Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Tom Lenk would fuck Spike and kill Angel – A.V. Club

In 11 Questions, The A.V. Club asks interesting people 11 interesting questionsand then asks them to suggest one for our next interviewee. For The A.V. Clubs Buffy Week we devised a set of Buffy-themed queries to throw at the shows cast members.

Tom Lenks portrayal of Andrew Wells on Buffy The Vampire Slayer was so lovable it was easy to forget that the character committed horrible crimes. One of the nerdy Trio in the sixth season, he ended the series fighting alongside the heroine to save the world. Since Buffy, Lenk has become a Joss Whedon regular, showing up in The Cabin In The Woods and Much Ado About Nothing. However, these days hes winning acclaim for his Instagram account, in which he makes his own versions of red-carpet outfits using the likes of household and other repurposed items. Last month, his #LenkLewkForLess posts were written up in The New York Times.

Tom Lenk: Lets skip that one and come back.

TL: The whole experience was just a joy, and I wish I could have appreciated it more in the moment because I spent a good portion of it just being terrified that I was going to be killed off at any moment. That being said, I think Alyson Hannigan had made a big deal about how I didnt have a chair. In Hollywood, you get one of those directors chairs with your name on it when youve been there for a while or if youre a regular. I still was sitting in that chair that just said cast. Alyson, I guess she told the prop guy he had to get me one. Then the little back to the chair came, and it had my name on it. It was a very sweet moment because a cast member made that happen. It made me feel very welcome. You know, I was friends with everyone by that point. It was just a sweet moment.

AVC: Was that in the seventh season or in the sixth?

TL: I think that was in the seventh.

TL: Obviously Storyteller is my favorite. Perhaps its one of the greatest episodes in television history, mostly thanks to writer Jane Espenson. My least favoriteIm trying to think. Was there one I didnt like to film because it was not fun?

AVC: We can always come back to it. Storyteller must have been pretty special for you to film. Are there any particular memories you have from the filming of that episode?

TL: I wanted to make a moment out of every single little thing. The whole Vam-PYRE thing, which people seemed to enjoy. In subsequent scripts it was then typed out Vam-PYRE. I had worked as a stage manager right before getting cast on Buffy. We had guest performers every week. Harry Groener, [who played The Mayor], I think he came and guested in it. The cast members would list the peoples credits, and they got into a thing putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. Anyways, [the cast member] said, Credits including Buffy The Vam-PYRE Slayer. That stuck with me. That was one of my things that I added, was the slayer of the vam-PYREs. I just like getting some little details in there. That was a fun moment.

AVC: What show were you working on as a stage manager?

TL: It was called the The Grave White Way. It was about Broadway actors who had come back from the dead.

TL: Oh my god. Please put this. This might be the most common question at a convention. It gets asked the most, and theres no acceptable answer other than Buffy. Having been asked this at multiple conventions, what Ive discovered from the fans is that there is no acceptable answer other than Buffy, because when you say something else, theres too much pandemonium in the audience. So Ive learned just to say Buffy.

AVC: Okay, but given that theres going to be no pandemonium, is there somebody else you would have answered?

TL: There will be pandemonium. I can feel it from your readers already brewing.

AVC: What does your heart say?

TL: My heart says, Do what the people want.

TL: Obviously me. By me, I mean Andrew. Also, we should have listened to what the people wanted, which was an Andrew spin-off at the time. But we dont always get what we want.

TL: I liked being in it. I dont know. Why would I not like it? It was my first time having an amazing full-time job in television. I hadnt been watching Buffy regularly prior to that. I had done one episode as a different character, but I was not as invested in the characters as maybe some of the diehard fans were. I did not participate in the controversy, per se, because I was just excited to be there. I think what youre discovering from asking me these questions is that my enjoyment of the show is not from going back and rewatching episodes per se. I think I watched them when they were on TV and then occasionally when Ive had to put them on my reel. But I personally dont enjoy watching myself, so thats why I dont go back and revisit. The seasons and the arcs dont exist in my head in a linear timeline the way they do I think for people who are big fans of the show. My memories of it are mostly faint memories of actually filming it and what I was going through in my life at the time while I was filming it, peppered with a little bit of the plot line and the characters. I more strongly relate to the actors that I was working with. They became friends. In my mind, its like, Oh, those are my friends. As opposed to, Those are my friends, actors playing a part. As opposed to, Thats Buffy or thats Willow.

