David Boreanaz ~ Angel

Being the headliner for a show is never easy. David Boreanaz has had to put in consistent, quality work every day for over seven years. Because of his constant efforts, he really appreciates this milestone for the show. “It’s cool. I’m fortunate to be part of a great cast and crew and some great writers that have brought us this far. It’s a combination of a lot of hard work from everybody and a great network that has been behind us.” The 100th episode has really been special for him because it has allowed him to reflect on his work. “You don’t really get a chance to do that because of the intensity and the hours. Maybe I’ll do that someday, but I haven’t taken the time to really sit back and think about certain things. I have in this episode because it’s been full swing with the storyline and characters that have come and gone emotionally.” While he has no plans to leave Angel anytime soon, David feels that he has really grown as an artist. “I can feel myself continuing to grow year after year, especially where I am right now. I look forward to a massive explosion in the next three years. I feel that I am at another threshold and I am excited about that. This is a very exciting time for me because I felt like I did before I got Buffy in a lot of ways. I’m pleased to get to a hundred episodes and look at it for what it is, but as far as professionally I know that I am ready for a lot of new things.”

This season has also marked another milestone for David - he directed his very first episode. “I’ve always been fascinated with the camera, the movement, communicating with other actors, being in that position to know what they want to hear and what they don’t want to hear, and knowing how they feel at certain times. Directing is really about telling somebody to put applesauce on the table,” he explained. “You’re directing a prescription for an already prescribed show. You have your limitations but you can put your mark on it. I feel like I did that with this show that I directed, but then again I’m not the show runner, I don’t get the final cut. I will have a Director’s cut that will be much longer,” he said with a laugh. More than anything, David is just proud of the show and of where it has gone. “I think that this season has been my most enjoyable as far as the show has been concerned. Whether it’s the beginning of another year or the end, I think that it is a good cap on the show. It has been different and it has been unique and it has been a lot of fun. The shows have been much more stand-alone, smaller arcs, not as heavy as last year. But I think it’s maintained its dignity, its composure, and what it stands for.”

J. August Richards ~ Charles Gunn

If anyone has gone through a drastic change this season, it has been Charles Gunn. Before, he was strictly a fighter. Now, with his new brain upgrade, he wears fancy suits while spitting off lawyer jargon with ease; and J. August Richards is loving it. Wearing one of Gunn’s expensive suits, J. August is beyond stylish. While his character change has been a challenge, he has embraced it completely. “I’m really liking it and that’s one of the things that keeps the show interesting for me personally. This season I get to play a lawyer, someone who is being morally seduced by Wolfram & Hart. He’s having a lot of moral ambiguity. I have a lot of talking to do now like in terms of long exposition speeches, which scare me more than vampires,” J. joked. As an added perk, J. August’s plea to grow his hair was finally answered. “When Joss told me what was going to happen I immediately said, ‘OK now I gotta grow my hair. Now you got to let me have my hair.’” A new office, complete with a collection of toy robots, was also a nice surprise. “My character is such a child at heart. That’s why I think that I like fighting so much through him, because he’s just like a kid at heart. He loves the video games, robots, anything that’s youth oriented. So that’s part of my character that I can kind of relate to because I like to keep it young with my hobbies.” Of course, those suits are nothing to scoff at either. “I knew the clothes were gonna be hot,” he said while pointing to his shirt. “This is Versace. You like how I didn’t even have to look? That’s right, that’s right,” he laughed.

While he doesn’t know what Joss has in store for Gunn, J. August has formed his own opinions on his current path. “I would say [he’s evil], but only because I think he’s been completely seduced and taken off his path. Evil can take place in so many ways and it’s such a subtle difference. Like they say, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ That’s who my character has become for me.” One of the subtle differences has to do with the arrival of a certain platinum haired vampire. “One thing that lets me know that Gunn has lost his center a little bit is that he doesn’t hate Spike. My character always hates the new person. But this time he’s letting him in. That tells you, to me, that something is askew; something is awry.” Just as their characters are drawn to each other, J. August welcomed the addition of James Marsters to the cast. “I love working with James. He’s a very talented actor and brings a lot to the table. I feel like he fit in so effortlessly that it’s not been a challenge. It doesn’t feel like some foreign body is being forced into our world. It's just very seamless, he fits in wonderfully and hopefully he likes us to,” he explained. While many people were stressing over whether or not Season Five would even exist, J. August has learned to take it all in stride. “It’s funny because it seems like almost every year there’s a question about whether we’re going to get picked up or not and we do, and we come through. I’ve learned to stop thinking about it, stop worrying about it. The minute I say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re definitely coming back,’ that will be the season that we don’t come back. So I’m just rolling with the punches.”

