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On the 15th of each month a new question and answer session with James is posted online.
1 - What do you remember about your 18th birthday?
J - Nothing whatsoever, so it must have been really good. I had graduated from high school and was going to the college of my dreams. I had lots of friends and access to really quality beer. It must have been really good and no one got hurt because I?d have remembered that.
2 - How do you define success in general?
J - Happiness.
3 - What do you do to warm up your voice before a concert?
J - Sing. It?s actually good if I blow my voice out a bit and sing really loud. This goes against what I?ve been taught about a nice warm-up, but it works. Other than that just a lot of sleep; that?s the real key.
4 - In PS I Love You, did you suggest the "vampire slayer" bit in it, or did someone else add it just as an inside joke and what did you think of the movie overall?
J - I missed the vampire reference so it must not have been me. Loved the movie ? hated myself but loved the movie. I think it?s a great movie. I think my hair looked stupid.
5 - What do you think Buffy and Spike did that last night together?
J - I think Buffy tried to sleep with Spike but Spike wouldn?t have her. He really didn?t trust her. He said they should just be friends. (laughs!)
6 - What can you tell us about your role in the Dragonball movie?
J - I'm not really allowed to talk about any of the movie details, but I can say that James Wong is obviously a gifted and insightful director! When I got the role I had doubts. The more I live with it I realize that I am going to rock this harder than I have anything in my life ? I?m hungry for it.
7 - A painful lesson?
J - Always communicate no matter how hard it is to tell someone something's wrong. It?s worse not to talk about it. I learn this every few years. The truth hurts for 3 days. Lack of truth hurts your whole life.
8 - You have described yourself as tough when you are a producer. How much do you praise, and how much do you focus on being critical when needed?
J - Always praise, never criticize; but always ask them to do more, to do it faster and with more passion, and give them a confidence to risk making fools of themselves and then demand that they do.
Favorites:
Punk Band: Sex Pistols
Kurt Cobain Song: Hmmmm, whew.... "Rape Me" (his most honest song)
Bond and Bond girl: Connery and Craig. Moore didn?t deserve those women. All the Bond girls are my favorite. I think they must spray something on them to make them more attractive.
Either/Or Star or Angel on Christmas Tree: Star.
Pool or Ocean: Oh? I?m ashamed to say... pool. |
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How territorial are you?
I don’t like to admit this but I am extremely territorial. I never really thought about that. I must have people knock on my trailer, my bedroom is my sanctum sanctorum and if anyone kisses my girl I’ll kill them (not literally). I like to pretend that I’m a peaceful man. My peaceful act has worked for the past fifteen years.
What do you think the biggest all around human fault is?
That we see patterns that are not there. One of the best things about humans is we recognize patterns, so we get things like science, music, philosophy. One of the worst things is that we see patterns that are not there so we get things like racism, homophobia and Jerry Farwell.
Does theater allow for a lot of spontaneity, or do you find yourself hampered by the blocking in that regard?
There is a freedom in structure. Structure can seem like a straightjacket at first, blocking, beats, etc., but like a dancer or gymnast, once you master that structure you become free and can really fly.
I've noticed many of your songs have water/ocean references in your lyrics. Is this a subconsious thing that you're not that aware of, or is it a purposeful theme that represents something to you?
I noticed two years ago that I used the ocean as a metaphor a lot. In a weird way, I think of it as home.
If you could go back in time, what question would you most want to ask William Shakespeare?
(long silence) I don’t have any questions for Shakespeare. I think he lays it all out. He was so prolific and I think he explains himself well. I may be a bit too confident in this but I think I get the man. I think every play is saying that we as human beings all have a lot in common.
Do you ever feel that Buffy and Spike's relationship was somewhat unfinished? Needed closure?
I think thematically it did get closure. Spike really wasn't reformed after what happened in the bathroom - he seemed unworthy of her. By the end of the series they made him again worthy, but dead, trying for some tragic epic sweep I suppose. The problem I think, is that they didn’t want to spend much time on that - they needed the time to tell the story of the potentials so instead of doing something active I got to wear a jewel on a chain and blow up. It was the most time effective way to do it, but it lost something.
Either/Or
Paper or plastic? Plastic –it’s better for the environment surprisingly.
Professional or college football? I must say I enjoy professional - the violence factor is much higher in professional.
What would tempt you back the most, a favourite playwright or a good paycheck?
Playwright — without a good playwright, it’s worse then flipping burgers. |
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August 2008
How do you handle it if someone takes things too far in a scene, especially a fight scene or a love scene?
In a fight scene you go to the fight choreographer and he would definitely fix it. They’re very careful with actors in Hollywood. For a love scene I’m always the one pushing it too far.
In the last issue of Buffy's comic seasson 8 Joss makes Buffy gay. What do you think about this choice? And, what would Spike have thought about it?
I asked Joss about that and he said that she wasn’t necessarily gay but was experimenting. Spike would not accept that she was gay, but I would.
What quality in yourself would you like to improve?
My discipline. I relax too well.
If you could change one thing to make life easier for your own gender, what would you change?
I would make it acceptable for guys to cry.
Was there a particular event - eg. Vietnam, Watergate, or a particular person that made you politically aware or was it something you grew up with?
I grew up in a hippy household but the politics were not shared with me. It was midway through the Reagan administration that I began to wake up. It wasn’t until midway through the Bush Sr. administration when he raided the social security fund to balance the budget and nine months later claimed that Social Security was not solvent and needed to be “fixed”, which was a buzz word for killing the program. I think I was 23 years old.
Do you play any of your new songs to anyone first for their approval before you record them or perform them on stage? Or do you trust your own judgement?
