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Whose side is he on? American in Brit's clothing Alexis
Denisof charts the rise and fall of Wesley Wyndham-Price,
Angel's boss until recently..
For nearly two-and-a-half years, Wesley Wyndham-Price
has been a member of Angel Investigations, facing monsters
and demons the like of which many humans would baulk
at. First appearing in `Buffy the Vampire Slayer's third
season, Wesley has come a long way from his original
`English irritant' phase and become a force to be reckoned
with, and, indeed, the leader of Angel's intrepid band.
Actor Alexis Denisof, a curious interview subject because
his American accent keeps him a step removed from the
perfect British tones of Wesley, is justifiably proud
of the transformation.
"Originally, because he was a very temporary
character, you weren't expected to go deeply into this
human being, he was there to be a foil for Buffy and
Giles, to irritate them and to have the pie land in
his face", explains the actor. "I felt the
funniest thing for him to be was as if the pie hadn't
hit him in the face. So he's constantly slipping up
and making an ass of himself, but either not admitting
it or not realizing it. And that's what I thought was
funny about him. He was in this sort of cocoon of [Denisof
slips into his Wesley voice] `It's all going terribly
well', whilst slipping on a banana peel. So that was
the grain of what I started with.
"Then I asked myself `What would irritate Giles
and what would irritate Buffy?' and `What sort of person
would be the greatest contrast to their world and their
way of working together?', and then I considered the
actual specifics of the character, being a Watcher,
being fresh out of the academy as it were, being new
to Sunnydale; a lot of those elements were brought over
into `Angel' but we added into that this period of having
been fired by the Council and going out on his own and
discovering that he was a lone warrior. A bit of an
inept lone warrior.
"That was the period where there were two things
co-existing, this attempt to stand up and be something
of his own but still having an awful lot of the old
Wesley in two, because I think for things to be real,
the transformation has to take place over time and be
organic and it's a result of the experiences of the
characters. So I used he events that happen onscreen
and the events that are referred to offscreen as ways
in which the character moves forward, but I don't think
you can just turn up and be someone completely different.
I mean, it would have been preposterous if he was just
suddenly cool. I don't think people would have accepted
that. That stuff is in the real of soap opera or something."
Between his stints on `Buffy' and `Angel', the actor
found time to show his tougher side by appearing in
the revived `Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)' episode
`Paranoia', as a security agent with an unpleasant agenda.
Somehow his guest role managed to slip through the net,
his appearance surprising his growing number of UK fans.
"I know. I'm never very good at that whole `blowing
the trumpet' stuff", he admits sadly. "I just
happened to be over there. Season three [of `Buffy']
had finished and I was anxious to get home to London;
I have a place there and a car and friends and my life
was there. The interview came up, and I'm a huge fan
of Charlie [Higson, writer and executive producer] and
Paul [Whitehouse, occasional comedy associate], I've
loved them ever since `The Fast Show', and I knew them
a little bit through Caroline Aherne, because we had
gone out.
"It was just a very normal procedure of being
sent the script through the agent over in London. I
thought, `I like the original series, I like Charlie
and Paul and it would just be fun to be part of this
series', so I didn't worry about it much beyond that.
There were a couple of scenes that were fun to play,
and I thought, `Well, that's a good enough reason to
go down and have fun with people I really admire.'
"It was a funny show too, I mean, it was a funny
turn for the character. It's something I like doing,
you can probably tell, those sort of characters who
aren't what they seem to be. And that was him. He starts
as this formal American security guard who does everything
by the numbers, and then gets a little bit smarmy and
sexy with the hot girl, and then turns out to be a complete
psycho by the end.
"I'm not sure that many people connected the
two", he considers, when asked if people realised
bumbling Wesley was also this sharp-suited psychopath.
"I think people just didn't realise it was the
same person or something. You could miss it completely,
it could have just gone under the radar.
"Which really didn't bother me a bit", he
concludes. "I try not to get too worked up over
who's doing what and who's high profile and who's low
profile and how do I fit into that because it's just
a labyrinth that you'll never figure out. So I look
at the script and the part and the people you'll be
working with and just really make a decision based on
that more than anything else."
