|
Continued from previous page...
Julie Benz
It is always a difficult task to pick out the best of Julie's talk, as quite frankly everything is good. Julie is such an enthusiastic guest and always gives her all for the audience; it is easy to see why she is such a favourite with the fans. As she is complimented on her character Darla and her outstanding acting ability she is full of praise for Darla's 'voice' Tim Minear, "There's never been a moment in the six years I've done the show where I've ever felt, I've never once said, 'I don't think Darla would say this'. There's just never a moment like that. Tim Minear has just got her and he understands her and it's his voice and it's amazing. It's just been such a great gift and a great journey to go on with him." Tim Minear has been responsible for writing the death of two great characters, Darla and Doyle, so how difficult was it for Julie to shoot her final scene? Julie admits, "It was very hard. Darla's been such a gift I feel, I feel like I've been given a gift to be able to play a noble woman who's lived for 400 years and the stories -- I've found it's just some of the most amazing stuff on television and it was very difficult but it was also one of most beautiful endings that I've ever read. When they sent me the script, I cried and I thought, 'What a beautiful way to go,' and the last 20 minutes I finally redeemed myself. You know, years of terror and anger and all that stuff and I finally get to redeem myself at the end. It was difficult, we were shooting -- it was a night shoot and they had the rain machines and I had to lie on the ground, I got soaking wet. And it was really hard and a lot of the emotion that was there on film, a lot of it I was feeling, anyway."
Julie greets the fans Friday night to whistles and hoots
|
Then comes a confusing moment about exactly how many times Darla has died, "Actually, when you think about it, technically I've died four times. Because I died originally from a human into a vampire, and then brought back to life and then made into a vampire again, so that was like another death and then the final death. I died another time though, I don't know," she laughs. [When Angel dusted her in the Buffy episode Angel way back in Season One] Julie is asked about her favourite flashback scene, she tells us, "I really love the scenes where they showed how Darla died originally, I thought that was really interesting, We all had different ideas of where Darla came from and what she had been and I had two different theories; I had one where I thought maybe she was a vestal virgin and she had fallen from grace back in the Roman days but Joss was like, 'No you're not that old', and then my other one was that she was a prostitute. That was the only other choice I could see for her, so it was really great to see that, yes, she was a prostitute and that is how she died." Julie has a great idea for a flashback scene, if she had the choice, she smiles as she shares it with us, "I would have loved to have shown Darla in the 60's and 70's. I clearly see her at Club '54 in New York hanging out with Andy Warhol and doing that whole disco thing. Just feeding off all the druggies, that would have been a feast for her and she would have totally gotten into the big wigs and the tight little pants and all the stuff." A man at the back of the room asks, "I was just wondering if you thought Penn was sexy?" Julie can't see him at first and does not realise that it is Jeremy Renner; meanwhile the audience is in fits of laughter. Julie spots him at last, she laughs and pouts, "That's not funny, I'm not answering." More laughter ensues.
|
"I clearly see [Darla] at Club '54 in New York hanging out with Andy Warhol and doing that whole disco thing." ~ Julie
|
As to whom she enjoys working with the most, Julie is full of praise for David [Boreanaz], "We have a really great working relationship and he makes me feel so safe when we're working together. I know that we're going on the journey with these two characters and no matter what I have to do whether it's screaming, yelling, hitting, collapsing on the floor crying, he's going to be there for me at the end. He comes over, picks me up off the floor and brings me back to me. Gets me back laughing and that it's okay, he's a very generous, very gifted actor and I always look for him - I have a tendency to be really big sometimes, like when they tell me to be big, I'm huge! And he's very good at - I can look at him, I can give him a look and he's like, 'bring it down', and I know he's really, his work is very small and subtle, he's really good, he can do so much with just his eyes." Following on from that an audience member asks Julie if she has ever worked with anyone who has blown takes or been unprofessional that has perhaps annoyed her. "I've done that," she confesses laughing. "There have been times where David and I have just dissolved into giggles and we just can't get through the scene and there've been numerous -- I'm sure people have been very annoyed with us - I remember one specifically where I'm pregnant and I'm moaning and there was the whole, there was me and David and Charisma and J and Amy and my moaning was just funny. I would look up at David and he'd just be sitting off camera going like this", she demonstrates a silly face, "and of course it would make me go and then everybody else would go and we ended up not even being able to shoot that scene if was horrible and we got in so much trouble".
