Interview parue dans le numéro 77 (février 2002) du magazine britannique Cult Times.
It's not of course, the weather's way too cold. However, Buffy Summers is here, in her real life guise of Sarah Michelle Gellar, to discuss marriage, babies, Scooby-Doo and, of course, slaying vampires.
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TO SAY it's been a year of change for Sarah Michelle Gellar is an understatement. First, Buffy The Vampire Slayer was dropped by one American TV network (The WB) and picked up by another (UPN) which created more than a little concern as to the show's future. Secondly. boyfriend Freddie Prinze Jr proposed to her, thus putting her in the midst of not only returning to an uncertain work environment but also planning a wedding.
Sarah was born in New York on April 14th 1977, and not only lived there until cast as Buffy in 1997, but it was there that she began her acting career at the age of four, appearing in a Burger King TV commercial. By 1993 she was a regular on the American daytime television serial All My Children, a role for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award. It was her stint on the serial that brought her to the attention of the creators of Buffy and a move from New York to Los Angeles where she now lives permanently.
For all of Buffy's success, when The WB announced it was dropping the show and UPN quickly picked it up, the actress admits there was trepidation about the show's sixth season that's evolved into renewed dedication. "There was so much pressure coming back this year," she admits. "Obviously, there was a lot of drama about where the show is going and all that stuff, but that was behind the scenes and it didn't really affect us. We, the cast and crew, we came in the first day and you knew something was different, but then again nothing was different except we had a much better coffee machine." She laughs before adding, "We were just really excited. I think a lot of times when shows go into their sixth season people are going, 'Okay, this is now just a means to an end and we'll see how bad the show gets.' But by moving to UPN and by kind of starting new, it was almost like getting a second chance. It was almost like people were waiting to see a new show and it was that same excitement of a first season, of a series premiere versus, 'Oh well, here's the start of the sixth season'."
Of course, not only was there renewed interest in the show from UPN, which she agrees filtered down to the cast and crew of the series, she entered the new season as an engaged woman returning from a stay in Australia starring opposite Prinze in the film Scooby-Doo.
"It was quite a transition, because while in Australia we lived in our own little world," she explains. "I mean, they fed us every day and we lived in a rented house and we didn't have bills to pay, everyone did everything for you. And then I had to come back here and it was like, 'Oh, wait, you mean I have to clean house again?' Laundry is all of a sudden piled up!"
Still, appearing with her fiance in the live action film version of Scooby-Doo is something that's special. And the obvious question that must be asked is who was cast first in the film, herself or Freddie? She responds with a giggle. "You know, it was really funny, that was played out really well. I went in on a Friday and there had always been interest in Freddie all along and I think they had reservations about me because Daphne is the character, obviously, that always gets kidnapped. She's always in trouble and everyone has to rescue her.
"The concern was, is the audience going to buy that I'm not going to kick butt, you know?" she explains. "Are they going to buy it that I am not going to turn around and beat up the bad guys? So I went in and I really had to sell.myself. I went in and said, 'You know, I'm an actress and you have to remember that I'm certainly not Buffy. I can't take care of myself that way. I'm lucky if I can cross the street!'
"So I went in and did my huge pitch, and then they met Freddie on Saturday and then Monday morning they called both of our agents at the same time. I actually think Freddie got called first. They swear they had two different people call so both calls were made at the same time, but I know he got the phone call first." She pauses, and then with a teasing grin adds, "It's like twins squabbling over who's older."
Of course, the actress has a growing list of film credits, having appeared in I Know What You Did last Summer, Scream 2 and Cruel Intentions, all of which lends itself to inquiring as to where she sees her future: on television or in films? "You know," she begins to explain in earnest, "when I was coming up into being a teenager, there weren't that many roles that were interesting. There was no Ally McBeal and Felicity. None of those shows existed and it was sort of nerve-racking to come in at that time because it's like you're too old to play the child in movies. And you're certainly way too young to be the girlfriend or certainly to be the wife or to be the mother and all of a sudden television took this amazing revolutionary turn and made all these empowered female character-driven shows that never existed before. And it was such an honour to do that and such a challenge and I've been very fortunate to be able to do movies and I've been really lucky that I got to play characters that are interesting and different. But there's other stuff at this point in my life, and films still don't afford me the opportunities that Buffy does, and until I'm a little bit older I'll never get the opportunities in feature films to do what I can do every week on the show. So I've never regretted staying with the show.
