THE DAVID BOREANAZ EUROPEAN EVENT

omeone famous once said, "Cometh the hour, Cometh the man," and for the many Buffy and Angel fans who converged upon the Brighton Convention Centre over the weekend of the 29th to 31st August, the man they had all been waiting to see was none other than the Angelic one himself - David Boreanaz. For seven incredible years, David has filled our television screens and our hearts with his portrayal of Angel, the tortured vampire with a soul fighting for redemption against his deliciously evil alter ego Angelus. Encouraged by the opportunity of getting up close and personal with Mr. Tall Dark and Brooding, fans flocked from all over the world in their thousands just to say they had been a part of David's first appearance in the UK since his Forbidden Planet signing a couple of years previously. As incredible an attraction as David is, the supporting cast accompanying him were impressive enough in their own right as the inclusion of Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris) and Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers) to the Jealous Events guest list could probably be considered worthy of the admission price alone. Unfortunately, it had been announced a few days before the event that Amber Benson (Tara) and Armin Schimmerman (Principal Snider) were unable to attend and last minute issues surrounding passports also forced the twins Joseph and Jeremy Danube out of the event also. The faces that replaced them however were very welcome ones indeed. Nick's twin brother, Kelly Donovan (Xander's double in "The Replacement") and fan favourite Mark Lutz (The Groosalugg) completed the line up as it became obvious that the weekend had the potential to be a great one. Auditorium and the Days Events David Boreanaz greets the fans of the UK David opened the event, even though for the second day running he was almost two hours late. His tardy arrival the day before had been because of the great British weather as heavy rain and thunderstorms had grounded his helicopter from London at Heathrow Airport. However as the sun shone brightly in the Brighton sky, attendees were left wondering what was the reason behind his latest delayed appearance although in truth it is likely that nobody really minded. Crowds gathered at the front of the building as his helicopter finally flew over, giving everyone their first glimpse of The Dark Avenger. David took to the stage for the first of his Q&A sessions, chatting to the crowd about Buffy and ice cream (more of that later) before leaving to start his mammoth three hour autograph and photo session. The supporting cast followed and the rapport between these guests cascaded through to the expectant clique before them as they laughed and joked their way through their turn in the spotlight. The auto/photo sessions took up a majority of the morning with attendees being called up in ascending ticket number order to join the queue in nervous expectancy at meeting the Whedon-verse stars. David was in a room on his own which then led into a larger outer room containing Nick, Kristine, Kelly and Mark. Whilst some people were panting and fawning and paying for the privilege, others were being entertained in the main hall. Spike and Angel look-a-likes, Steve and Craig, (many may remember them from End of Days and other UK events) recreated on stage what we may well see on screen once Season 5 airs, in a sword at ten paces duke out. And what wouldn't we have done for an Andy Hallett sound-a-like as the "Once More With Feeling" karaoke resonated around the halls. Citizens FaithLouise and Avie flew the CoA flag by proudly 'Going Through The Motions' but the most popular song was most definitely "I'm Under Your Spell" which could be heard time and time again. Maybe it was a message that the Angel faithful were trying to convey to Mr. Boreanaz and Co. at the effect that they were having on them. Avie and FaithLouise bring on the singing! Away from the main hall, there was a fully stocked dealer room catered with all kinds of merchandise to tempt your money from your pocket whether it be trading cards or books, life-size cut-outs, rubber stakes or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer thongs! The second of the guest Q&A sessions took place in the afternoon and ran at the same time as the Rooftop Cocktail reception party. Whilst David sat on stage reminiscing about hair gel and Barry Manilow, Kristine, Kelly and Mark were mingling upstairs, glasses of champagne in hand and Nick was serving langoustines on a silver platter to a very amused few. The roles were then reversed as the auditorium audience were blessed with comedy hour part II with Nick and Mark vying for the lead role of eccentric funny man. The Snoopy dance may just have edged it into Nick's favour but Mark didn't go down without a fight. David, in the meantime had ventured into The Sky Lounge to meet and greet the guests at the Cocktail Reception party. His visit unfortunately was all too fleeting and under the excuse that he had a prior engagement to attend to, he left shortly after. A little over an hours breathing space then came into play leaving conventioneers time to kick back and reflect on the day's events so far. Some took the opportunity to get some fresh air and food, others collected their photos and some got ready for the evening's activities although admittedly the fancy dress entries were pretty much in short supply. As sunset approached, Nick Brendon brought out his posse to officially launch the traditional and obligatory end of the day booze up. An impromptu rendition of an all to familiar (despite what Mark Lutz may tell you) round of row, row, row your boat kicked off the night in fine fashion and rounded off a hard day's work by all the guests. As beer and brandy flowed down the throats of the partying attendees well into the wee small hours of the morning, David, Nick, Mark, Kristine and Kelly should all have been tucked up in their beds ready to do it all again tomorrow. And Now . . . David Boreanaz (Angel/Angelus) There were times during the day where it seemed to some that David looked a little lost and uncomfortable in dealing with the energetic euphoria that surrounded him. Yet once he set foot on stage and cosied himself up on the sofa for his 45-minute Q&A session, this was the moment where fans truly saw him shine. Members of the audience were invited to the side of the stage to ask their questions. During his conversational confessional, David admitted that his father had taught him to talk to people, and apart from the taboo subjects that we were told we were not allowed to ask about, (namely no questions about his wife or ex-wife), David was an open book who happily talked about all manner of things giving us moments of reflection, anticipation, humour and true emotion. The first question on almost everybody's lips revolved around the topic of who held the key to Angel's