Ausiello has reported that James Marsters, the man behind Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, has been hired for three episodes of BSG spinoff Caprica (currently being run by former Buffy writer Jane Espenson).
According to the report, “Marsters will play a dangerous terrorist leader by the name of Barnabus Greeley in a minimum of three episodes. Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable.”
Um… oh dear. Let me be totally honest up-front; I’m not a fan of Marsters. I’ve never seen him as a particularly strong actor, and I’m a bit concerned that this Greeley character could be overplayed somewhat. Still, I try not to pre-judge (too much) and I’ll just have to wait and see what the result is. I’ve got a lot of faith in Jane Espenson, but I do rather wish she’d picked a different actor for this one…
Thoughts, readers?
To be honest I have never seen James Marsters do anything else than Spike on Buffy, where I liked him for all his overdone acting. I do have the feeling this terrorist might hint at Spike (again). “Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable.” Where have I seen this before.
That said, like with most good telly I’m waiting for the dvd’s to turn up. Currently only at the last dvd of BSG S3, and have to wait till the end of September when S4 comes out with Dutch subtitles. Really, I don’t get dvd-marketing. The Wire comes out with numerous languages and all over Europe on the same time. BSG has terrible long waits and only comes out in one language. (Which meant that at the same shop I could get BSG subtitled in French, but not in Dutch. It also meant the Dutch version of S1 came with miniseries and the French version didn’t.)
Sorry for ranting. This stupid embargo because tv-stations where too late in showing BSG.
Yes, I will concede that James Marsters is a far better actor than John Barrowman.
However, a dead pigeon could out-act Barrowman.
Just saying.
In all seriousness, I think I would be more interested if, as you say, Marsters played against type. As Frances points out above, however, Barnabus Greeley sounds like just another Spike/Captain John-esque figure.
I’d rather have him play a nice guy but I do think that James Marsters is a good actor. Just watch the second series of Torchwood and compare his acting to Barrowman’s!
The problem is that villains are often caricatured and therefore overplayed. I still think that Marsters’ strongest act was when he was playing William in “Fool For Love”, not Spike, especially not season 2 Spike.
Anyway I can’t wait to see him in front of Eric Stoltz who was simply amazing in the pilot.
a dead pigeon could out-act Barrowman
Now that’s really mean…but so true! ;- )
But this isn’t Torchwood, I have faith in the Caprica writing to come up with something more refreshing than a Captain John-sort of character. Barnabus Greeley might turn out to be better than we fear. It’s the Ron Moore team after all !
I have this theory that Marsters is a decent actor when he’s given the right direction and not left to his own devices; that is, I suspect he has ample talent but has relied on his own character creation and (relative) fame from BtVS since the series ended. It would be nice to see a director squeeze a completely non-Spike-like character out of the actor (since I think he’s capable of such), but the character description provided above almost certainly seems to preclude that. That’s too bad, because I think Marsters has got more going for him than “sultry bad ass.”