I play them for my friends and family, not really for their approval but really just because I’m excited that I wrote a song. |
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What makes you sentimental?
My kids.
The handicap of our youth is the missing insight we gain in our later years. Shakespeare, though, lets younger characters hold monologues in which his own wisdom shines through. Man on a mission or vanity, what do you think?
I don’t think so. I think Shakespeare’s young people are impetuous and rash and maybe a reflection of his earlier self. We think of them as geniuses but that’s just because Shakespeare writes so damn well and you can’t ask him to stop doing that. But he doesn't look down on young people - some young people are quite smart.
How do you feel about luck?
Luck is everything, as the Chinese know. We think we control our destiny but it is horrifyingly random. Luck is everything, everything, everything. To get here, everyone of your ancestors had to survive long enough to mate – that’s lucky. 99% of the species born on this planet are extinct. You are part of the privileged lucky few that have survived.
What is the best thing and the worst thing about acting?
The worst thing is to have to wait around for people to create a job for you. Creatively that’s deadly. The best thing is getting all the credit for all the hard work that’s done on the set that you never even knew about when they finally do give you a job.
If you had to gain 30 pounds for a role, you'd eat…
Ice cream, fried chicken, pork ribs, chocolate.
Have you owned any pets since Zachary died? If so, what?
No I haven’t. I’m just not home very much. Maybe I'd get a cat.
Do you think your age influenced the way you handled the pressures of Hollywood? Do you think you would have handled things the same way had you gone straight from giving Juilliard the finger to LA?
I would be in a morgue if I would have come to LA straight from Juilliard. I would have made Lindsay Lohan look like Dakota Fanning.
It has been told that you molded/transformed the original, scripted character of Spike into what he is now. Did you in any way change or enhance the character of Milton Fine and if so, how?
The story arc of Milton Fine was never told to me and I still don’t know what it was. I was not as much in the loop on Smallville so I didn't have the occasion to present my ideas.
Favorites:
Actor when you were growing up: Robert DeNiro and John Savage
Comedian: Lenny Bruce
Either/Or:
Xbox 360 or Playstation 3? Playstation 3.
Jetsons or Flintstones? I’m sorry if I offend you but neither one of those shows was very funny. Life for me began with The Simpsons and then got better with South Park, Robot Chicken, and Ren and Stimpy! |
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Are you more of a city person or a country (nature) person?
I love both and refuse to choose. I love to relax in the country and work in the city.
Who do you see when you watch Buffy, James or Spike? Do you see just Spike so you can enjoy the show, or do you see yourself and judge your acting?
I see Spike and I’m happy when my acting is simple - that is when Spike is most potent, when the words come out.
Name two random things you would never do and two things you hope to do.
I'd never run a marathon or eat squid. I hope to act with Meryl Streep and buy a hybrid. You know, actually I might eat squid!
Who was the actor/actress that you felt made you come out fully in your acting even more than before, giving as good as you got or better, and why do you think that is?
Too many people to name; Kathy Bates, Lisa Kudrow, Hilary Swank and Holly Hunter for all the obvious reasons.
Favorites:
NFL Team - The Bears
Character you've played, other than Spike - Segismundo from “Life is a Dream” by Calderon at the Bailiwick Theatre in Chicago. |
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JULY 2008
Well, sometimes "regular" Q&A's don't happen as planned! However, James has devoted fans from over 100 countries who frequently write in requesting information about his songs and the meaning behind them. So for those fans (from as far away as Malaysia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, and Argentina, to name a few) who may never have the chance to attend a concert or hear his song comments in person, here are a few clips about how some of his songs came about.
Long Time is whining about a girlfriend I lived with for three and a half years. I kind of woke up to the fact that it was less of a deep relationship than I thought it was at the time.
Angel was about a different girlfriend who I never really thought she liked herself as much as she should have. I thought she had reason to like herself a lot, so I wrote a song from my perspective that she really was an angel in the world....but she didn't see it.
Civilized Man was about a second AD (Assistant Director) who was working on a movie called Cool Money that I did in Chicago and he was a real jerk. He'd scream at everybody. I was the lead in it and he'd scream at me and he would just be abusing actors, and just pissing me off. And I dealt with it pretty maturely. I went to the AD and just said he's a problem for me and keep him away from me. I don't need to be screamed at in order to come to set. So I found that I had a lot of animosity when I got home from work at night, dealing with this guy, and so I wrote a song all about how I would like to beat him up. That's called "Civilized Man" and it's all about how hard it is sometimes to be civilized. I found out later that he was on cocaine, he was on drugs, he had a coke problem and that's why he was such a d**k.
No promises is kind of a prayer out into the universe to find a good woman. It was written during a time when I wasn't dating and I was re-evaluating the kinds of people that I had been dating and trying to have a happier relationship. So it was kind of like, "when I do start dating again, I hope I find you."
This Town was written for the band, Ghost of the Robot when we were together, and the band said it was about primal hope; hope when hope makes no sense, when hope is actually, maybe kind of foolish but you stick to it anyway. And that somehow, that's kind of the best part of humanity - specifically the kind of hope where you're gonna find love. And, just, for me, how often someone's in love with somebody but that someone they love doesn't love them back, and that's person's in love with a third person and that third person's in love with somebody else; and how it sometimes feels rare that two people are actually in love with each other and how much longing and yearning and pain is involved in that. So I kind of wrote a story about that.
Poor Robyn - This was a song I wrote about an ex-girlfriend and we kept trying to get back together at fits and starts and finally I kind of wanted to close that chapter in my life and stop dating Robyn. It was originally called Over Now but then I changed it, trying to be as loving as possible about that. |
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