I'd like to think this is true. But even if it isn't I don't care because I love their characters just the same 🙂
Was there any actor who hated their character?
- Thread starter PaulParmar1
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I'd like to think this is true. But even if it isn't I don't care because I love their characters just the same 🙂
AnthonyCordova
By suffering, learning
Method ators often come to personalize the characters they portray, meaning that they sink into their characters and really try to understand and become them, which is the key to many method actors' success; when they do this we become convinced that they truly are the people they portray and everything takes on an extra sense of believability. I bring this up because I wonder if NB's off camera personal problems might have been compounded by playing the role of Xander for so long, and having to convincingly portray all of that character's problems and insecurities. Similar things have been mentioned by other actors before. I have read that Heath Ledger, in attempting to get in the head to explore and understand the nature of the Joker, came to internalize the Joker's nihilism and suffered afterwards in real life from it, which led to his eventual suicide. Questions like this really interest me (those having to do with the real life effects of internalizing a fictional character due to prolonged exposure).
Does anyone else think that NB's personal issues might have had a little to do with having to play Xander (Xander's many insecurities, just as an example), having to internalize for such a long time the character of Xander and his problems?
Does anyone else think that NB's personal issues might have had a little to do with having to play Xander (Xander's many insecurities, just as an example), having to internalize for such a long time the character of Xander and his problems?
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November
Heath didnt suicide, it was an accidental od
PaulParmar1
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thrasherpix
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My immediate reaction is no. In part, that's because as a writer I try really hard getting into the heads of the characters (which may or may not be based on real life people, some of whom I just can't really understand) and I don't notice that it affects me, not even when I focus on the cynical, bitter, and tragic figures for long periods of time (if anything that makes me feel better about my own life). Also in part, plenty of actors love playing the villain because it's so much fun, but they don't internalize it. I believe the actors of the original Star Trek said playing their evil versions (from Mirror, Mirror) was the most fun they had. In addition to having a twisted sense of humor that can easily disturb others, if I were into acting then I'd want to play the villain as well (which is why it's strange when some actors don't want their character to do something terrible--my best guess is because they're raised on that nonsense that if you think it then it's just as bad as if you done it), and yet I've been called a sap easily taken advantage of and goody-two-shoes in real life.
I'd think if acting did that then James Marsters and Sarah Gellar (from later seasons, who especially in season 7 seemed to play Buffy as punching those who called her on her BS) would be more like NB, and yet I don't think they are. And (not counting the demonic glamor in Hell's Bells) Xander was never portrayed as violent and cruel to those he loved as Buffy and Spike could be again and again. The actors who played Giles and Jenny don't seem to be imitating their characters, either.
However, NB is said to have come from a broken home filled with abuse (and THAT seems far more likely an explanation for his current state right now than any acting role, not that all people from that background repeat it), and I have heard or read that some people turn to acting as an escape from their own life, and are good at it because of all the practice they get pretending their home life is very different, and may actually disassociate themselves, and if that's the case then I could see an acting role contributing to a person's fall, though it would only be one factor that may have either sped it up or slowed it down (especially as Xander coming from a broken home, and all the crap of season 6, may have gotten NB to think on his own life in a depressing way).
And back when I mixed with neopagans I did see a few who adopted a patron deity or totem who would begin manifesting marked personality differences based on whatever they revered (and invoked regularly, that is called into themselves, much as an actor might be said to do with a character), and could eerily seem to show patterns of that power somehow manifesting in their life metaphorically (followers of a goddess of chaos experiencing extreme chaos that seemed random, as just one example).
AnthonyCordova
By suffering, learning
@thrasherpix could it be that NB was predisposed psychologically in ways that the rest of the cast wasn't, and that possibly Xander's various problems might have echoed some of his own preexisting personal issues from his childhood and that as a result playing Xander was a constant reminder of his own personal problems, and in this sense the role compounded his problems?
Professor Walsh
Feminist slayerette
Cause and effect. Why do people choose the deities they do? Because the gods/godesses/whatever reflects something in themselves. (There you go, @Anyanka Bunny Killer , I am hereby psycho-analysing your reported fondness for Loki 😛 )
thrasherpix
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This includes women who chose warrior goddesses and the like to overcome the passivity that allowed them to be victims. As a general result, they tended to get into a lot of conflict that could be said to be cause and effect which is why I didn't mention them. Of course it can be said that the warrior within was always within them, just repressed (many love to go on how women typically have freeze/befriend rather than the fight/flight responses the same as men but don't talk about why that is, which isn't biology), and embracing the Morrigan or what have you was just the permission they needed to release the power (and the danger) of their anger to stop the intolerable situations they were used to dealing with up to that point, but it was still remarkable to see their personalities shift so drastically in a relatively short time.
Professor Walsh
Yes, I am familiar with what you are describing. Out of curiosity: Why did you stop hanging with the neopagans?
Anyanka Bunny Slayer
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Oddly enough, I do have a few things in common with him. And not just the devastating good looks!
(And I just happened to be watching Thor again, when I saw your post. 😛)
PaulParmar1
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thrasherpix
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@Professor Walsh: I stopped hanging around neopagans because I slowly regained my agnosticism. Due to an experience when I was 15 I believed the gods were real (though not necessarily as they advertised themselves, and thought Jehovah sounded more like a demon than a god, kind of a Moloch/Malcolm-like figure from Buffy, but still a power like Thor, Loki, and the like--not to be confused with the Marvel or other media representations). I was particularly attracted to one goddess in particular that I saw as having an objective existence outside of me and humanity, and I found reasons to mix with other neopagans, though few saw them as literal as I did, even if they did share my reverence (and many also with a humor I enjoyed).
