From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   http://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/local-arts/how-james-mars   
   ers-found-enough-love-in-spike-to-cheat-his-way-to-a-starring-ro   
   e-on-buffy-the-vampire-slayer   
      
   How James Marsters found enough love in Spike to cheat his way to a starring   
   role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   
      
   James Marsters had a sneaky plan when it came to extending the life of Spike   
   on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   
      
   When the actor was cast as the platinum-haired vampire, Buffy creator Joss   
   Whedon had a fairly simple vision for the character.   
      
   “He said, ‘You are here because I do not want to be like Scooby-Doo,'”   
   says   
   Marsters, whose attendance at this year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment   
   Expo will include a Friday night acoustic concert at Cowboys. ” ‘I don’t   
   want to have a new villain every single episode. So I’m trying to have   
   villains that last for five or six. Then we kill them. So you’re going to   
   last for five or six episodes and then we’re going to kill you off. But   
   that’s   
   it. You are a soulless vampire who has no remorse and no feelings for   
   anyone.'”   
      
   Marsters agreed. But secretly he knew from the get-go that he was going to   
   sabotage Whedon’s plan. He was going to cheat. He was going to give Spike   
   love. He was going to make him interesting. So the California-born,   
   theatre-trained actor adopted a British accent and turned Spike into a   
   charming devil that Buffy devotees couldn’t resist.   
      
   “As an actor, if I find the love in a character — find what that character   
   loves — you find the rocket fuel or the gold in the mountain; you find the   
   stuff that really starts to propel you,” Marsters says. “Sometimes that’s   
   love denied, or love betrayed, love corrupted. But in this case, but the   
   love for Drusilla initially was the love I found in Spike. And I played that   
   as fully as I could. That probably saved his life.”   
      
   As fans know, Spike lived from his introduction in the show’s second year   
   until the show wrapped in 2003 after seven seasons. He also appeared in the   
   spinoff, Angel, in its fifth season, reuniting him with his rival and   
   sometimes ally played by David Boreanaz. But even after Spike’s on-air life   
   came to an end, he somehow manages to live on. That was clear earlier this   
   month when Entertainment Weekly reunited the cast of Buffy the Vampire   
   Slayer for a cover story. Spike may have come with a ready-made love   
   interest in Season 2 with Drusilla, but it was his eventual relationship   
   with the slayer herself that still gets tongues wagging. Fans were divided   
   into Team Spike or Team Angel when it came to determining who Buffy’s proper   
   love interest should be. Even CNN was reporting on how the cover story   
   revived the Spike vs. Angel debate.   
      
           [more at the link]   
      
      
   David   
      
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