TL: Well, I dont know. Its a show revolving around magic, number one. Number two, its not real. That plots not actually happening to you, the viewer. Its a story being told. Therefore, if it was controversial because people were angry that, all of a sudden, there was a new character by use of magic, then perhaps that was the feeling that you were supposed to have. Its your experience as a viewer to decide how it makes you feel. So if it made you angry, then great. Are you supposed to be happy all the time? Are any of us happy all the time? Isnt that one of the big themes of the show? Therefore perhaps thats what they wanted you to feel.

TL: Obviously the trio of comedic and very handsome nerds.

AVC: Was it more fun for you playing a villain in the sixth season than playing someone who was fighting against the Big Bad in the seventh?

TL: I think the character was so fun to play for me because, regardless of what he was doing, he was never very good at it, which to me is such a fun thing to do. Obviously I havent gotten to play a character like that since. I mean, I have, just not on TV. Ive played other delicious, delightful characters, but that was such a rare experience. I think because, in much of my work as a sidekick performer, most sidekicks that Ive gone on to play since and what you see on TV, theyre these ancillary characters that you never learn anything about. Theyre just like, Hey, girlfriend. Ill even name names. The character I played on Witches Of East End, who was just like, Hey, girlfriend. Tell me about your problems. Oh, thats cool. Wow, those earrings are cute. You dont learn anything about them. The joy for me was the writing was so rich and fun as an actor because it wasnt just funny lines. You were also learning backstory on the character. Each episode, you learn a little something more about a character thats dropped in. I think thats all because the writers were so good at what they did. When you get that opportunity as an actor, saying every line is so much fun because theres so much to do with it. You dont get that opportunity as a character actor, whos a supporting player. Thats how it works in Hollywood.

TL: What about them?

AVC: Which one do you pick?

TL: For what purpose?

AVC: It could be which character you like better or which one belongs with Buffy.

TL: This is such a vague question. You cant just Angel or Spike. This is a trick question. I see what youre doing.

AVC: Its not a trick question. People have very, very strong opinions on which one. Most of them revolve around who should Buffy end up with.

TL: Oh, who did she end up with?

AVC: Well, Spike.

TL: Is this like a marry, fuck, kill situation?

AVC: It can be.

TL: Id say marry no one, fuck Spike, and kill Angel.

TL: A love-interest situation. Active onscreen shenanigans.

TL: Right before the Womens March, I was making posters for friends who were traveling to D.C. They were like, What should some sayings be? Im like, Im pretty sure if I Google empowering Buffy quotes, Ill find 50 amazing quotes for your poster. Turns out my friend, Louis [Peitzman], had done a post for BuzzFeed. It wasnt like, Here are 12 quotes for your Womens March posters, but it could have been renamed that and reposted because every quote was so amazing and so deep and so applicable to exactly where we are right now, which is shocking, that these quotes are how-old and still apply today.

Number eight: Im beyond tired. Im beyond scared. Im standing on the mouth of hell and its going to swallow me whole and itll choke on me. Were not ready? Theyre not ready. Did Joss Whedon and his team of writers have a time machine? Did they see what was happening in the future and then come back and write it? Number nine is one that I posted. Theres only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil and thats us. I cant remember which episode this is from, but I think this may have been also talking to the potential slayers. I think that theme of how all the potential women were being awakened by this force and knowing their true powerit is unbelievable how poignant that is right now. Its just exactly what is happening right now. Of any of the good things that have come out of this tumultuous time period in our political history, I think that seeing what women have come together to do is wonderful, inspiring, and amazing.

AVC: Lets go back to those two that we didnt get. The first one is, how much time per week do you spend being recognized for, thinking about or talking about Buffy? Just generally, how much does Buffy still influence your day-to-day life? Do you get recognized for it a lot? Does it come up a lot?

TL: I dont get recognized too much, which is cool because, you know, I dont want people to be overwhelmed. Actually, now I get recognized from my important work on Instagram. Thats whats happening right now. Its interesting to be recognized for something completely different by a whole new audience. Id say theres a total of five minutes a week getting recognized, having a thought about it, or seeing how its affected someone.

AVC: Do you have a least favorite episode?

TL: Im trying to think if theres one that was my least favorite to film. Oh, there was an episode in which my foot was on fire, and they actually set it on fire. The crew person, special effects, that did the fire wasnt highly invested in putting the fire out in between takes, and I do remember at one point, Adam Busch was just, like, putting out the fire. Also, I remember seeing that crew person smoking a cigarette within an, Id say, unsafe distance from the fuel truck outside that had a sign on it like, No smoking within 100 feet or whatever. That Id say was my least favorite to film. I dont remember what happens in that episode, but I do remember not enjoying the process of being set on fire.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Tom Lenk would fuck Spike and kill Angel - A.V. Club