But as I began to see the gods and such as symbols within human consciousness, I began to explore them in a less-religious way, and slowly lost my reverence. I also moved around and made life choices that made it a bit harder to interact with neopagans as casually as I used to (and less reason to do so as my faith waned) and those I was closest to also drifted from neopaganism (one now a straight up atheist, another a Taoist). Also, neopagans in general once seemed to have a sense of humor I enjoyed, it seemed the humor dried up while the common drama remained, so I lost interest in mixing with neopagans I didn't already know as I no longer expected them to be pleasant or fun. It's not that I believe it's all nonsense now (though lots of nonsense gets mixed into it because of both ego and because we "see through a glass darkly" in which it's very difficult to understand the Archetypes), but it's more of a mystery that puzzles me than a reality that inspires reverence in me as it used to, and while I don't actively avoid neopagans, I also don't feel interested in seeking them out as I used to, nor a desire to honor the gods that I no longer really believe in.
But as I began to see the gods and such as symbols within human consciousness, I began to explore them in a less-religious way, and slowly lost my reverence. I also moved around and made life choices that made it a bit harder to interact with neopagans as casually as I used to (and less reason to do so as my faith waned) and those I was closest to also drifted from neopaganism (one now a straight up atheist, another a Taoist). Also, neopagans in general once seemed to have a sense of humor I enjoyed, it seemed the humor dried up while the common drama remained, so I lost interest in mixing with neopagans I didn't already know as I no longer expected them to be pleasant or fun. It's not that I believe it's all nonsense now (though lots of nonsense gets mixed into it because of both ego and because we "see through a glass darkly" in which it's very difficult to understand the Archetypes), but it's more of a mystery that puzzles me than a reality that inspires reverence in me as it used to, and while I don't actively avoid neopagans, I also don't feel interested in seeking them out as I used to, nor a desire to honor the gods that I no longer really believe in.
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white avenger
white avenger
I won't say that Sarah hated her role as Buffy as much as she was just somewhat irritated that, even well after the series ended, that was just about the only thing that the fans remembered her for. She just had the dubious luck of landing the role of a lifetime too early in her acting career.
DagonSphere
Potential
Vincent Kartheiser has spoken a lot of times about how he didn't enjoy his time on Angel, because he had to play the same beats over and over again, be angry and confused, have fights with Angel.
With David Boreanaz, I do often feel that he is not that appreciative of Angel. Even if he's not a sentimental guy, he seemed to be more into Bones. But I think that might also have to do with him just being a natural dork and I think playing the Angel character for so long was probably boring to him, because he had to fight and brood so much. Bones was a much lighter show, he didn't have as many nightshoots and he was also always more into the procedural stuff, which is why his favorite seasons of Angel were the first and the last.
SMG, I think she worked her butt off during the Buffy years and then she wanted to do something else and not always be connected with Buffy, but once she got older and got more distance from being Buffy, she became very appreciative of it. Today she's doing Buffy throwbacks on Instagram and she has said that she is content with her acting career because Buffy gave her the opportunity to do so much that she doesn't feel the need to chase a big acting career anymore or what not.
With David Boreanaz, I do often feel that he is not that appreciative of Angel. Even if he's not a sentimental guy, he seemed to be more into Bones. But I think that might also have to do with him just being a natural dork and I think playing the Angel character for so long was probably boring to him, because he had to fight and brood so much. Bones was a much lighter show, he didn't have as many nightshoots and he was also always more into the procedural stuff, which is why his favorite seasons of Angel were the first and the last.
SMG, I think she worked her butt off during the Buffy years and then she wanted to do something else and not always be connected with Buffy, but once she got older and got more distance from being Buffy, she became very appreciative of it. Today she's doing Buffy throwbacks on Instagram and she has said that she is content with her acting career because Buffy gave her the opportunity to do so much that she doesn't feel the need to chase a big acting career anymore or what not.
AlphaFoxtrot
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That's not Jenny Calendar though, that's Jenny's shade, hollowed out and used as a puppet by a malicious satanic evil thing to talk people into committing suicide. They wanted Tara to come back for conversations with Dead people the same way, and she refused, and I have to believe NB had strong opinions about Xander being killed by Caleb. The First Evil guises are completely different from the Character.
True, but the First Evil used the "shells" to manipulate other characters; to taunt them. As an actor being called back to a role that you might have loved in the past to play "the shell" being controlled by the ultimate evil force - I'm sure as a born-again Christian that Robia LaMorte felt she wanted to reprise the role, but on reflection she felt it wasn't right. Ultimately as well, "evil shell" Jenny is the last time the viewer sees Jenny on-screen.
I'm not a born again Christian, an actress, or religious at all for that matter, but I'm pretty sure I'd think twice about reprising a role I was proud of if the character came back as a vessel for pure, unadulterated evil. I really respect Amber Benson for standing her ground on it, even though I personally felt as a viewer that Cassie should have been Tara.
Oh and Donald Sutherland HATED playing Merrick. He hated the script and he hated the part. He rewrote all his lines which is why most of his stuff doesn't make sense. He was a total diva on set because he was the famous actor, but I still unashamedly love him in it. 😉