Billy Idol claims he was asked to be in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Billy Idol claims he was asked to play Spike in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.
The 68-year-old rocker believes the spiky-haired vampire - who was ultimately played by James Marsters - in the hit TV series was entirely based on him and while he was keen to take on the role, his management felt it wouldn't be the right career move.
Asked if he was flattered by the similarities between himself and Spike, he told The Guardian newspaper: "They wanted me to play Spike, to be quite honest. I wanted to do it because I believed I could learn to act by doing it.
"But my manager didn’t want me to do television. So I didn’t. But that’s exactly what they were doing: they were basing it on me."
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The 'Rebel Yell' hitmaker also missed out on playing the T-1000 in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' - a role that went to Robert Patrick - because he had been involved in a motorcycle accident and he still thinks it is a "shame" as he believes the role would have opened the door to great things.
He said: "I loved [director] Jim Cameron. I just know he would have got the performance out of me.
"I would have done whatever he said. It might have opened a lot more doors and it’s such a shame. But sometimes drug addiction messes things up. That’s what led to the motorcycle accident, really."
Though the accident happened in 1990, Billy still feels the effects.
He said: "There’s something going on with my right foot. It’s not the same as my left foot. So there are ramifications from it, but you can fix them by wearing certain insoles in your shoes and things like that. The injury was in the middle of the lower part of my right leg, so it was something they could fix."