Asked how she feels the fanaticism surrounding Buffy and Angel impacts on the actors, Julie responds, "I think it's always surprising the fan response. We work on a sound stage and we work on set and it's in Los Angeles and there's numerous other shows being and you kind of forget the impact that your show may have on people across the country and the world; it's not something we really think about on a day-to-day basis. So to be able to come to an event like this and meet all the fans, it can become overwhelming because you don't really think - I honestly feel that I perform for the crew and I forget that people watch on television, that there're people who watch it across the world, so it can get very overwhelming." Swoop's hand is in the air, time for another question. "Are you watching the rest of the season to see how Angel's going to end with Darla's son and your dogs, what kind and what are their names?" Julie grins enthusiastically as she tells us about her dogs, "I have two Border Collies, their names are Elvis and Gracie and they drive me nuts because they're Border Collies, I don't know if you know anything about BC's but they're just nutty dogs but they're great, I love them, absolutely and I miss them. I haven't really seen any of the show since Darla's death; it's a little hard to do that. I saw one episode - I know where the storyline's going, they've told me so I know where it's going, where it's going to end up and I'll definitely watch the season finale because it's going to be really cool, really cool, big, huge -- huge! Oh my god. I had to separate myself from it for a while and I had to take a step back and let it live on its own and I watched my death once when it aired and I can't even look at it. It's hard, it's hard, it's not just about the character, but it's about the people that I've worked with too. It's such a family over there and naturally you have to kind of step back and let it go for a little bit before you can go back to it, but I'll definitely watch the finale. It's going to be great!"
The great love in her life is obviously her husband; this is evident as she tells the audience about the personal item that she most cherishes, "My wedding ring, because of what it stands for. The one thing I'm most proud of is the relationship I have with my husband. My wedding ring, in a way, symbolizes that so that is the possession I do cherish and mostly because of what it stands for, the value of being together forever." We may have lost Darla but fans in the US will see Julie in December in a new 20-hour mini series called Taken,that's being produced by Steven Spielberg for the Sci-fi Channel. Julie gives us a quick synopsis, "It deals with alien abductions and it starts in the 1940's and follows three different families to present day. In a way, they say it's kind of a third in the series if you look at the other film of Close Encounters and ET and even AI and then like, kind of this and his take on alien life." Given a choice for future roles and co-stars Julie would love to do a romantic comedy as she feels, "After spending 6 years playing such a dark, evil characters I'd like to do something a little lighter." She would like to work with Ewan MacGregor whom she really admires or, " Hugh Grant, I'd love to do a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant because who does it better than Hugh Grant?"
Stephanie Romanov
Her graceful stride and statuesque appearance earns her the envy of the female crowd, especially when she informs us that she does nothing at all in the way of an exercise routine. "You're gonna hate me, I'm naturally fit. I'm sorry. I don't snack, I don't have a huge sweet tooth so I don't eat a lot of sweets but I think because I danced most of my life and I was very athletic that my metabolism is pretty quick so I don't really have to do that much but I am starting to work out because I figure I should do that. And don't drink too much alcohol, that will save your figure." Ah, so that is where we are going wrong then Linda, no more of those Bacardi Breezers at the next Convention! Stephanie is also giftedly agile. "I have a natural right-hand punch and I did all my own stunts"; she is in fact an honorary member of the Stuntmen's Association. "I'm tough, I'm bad!" she laughs. We will hear that wonderful laugh a lot more today, in fact Stephanie laughs after almost every question, she has a very dry sense of humour! An amazing fact about Stephanie, by her own admission, is that she is actually a descendent of Alexander I, although if you know your European History you will probably have realised that 'Romanov' is the family name of the Russian Tsar! Stephanie explains her family history, "My father was actually born in Czechoslovakia and so it was just a few generations before him that they were actually in Russia, I just happen to have played a Russian about 4 times so I'm very good with the Russian accent. I'm good with accents in general. I can play almost anything, at least I think so." Just to prove this she demonstrates a perfect English accent, which earns her a round of applause from the audience.
