Zero - Ask James - April 2002


Zero: What was your very first TV role?

James: The bellhop on NORTHERN EXPOSURE.

Zero: Was it a difficult transition going from stage to television?

James: Yes. Absolutely terrifying. I had five lines, and they were each monosyllabic, like, 'Yeah. Uh huh.'

Zero: And mostly with your back to the camera.

James: Yeah, that and profile. Thank god. I couldn't have handled more. I was absolutely petrified. If I had been made to do more, I might have been scared away from the whole thing. But as it was, it came out well, and when they cast me again, in a role that was pretty big, I nailed it. It was weird. My learning curve was pretty steep. That was my second role, and I just kind of banged it out in one take.

Zero: Did you ever do any acting workshops or anything to prepare for TV?

James: Um, no. I had such a bad experience at Juilliard that I have so many issues with acting teachers. I would really pity the acting teacher that tried to tell me what to do. It wouldn't be fair to them. They might have a perfectly valid thing, but in my mind, the audience tells me when it's working, when it's not working. If you're lucky and wise enough to surround yourself with people who are competent enough to figure out why it's not working, then you can fix it. It's kind of like a car.

Zero: What advice would you give to beginning actors?

James: Be yourself. Your instinct is the only thing that is your real product. The acting school will give you technique and help put you in contact with your instinct, but never do anything to compromise you being in touch with your instinct. Also, acting is like any other craft, like flying an airplane. You need a certain amount of hours behind the joystick before you're going to be doing barrel rolls. So go to stage, because there's not enough work in TV and film to get the man-hours to learn the craft, in my opinion.

Zero: Couple more questions about the band [Ghost of the Robot]. Where the hell did that name come from?

James: Ghost of the Robot?

Zero: Yeah.

James: It's about -- well, for a lot of people, for whatever reason, go away from themselves. They're real self-retreaters. For some people it's because of horrible, horrible abuse, for some people it's the fact they found out there's no Santa Claus. You know, it's different for everybody, but it happens to a lot of people. They can come back, but it's going to be real painful, but ultimately really good.

Zero: And that translates to... 'Ghost of the Robot.'

James: Yeah. Without - the ghost is your true self. And without it, you're just kind of a mechanical kind of robot, like a hollow tin man.

Sarah de Vries asks: I read in an interview that when you auditioned for Spike, you not only did the British accent we all love so much, you also did it with a Southern accent. I am so curious what Spike would sound like with that accent; any chance of a small demonstration?

James [in a Southern accent]: The Spike, Southern Spike, now that was an accent that's not used very often now, for white people. Usually, if you hear this accent on a white man, he's gonna be fifty years, at least fifty years old, mostly seventy years old. But I think it's a very sexy accent, but I don't think it's as dangerous as Spike. [Switching to British accent] There's something a bit more staccato about Spike, than an American, he's just more mysterious. I don't know. He's more punk. I don't know. [Switching to Californian accent] You know, if they'd said to do it Southern, I'd be doing it Southern, if that was a better choice.

Jenn asks: If you hadn't constantly been interrupted during your recent appearance on POLITICALLY INCORRECT, what points would you have liked to make?

James: I made my basic thesis, which was that we are all racists and we don't admit it. We are all like alcoholics, saying [in a drunken voice], 'I'm not drunk, honey, I'm just a little sleepy'. And the only hope that we have is to finally sit up and admit that, 'Hey, man, I'm a racist, I have racist views', and then we can begin to heal. And that we all have to admit that a big, big bad thing happened in the history of people, one of the big worst things, and it happened fairly recently. And to say that it was a long time ago and I didn't do it... it just is crap. And... yeah. That's my basic thing. But, no, she was good. In fact, I want to go on her show. I liked her. She's got a show on BET and she invited me to go on it, and I'm very interested in doing it. We both were very good at livening up the day. POLITICALLY INCORRECT is like The Algonquin [Round Table], which is as much about information as about entertainment, really. So you don't want to - you want to lob in those Molotov cocktails and get people screaming. I was glad she was there, because if you have a timid person who takes the opposite view that you do, you can often seem like a bully, and I come off pretty strong, so I was glad.

Gina Duclayan asks: You spoke a lot about racism in the US and I was wondering what your thoughts are on the lack of people of colour on BUFFY.

James: Unfortunate. I can remind people that we did have a black Slayer, and that that was designed to be a larger role, and that it didn't work out for reasons I'm not quite completely sure of, but she was supposed to be a larger character. We have had... who was the villain of the season prior? Mr....

