Billy Idol As Spike

hoponlilmama

hoponlilmama

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No, not because of the series, but I am a big Billy Idol fan.

Over the years I've seen him mention a couple of times that he was actually asked to play Spike? Is this true? His manager apparently talked him out of it. He was advised it was only going to be a small part and for a few episodes.

This is from a fan Q&A from a number of years ago where he mentioned it:
(in this snippet he says he was asked to be a werewolf, but I think he meant to say vampire)


And then in an interview/fan Q&A from last month he's mentioned it again:

www.theguardian.com

Billy Idol: ‘I stole the master tapes for Rebel Yell – and gave them to my heroin dealer’

The Generation X punk turned arena rocker answers your questions on near-misses in Hollywood, his overlooked electronic period and how Marc Bolan helped launch his career
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
"They wanted me to play Spike, to be quite honest. I wanted to do it because I believed I could learn to act by doing it. But my manager didn’t want me to do television. So I didn’t. But that’s exactly what they were doing: they were basing it on me."


Wonder what the series would've been like if they actually had him on board? James has mentioned in the past Spike was only meant to be on the season for 5 - 10 episodes. I assume they would've gone through with the story that Angelus was supposed to kill Spike off.
 
hoponlilmama said:
Wonder what the series would've been like if they actually had him on board? James has mentioned in the past Spike was only meant to be on the season for 5 - 10 episodes. I assume they would've gone through with the story that Angelus was supposed to kill Spike off.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think Spike would have been killed of, because I can't imagine someone like Billy Idol remaining on the series. Not because of how good or bad he might be, but because he had an existing career and would be unlikely to be able to afford that sort of time commitment.
 
Wow, I didn't know this! I think it would have thrown the balance of the show off, though, if they'd had a celebrity playing a role that was supposed to be part of an ensemble. He would have been Billy Idol, not the character Spike, whenever we saw him.
hoponlilmama said:
He was advised it was only going to be a small part and for a few episodes.
Click to expand...
It definitely would have been if he'd have been Spike, and I for one like most of Spike's longer arc in the series.
hoponlilmama said:
I wanted to do it because I believed I could learn to act by doing it.
Click to expand...
And then there's that. He might have been terrible!
 
NotASlayer said:
Yes, I think Spike would have been killed of, because I can't imagine someone like Billy Idol remaining on the series. Not because of how good or bad he might be, but because he had an existing career and would be unlikely to be able to afford that sort of time commitment.
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree. He couldn't have been a repeat villain.

Im no Spuffy, but I am glad we got more of Spike. He still had some fun times and lines.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
I just wish they had gone a different way with him post-Primeval. Like Angel S5.
Stake fodder said:
Wow, I didn't know this! I think it would have thrown the balance of the show off, though, if they'd had a celebrity playing a role that was supposed to be part of an ensemble. He would have been Billy Idol, not the character Spike, whenever we saw him.

It definitely would have been if he'd have been Spike, and I for one like most of Spike's longer arc in the series.

And then there's that. He might have been terrible!
Click to expand...
Much like when Britney Spears was supposed to star in the episode as April (IWMTLY), all the audience would've seen is a celebrity in a role, rather than focusing on the character.

Who knows, though. He may have been flawless in the role of Spike!

He suffered a bad motorcycle accident in 1990, almost losing his leg, and endured a long recovery. For that, he potentially lost out on playing the T-1000 in the Terminator 2 film. Robert Patrick ended up being the perfect fit, though!

NotASlayer said:
Yes, I think Spike would have been killed of, because I can't imagine someone like Billy Idol remaining on the series. Not because of how good or bad he might be, but because he had an existing career and would be unlikely to be able to afford that sort of time commitment.
Click to expand...
Yeah I definitely think they would've stuck to the original 5 - 10 episode arc for him and he would've been killed off, bad acting or otherwise.

Mind you in 1998 Idol's career was a bit quiet (but that was the year he had the cameo in The Wedding Singer which I think helped reignite some interest in him!) so if things had gone well he may have had the time on his hands.

I'm glad in the end James won out and scored the role, in the end. I've aired my disappointment, like you, on where his character went in s5 and onwards, but am glad he hung around a while more on the series.
 
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