Chance (2002)
"Right
now, I'm actually doing a movie with Amber Benson that she's
directing and producing on the weekends. I'm going to be traveling
to Australia, New Zealand, England, France. And what else? I'm
thinking about going to Chicago for a production of Macbeth.
I'm in talks with the theater there." JM (Source)
"I thought it was marvellous," says James, who recently
got to see a rough cut of the independent movie, which is currently
seeking a distributor. "Amber's able to be biting and kind
at the same time in her writing, which was a real gift, and I was
really happy and proud to be part of her first film." JM (Text)
Q: Will the movie you did with Amber Benson be released?
JM: That’s the movie Chance. I really have a soft place in
my heart for young artists who are beginning. I remember the days
when I was starting to produce theater and how hard that is and
how much negative reinforcement you get when you try to become
more than you were before. Amber showed me the script she had written
and I thought it was brilliant. She said she wanted to film it
for seven thousand dollars and I said ‘Cool!’ Basically,
I wanted to support her in her first effort. She was wonderful.
I dropped so many balls when I was starting to produce and she
didn’t drop one. She had no money but everything was right
down professional and I really respected that. She made some really
smart choices. When you shoot in digital or video, the color really
blands out so she saturated her set with really bright colors to
make up for that. And I understand that it is available but I don’t
know where. I think that movie was a really auspicious beginning
for a very talented storyteller. I had a blast doing it because
I got to play something completely unlike Spike. I was in a dress!
I look forward to her next movie. What you see is delightful. (Text)
Andromeda
(2001)
"They
wanted the character to be a fop, and I wouldn't have it," James
states. "I secretly rebelled. I didn't talk to anybody about
it- I just made the secret decision that the guy would have balls.
I feel like just because someone is refined aristocrat doesn't
make him a fop. When you look at Tim Roth's work in Rob Roy, I
think he's able to take a highly sophisticated character that almost
seems effeminate, but in reality is not effeminate whatsoever but
a cold blooded killer and very manly in a very evil way. And I
remembered that as I was going into [Andromeda]. Not that I can
compare that with [Tim Roth's character]. I've got to say, great
company of people[on Andromeda]. Kevin Sorbo is a totally great
guy." (TEXT)
Millennium (1999)
Q: Uh, James, how did you feel about the guest role you did on "Millennium?"
JM: I was really honored because I noticed that the lead, Lance,
I noticed him in Alien 2, you know... and he broke my heart...
and in that movie, I mean, how can you break a guy’s heart
in the middle of all that blood? You know, but, uh, he’s
really one of the best actors we have, but, uh, yeah... (Applause)
And I went on that and the whole crew, the show is a lot like Buffy,
in that it strays toward cinema. It tries to be as good as a movie,
and what that means is that everyone works really hard. This is
the joke name of Buffy in Hollywood: Buffy the Weekend Slayer.
Because we start at 4:00 in the morning on Monday and we leave
the set about 6:00 in the morning on Saturday. Uh, and, uh, with "Millennium," it’s
just that much. The joke about "Millennium" was that
there’s two shots for every shot that they use. They shoot
many more setups than they even cut to. And everyone was apologizing
to me, "Sorry we’re not nicer, we’re just kinda
stressed out right now." And, I don’t know, I’ve
never seen people work harder and be nicer about it, and I was
honored to be on the set frankly.
This is from a Q&A panel at DragonCon 2003 (Source)
Winding
Roads (1998)
"It is a very low-budget film. It was filmed on location
in Springfield, Missouri, hometown of Brad Pitt, although I've never
met him. He must have been busy kicking Ed Norton's butt. I play
a good person, hometown boy, who ends up not being enough for the
lead character, and the movie is about our breakup and her decision
to leave Springfield. You'll need to catch it at a film festival
unless Miramax picks it up." JM
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