Zero: Mr. Trick.

James: Yeah. We have had, but it all comes down to the fact that the people in the power positions are white, and they hire people who remind them of themselves to tell the stories. Let's make this more clear. The people who are deciding which stories are going to be told are mostly white males. So they pick the stories that resonate with them. So most of the characters are going to be white males. And the females are going to be impacting the males but aren't going to be central, and speaking very honestly, I don't have a black friend that I hang out with on a weekly level. So if I was to write a series, I would really have to stretch my imagination to include a black character. So it's understandable that that doesn't happen, but it's not good. The only thing for it is, you know, black power, man. Seriously, it's what the Black Panthers were saying. 'We can't expect the white people to give it to us; we gotta do it ourselves.' Of course, that freaked white America right out. 'Oh my god! They have the right to bear arms?' Well, yeah, you know. They're Americans, remember? Freaks people out, but... so, yeah, I'd like to see more color. But I can't criticize my bosses and say that I would be able to do better. You have to write about what you know. Everybody in Joss' scripts is Joss, everybody in Marti's scripts is Marti. It's a big problem, and it's a systemic problem, and the remedy isn't easy.

Charlotte asks: You've bleached your hair, adopted an English accent, and worked out a lot to play Spike. What lengths are you willing to go to to alter yourself physically for a role? Ever pull a RAGING BULL for a part?

James: I gained... yeah. I gained thirty-five pounds of muscle for... what the hell's the name of the play? A John Pielmeier play... he wrote Agnes of God, he directed it too. For ACT [A Contemporary Theatre] in Seattle... Voices in the Dark. And I played a character who everyone thought was mentally challenged, and ended up being a killer, and so in the right clothes I kind of looked kind of big and thick, but then put on a t-shirt and suddenly I'm a little Arnold. But I was at that point 200 pounds. So I was hulky. Then when I came down to LA, I looked at television and noticed that all the guys have these celery-stalk thighs. And so I lost fifty pounds before I ever even came down here. Yeah, it's all about moulding your body. Really, it's about keeping your body so that you're not too big or too small, so you can kind of change quickly. But you never want to do anything that'll give you a long-term problem. Like gaining a lot of fat, I really wouldn't want to do that, because cellulite doesn't go away.

Anna asks: What do you do for a workout to maintain your physique?

James: Just rollerblade, and free weights, and stomach crunches. I do a lot of repetition with low weights. Because I don't want bulk, I want definition.

Zero: Life as a struggling actor seems to involve a lot of waiting tables. What were some of the jobs you took on to pay the bills before you hit the big-time?

James: A lot of waiting tables. I was pretty lucky because once I moved to Chicago and decided to really be an actor, I was able to start paying the bills pretty quickly, or at least supplement pretty quickly. But yeah, I waited a lot of tables. I also managed a restaurant... into the ground. Pushed a juice cart in the hospital. I worked like, oh my god, like ninety hours a week to put myself through Juilliard. So they could tell me I was a horrible, useless actor. [laughs]

Zero: That was money well spent.

James: Yeah. I was a telemarketer for Philip Morris for about ten days. I was trying to make money to buy Christmas presents, and that was morally the lowest I think I've ever been. Got fired because I made little clay dinosaurs. Because it's such a boring job, I mean you ask the same twenty questions over and over again, so I made little sculptures and they asked me to stop and I didn't. They fired me; I think I wanted to be fired. I just couldn't do it, man.

Scar asks: What one thing in your life can't you life without?

James: My guitar.

Zero: Which guitar?

James: My acoustic. Yeah, my Yamaha. The one that Roger [Daltrey] gave me. But I just got a new guitar, a new electric that's beautiful. It's an Italian guitar that's black snakeskin, with a lot of silver. Looks like a '57 Chevy.

Zero: What's the actual line-up of the band right now?

James: Just me and Charlie [DeMars], man. And we're trying to talk these guys in Sacramento into relocating, but don't tell them that. But to tell you the truth, if you have a good... I mean, Charlie can play anything. He plays drums, bass, guitar, keyboards. And I can play anything except for keyboards, drums, bass... yeah.

Charlie DeMars [faintly, in the background]: You can play bass.

James [laughs] I can play bass, says Charlie. And it's kind of easy to get people to sit in, and... yeah. It sounds good with two people, it's like... wow, that sounds kind of good.