who played giles on buffy the vampire slayer?
Anthony Stewart Head
contradiction
 Veteran character actor Mark Metcalf appeared in heavy prosthetic make @-@ up for the role of the Master , belying his iconic performance in the film National Lampoon 's Animal House ( 1978 ) as Douglas C. Neidermeyer . In 2011 , Metcalf recognized his role on Buffy as one of his favorites . Many actors auditioned for the part , but Whedon felt Metcalf played it with more complexity , bringing a " sly and kind of urbane " sensitivity and a charm to the villainy of the character . Kristine Sutherland was cast as Buffy 's mother Joyce . Sutherland , who disliked the horror genre , was not looking for acting jobs when her agent called her with the opportunity to play Joyce . Sutherland auditioned the same day as David Boreanaz , and was impressed with how naturally she felt at ease with the material in the scripts . Bob Flutie , Sunnydale High School 's principal , was originally played by Stephen Tobolowsky in the unaired pilot . Ken Lerner was cast as Flutie in the broadcast version . 

entailment
 Throughout the series Buffy Summers ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) , in her role as the Vampire Slayer , is assisted by her close friends , who refer to themselves as the " Scooby Gang " . These include Xander Harris ( Nicholas Brendon ) , a young man without particular strengths or talents , but devoted to Buffy and her calling , and Willow Rosenberg ( Alyson Hannigan ) , a young woman who has grown from a shy but gifted student into a strong woman and powerful user of magic . They are mentored by Buffy 's " Watcher " , Rupert Giles ( Anthony Stewart Head ) , a paternal figure since the first season , when Buffy moved to Sunnydale after her parents ' divorce . Xander is engaged to Anya Jenkins ( Emma Caulfield ) , a former vengeance demon who has become human . They have struggled with disclosing their engagement to the rest of the group and individually doubt their impending marriage . 

entailment
 The narrative follows Buffy Summers ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) on her first day at a new school in a new town . She hopes to live as a normal teenager , but the duties and fate of the Slayer – to fight vampires , demons , witches and other supernatural beings – will not leave her alone ; the ancient vampire the Master ( Mark Metcalf ) threatens to break free , and Buffy must turn for help to her school librarian and Watcher Rupert Giles ( Anthony Stewart Head ) , her new classmates , Willow and Xander ( Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon ) , and a benevolent stranger named Angel ( David Boreanaz ) . 

entailment
 In May 2010 , The Hollywood Reporter said the actors who met with Webb to be considered for the lead role included Jamie Bell , Alden Ehrenreich , Frank Dillane , Ose Hayble , Garfield and Josh Hutcherson . In June 2010 the Los Angeles Times reported that the shortlist had expanded to include Aaron Johnson and Anton Yelchin . At least Bell , Ehrenreich , Garfield , Yelchin , Logan Lerman and Michael Angarano had screen tests . On July 1 , 2010 , the choice of Garfield was confirmed . Webb stated that he felt he knew Garfield was the right guy when they were filming a cutscene where he was eating a cheeseburger while telling Gwen to calm down . 

contradiction
 Casting for the film became a hot topic . When Sean Penn met Malick , he told him , " Give me a dollar and tell me where to show up " . Scripts were also sent to Robert De Niro , Robert Duvall and Tom Cruise . In 1995 , once word went out that Malick was making another movie after many years , numerous actors approached him , flooding the casting directors until they had to announce they wouldn 't be accepting more requests . Some A class actors for example , Brad Pitt , Al Pacino , Gary Oldman and George Clooney offered to work for a fraction and some even offered to work for free . Bruce Willis even went as far as offering to pay for first @-@ class tickets for the casting crew , to get a few lines for the movie . At Medavoy 's home in 1995 , Malick staged a reading with Martin Sheen delivering the screen directions , and Kevin Costner , Will Patton , Peter Berg , Lukas Haas and Dermot Mulroney playing the main roles . In June of that year , a five @-@ day workshop was scheduled at Medavoy 's with Brad Pitt dropping by , and culminating with Malick putting on the soundtrack of Where Eagles Dare and playing Japanese taiko drums . Malick met with an interested Johnny Depp about the project at the Book Soup Bistro on the Sunset Strip . 
