“Sometimes it’s bad parenting to say you are doing fabulous and here’s a trophy when they are getting Cs and have a 175 IQ,” he continued. “I think it’s good parenting to push kids sometimes. He wants what’s best for his son and he wants him to go to M.I.T. He’s not doing that living in an underground hostel.”
Since bursting onto the scene in 1997 as Spike in the instant classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marsters credits 21 years in showbiz for becoming an expert on navigating Hollywood. He has tried to impart some of that wisdom on his TV son; however, after one notable conversation he soon realized his advice wasn’t needed. “I’ve been in the business long enough to see young kids have a hard time with fame,” he explained. “I pulled Gregg (pictured below) aside and told him about the perils of fame and how if he ever wakes up in the morning feeling sorry for himself or feels that he is working too hard, he’s walking soft and should be careful of that because the end of that road is lonely town.
TCA: James Marsters on Playing a Bad Dad on Hulu's "Marvel's Runaways"
Publish date
August 03, 2018 (ET)Channel
TV / Video DownloadHollywood, CA -- As tortured genius Victor Stein on Hulu’s Marvel’s Runaways, James Marsters, on the surface, is not the perfect father. Like the rest of the runaways’ parental units, Stein lied to his son Chase (Gregg Sulkin) about being an evil so-and-so; the reason all the runaways banded together in Season 1 to, well, run away. While the character appeared to receive his comeuppance at the end of the first season he does live, albeit in suspended animation, to appear in Season 2 which is currently in production and due to start streaming later in the year. Fans of the series will agree -- he’s simply a bad dad -- yet Marsters has his own view on the character’s parenting style. “I would argue that Victor is not a bad dad,” he told MediaVillage during a recent set visit. “He’s not the perfect dad, and he may be a little too hard on his son -- maybe a lot too hard -- but it’s better than being too easy on a genius kid.