Moving back to the more inept version of Wesley, it
took the character's arrival in LA to move him away
from this and make him a more rounded person. Okay,
so he could still pratfall with the best of them, but
as time went on, Wesley continued to surprise, taking
on monsters and demons with courage and, eventually,
competence. It's suggested that judging by Cordelia
and now Wesley's harder attitude, maybe it's simply
that people are forced to grow up quicker in the harsh
world of `Angel'. "Yeah, I think there's something
in the psychology of our show which demands that",
agrees Denisof. "`Buffy' was a story of kids going
through a high school that happened to be on a Hellmouth.
So the most extraordinary things would happen to them,
but essentially they're high school kids. Now that's
moved to the next step to college, but in a sense that's
being preserved. I think our show is a little grittier.
We're not in a college dorm, we're on the streets of
LA, and there are really rough things going on. So I
think the characters are forced to grow up quicker and
forced to evolve quicker. I think we're a slightly darker
show and we go through a more compressed, denser experience
on `Angel'."
A quick sidetrack into the character's more hopeless
past while we're here, though. At the time of this interview,
`Cult Times' was running a competition: `What was Wesley's
contribution to the final battle against the Mayor in
`Buffy' season three finale `Graduation Day'?' Why not
get the man himself to give a definitive answer?
"Well, that's a good story", Denisof begins,
reliving the memory. "We were gearing up for that
big fight, good versus evil, and in the front row is
Angel and right next to him is Wesley and they're lining
up that shot and the stunt crew are all over and fights
are being worked out here, there and everywhere. And
Joss [Whedon] says `Listen, we've been a bit hard on
Wesley, shall we give him something spectacular so that
he can redeem himself?' and we both thought about it
for a second and looked at each other and simultaneously
had the same idea, and I think we more or less said
it at the same time: `Or shall we have him knocked out
immediately?' I'm afraid we couldn't resist the one-punch-and-out
option, so sadly Wesley charges in full `Braveheart'
mode and is taken out with the first blow.
"It's been very heartwarming, I must say",
adds Denisof. "The season on `Buffy', and even
at the beginning of `Angel', there was the occasional
harsh word directed towards myself and my dear friend
Wesley, but lately I've mostly received only pleasantries
and nice compliments. So either they've just got used
to him or are sick of complaining about him or they've
decided he's an all right chap after all."
During his first few months on `Angel', it seemed
Wesley was getting the brunt of the show's injuries.
While it's possible the show's creators were hoping
to make fans sympathize for the character by doing the
nasty things to him, Denisof claims he's not fed up
with his character being seriously hurt.
"No, funnily enough I'm not. It's in the line
of duty." Is there anything more that can be done
to the poor guy, though? "It's been the full gamut",
agrees the actor. "I haven't given birth yet, so
let's hope that doesn't happen. I've been burnt, I've
been shot, I've been cut, I've been stabbed, that's
right," he responds, as he's prompted with a list
of violent occasions. "I've been mutilated, I've
been punched on numerous occasions. I've been blown
up. So you're right. We're running out of [injury methods].
I don't know what we'll do. The show may have to stop,"
he laughs.
"I think he's a good character to have those
things happen to," offers Denisof, surprisingly.
"Listen, everyone's had a pretty rough ride on
that show. Angel's routinely stabbed and shot, it just
doesn't bother him." He laughs again. "And
Cordelia's had her fair share. She's possessed by the
visions and had quite a few demon trespasses against
her and been knocked about pretty savagely herself.
So I think I'm in reasonable company. Maybe they'll
start beating up poor Fred now that she's around, I
don't know."
Gunn's been getting off lightly though, hasn't he?
"Yeah, I think you're right actually. I work with
him on Wednesday, I might just take a couple of shots
at him myself, just level the ground a little."
Isn't there a chance to say not to all this violence
and let Gunn do some work? "Yes", chuckles
Denisof, before lapsing into his Wesley voice again.
"`I'm not getting beaten up today, I'm not feeling
up to it, quite frankly. This one's yours, my friend.'"
Since he took the boss's desk at Angel Investigations,
surely there's much less chance of permanent damage
being done to poor Wesley. After all, you can't kill
off the leader of the team. "Oh, I wouldn't go
that far!", exclaims the actor. "We all feel
the ice is pretty thin. I mean, they killed off Doyle
after eight or nine shows, so you never know. No, going
back to being shot and stabbed and burnt and blown up,
I always get a bit nervous and flip to the last scene
to see if I'm still in the story. I hop that they would
have the decency to call me and let me know if I was
killed off before I actually read it in the script,
but you never know. Schedules are tough, time is tight.
"I would be very sad if they found there was
no room for Wesley any more."
Interview by Paul Spragg
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