Michelle Trachtenberg has a fairly active career as well.
Most of what I’ve heard about Brendon following the end of Buffy has been in regard to his alcoholism, so this doesn’t surprise me, though it is sad to hear.
It’s probably unfair to call him out for aging poorly, but it is striking. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Allyson Hannigan still look fantastic; Dave Boreanaz is obviously older, but still looks great (better, actually); James Marsters seems to have frozen himself in time. It’s a shame, because Brendon was very good-looking in his 20’s.
I wonder if some of it can be attributed to the fact that Brendon’s career never really took off aside from Buffy. Boreanaz got his own series and began another almost right after the first ended. Sarah Michelle Gellar had film success before, during, and immediately after Buffy, and is now practically retired. Hannigan was in American Pie and got HiMYM.
Brendon got a few terrible made-for-TV movies (that he didn’t even star in), and a few TV spots.
Nicholas Brendon is forty years old. He looks forty years old. Actually, he looks pretty good, for differing values of “good” at forty. Especially for someone with a drinking problem.
He makes me sad, but I don’t think I’ll ever have it in me to hate on Xander.
He was also in a Fox sitcom (Kitchen something or other) that started the same year and actually aired opposite HiMYM’s slot on CBS. Aly killed his career!
Bumping from Wizard World Comic Con Toronto - actually, I’m back at my hotel for the night, but I was at the Direct Energy center for most of the day.
Nicholas was a big hit at his Q&A here and came off as reasonably un-toolish, though he was showing off a rather dirty sense of humor. Not sure if this is an excuse, but when one of my friends from the Toronto Buffy fan club (who has met him before) asked how his dog was doing, his somewhat rambling answer included something along the lines of “…and I went to Seattle a few weeks ago, and came down with the flu while I was there…”
shrugs And yes, I’d think that if he was really feeling under the weather, then he should probably have actually left the convention entirely, instead of going back to his autograph booth.
Sarah Michelle Gellar will be starring in a new show called Ringer this fall. Assuming it gets picked up, of course, but that’s looking more and more like a formality.
Just became a Buffy fan and started reading about the NB’s drinking problems. I thought he was “clean” and your report almost made it seem like he was back with the weird behavior.
So, I also THEN saw both an AM TV show interview w/ NB before Emerald City Comic Con and the actual footage of the Comic Con.
My impression was that NB was pretty coherent (beyond the normal high-functioning alcoholics that I’ve known).
I also know that he has been wearing the nerd glasses for real for several years based on some TV academy interview pre-S7. I think he varies at Comic-Cons on wearing T-shirts or nerd-wear but I don’t think it’s mocking. Somewhere I read an interview where he says he’s a total nerd, likes to play them on TV (as in Criminal Minds), and likes to have that image. Now personally I think he looks far better as a normal T-shirt wearing guy (and please, LOSE those glasses!) but I don’t think he’s mocking. It’s the image he wants to project. Not the choice I would make but I don’t think it’s an insult.
So, if I run w/ the theory that NB was stone-cold sober at Emerald City Comic Con, I guess I was wondering:
How did you find out he requested a change in venue to a solo panel? Is there any chance the organizers took a look at the crowd for autographs and thought they should make a change? It just seems odd that NB would go “diva” if frankly there was no money in it. He hits all these conventions and to be honest, I suspect it pays the bills.
So… I don’t want to suggest your report is wrong. I’m just wondering if there is any other explanation for what you saw than “NB was acting like a tool”. Perhaps another perspective to explain what you saw beside “peevish actor”.
I’ve seen enough interviews to know his humor is raw and blue. He clearly runs open-loop, speaks w/out thinking alot, and is sort of anti-establishment in terms of the way he portrays himself (it’s like he goes out of his way to be non-Hollywood). But he also has demonstrated he knows his pay check comes from the fans and holds enough meet n greet.
So.. longer than I expected…again my initial curiosity was to see if he was still on the wagon. The video from the Comic Con implies “yes” to me, your story implies “no”. What do you think. You saw him in person.
But I have to say I haven’t gotten any other reports than this one to suggest he was anti-fan.
Does anyone else remember his website from a few years back where he would record messages to try and entice people to pay a couple hundred bucks to go bowling with him and then chastised people for not buying tickets?! I wanted to buy a ticket just to see the train wreck that had become his life circa 2009/2010, but I live in the east coast. Too bad. He seems to be doing better now, but he has a long way to go before I believe he isn’t a tool, irl.
James Marsters will be 53 years old in August.
He does quite a few cons to help put his kids through college. He truly appreciates his fans and it shows.
I am attending the Comicon at Sea - Mediterranean cruise in June, both James Marsters and Nicholas Brenden are scheduled to attend, I hope Nicholas is a little better behaved then.
Update: he’s been arrested again for drunkenly trashing a hotel room at a Con. Second time in 6 months. Sounds like he’s dealing with a serious problem.
Read an article once where Henry “The Fonz” Winkler talked about what it was like to become a household word in his twenties. He described it as an incredible mindf**k, and noted that there are plenty of people willing to tell you whatever you want to hear, for one reason or another. He said that it’s an effort, a MAJOR effort to stay any kind of grounded.
This is, I suspect, why a number of young stars and celebrities tend to self destruct, at one point or another. Stands to reason. Although I wouldn’t wanna judge any individual cases unless I knew the particulars.
Kind of a shame Brendon seems to be going over some rough spots. Even worse that he’s dragging his fans over 'em, too.
I’m wondering why his twin hasn’t at least made an effort to get Nick straight? Or at the very least impersonated him at a con or three. With all the mileage, who’d know the difference?
Since there’s already been some James Marsters love in this thread, i’ll point out he is the audiobook reader of Jim Butchers Dresden Files urban fantasy novels.
He is incredibly good. Overtaking even Patrick Tulls reading of the O’Brian novels in my estimation.
