Family Guy by Tara Dilullo
You remember Connor don’t you? Well, for those whose minds have been tinkered with by that pesky old Wolfram & Hart, Connor was the ‘miracle child’ of Angel and Darla, who pretty much caused havoc for a while, until he was shipped off to a brand new (happy) family at the end of Season Four. But now he’s back – and actor Vincent Kartheiser drops in for a chat about the return of the prodigal.

When Angel last saw his deeply troubled son, Connor, the young man was in a new home, happily toasting life with his normal family, blissfully ignorant of his previous life spent battling demons and his vampire father. It was Angel’s decision in ‘Home’, to give Connor that new life, and in doing so, bound himself to running the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. It was a startling turn of events that essentially redirected Angel and the series’ path in a new direction. As a price for that choice, the rest of Team Angel were wiped of Connor’s memory, but his presence – and Angel’s decision to give him a better life – has loomed heavily in the background throughout the season, so much so, that it only seemed a matter of time before that decision and the repercussions would take centre-stage once more. Never ones to disappoint, the Angel creative team revisited that choice in the episode ‘Origin’, which reunited father and son and welcomed back Vincent Kartheiser to his infamous role.
    Over his season-and-a-half on the series, Vincent played the epitome of a difficult teenager, constantly at odds with his father and the world in general. Granted, it’s not easy having a vampire as a dad or being a pawn in a prophecy to end the world, but regardless of that, the kid was a tough character for fans to embrace – a fact Vincent was all too aware of during his time on the series. “The audience was where I first got feedback asking why Connor was always so angry,” Vincent explains. “It was something the writers started to get concerned about too, because they don’t want one-dimensional characters either. I think a lot of last season they lost a purpose for Connor. I think myself and the writers locked Connor into a corner with some of the choices I made and some of the writing choices that were made. I used to get notes like, ‘Maybe not too dark and chill out a bit,” but I couldn’t separate from what had happened the season before. I put my dad in a coffin and dropped him in the ocean, and I could never quite separate from that. The story kept pushing me in that direction. There was nowhere for him to go, which was fine, but it didn’t serve the purpose of a show like Angel to have a character like that taking such a daily role in the show.”
    That lack of purpose was rectified at the end of the season when Connor was finally given a chance to reveal his inner turmoil and loneliness, providing context and some much-needed empathy for the character. “I think they finally brought it out with the arc and the end of the season seemed like a good opportunity to explain some of Connor’s stuff.” It all climaxed when the prophecy which said ‘The father will kill the son’, which ended up being fulfilled but with a much happier ending for Connor than anyone expected. “I thought it was a really cool idea. They’ve done the dying thing and the going to a spiritual plane and I thought it was cool they kept Connor on Earth. It was all about Angel in the end – that choice. It was about Angel feeling he had done something of worth in Connor’s life. It redeemed Angel’s spirit. I also think Angel was caught with the issue of, ‘What am I supposed to feel for this kid? I love him, but he’s always angry and pissed off. How do I care when he’s trying to kill me all the time?’” Vincent laughs. “It wrapped it up in that Angel was helping Connor and transforming him. It was, ‘I love you so much and I’m going to let you go.’ For the hopeless romantics in us, it’s that feeling of great loss, but at the same time knowing that person is happier now. It’s that weird dichotomy of pain and virtue.”
    Personally satisfied with Connor’s Season Four fate, Vincent moved on to other projects, but reveals that former executive producer Tim Minear alluded to the fact that Connor would return. “Tim said, ‘We have an idea for your character coming back with these parents and not knowing why he has these powers.’ At the time, I was like, ‘Okay, well that’s fun.’ When it actually came to me a year later, it seemed like something I was more open to. When he brought it up last year, I was kind of like, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard that before, the old ‘we’ll bring you back’ trick,” he laughs. “So it was nice to see it was something actually real. I never really knew when I would get called back, but I knew it wouldn’t be early in the season because it would have no real effect. Right around this January, I started wondering if they really were going to bring me back, and sure enough, a week after I got back from the Sundance Film Festival, they came a knocking.”

