No one gives back to fandom with his colorful TV characters quite like James Marsters. The actor rose to geek infamy in the late 1990s playing the deliciously malevolent blond vampire Spike opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then hounded a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) as the robotic Brainiac on Smallville before throwing down with John Barrowman in the BBC’s popular Torchwood. Marsters adds to the list starting tomorrow, when he begins the first of five episodes on Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica prequel series, Caprica. His Barnabas Greeley is a rogue member of the enigmatic religious zealots known as Soldiers of the One, who believe in a single supreme god. He comes into conflict with Clarice (played by Polly Walker), who heads the STO faction on Caprica. “She’s too much of a pacifist. She’s like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and I’m like Malcolm X,” Marsters says. “He does not really agree with the way she’s doing it, and he’s starting his own faction with his own people.” Marsters just came back from working on a new album in London and New Jersey to spend time with his two kids — son Sullivan, 13, and niece Brittany, 12 — and took time out to talk about Barnabas and his other screen personas. Read below for our conversation and check out a sneak peek of Friday’s episode of Caprica.
Photos courtesy of SyFy, The WB
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How much leverage did they give you to make Barnabas your own?
I feel like I climbed into a playpen with a bunch of energetic children who were just playing. I got down there and the word was I was going to be in a kilt, which I thought was fabulous. I was running around in kilts the first day. We took pictures of that, the pictures went upstairs and they said, “Nah. Not cool enough.” They started throwing other stuff on me to the point where by the time we were filming, it was just like dark jeans, dark T-shirt and just a LOT of dirt. That worked great. And then a really cool jacket on top.
You’ve played some pretty famous characters over the years. Do you find that shades of any of them feed into Barnabas?
As Laurence Olivier said, an actor’s lucky if they have three characters in them and they’re just doing shades of that. I am hoping that there’s more than three. Maybe I have five. [Laughs]
Don’t you already have five by now?
[Laughs] I did do MacBeth before anyone knew about me, and that really helped me admit that I could be grossly evil if I was ambitious enough. Spike kind of furthered that, just to give in to being evil and just glory in it and realize that that is part of me. The robot on Smallville taught me how to manipulate the heck out of people and pretend that I care when I don’t. Doing Buzz Aldrin [in the TV movie Moonshot] and a cowboy for the Syfy movie High Plains Invaders last year helped me be steely, to cut myself off from all the emotions that swirl around the modern head and just be a fighter pilot or a cowboy — someone who does not cry. It all feeds into it. But as far as Barnabas, I feel like I’m maybe exploring a new place. He’s both intellectual but also really firmly rooted in his crotch and his stomach – he’s very visceral but he’s very intelligent at the same time. He’s very passionate about the cause he has. He lost a loved one to decadence, and he wants to help change the world. When was the last time I played a fanatic, someone who is so convinced they were right they were able to destroy things and still think they were good? I’m not sure I have.
Do you consider him a villain?
Hell no! You can’t. I’ve never thought [that] of any of the characters I’ve played who were making mistakes or hurting people. We’re all villains! It depends on if you’re hurting people or not on that day.
You’ve got a very fervent fan base, and you’ve kept feeding them cool characters over the years.
I’ve been very lucky. When a show needs a character that needs to pop, to really stir up the pot and change things a little bit, they tend to think of me. I keep getting handed these roles that are just designed for you to hit a home run, and they do everything they can to support you. Wow, if that’s my cross, I guess I’ll bear it.
When you were starting out as an actor, did you have that same reputation, in smaller theater groups or with people you worked with?
I never really thought about that. I tended to find a way to pop, whether that was supposed to happen or not. [Laughs] I never tried to steal the scene. I was always trying to serve the script, but yeah, I would get good attention and a lot of jealousy from other people. I discovered in fourth grade that I when I got in front of a group of people, we could have a lot of fun together.
You used to front the band Ghost of the Robot and now you’ve gone solo. Are you still doing a lot of music these days?
Yeah, I just did some scratch tracks for a new album with Charlie De Mars, the lead guitarist and songwriter for Ghost of the Robot. He and I have been playing with my son Sullivan, who is monster good at lead guitar now. Just strangely good, like “Where did that come from?” He was really good in baseball, and I just sucked at baseball when I was young. He was a pitcher and I’m trying to catch really fast fastballs and just fearing for my life, because I’m not that good a catcher. So when he picked up guitar, I was like, “Right on! Now he’s in my home turf. Now I’m going to be the guy who shows him all the ropes.” That lasted for about two weeks. I’m a rhythmic guitarist, and he just passed me like I was standing still.
Do your kids have a favorite James Marsters character?
No, none of them are interested in the slightest. In general, kids care about what happens after you come back from the office. They don’t care that much about the office itself. Sullivan was interested to see me play Buzz Aldrin and the cowboy, because they were both heroes. When I got Torchwood, I gave him a call and I said, “Dude! I’m playing this time agent, man! I’ve got two guns, a sword and a time wristwatch that lets me go back and forward in time at will. It’s so cool.” And he goes, “Dad, do you win?” I’m like, “What?” And he goes, “At the end of the episode, do you win or do you get your butt kicked like always?” “Well, I’ve got to play the villain so yeah, I get my butt kicked.” He’s like, “Alright. What else do you have to talk about?” He doesn’t want to see me do evil. He wants me to save people.
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I just love James
And I think it’s sweet that his son is only interested in watching the parts where he plays a hero (maybe when he gets a bit older he’ll decide to watch some of his dad’s other roles).
Thanks for the Caprica James Marsters interview – This series is turning out to be of the best things on television – Sure wish that it had a better schedule than the dreaded Friday night.
It was such a great pleasure to watch Mr. Marsters in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel on the outstanding Joss Whedon shows.
I am so glad that SyFy has created this additional series for the BSGverse.
His Spike was far and away the most interesting character on Buffy and he certainly added a lot of spice with his few episodes on TORCHWOOD. Love how James is not afraid to be a little subversive in the roles he plays.
I would not have watched Buffy the last 4 seasons if not for Spike. James is wonderful in any thing he does. Want to hear some good stuff, get the audio books of Dresden Files. He has a different voice and accent for each character and it is like a movie playing in my head. James really does need his own series, would love to see Spike and Illyria together.lol
I can’t wait until Friday. I agree that he does make a show more fun to watch. Look at Buffy and Angel for example. Buffy season two when he arrived, there was a lot of tension for Buffy. When he was gone for season three, except for one episode, the season lagged. When he came back on season four it picked up the tension, but also added an allie in time. Him and Anthony Stewart Head made that show. Then, when he went over to Angel, which by the way, was coming off of it’s worst season with season four, and already had excellent characters, he just brought them to a higher level. The was that they played the Angel and Spike hatred was assume. I really do wish that he had his own show. With all the crap that’s on TV, you can’t tell me he doesn’t deserve his own show. I think he would be best with a show on the History Channel or Discovery Channel. Something he’s interested in and would make it interesting. Think about it.
me too misty i am still guttered joss whedon didnt produce a show for him like he did for angel and faith!!!
<3
if he had his own show or even better his own series im sure the likes of gossip girl etc would seece to exist!!
hmm maybe we should start off a petition haha
good work James as allways im sure you’ll have our hearts pounding and keep us on the edge of our seats glued to the screen
hes the best – i cant get enough of James i will follow him wherever he goes, i wish he had his own show already!