Investigating Angel

Best-known to most souls as telly sensation Angel, David Boreanaz’ existence has been considerably more charmed of late than his 244-year-old alter-ego. Doomed by an age-old curse to never sleep with his true love Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lest he become demonically evil, the character of Angel was astutely (if calculatedly) invested with all the elements required to capture the hearts of the entire teeny demographic (dark, passionate, moody and unavailable). Initially created as a recurring character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the minor avalanche of longing teenage fanmail attracted by Boreanaz’ ‘good vampire’ ensured he was soon given his own spin-off series, and in next to no time, Angel had eclipsed even Buffy itself on the ratings front.

Boreanaz himself – despite his newfound success and legions of screaming girls – is both well-grounded and remarkably circumspect about the limelight.

“I don’t like a lot of the stuff involved. I don’t like going to all the premieres. Some of them are kind of fun, but you soon see that they’re all the same thing. You go to a premiere, you see people looking at other people, not knowing what to do with themselves. It’s really funny, ‘cause the people outside are all lined up looking at the people going into the theatre, and then they get inside and do the exact same thing. It’s bizarre. It’s ridiculous, really.”

Possibly, the 28-year-old’s down-to-earth attitude can be ascribed to the fact that, although familiar with the outskirts of the showbiz world, he has never been completely ensconsed in it.

“My dad’s been in television for over 35 years, he’s a weatherman in Philadelphia. He’s been a huge influence on my acting career. Both of my parents have been very supportive, but my father has really helped me to understand scripts and what they mean, and just, you know, getting a grip on the human psyche and understanding where they stand.”

If Boreanaz’ approach to his career seems a shade laissez-faire, this is partly because said career came about almost by accident.

“It just kind of happened. I fell into it, and it’s just something I happened to enjoy doing. I wasn’t pushed in this direction so I’m just having fun. I continue to learn from it and that’s the best I can do. Besides, nobody’s pulled me out of it yet!”

He graduated as a film major in Ithaca College, New York, with the intention of staying behind the camera. After relocating to Los Angeles, however, a chance encounter with a talent manager put him on the path towards an acting career.

His first big breaks followed as Christina Applegate’s biker boyfriend on Married With Children, and the made-for-TV movie Men Don’t Lie – but until landing the role in Buffy, Boreanaz was very much what’s euphemistically termed ‘a working actor’, taking opportunities where they came, whether in theatre or piss-poor movies (Best of the Best 2, anyone?) True to form, he shrugs off the lean years. “When I first started, if I wouldn’t get a part, I’d get upset. Then I started to think it wasn’t necessarily rejection, just somebody’s opinion. Good or bad, it was just an opinion, and I wouldn’t take it to heart. Then I got the Angel job – I came in for seven out of the twelve episodes in the first season, and it just blew up. I didn’t think anyone knew that Angel was taking such a strong role. I was fortunate to get a character that gave me a lot to work with. And I was fortunate that the writers were able to create a space for him – it just worked out.”

Still, fame has exacted a toll on Boreanaz’ personal life: last year he filed for divorce from his social-worker wife Ingrid Quinn, citing irreconcilable difficulties. He is reticent about the matter, merely stressing how supportive his wife had been to his life and career since they got together in 1994. “She helped me all along the way, as far as preparing for something went. She’s tough as nails – one strong Irishwoman.”

Ironically, Angel has also wreaked havoc on any outside engagements: in 1999 he landed a significant role in the movie The Beat Generation, but it wasn’t to be. “Yeah, I was supposed to be doing that movie in Mexico City with Courtney Love and Kiefer Sutherland. I was going to play Jack Kerouac, which would have been cool, but I couldn’t get time off from the show. Because of scheduling, it’s really hard to fit things in during hiatus. Anyway, when I’m on breaks, first and foremost, all I want to do is sleeeeep.”

Finally, this year, in between working and sleeeeping, Boreanaz managed to carve out sufficient time for his first leading big-screen role.

The horror-thriller (with a healthy dose of irony) Valentine follows a gaggle of single girls (Denise Richards and Marley Shelton among them) who are desperate to ‘score’ true love (and thereby lavish gifts) in time for Valentine’s Day. Their quest is interrupted by a friend’s funeral, during which they find themselves the target of a homicidal maniac, who was once the victim of typical teenage-girl torments at a Valentine’s dance in junior high school. Suddenly, every man they’ve ever met is a suspect, including Boreanaz’ character Adam, a sports writer in a turbulent relationship with journalist Kate (Shelton).

As with his character on Angel, which David has been striving to ‘lighten up a bit’ since the beginning of the second series, the actor was keen to expand the confines of his role in Valentine.

“One of the most appealing things for me was being able to sit down with Jamie (Blanks, the director) and share my thoughts and opinions on the story. that allowed me to feel free with the character. I wanted to create with Adam; he’s a very charming person and there are a lot of comedic elements to his character. There was a lot of humour and that was really fun to do.”

And how was the transition from television work to his first cinematic leading role?

“It was great. But in the long run it’s all the same kind of thing: you hit your mark, you learn your lines, don’t bump into the furniture, then you go home. That’s the Spencer Tracy attitude. It’s how I think, whether it’s in film or television or theatre. With film, you get to work on two pages a day. Television, you have eight pages a day. So the only real difference is in the time process. With episodic television, you have eight days per episode, and shooting an hour drama is tough. With film, you have two-and-a-half months, maybe three, to prepare for something. That’s great – I got bit by the bug on that.”

So, would he consider leaving the small screen in favour of Hollywood?

“Well, there are a lot of offers out there right now. So we’ll see what happens with it. I’m looking for an action kind of piece or maybe a serious drama, or maybe a small independent film might be nice, but I would never say ‘hey, I’m going to leave my show because of this experience’. I would never do anything like that. I’m not really a goal-oriented person, with a list of things I need to do – I’ve always been trapped more into following my dreams. I think that believing in something that seems impossible to achieve, and then attaining it, and then learning from it is what is important. Being able to grow as a person, that’s what I wanted to accomplish out of my career. Being able to look back and say ‘well, I tried this, it didn’t work – but I learned from it’. That would be my ultimate fulfilment in life.”

Remarkably patient sentiments for one caught up in the Hollywood rat-race – but given Boreanaz’ phonomenal popualrity, he can presumably afford to take his own time.

Valentine opens on April 13th