    Tim’s initial idea for Connor’s return ended up being the actual foundations for the episode, which finds Connor’s new father hurt and Angel coming to the rescue to help the family – as well as getting the opportunity to see the flesh and blood results of his Season Four decision – a well-adjusted son. Despite the attraction of playing a brand new Connor, Vincent still had his reservations. “I got the call from my manager and I said I want to talk to Angel producer Jeff Bell, I didn’t want to come back and have it be a last-minute thing. They needed to really be excited about the story and for it to be something they needed for the show. When I first got booked on this show a couple of years ago, one of the things that excited me right off the bat was the amount of excitement David Greenwalt, Joss and the whole writing team showed towards this new character. Jeff gave me a call and pitched the story to me. It was so cool to see that excitement revisited and from the perspective that they get to change the character and have fun with it, too. It’s also good for us, as artists, to feel irreplaceable – and I felt that when I talked to Jeff. He made me at peace with the decision and before I talk to him, I wasn’t sure.”
    Vincent admits that being away from the set for a year gave him the jitters upon returning.  “I thought it would feel different. It’s like seeing an old friend and one of two things can happen. You meet and try to find a path to a conversation or you see the person and it’s like you never missed a beat. I was nervous and I wasn’t sure how the dynamic of the set was still working. I was nervous about this new part of Connor and for myself. I was insecure, as I feel we all can be when faced with a reflection of ourselves. So, I got there and walked behind the monitors and the same usual suspects were there and there was a guy with chains coming off his horns on-screen, and I just said, ‘I’m back,’” he laughs. “People were like, ‘Hi Vinnie,’ walking right by me or asking for a cigarette. It was great to see all of the actors: David, Alexis, Amy and J, who is my favourite. It was like I never missed a day.”
    He continues, “It was super fun. I had a lot of fun coming back and doing something different because the whole year I was on the show, my character was so pissed off and ready to hate everybody. I was having a hard time finding any of the levity in it. For this episode, it was so much fun to do stuff that was driving the scenes rather than not quite knowing what Connor’s story was. The scenes with David also felt great. It felt like the original four episodes I did with him. We were both excited to delve into this new area. Towards the end of last season, I got complacent. I showed up and it was always another scene where nothing is said between my father and me or here is another scene where I hate him and we can’t communicate. It became redundant. So it was nice to get back to where both of our characters had something at risk, and to be able to work together like that and at that level made me very happy.”
    The changes in Connor aren’t just emotional, either. Gone are the ever-present sneer and the long hair, which were the trademarks of the Connor of old. The new and improved Connor sports short hair, normal teenage clothing and God forbid, a smile. Vincent laughs, explaining, “I didn’t have a lot of say about how he looks as they established that in ‘Home’, but there was a feeling that Connor had adopted that I wanted to maintain – one of sarcasm and levity. There wasn’t so much at stake for this character other than he wanted his parents to be safe, which was great. This is one of my favourites, if not the most favourite Angel episode I had the pleasure of reading. In my years with this team, it spoke the most to me, maybe because it was centred on my character, but I also read it with my friends and they were cracking up laughing. I put my props out to Drew Goddard as the success of this lies in his dialogue. Drew is a really talented man.”
    Returning for this episode has also given Vincent the unique opportunity to explore the polar opposites of his character, which he appreciated. “I enjoyed playing both those sides of him and I think there are probably more sides to him. There is usually never just black and white for a character, but it was in this case. I enjoyed it and I’m not going to say it was a tremendous challenge. I always wanted, as Connor, to open a script and see something like this, but I couldn’t because of where he was at.”
    It just so happens that as Vincent came back to Angel, the news broke that the series would not be renewed for next season. Considering his attitude in life, and his profession in general, it’s not surprising how philosophical he was about the news. “Everything changes and that’s our life and the job we’ve chosen. As an actor, you’ll never have the same job until you die. It’s not a big deal. It’s sad and the fans will miss the show, but it always happens. There are always more projects and characters and shows for the fans. It’s tough, but it’s an inevitability that we aren’t unprepared for.” He is grateful though, the he was able to put such a positive closure on his character and get the chance to say goodbye. “I think it was really good for the writers, and for me, to have this opportunity to come back and the let the audience see some happiness in this character’s life – and to let the few people who liked Connor see some joy.”