|
"As Lilah I get to say really bad things, do the wrong things, and wear great lipstick." ~ Stephanie
|
When Stephanie auditioned for the role in Angel she thought it would be for one episode so she decided to try and change that, "I remember when I was preparing for the role I thought, 'I'm going to play this a little different that they expect because I want them to bring me back' and it worked." How does Stephanie relate to Lilah? "Well you know, I'm just like her. It's fun for me to play Lilah because I was raised to be quite polite, to try not to say a negative thing and be a really good person. And so as Lilah I get to say really bad things, do the wrong things and wear great lipstick." She also loves the suits, "I've always loved business attire, I tend to dress too conservatively. I'm always told I'm not hip enough so, for me, getting a character where you're suppose to be in business attire is great." Although we know Lilah as an evil lawyer, we have been seeing new sides to her this season and a lady in the audience asks Stephanie about this progression and the way in which she has been looking after her mother. Stephanie agrees, "I was actually quite thrilled that they were finally giving her a bit of a back story so they would have more than one dimension to play. You want to add more facets to the person, make them feel more personable even if it's in a negative way. But that was actually, I thought, kind of groovy because you saw maybe what drove her--that she needed the position and she needed the money and therefore would do whatever it took to keep her mom okay." So is there any chance that Lilah will turn to the good side? "I would always think that that would be part of the struggle whether you're on the good side or the bad side. I think in life we always try to do good and sometimes we do bad and for her she's always doing bad and sometimes she tries to do good. I love the one episode when she killed Billy, she got to be the hero, 'Wow, I like Lilah as the hero'."
Someone asks how challenging this episode was, as Lilah was quite badly beaten in it. Stephanie shares her experience with us, "I think what was most bizarre is when they do the make up on you. For this episode they had to keep my eye closed so I had this major migraine because only one eye was focusing. But the most bizarre thing is the way the crew responds to you, because you really look like you've been beaten up badly so everyone's, 'Are you okay?' and being really accommodating which is wild. You're appearing that way would definitely - because you have to play the emotion of being beaten up, it's always disturbing. That episode was quite disturbing to me. A lot of times I'll read the scripts and we'll have to do them and it can be depressing for me because by nature I'm an upbeat, loving person and suddenly you are faced with dealing with emotions that are not innately natural for you." Amongst her acting credits, Stephanie played Jacqueline Kennedy to whom she has a remarkable physical resemblance; she is asked if it was difficult to play such a well-known, dynamic American character? Stephanie enthuses, "I was actually excited, number one, I've been told I look like her since I was 16 so when you're told you look like someone you tend to read a lot about them. So there wasn't much research I had to do because I basically knew her life, however she had a very specific accent that was very different than mine, three layers and almost coming from three different parts of America and trying to match it up so that was the biggest challenge for me, but I didn't feel intimidated because I knew her so well, but mostly I wanted to play her in a way that she would have approved of. And in that way I felt that I accomplished it."
If Stephanie were given the chance to choose a leading man of her choice to play opposite, she would choose Brad Pitt, but not for the reasons you may think! Stephanie laughs, "Brad Pitt", and as the audience applauds and laughs with her, she responds more seriously, "not just because he's super handsome and has a great and awesome body, it's also because I really respect the choices he's made. He's a beautiful man who has chosen to do a lot of different types of roles and to beat himself up or whatever. I believe he has artistic integrity." Stephanie tells us that her favourite film is The Sound Of Music and one of her favourite songs from the film would have to be " How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria." Time for some fun now as someone in the audience asks Stephanie to cast and direct her own version of The Sound Of Music, using only the Angel cast! Stephanie laughs as she thinks about it (decisions, decisions), "I would choose, okay Christian would be Christopher Plummer. It has to be David but whatever and I would be Maria, imagine that! Charisma would be the Baroness." This generates lots of Oohs and Aahs from the audience. Stephanie will not be moved on this, "Well hey, I'm gonna be the star if I'm casting it. And there's no other pretty girls in the show so she has to be that and then ah, oh Andy would be the head Mother Teresa!" More laughter and applause. "And the demons can be all the children. Oh wait, no Darla could be the Baroness, hmm, you know it's too complicated." As someone shouts, 'Who would be Uncle Max?' Stephanie completes her casting, "Right! Uncle Max that would have to be - oh holy smokes, Gunn. He could be Rolph, what do you guys think? David would be Rolph! There you go." Well if this production ever becomes reality, it could break all box office records!
|
