Behind the Scenes

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We wanted to get an idea of what it was like to be guided by someone new in the director’s chair. So how did Mere Smith stand up to the likes of say, Angel director James Contner? “Great!” replied Andy. “She was great. Full control, she knew exactly what she wanted. She was very open to all of us, all of our contributions which I thought was really cool because, I mean, by no means am I a trained professional. But when it comes to just like sort of just your basic instincts and what you think should happen, she was very open to hearing those things. And I said to her a few times, ‘I think that my character,’ Wallace was my character, ‘I think that I should do this, or I feel that I should do this.’ And she would say, ‘Try it, try it! Let’s see what happens.’ So she was very open to everything. And she was great, but in the same breath she would really bear down. If it wasn’t something she liked she’d be like, ‘I don’t like it, sorry.’ And, ‘No, we’re not going to do it.’ So, believe me, she was fully in control, fully in control. But very fun and very flexible and really in charge.”

Andy and Grant during a scene filmed at The Bronze.

Then we jump into Amber Bensons Chance where Andy played Nightclub singer Jack. “Yeah, Jack. I play a nightclub signer that Chance sort of falls for.” Nothing like getting a little romance in a script when all you’re used to is Drokken demons. Not a lot of love life working for ya in that scene! “Yeah, it’s fun and she - that was really cool.” There is also a showcase of another talent for Amber and that is the one of songwriter as Andy explains, “She wrote a song for me to sing. She wrote that song and one of her very dear friend [Grant Langston] played the guitar and we both worked that out. And we actually performed that at The Bronze, it was the Buffy set. And we had a ball doing it. It was a really good experience. I loved singing the song, I mean it was two days before the shoot and I was at her apartment and we were just like, you know, ‘Let’s get this down. We need it, we need it.’ Just rehearsing and rehearsing.” Andy confessed, “And again, she was totally cool too. She was exactly the same. Very open to suggestions and ideas and thoughts that everybody had but still had her very specific vision in mind and ultimately did what she wanted to do but took every bodies point of view.”

There is a humorous scene in Chance between Andy’s character Jack and James Marsters who plays Simon (Chance’s neurotic best friend) in a park. Andy elaborated the condition that the scene had to go though to get it filmed as they were . . . “Sitting on the park bench, which by the way, took us forever! We must have been like under the landing strip of LAX because planes, planes, planes, planes, planes,” he laughed. “I’ve never heard so many planes in my whole entire life. We ‘cut’ 500-times. It took us forever - I mean hours to do that little scene just because of planes. But we had a good time, James and I have worked together many times.”

Here’s the scene from the script of Chance featuring Andy and James.

Jack is described as, ‘the really good-looking singer [from a night club], I mean he’s absolutely gorgeous.’ Jack and Simon are sitting on a park bench. Simon has just told Jack how Chance feels about him to which he confesses that he’s gay, although he sometimes sleeps with women, when they look like a guy. Meanwhile, Simon is madly in love with Chance. Simon stares at Jack.

SIMON
A little too much information
there, buddy.

JACK
It’s not that I’m not
attracted to woman -

SIMON
Uh-huh . . . ?

JACK
I like people. I like all people.

SIMON
Your point?

JACK
I’m not a bad guy.

SIMON
I never said you were.

JACK
I just grew up in a repressive
Christian household with an alcoholic
father and a victim of a mother.

SIMON
You should see someone
about all this . . .

JACK
Yeah, the last guy I dated
said I had issues.

SIMON
I would tend to agree.

JACK
You know, I feel really comfortable
with you, man. I think I could
tell you anything. You should really
think about doing this for a living.

So, does Chance hook up with Jack? Does Simon? Does Simon hook up with Chance? Ahhh, you’ll just have to wait to find out! Does ‘evil’ mean anything to you people?

Andy is obviously a hot commodity these days and his talent if far from lost on his co-workers who were biting at the bit to get him in their productions this summer. He is such a gracious guy and really enjoyed working in both films, allowing him to learn and stretch and grow for himself as well as his first time directors. Whichever facets of the Joss-verse it may be, there is much talent to be tapped into, expressed and enjoyed. All that comes from this bevy of genius will truly impress the fans.

We've really enjoyed being able to delve into the creative core of Angel and bring this special feature to the viewers. Once again it has been proven that Joss is a great gatherer of unique talent and an inspiration to all. Whether they are actors, writers, producers, or script supervisors, the cast and crew of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have their own visions and dreams that exist in the surreal escapism we know as Hollywood film. Through Joss they have had the opportunity to express, create, and develop the skills with and around them. It is always a pleasure to be behind the scenes and witness the incredible family-like structure that produces and develops some of the most astounding work seen on television today.