The sound of silence: Camden Toy remembers his role in “Hush,” the groundbreaking Buffy episode

The sound of silence can be a scary thing, especially when ghouls come along with it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon set out to film an episode that dealt with the advantages and limitations of language and communication.

The result is the Emmy-nominated episode “Hush” filmed in near total silence.

Actor Camden Toy stars as one of The Gentlemen, a twisted fairy tale-like demon inspired by a nightmare Joss had as a child.

Unrivaled as the most terrifying villain of the series, Camden was so convincing as a Gentleman, that Joss re-casted him in the roles of Gnarl the flesh-eating demon, the recurring Ubervamp and the Prince of Lies in the fifth season of the Buffy spin-off Angel.

“Those evil roles were just so delicious to play. Ever since I was a child I was drawn to monsters,” Camden says.

The actor shares memories of his involvement in the groundbreaking episode and the unforgettable series.

Hush is the most talked about and praised episode of the entire Buffy series. The daring silence aside, what is it about that episode?

Joss tapped into our childhood nightmares. The ones about those creatures that are after us. Nightmares where we can’t get away and we can’t scream. We’ve all had that dream and that’s what takes it all to a deeper level of fright. Hush is about a primal fear.

The Gentlemen’s makeup and prosthetic work is spectacular. Were cast members uncomfortable being around you off camera while you were in character?

The entire cast avoided us. Alyson Hannigan said she couldn’t even look at us because we looked like dead people. And she was right. Hush was Amber Benson’s first episode as Tara. When I first met Amber I thought she was kidding when she said, “You’re so scary.” Doug Jones, who played the other main Gentleman, and I fooled around a little. Amber would come around a corner and there we were. Later I felt sorry because we were taken aside and told, “Guys, guys, she’s not kidding. She’s really scared of you.”

What scares you? Fictional nightmarish villains like the ones you’ve played on Buffy or realistic antagonists like your character Igor on the web series The Bay?

The darkness of humanity is much scarier because you’re not shielded. I don’t know if you’ve seen director Robert Hall’s film Lightning Bug, but there are no monsters in it except for this stepfather who is truly a monster. He’s a dangerous man. Like my character Red in Samuel N. Benavides’ short film Mansfield Path. Red is human, misguided and doesn’t know that he is wrong and evil. That is much scarier than some fantastical monster or vampire.

Posted by Marc Andrew on Oct 27 2011. Filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.