James Marsters ~ Spike

James Marsters has always been a fan favorite. His move to Angel was one of the most anticipated events in the history of the show. Having been a part of now two one hundred episode shows, James truly counts his blessings. Not one to let popularity go to his head, he is extremely grateful for all his success. “I’m so lucky. That’s what happened with me on Buffy. I jumped onto a show that was already a success and I did it again. And I’m just reaping the rewards of other people’s work again. Lucky.” While Spike may have become an icon, James tries to distance himself from getting cocky. “I still am resistant to think about that [Spike’s popularity]. I think that, in general, celebrity will destroy your soul. If you concentrate too much on how popular you are, or what the affect is out there, it just trips with your head. I contemplated a little too deeply one season and it really was too trippy. I’m so appreciative of it, it’s wonderful, but what is important is really what I do today and if I suck or if I don’t suck,” he admitted. James is constantly surprised at the direction his character has taken. He assumed that he would be merely a fun annoyance to Angel. The writers, as he explains, won’t keep things simple. “We just did a big fight between Angel and Spike. I would have bet my whole nut on... I would have bet my guitar, on the fact that Angel was going to win that fight. What they’ve done is open Angel for a whole new arc of self-doubt and a whole new reason to try to redeem yourself beyond the reward. Genius.” James has also begun to realize that there is a lot more dramatic potential between Angel and Spike than he initially thought. “For example, Spike never bought that Angel was reformed. He was like, ‘Bullshit, you’re still gonna kill people, I don’t buy that for a second.’ It doesn’t register with Angel now that Spike has gotten a soul and is reformed. He does not see himself in Spike at all and I think that is because Angel has seen Spike do such horrendous evil that he just can not believe that you can come back from that. And Spike doesn’t believe that Angel can come back, even though they’re both hoping to come back from doing what they’ve done. It’s a really wonderful doppelganger for him,” he explained.

Since his arrival, vicious false rumors have spread over the Internet about James taking over on set. Scoffing at the rumors, he explains that things couldn’t be farther from the truth. “Between David and I functionally? There are no sparks at all. I am in awe of this guy. He is the same guy that I met a long time ago filming Buffy. This guy that broke a f***ing 2x4 with his head! He was doing a gag where they had a wire on his back. It went a little wrong and he went through with his head and broke it! He’s bleeding and he’s like nothing, he’s hiding the blood and he just wanted to get the next take. He’s the same guy,” James said. Not only have David’s acting chops impressed him, but his directing abilities as well. “He’s so good. He doesn’t know this really, but he’s so good that we forgot he was a first time director! We all got lazy and kind of left him in a ditch a bit, and had to remind ourselves, ‘David! We should be here for David because he’s really a first time director.’ He had the quality of such confidence and knowing what he wanted to do one step at a time that it was like working with Jefferson Kibbee, one of our directors who has been doing it for thirty or thirty five years.” David has been so impressive that the crew has been approaching James to lobby for David to direct more. “The crew is coming up to me and pressuring me to suggest that David gets another episode or two this year when we’re really tired so that we can have a strong director and we don’t have to stress out more than we need to. Hollywood stars are supposed to be spoiled and supposed to not be able to think of anybody but them, and that’s so not David at all.” However, directing isn’t a path that James necessarily wants to pursue. “I’m more interested in producing, frankly. As I see how things work in television specifically. I think the things that interest me are the larger arcs of characters, finding larger components, and deciding what the story is that we’re going to tell, and how we tell it.”

Mercedes McNab ~ Harmony Kendall

The character Harmony has become an icon on both Buffy and Angel. From being an obnoxious Cordette at Sunnydale High School, to becoming a not-so-evil vampire, Harmony has always been around. Now officially part of the Angel team, Mercedes McNab has finally found a home for Harmony. Not appearing on Angel for years, Mercedes was worried that she may have been done with the character. “It had been so long that I figured they forgot about me. Joss had never personally phoned me before so when I got a call from Joss and was like, ‘Oh this must be serious, what did I do?’” she said, laughing. Joss told her that he wanted Harmony on the show if Angel got picked up for another season. At a crossroads in life, Mercedes didn’t initially think the offer was too serious. “I said, ‘Well, I’m moving to New York in two days so let me know if and when.’ I moved and then he called three months into my stay there and said, ‘You’d better get on a plane.’” Moving back to Los Angeles, Mercedes was more than happy to be a part of the team. “On a personal level it’s very gratifying. I was always kind of left out of the loop and I’m finally brought into it so that’s exciting. I love everyone. I almost got teary-eyed like a big nerd when Joss was making his speech.” Still, Mercedes has high hopes for Harmony in the future. “As a character, it’s good. I wish she were more a part of the gang because she’s still a little bit left out. I wish she could be a little more useful to the gang as opposed to just coming in and giving one-liners. I’m hoping that maybe she can go undercover, not as camp as Charlie’s Angel, but dress up in crazy things and do that kind of stuff.”

