The House Always Wins ~ Episode three with David Fury & Andy Hallett

Fury, who wrote and produced this Lorne-centric episode, begins his commentary by explaining that The House Always Wins establishes the characters early on 'emotionally' and that the episode was a way to remind viewers that Connor, although not integral to the story, is indeed Angel Jr. The viewer will enjoy the humorous recounts of filming in Vegas that David and Andy offer; one being the Lorne Vegas sign: "When I showed up for the shoot it said, 'The Velvet Green Frog,'" recalls David, "and I said, 'No, that's not quite what I had in mind - velvet fog melt away, velvet green frog, that's Kermit the Frog." Joining in, Andy laughs, "Oh, I would have died if I had saw frog! That is hysterical." As David talks about the mini-musical, when we first see Lorne on stage singing, watch for the first over-the-shoulder shot into the audience. In the front row are Fury himself with Petra Jorgensen (Angel's script supervisor). "I'm holding a little miniature Kelly Manners, our producer. Someone had made a little, miniature bobble-head Kelly." Andy admits, "This is my favorite moment of all, when the curtains open. I remember when we were recording, I said, 'I have to hit the highest note here, I will not let these girls sing over me,'" he laughs.

"She's the best screamer I ever had." ~ Joss on Charisma in Spin the Bottle

"We shot from six at night to six in the morning for five nights," recalls David. "And it was really extra exciting because of the live energy in Vegas. People watching us on the street," adds Andy. David admits, "It was like a movie shoot, we were real stars, people recognizing you guys." Also giving props to the fans, Andy informs, "I also thought it was neat that some of the real dedicated viewers knew we were going there and planned trips to be there at the same time." In the opening of the second Act we see Wesley in his apartment, David explains that he come up a few minutes short in the episode so Joss wrote this added scene to fill in the needed slot. One highlight revolved around Amy, as a Lornette, during Lorne's dressing room escape scene. Andy explains, "We talked a great deal before she did this. She did this a bunch of time and she kept coming back and saying, 'Andy I have to over act and act bad can you give me any tips?'" he laughs. Take notice in Act three, during the soul-trading room scene on the scrolling banner that reads: DEAL WITH DISNEY TO RUN NEW ABC SERIES... "That was specifically a little 'shout out' to David Greenwalt who had left Angel to go run a series for Disney on ABC," tells Fury of this inside joke.


Spin the Bottle ~ Episode six with Joss Whedon & Alexis Denisof

Alexis talks about the return of Buffy-daze Wesley

Joss opens by explaining how this episode came about while talking with Alexis, "We were reminiscing about the days when he was a complete idiot, a bumbling moron [referring to Wesley, of course] and so we thought we wanted to see old-school Wesley but also cool, new-school Wesley." In the opening teaser where Cordy asks Angel if they were in love, Joss points out a little problem in continuity as this scene picks up where the previous episode (Supersymmetry) had left off. Not only had David cut his hair in the time between the two episodes, but a wound on his cheek miraculously had disappeared, much to the chagrin of makeup artist Dayne Johnson who Alexis gives a ribbing to. This episode's commentary is outstanding from a directorial point-of-view. Both Joss and Alexis explain what shots are used and why, from one-ers (one continuous shot of the camera with no cuts) to pushes (fast moving zoom shot) and screen wipes keeping the feel of the oddness of the story as well as a post-modern creative look. In Act one, just as the spell is delivered, Joss explains, "This was also a way of keeping it somewhat different from Tabula Rasa, the Buffy episode where they lose their memory. Instead of blacking out I decided that they would all do mushrooms." Alexis joins in laughing, "Yes, that was his note, 'Just imagine that the drugs are kicking in. Fred just experiencing the tree."

Joss goes on to compliment our noir-girl Friday, "This was some of the most fun I got to have with Charisma in a long time, because she had become so noble and then tortured and then memory loss and to get her to play the stuff she used to play back in the first couple of years of Buffy was just such a treasure. And you are such a punce! Head-boy," jokes Joss to Alexis. "Yeah, what a prick," admits Alexis of his character, "I can't say I didn't enjoy it. It was a real challenge for us all to treat each other as if we had no history together," he explains, "Very hard after four years to go back and remove the comfort the characters had developed for each other." In the opening of the third Act, when Angel leaves the hotel only to discover 'shiny demons' [cars] outside, Joss and Alexis explain that a short three-minute scene took an extra hour and a half to film due to a giggle-fest which took over the cast. "I blame you sir," accuses Alexis. "David and Alexis could not stop laughing," offers Joss, "As a result not one of us, myself included, could not stop laughing. When they talk, they could not look at each other, they literally had to look away and then Amy would lose it." You can see both David and Amy having a hard time keeping composure when Alexis gets punched by J. August. In the closer, Alexis admits, "Towards the end of the shoot, I remember feeling a genuine profound sadness of this week of frivolity and all of us having the fun, going back."


Apocalypse, Now-ish ~ Episode seven with Vern Gillum & Steven DeKnight

Introducing, The Beast. Steve explains, due to scheduling, this episode had to contain a lot more information than originally planned even to the point of the costuming. Both Vern (director) and Steve (writer) give great compliment to Vincent Kartheiser for his professionalism and ability to bring much to his character when on screen as well as off-camera. "You can bet the family fortune on this kid, he can really do it," states Vern. In the opening of Act one, Fred and Gunn are investigating Apocalyptic events around town. "I sadly was not on set for the rat section. By design of course," admits Steve, "How was J. with the rats?" Vern laughs, "J. is terrified by rats, just like his character. This is the nicest guy in the world and it was just torment for him beyond anything you could imagine." Vern is another director who loves a one-er (to see how far he can go with a shot before he has to cut) and both he and Steve will point out interesting shots that enhance both the scene and the characters. In the opening of Act two, more evil omens ascend upon Gunn and Lorne when sparrows kamikaze into the Hyperion front doors. "You wanted J. to touch that bird and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Off screen we have people with the bird cannons and other guys with the paintball guns," Steve recalls.

Watch David Boreanaz discuss the return of Cordelia
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In the scene where Angel confronts Lilah at Wolfram & Hart, take notice of what David is holding in his hand. "You see that David is holding his script in his left hand," exposes Vern, "that little day-runner. Every time we would cut he'd open that up." Steve admits, "He is ingenious." You can see David glance at this script as he delivers his last line of the scene. Where we see the arrival of The Beast, Steve explains, "The Beast is in a pit and he comes up on a scissor lift and we had to cut around it because he bursts up." Scott Workman is in the full-suit shots while Vladimir Kulich was in the close-ups for this scene. Another point to take into consideration in the fight scene was the fact that Charisma was pregnant and had to be very careful with her stunts. Where the Angel Investigation gang puts the pieces of the W&H papers puzzle together and Lorne shows a matching symbol on the map of L.A., Steve laughs, "Here comes my one artistic contribution to the episode, I actually put the dots on that map. Notice my fine, fine dot work." The final fight scene took two full days to shoot and certainly a highlight is a stunt by Mike Massa (stunt coordinator) as explained by Steve, "We thought that Mike would have to do the flip up onto the ledge, we thought we'd have to do it in pieces and he comes to us and say, 'No, I can do it in one take,' and sure enough, take after take, he flips backward up on that wire. Everybody was just dumbfounded, just truly amazing."