"It's not like, 'Oh, wow, I wish I could be doing that movie,' or, 'This is hindering me from that,' because my opportunity right now really is here. Sure, there are times where it's grinding. It's certainly the hours. I have not had a day off since the third episode this season and that's been, like, four months! '"
"Not even a day. And I'm tired, but I don't feel like I'm missing anything," she says. "And when I got Scooby-Doo I was really, really nervous because there's no reason why they'd let me go do that, you know? In my mind I'm thinking I should be grateful enough to be there. I mean, why are they going to say 'We'll rework the entire schedule so you can fly across the continent and do a movie somewhere else'. So knowing that is in part what keeps me here. I get the opportunity to do other stuff.
"The truth is, by the time you get to the end of the season, you're burnt out and you're exhausted and you're just counting down the days until you get your summer hiatus. And instead, I found myself in the exact opposite position doing Scooby, which only enthused me more to come back."
Of course, the actress also has to juggle her work life with her private life now she's back to work on Buffy. She's forced to admit that, "We don't go out much. We're not really big premiere people, although I'm begging him to go to the premiere of Harry Potter just so that we can be the first ones to see it." She laughs aloud before adding, "I had to twist his arm and his leg when we were in Australia and were invited to the premiere of Moulin Rouge there, although I swear there was a moment where I thought he was going to leave me for Nicole Kidman." She laughs again before adding, "But we're past that now. I don't blame a man. I mean, Nicole is hot! But that kind of thing aside, it's that extra life that you don't get. I work ridiculous hours and he's so understanding of it. I get off late on Fridays, sometimes not until the early morning hours of Saturday and I have to be up at six on Mondays so I don't get much time off. And he's so amazing about that.
"But we have so many of the same interests," she continues. "We love to travel and we love to eat in different restaurants, we like the same television shows." And Buffy is still the job she looks forward to having now and in the future, even though she's unsure how long it'll last.
"You know, it's interesting," she says. "When I got the pilot, my best friend at the time turned to me and said, 'Don't worry, you'll get another pilot next season.' It was like 'pity on the poor girl that got the mid-season show on The WB'.
"I never thought we'd get past the pilot, and when the first show started airing I thought, 'Well, it was fun. Maybe hopefully I'll get another show next year.' And then it kept progressing and it was a surprise to all of us, so it's hard for me to guess how long it'll last because I never thought I'd still be here now. I didn't think they'd let me still be here, so it's incredible. We're contractually obligated through this year and next and then we'll see."
It's getting late, but before the actress returns home from this weekend visit to be with Freddie, the New York native must be asked her reaction and feelings about September 11.
"It's really hard," she says in almost a whisper. "God, I am going to start crying. Being in LA when everything happened, it's so hard to understand the magnitude. One of my best friends and I were at work and she was watching, and she never stood underneath those buildings, never saw or knew the enormity of them. I grew up in New York City. And if you got lost you'd look for the twin towers and that's how you'd find your way. You go away for a little bit and you come back and from the airport you drive over the bridge and you see the skyline and all of a sudden out of nowhere this majestic skyline comes. That's how you know you're home. I just don't understand any of it.
"I was supposed to go to New York to promote an episode of the show and I had to bow out because I don't think I could handle seeing it. I wanted to fly to New York and dig. And the next day at work I felt really frivolous. I said, you know, 'Why am I here making a television show?' I mean, all these people lost their loved ones and kids lost both their parents and then I realized first of all that people look to entertainment as a distraction. I realized that at times like this, this is what distracts people for an hour a day."
Still, admitting she couldn't travel to New York and help, and admitting that she "didn't have $2 million to donate," she went to the crew and extras and vowed to match whatever contribution each person could make. Almost overnight the 'family' that makes up Buffy contributed $60,000. "It was just this amazing feeling because not only were we able to contribute, but we contributed as a family. And that's what all this is about."
And speaking of family, she says of the possibility for she and Freddie, "I'm only 24. I mean, obviously it's something I think about. I love children and a lot of my friends are starting to have babies. One of my best friends just had a baby so it's something we talk about," she says. "We both want children. Would I stop working? I don't know. I mean, obviously, I think it depends on what I was doing and where I was in my life.
"I think that's something that's easy to make a judgement call on now and go, 'Oh, I'm going to work,' or 'I'm not going to work'. But I think having a child completely changes the course of your life and sometimes things that seem important beforehand probably don't seem as important. So I think it's a bridge that I'll have to cross at the time. I love what I do. I really do. I'm very fortunate to be able to make a living at something that I look forward to every day. So I don't think it's something that I would ever want to give up permanently. I don't see myself retiring at 26."