Dru Story by Paul Simpson
You can’t keep a bad girl down, and the doll-fixated Drusilla resolutely refuses to sink back into her grave, popping up on both Angel and Buffy in recent times. Buffy Magazine sat down with Juliet Landau after appearing on stage at the Angel “End of Days” convention recently…

You’ve been back on Buffy, you were back on Angel – for a character who died such a long time ago, you’re making a lot of appearances!
I never actually got killed. I was set on fire by Angel, but that didn’t kill me, because fire can’t kill us. So basically I came back after that a little bit burned and went and tried to get Spike to come away with me, but he was too far gone on Buffy by that time. So actually haven’t died. I’m still un-dead, not dead-dead!

How does it feel to constantly be coming back?
It’s actually incredible. It’s pretty wild. The series coming to an end has made me realise and reflect on the fact that it’s been about a five-year period that I’ve been doing this. It’s been really incredible. It’s almost like doing a run of a play, because you live with the character for such a long period of time, and yet the different in doing a television series is that the text is different every time. It’s almost like the same feeling: it’s kind of magical to keep coming back to a character that’s just so rich in nature.

When you started on Buffy way back in the second season, did you have a clue how rich a character Drusilla was going to be?
I did, yes. I had a clue about the character and the fact that the character had so many levels, so I was aware of that. Initially, she was only appearing for 11 episodes, so I wasn’t aware of what was going to happen after that, that it was going to continue on for so long.

What do you think of the way Drusilla has developed and changed?
I think it’s been great, especially when Darla and I got to team up. That was just so much fun – and very wicked. I had a great time doing that.

Julie Benz (Darla) has often said that you two were having a ball.
We really did. Yeah, we really, really did. I’ve had a chance with this role to have so much fun with everybody that I’ve worked with – James Marsters, David Boreanaz or Julie. She and I had never worked together before Angel, so when they gave us the opportunity and gave us such powerful stuff together, it was very joyous.

Of all the different relationships that Drusilla has had, which do you think is the strongest in her mind?
I think it’s still Spike. I don’t think you can be with someone for 200 years and it not be. Also, I think in a certain way she made Spike. She made him a vampire and then encouraged him to really become the sort of force that he did become, and so I think it would definitely have to be Spike.

Were you surprised when we saw Spike’s origin and where he had come from?
It was interesting to find out that he had been William and very kind of upper class, and then later he took on this Spike persona and all that. Actually it was even more interesting because I found out at the same time James did, when we got the script. We were like ‘Wow!’ Most of the time for stuff like that, I would get a longer period of knowing ahead of time. We definitely only got that script when it got very close to shooting it.

They were doing the overlap episodes between the two shows with certain scene appearing in both series. It sounds like a logistical nightmare.
I don’t know if it was a nightmare, but it was definitely a big undertaking to have the crossover. In a certain way, it had an epic feeling. When we were doing the scenes set in China during the Boxer Rebellion, there were oxen running around and I think there were 150 extras. We felt all of a sudden like we were on a really big budget movie. It is unusual for an episodic TV series to have that much texture.

It’s almost a cliche for producers to say ‘We’re making a movie every week’, but sometimes it is true.
Yes it is, and I feel there’s an element to Buffy that is more filmic than most television in a lot of ways. I find it very interesting that right from the beginning the original director of photography, Michael Gershman, shot the episodes in terms of the Buffy world being light and colourful and airy, and the vampire world being dark and shadowy. The vampire world definitely had a more filmic feel than is generally seen on television, which has a more bright feel.

You’ve worked extensively on the two shows. How much of a difference is there in feel and atmosphere between them? Or does it feel like one series that is shooting two units?
That’s exactly what it does feel like. It’s always been one big family and so many of the people that had worked on Buffy went over to work on Angel: David Greenwalt, the cinematographer and the crew. When I was on Buffy I worked with David Boreanaz, of course, and then James came over to Angel. It really does feel like one extended set, although they shoot in different locations; with Angel at Paramount and Buffy at Santa Monica.

Before you made your Buffy appearances this year, what did they tell you about what was going on?
When I came in for the first episode, all I knew was that all the villains were morphing and that we were part of this bigger entity – the Evil of All Evil that created all of us. That’s all I knew. I knew a little bit more clearly about the First when I came in as the First pretending to be Drusilla – as if there aren’t enough balls to juggle with Drusilla as it is! Actually was it was really interesting because the other thing I knew was that the First couldn’t touch anybody or anything. It made me realise how many of the scenes, especially between James and I, were very tactile. Then I realised that of course I could touch myself, so I lifted my own skirts and did my own stuff.

Drusilla has almost a narcissistic side to her anyway.
I guess so. I never thought of it that way. There’s definitely a needy side to Drusilla, there’s a very sort of child-like side and she’s not the healthiest thing! But the other thing with the relationship with Spike is, besides it being very sexual and hot, there’s also a sort of sweetness, and a real, genuine love. He rescues her often, or at least he did, from her own demons.

Has the way you’ve played her changed to reflect what’s happening to her?
I don’t know. There’s been a change in terms of that when I was first introduced, I was weak and dying so there was definitely a change in terms of my getting strong. When I was weak my fingernail polish was black with white tips, a French manicure, and when I became strong it was always a maroon colour with red tips. And of course, the whole outfit changed: to begin with I was all in white and then of course the red hues have come in. That’s much more powerful and evil and vibrant I think.

What else are you up to at the moment?
I’m co-starring in a movie called Shopping. It’s part of a trilogy by the director Henry Jaglom. He did on called Eating, another called Baby Fever and this is the final one. It’s got an ensemble of wonderful actors and it’s going to be coming out soon in the States. I don’t know when it’ll be coming out elsewhere. I was really incredible to work on because we met four times and discussed the whole character arc of what was going on, but when we got on set, we knew what was happening in each scene in terms of the event, but the dialogue and everything that happened was completely improvised. We didn’t even have a camera rehearsal. We literally got on set and started shooting, which I’ve never experienced. It was wild in that way, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

You’ve done a few conventions. Is ‘End of Days’ the biggest one you’ve done?
It’s the first one I’ve done in the UK. I was supposed to be here last year but I was working, doing a play at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, so I couldn’t come. That was an amazing experience, because it was a beautiful 650 seat house, and we were doing eight shows a week. It was a charmed, creative experience, so it was really lovely, but I was sad not to be here.

Juliet Landau, thank you very much.