heart. Which girl Angel should be with is a subject guaranteed to promote passionate debate between 'shippers' on any BtVS or Angel chat room across the web, so what is David's take on it? "I think that ultimately Angel... "...and Buffy will end up together as ... ...Buffy is the love of Angel's life." When asked, David confesses, "I think the love that Angel has for Cordelia was more of an adult kind of love and that he was attracted to her strength of character and the woman she had become more than anything else. Do I think it will go any further? No as she's in a coma right now so it'll be kind of difficult. Season 5 will be about Angel moving on and how he has to deal with that." So should Angel be with Buffy then? - "I think that ultimately Angel and Buffy will end up together as Buffy is the love of Angel's life." He also confirmed that Sarah Michelle Gellar has agreed to reprise her role for a couple of episodes at the back end of the season. The story of David's rise to fame is well documented but still intrigued attendees enough to ask the question once more - "Originally I didn't want to be an actor", he explains, "I wanted to play sports but unfortunately I injured my knee playing football. My dad, (Philadelphia weatherman Dave Roberts), was a talk show host at the time and I met a lot of stars like Yul Brynner and that incited my interest. If I wasn't an actor now then I'd probably be an architect or delivering babies!" So how did the handsome man with the finely tuned brow and exquisite cheekbones land the role as the enigmatic Angel? - "I was literally out walking my dog when a guy, who was later to become my manager Tom, approached me. During my first audition for the role of Angel, I spent most of the time talking about Italian restaurants in New York rather than the role itself! In my second audition, I had to read for Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt and Gail Berman and I clearly remember thinking I had blown it as during the audition I could literally feel the walls closing in on me and my body tightening. Thankfully though it all managed to work itself out!" David made it very clear however that he doesn't feel that the success he has just landed in his lap. "The opportunity presented itself to me easy enough that's true", he admits, "But I had to work very hard to make the most of that opportunity." And we are certainly glad that he did. It is with sadness though that we have to report that Bertha Blue, the beautiful canine sweetie responsible for bringing the vampire with a soul to our screens is no longer with us. "Bertha Blue actually passed away a couple of months back," David tells us sadly, "which upset me quite a bit but my other dog Fritz is just fine" At the time of writing this article Season 5 is not far from its US premiere showing on the 1st October. When it airs, not only will David surpass Alyson Hannigan as the actor whose character has made the most appearances in the Buffy/Angelverse, but it will also signal the 100th episode of Angel. With so many episodes to choose from, it was inevitable that someone would ask David about his own personal favourites. ""Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been" is definitely one of my favourites," he comments, "Along with "I Will Remember You"." He laughs as he recalls that whenever that episode is mentioned, "someone always remembers about the ice cream. I wonder why" He was also asked about how difficult it was to play Angel and Angelus against one another in the season 4 episode "Orpheus". ""Orpheus" is another one of my top 5 ever Angel episodes," David answers, "and the fight scene between Angel and Angelus was perhaps one of the most difficult scenes I have had to shoot. "I would take modern-day Angel back to Ireland and Italy to trace all of the European tales." ~ David on his Angel episode I had to film the scene from two perspectives using a stand-in to play the opposing role and base my reactions on what I had just filmed" David likes to get involved in as much of his own stunt work as possible. In a typical episode he usually likes to do at least 55% to 60% of his own action sequences (or as much as he is allowed to anyway) and leave the rest to his stunt double Mike Massa. However, a recent aggravation of an old knee injury (maybe the injury that caused him to tread the boards in the first place) has led to a reduced involvement, much to his frustration. When David speaks about his role as Angel, you are left with the impression that he is every bit as jazzed about the direction of his character now as he probably would have been back on his first day of filming. "People ask me do I like playing Angelus?" he says "and I do like being Angelus but I like Angel too. In nearly every episode, in every season we find new interesting aspects about Angel and that helps to keep the role fresh" With that in mind, if he had the opportunity to write an Angel episode without any budget restriction, what would he do? (CoA Citizen Avie asked that question.) "I would take modern-day Angel back to Ireland and Italy," he answers, "to trace all of the European tales and Angel would have flashbacks of the time he was there before" Following in the footsteps of The Scourge of Europe seems to intrigue David as it is the history of the leather clad bad boy that David would like to see as the main story-line of any potential Angel film. "If there was a film," he muses, "then I would like to see it look further into the history of Angelus but also give it a chance to resolve the outstanding issues left open with the Buffy and Angel relationship" And if it were to happen, who would David most like to see as his co-stars in an Angel movie? "The usual cast I would keep the same but the guest stars I would leave to the casting director," he admits although he has readily admitted that given the opportunity, he would like to work with Gary Oldman, Colin Farrell and Renee Zellweger. As a soul-ridden vampire, Angel has 100+ years to brood about all the bad things he has done and that has led to some pretty impressive angst. Playing out Angel's remorse has led to some extremely emotional scenes and has been one of David's key acting strengths. For a lot of fans Angel's departure from Sunnydale or Doyle's sacrifice at the hands of The Scourge have been heart rending to watch - have there been any scenes that David has found emotional to play. "The Sports store at the end of the season 4 finale "Home" with Vincent Kartheiser," he confirms without hesitation, "For Angel to see his son Connor with dynamite strapped to his chest, and to know that he would have to let him go in order to give him a life was disturbing and deeply emotional. I enjoyed working with Vincent and there is a chance that he will make an appearance in season 5. Connor doesn't remember who he is of course and no one else but Angel remembers him either so it could be interesting"   Go to Next Page