Angel Case Files: Charles Gunn

LA Liaison by Tara Dilullo
Move over, Eve – there’s a new Wolfram & Hart employee in town! And he’s just as mysterious as Eve used to be – and maybe more deadly too… Actor Adam Baldwin discusses his Angel role.

When you ask actor Adam Baldwin how he’s been able to sustain such a successful acting career over the past 25 years, he smirks and answers in his uniquely concise manner, “I kept at it. I’m like a fungus; you can’t get rid of me.” It’s a humble answer for a humble guy who has always been more blue-collar about his career than typical Hollywood glitz and glam. It’s a strategy that has served Adam well as he’s worked on more than 60 films and television projects over the years, making for an eclectic and varied resume. Yet arguably, his recent involvement in the Mutant Enemy projects, Firefly and Angel, are now getting him some of his biggest notices and a surge of new fans.
    On the short-lived Firefly series, Adam played the cranky, gruff mercenary-for-hire Jayne Cobb, who was always up for a fight or making a quick buck. It was a role Adam completely embraced. “Jayne for me is the role of a lifetime,” he says. “He could be good, funny, bad, selfish or a slob – that guy can do no wrong!” Meanwhile, fans get to see another side to Adam in the final arc on Angel. Starting with the episode ‘Underneath’, he appears as Hamilton, the mysterious replacement for Eve as the liaison to the Senior Partners and Wolfram & Hart and a key player in the end-game of the series.
    After deciding to pursue acting professionally, Adam moved to New York in the early 80s with some friends. “It was right about then that crack hit the streets and New York City got really nasty and dangerous, so we all got scared and headed for Los Angeles,” he chuckles. He transitioned to the much more mellow West Coast and proceeded to work steadily as an actor in a wide variety of projects and films like Full Metal Jacket, Predator 2 and Independence Day, always remaining busy in his chosen profession. “The only people who have control over their career are the ones you see on the covers of magazines. Everyone else is just plodding along making a living. The key is not to live over your means and overdo it with the ‘bling, bling’,” he smiles. “It was never fame or fortune that drove me to act. It was something I love and enjoy doing it. A lot of people identify who they are by what they do and that’s just not me. It’s what I do, but not who I am. Who I am is a parent. I’m a family man,” he confides.
    Over the years, Adam has made many guest appearance on genre television shows like The Visitor, Stargate SG-1 and The X-Files, even though he finds it challenging to jump in and out of existing shows. “I don’t prefer the guest star, one-shots. The arcs are more interesting because they give you more time to work through the character and then tend to give you more close-ups, which is what television is all about. I’ve done a couple of guest shots on shows, and I like to go and experience other people’s working atmospheres as much as I can. I like to see how they are behaving and what they are doing. The top-notch shows have pretty good crews and I’m a big fan of a hard-working camera crew. They make our job so easy.”
    Of course, Adam’s television experience changed radically when he was hired for Firefly in 2002. “A lot of the television industry is so cookie-cutter. In general, there are so many shows that are easy and bland to watch. You can tune in at any time and know exactly where you are in the story arc because it’s pretty much the same every week. But the shows that Joss writes, you have to pay attention or you get lost. That’s good and bad because you will lose a large percentage of people who aren’t willing to focus so that can be a drawback, but I don’t care about them,” he laughs devilishly. “That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because good writing is fun to do. He’s a really good writer so that is my blessing at this time.”
    Adam appeared in all 14 of the episodes produced for Firefly and was just as upset as the rapidly forming fanbase when the show ended so quickly. “When it was cancelled, we were all heartbroken. It was a heart-breaker because we all understood how many stories there were to be told. Unfortunately, we didn’t get launched as well as we would have hoped. Business is business and we didn’t get the numbers so off you go and I understand that, but as the artists, we all said, ‘No! There is so much more to tell!’” Obviously, the creator agreed as Whedon worked tirelessly to keep the show’s concept alive, getting Universal Pictures to green-light the Firefly film, Serenity, which will reunite the cast and crew this summer. “I know the main cast is in, so it will be a family affair.
