When an actor becomes identified with a character, how long does it take for them to shake that association? For some actors it never goes away. Adam West will always be Batman; Leonard Nimoy will always be Mr. Spock and Christopher Reeves will always be Superman. But William Shatner seems to have shed his Capitan Kirk persona and has become a character all onto himself. But how many actors have been able to build their careers on a character then successfully move on?
John Laroquette has successfully moved past the Dan Fielding role by doing a series of character roles. And if you look at David Caruso, he never bothered becoming a character at all… John Kelly from NYPD Blue is just a younger Horatio Caine from CSI: Miami. And I tried watching Threshold this season but couldn’t get past Brent Spiner playing Dr. Nigel Fenway… I kept expecting him to break character, become Data and shut off the holo-deck.
I bring this up because of an odd thing that happened to me the other day. I was never a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, I am a fan of Joss Whedon’s comic writing and didn’t think Buffy was a bad show, it just wasn’t one that caught my attention. So neither did the spin off Angel. Well, that is until the very last season of Angel when he left whatever small town Buffy was in and started working out of a law office with Spike. The puppet episode a highlight for me. So I got to know David Boreanaz as Angel. A while after the show was cancelled, I picked up the latest Crow movie where Boreanaz is the villain… the movie was all right but I just kept seeing Angel instead of the goth guy possessed by the devil.
Move forward in time… (queue Tardis sound effects)… now there is the TV series called Bones and Boreanaz plays Agent Seeley Booth. Now I have no idea where the name Seeley came from unless it was the mattress he was conceived on. But I’ve gotten into this show and at times wish they would knock off the female lead and let the show be about Booth. Boreanaz brings an amazing depth to the character. He has a history, a sense of humor and a sense of honor that all come through without it being pushed in your face.
The weird part happened last night when I sat down to read through an Angel trade from IDW. The artist on the trade, David Messina, does a great job making the character look like Angel without it looking like he’s tracing photographs. And the writer, Jeff Mariotte, has a great understanding of the character and brings across the feel Whedon created with the show. So I should be able to dive and re-live the experience of the television show I enjoyed… but instead I kept seeing Seeley Booth fighting vampires… which in of itself would be an interesting story: ex-army ranger sharpshooter now FBI agent goes against the undead. I’d read it… hell, I’d write it. But this wasn’t the story I was reading and its definitely not the creative teams fault… it’s because Boreanaz has imbedded himself in my brain now as a whole new character and pushed Angel out.
Now why can’t anyone from Seinfeld do that?
John Laroquette has successfully moved past the Dan Fielding role by doing a series of character roles. And if you look at David Caruso, he never bothered becoming a character at all… John Kelly from NYPD Blue is just a younger Horatio Caine from CSI: Miami. And I tried watching Threshold this season but couldn’t get past Brent Spiner playing Dr. Nigel Fenway… I kept expecting him to break character, become Data and shut off the holo-deck.
I bring this up because of an odd thing that happened to me the other day. I was never a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, I am a fan of Joss Whedon’s comic writing and didn’t think Buffy was a bad show, it just wasn’t one that caught my attention. So neither did the spin off Angel. Well, that is until the very last season of Angel when he left whatever small town Buffy was in and started working out of a law office with Spike. The puppet episode a highlight for me. So I got to know David Boreanaz as Angel. A while after the show was cancelled, I picked up the latest Crow movie where Boreanaz is the villain… the movie was all right but I just kept seeing Angel instead of the goth guy possessed by the devil.
Move forward in time… (queue Tardis sound effects)… now there is the TV series called Bones and Boreanaz plays Agent Seeley Booth. Now I have no idea where the name Seeley came from unless it was the mattress he was conceived on. But I’ve gotten into this show and at times wish they would knock off the female lead and let the show be about Booth. Boreanaz brings an amazing depth to the character. He has a history, a sense of humor and a sense of honor that all come through without it being pushed in your face.
The weird part happened last night when I sat down to read through an Angel trade from IDW. The artist on the trade, David Messina, does a great job making the character look like Angel without it looking like he’s tracing photographs. And the writer, Jeff Mariotte, has a great understanding of the character and brings across the feel Whedon created with the show. So I should be able to dive and re-live the experience of the television show I enjoyed… but instead I kept seeing Seeley Booth fighting vampires… which in of itself would be an interesting story: ex-army ranger sharpshooter now FBI agent goes against the undead. I’d read it… hell, I’d write it. But this wasn’t the story I was reading and its definitely not the creative teams fault… it’s because Boreanaz has imbedded himself in my brain now as a whole new character and pushed Angel out.
Now why can’t anyone from Seinfeld do that?
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