just stories about people, what human beings go through."
On Feb. 13, Whedon and WB executives told the cast and crew that there would be no season six, despite a general consensus that this has been the show's strongest year creatively. The passionate reaction of fans -- who paid for ads, a billboard, a rally and more -- could not save the series but may have convinced the network to produce an "Angel" movie.
But first, they'll have to convince Boreanaz. "It depends on who the players are," he says. "It would have to be the right (script). The bar would have to be much higher."
As he has been since his days as a guest-star in season one of "Buffy," Boreanaz is philosophical.
"Like I said at the beginning of this run, you go season to season, show to show," he said. "The departure of this group -- there's not a lot of tears; there's not a lot of remorse. Everybody's very upbeat. Of course, we were upset that we didn't get picked up. But for all of us, in the long run, we feel as though it's another step in our lives.
Courtesy of nola.com |