    “It is redemption that we are able to keep it going and all down to Joss; credit and Mary Parent at Universal, who saw the show, liked it and thought it was a no-brainer to make it into a feature film. I believed very strongly it would come back because Joss said he was going to get it done. He said he wasn’t done telling the story and the man is nothing if not tenacious. He went and wrote a great script and they bought it. Whoo hoo! I actually just came back from the lot today and I looked at some of the artwork and the sets they are beginning to build and it’s just great. I took my son with me and as we were walking out of the studio, my seven-year-old son goes to me, ‘Dad, I’m so happy for you,’ He was there and saw me cry when they cancelled it, so he knows.”
    In the meantime, as Joss has been known to do with his Firefly cast in the past year, Adam has been brought onto another Joss Whedon show, appearing on Angel for the rest of the season. “I think he liked working with me and didn’t want me to run off and do something else. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to convince Joss into thinking I’m good at what I do,” Adam chuckles. His new turn, as the imposing Hamilton, is the kind of liaison to the Senior Partners that Eve never quite lived up to during her tenure. Asked to describe the part, Adam smiles and offers, “Joss wanted a big guy to come in and kick David Boreanaz’ ass, and seeing how I’m so reliable and scary, he went with me. Joss also said, ‘Now Adam, this is the anti-Jayne,’ and I said ‘Great!’”
    Despite being part of the Mutant Enemy family now, Adam had some brushing-up to do when it came to getting to know Angel. “Well, my kids watched it here and there. We don’t watch much TV, but they knew it. I’d seen several episodes over the years. Not having committed to the arcs, it was hard to jump in, but I certainly get the pacing and the rhythm of the dialogue and the timing of the jokes.” He then describes how he immersed himself into the actual day-to-day culture of the show. “You’re professional and quiet and occasionally drop little humour bombs and let them get to know you. You get a sense of how the show works and then let your personality take over.” His overall assessments of the show now is typically brief. “Pretty girls, handsome men and a really good crew.”
    Pressed more on the role that Hamilton takes in the show, Adam is cagey with details but does offer, “He’s representative of pure capitalism – he’s all about business. Those who aren’t willing to play the game get left behind and there are all kinds of ways to get left behind on this show. Let’s just say I’m involved with the violently climatic stuff at the end of season,” he laughs sinisterly.
    “I like the timbre of the guy,” he continues. “He is very calm and has a nice suit. I think that some of the dry humour that comes out and playing the writing that Joss gives us; just playing it straight comes out so funny. I’m also liking the fact that the character is as powerful a force as Angel is and he’s fearless. I’m fearless when I try to go in and play this stuff. Plus, the key to , playing a heavy for me since I am so big is to just be nice. Play nice. Do evil things.”
    Adam was pleased to be able to spend time with the Angel cast, who he says are all in good spirits despite the show ending. “At this point, they are all ready to move on and they are looking forward to their next things. Five years running is a great accomplishment. They are blessed and hopefully, they invested their money wisely,” he chuckles. For his part, he says, “I’m honoured to be a part of a series that will carry on. I just consider myself a piece of the puzzle and I’m lucky enough to be asked or invited to the party, if you will. I hope I can bring some laughs and grimaces to the fans.”
    His stint on Angel ended in mid-April and Adam reveals he has been auditioning for some new television series again. “I tested for a couple of pilots, but they said I was too tall,” he smiles. Regardless, his next gig on Serenity began on 1 June, and it is his total focus for the time being. “I’m looking forward to it big time. I’m going to wrap up this episode of Angel and then I’m going to the gym every day. I’ve got a little work to do, but it’s going to be great.” So Angel fans can watch the resolution of their series with the added bonus of Adam’s special brand of sinister taking them to the end, while Jayne fans can look forward to the return of the mercenary on the big screen in early 2005.