Like many people, Mercedes thoroughly enjoyed filming "Life of the Party". Dancing with Andy Hallett proved to be one of her more memorable moments this season. “It was so ridiculous. We had no idea what was going on. He was making me laugh so hard I was about to pee my pants. I had him with the scarf and he was the human slingshot. When the camera would come he’d be like, ‘Don’t laugh, don’t laugh!’ so of course I would laugh more.” As fun as the scene was, something did irk her a bit. “We were listening to some weird music. The bad 70’s song I had to dance to, that song played three days straight and it’s not even a good song to start with. I was just glad it wasn’t that song, ‘Born, Born to be Alive,’" she sang, “because if I hear that song I get it stuck in my head,” she laughed and paused to think about the song. “And have you ever actually thought about that? Born, born to be alive? What does that mean?!” Bad 70’s songs aside, Mercedes has found herself quite busy this year. Landing a role on the WB show Run of the House starring Joe Lawrence, Mercedes plans to continue both characters. “It’s also a recurring role so I will be juggling those two as much as possible, but predominately Angel.”

Sarah Thompson ~ Eve

Angel is notorious for its secretive characters that only give you a spoonful of information at a time. This season the mysterious Eve has had everyone guessing. Played by the strikingly beautiful and confident actress Sarah Thompson, Eve will undoubtedly continue to intrigue fans. A newcomer to Angel, Sarah did have her reservations about entering such an established cast. “I was so nervous. The night before I couldn’t sleep because I felt like it was my first day at school and everybody knew each other. I was just really nervous because I figured these people have known each other for four years and they’ve already created all their relationships. I walked on the set and everyone just welcomed me, and immediately all that worry was gone. They’re great people.” Completely new to this type of genre, Sarah immediately embraced the challenges that Angel offered. “It’s awesome. Most of the work that I’ve done, like Boston Public and now Line of Fire, all have very realistic storylines, things that actually happen. So it’s really fun to do something like this because it’s almost like learning a new language. When I first read the script I was like, ‘OK I don’t know what some of these words mean,’ because the writers invent Angel language. Then there’s language that has been established over the past four years that I’m not familiar with. Now I know it all. Now I understand everything,” she confided laughing. While the entire experience has been amazing, Sarah found "Life of the Party" to be particularly fun, “All the characters were so different than they normally are so it was just anything goes on that episode. I loved getting to do some of that comedy with David behind the couch. They were encouraging us to just really find the humor in everything and that was fun.” She also enjoyed some of the more physical aspects of Angel. “I loved the episode, and this is going to sound strange, when I got strangled. I’d never really done any stunts or anything like that before, so that was kind of fun for me.”

Perhaps Eve’s most surprising scene so far came when she hopped into bed with the long missing Angel villain Lindsey McDonald. Working with Christian has been a great experience for Sarah. “He’s a great actor, very professional. He’s really great to work with, always full of ideas and everything.” As Christian explained, their first scene together was purposely kept a secret. “That scene was actually not in the original script for that episode. It was omitted. They didn’t even tell me that it existed until a few days before. I got this memo in my trailer that said: Confidential, and it’s the scene. So I read it and was like, ‘Oh my God!’ We shot it as a second unit scene so it was a very, very small crew. Nobody knew about it. The other cast members didn’t even know about it! I was so frustrated because I was like, ‘Oh, I want to tell everyone! I want to tell my friends that I’m evil!’ But I couldn’t. I had to keep my mouth shut.” Being on a show like Angel, Sarah has been exposed to many new aspects of fandom. With the shows incredible Internet following, she quickly learned how fast information travels. “Once I got on the show immediately it seemed like it was all over the Internet. I had friends from high school emailing me saying, ‘Oh, I read on the Internet that you’re on Angel,’ and it was like a day after I got the job,” she said. Her personal encounters with fans have also come as a pleasant surprise. “Angel seems to have these really, really, really passionate fans. They come up to me on the street sometimes and love to tell me how evil I am, and not in a bad way. They’re always really nice.”

Cast and creator join hands to cut the cake

After one hundred episodes, Angel is looking better than ever. With drastic changes, like the addition of James Marsters and taking over Wolfram & Hart, the cast and crew of Angel have proved that change can make all the difference. This season has not only seen a massive jump in ratings, but the critics have finally begun to take notice of its excellence. Not even halfway through the season, Angel will continue to move along and produce quality programming. With everyone reflecting on the milestone of producing one hundred entertaining episodes, who knows how far the series will go. One thing is for certain: Angel has left its mark in television history.

Check out all the photos from the Angel Press Day in the CoA Gallery. Just click on the Gallery pulldown menu for: 100th Episode Celebration 2003

Written by CoA Writer, Jeff Ritchie