BBC Cult - Printer Friendly Version
J August Richards - Interviewed on location for Carpe Noctem in Los Angels, August 22nd 2001

College days
  Tell us about your time at USC.

I went to USC with George Hartsburg and Danny Strong, and we were all in the BFA programme there where we did a lot of plays and stuff.

George and I were in the exact same class so we spent four years together in a programme. George is hilarious, George is one of my closest friends. It was a good experience. Danny�s great too.

Rapping bike messengers from outer space
  Tell us about the role you once had as a bike messenger.

That was one of my favourite roles ever. I played a guy named Taj Mahal, well that was his assumed name.

He believed himself to be possessed by an alien and he thought it was his mission to spread the message of the aliens to the human race. He was a rapper and a bike messenger too, so he had this huge message he was trying to give to the world.

That was one of the funniest parts I ever played.

Split loyalties
  What did you feel that Gun�s loyalty should have been towards the end of season two?

His loyalties were absolutely torn by the end of season two. He has a group that he�s created and that he�s sort of the leader of.

He�s in charge and he feels very responsible for those people, but working with Angel Investigations he starts to feel the same feelings towards the people that he�s working with there so he�s absolutely torn 50/50. That conflict is taken even further in season three.

To find out what he decides you�ll have to wait and see.

Playing it real
  How true to you and to genuine Afro-American people do you think Gunn's way of speaking is?

Well it was always absolutely true. I come from the theatre and there you don�t change a single word so you know we approach the work the same way here.

Every now and again I�ll change a little something just because I feel like saying it a certain way that might come out of me a little stronger but I use the words that they give me which are nine out of ten times right on point.

This character is not any sort of stereotypical thing so the way that he speaks in his vernacular and it comes out in different ways.

He can use references to anything, I mean one minute he�s talking about questions that people couldn�t answer that they watch on (American quiz show) Jeopardy and another minute he�s using street slang, so he's all over the place.

�Julie� August Richards
  Would you say that you were a natural leader in real life?

Yes. That�s just like how I am with my friends.

They call me Julie because Julie was the cruise director on Love Boat. I�m always saying where we�re going to go or what we�re going to do and how much fun we�re going to have. I�m Julie.

Too enthusiastic
  There�s a story about the early days of your career and stand-ins?

It was my first job in LA. They have something called a stand-in who rehearses your part for you while you�re in make-up and wardrobe and everything.

They stand there while they�re lighting the scene so that you don�t have to do that and you can be doing other things.

I didn�t know what this person was so we rehearsed it the first time. Then they were like "Okay, second team" so I went back to my mark to get ready and this guy was like "No no no, you don�t understand, I do it now" and I was like "No this is my part, I auditioned for this, this is my role" and so he said "All right" .

The director called "Action" and I walk out and they�re like "Cut cut cut, J, what are you doing? It�s time for the stand in" and I was like "Oh, I didn�t know."

Then they turned it into a positive. They said "Well let�s just give J a round of applause because he�s a team player". Isn�t that terrible? That�s so bad.

Art and astronomy
  Can you tell us about your hobbies?

I like to paint, I�m absolutely no good at it but I�m so comfortable with that because it�s good for me to have something to fail at.

I feel that as an actor you�re constantly working to become better which I love, but with painting I can fail on my own terms. There�s a freedom in that so that�s why I love to paint.

Then astronomy. My interest in astronomy grew from the play Space that I did, where I had to learn where my character was from. I had to study the stars and figure where everything was and how I got here and all of those things.

So from that grew like a love of the universe, the cosmos and all that sort of stuff so that�s one of my interests.

Adding Amy into the mix
  What differences are there working on Angel now Amy Acker has joined the cast?

With the addition of Amy Acker as Fred we�ve grown as a group. She�s so wonderful to work with and her acting is just amazing.

She is bringing another dynamic into the group - her character was rescued from Pylea and she�s not used to this dimension, so she brings a lot of humour as well but a lot of heart too. It�s going to be really fantastic with her on the show.

Balls to the walls!
  You used to go to an acting workshop with Eric LaSalle from ER. What did you learn from him?

Well I learned all kinds of things from Eric.

The most important thing was make no excuses, in terms of not having enough time, in terms of not thinking you�re going to get the role for whatever the reasons, you know.

Another lesson he taught me was balls to the walls, that means always go for it.

(J thinks about what he�s just said for a moment) This is British TV so I can say whatever you want, I can take my clothes off if I want to do this nude and I�ll go on British TV.

We do have our standards, though not many.

Understanding Spanish and space aliens
  You come from a Panamanian heritage - how has that affected your approach to life?

My parents are from Panama and my grandparents were born in other places in the Caribbean and in the Bahamas and Jamaica.

Panama�s a really wonderful country, there�s obviously the Panama canal which brings a lot of tourism and a huge American influence, it�s just a mix of so many great things, African, Caribbean, Latin American Spanish, all kinds of influences there.

It�s an isthmus, it connects North America with South America and that�s exactly what it's [influences are]. There�s so much North American as well as South American influence, so my parents speak fluent Spanish.

Growing up in the household was really fantastic because I was exposed to so many things at a young age and I feel sort of international, like I understand a lot of cultures. Including space aliens and vampire hunters.

Are vampires real?
  To what extent do you believe demonic creatures might be out there?

Well, I think that people believe that they are vampires, and I believe that there�s evil in the world and it comes at so many levels, and that�s how I connect with the character.

It�s like vampires suck the blood out of you, and some people drain the spirit out of you. Those are like emotional vampires. So yeah, I do believe that they exist, on a metaphorical level.