Sarah Michelle Gellar Interview
The Independent (UK) June 2002
Q.
Buffy has been around for six years now. Do you ever
go back and watch the old episodes?
A.
I love anything from the first season. I watch it and
shout "Look at my hair! What was I thinking?"
That was the season of the push-up bra too, so I looked
pretty different.
Q.
Can you see yourself being in the show for another six
years?
A.
No, I'd be in a mental institution by then.
Q.
In Buffy your character is shown growing up and progressing.
How do you feel about the more adult direction the show
is taking?
A.
The one really special thing about Buffy is that all
of us grow up and grow into our characters. I think this
is very important for keeping the show alive and our audience
has grown with us. I'm very pleased that Buffy's progression
is so clearly charted on the show. The things she's doing
now, at 25 [me: Huh?!], are the things most people do
in their mid-20's - finding yourself and confronting your
inner demons. As I've matured, so Buffy has gone into
really quite unchartered territory. We've seen her go
from a high school student, to her first love, to college,
and now she's a single mother who has to get a job. I
don't envy her at all.
Q.
How has it been filming Scooby Doo and Buffy simultaneously?
A.
I've really enjoyed it. As a creative person it is important
always to be sharpening all your tools by taking on new
challenges. It gets my creative juices flowing. Being
able to work outside Buffy is what has made it so easy
for me to continue with the show, because I continue to
be challenged and fulfilled. I'd be coming off the Scooby
Doo set reading the script for Buffy and thinking "that's
great" or "let me try this" and I'd be
here filming Buffy and get this great idea for Scooby.
And, of course, it was wonderful working with Freddie.
I met him first as an actor and I respected his work -
and then it went from there.
Q.
Celebrity couples, such as Freddie and yourself, get
more attention than individual actors and actresses. Does
that bother you?
A.
I don't feel like we get followed by the paparazzi too
much. Here, in the US, I'm not a novelty: I'm kind of
old news. The other day I was doing a cover for a "Young
Hollywood" issue of a magazine, and someone said
to me, "Well, you're not really young Hollywood any
more. You're kind of on the old side." I think the
paparazzi feel the same. They don't want me.
Q.
But still, you have been voted sexiest woman on the
planet...
A.
Oh my God! Obviously those people don't know me.
Q.
Is that a pressure on you, along with the fact that
you're seen as something of a role model for young women?
A.
Everyone says it's such a burden to be a role model.
But they're looking at it the wrong way. It's an honour.
I know when I was growing up how important certain teen
icons were to me. The only thing is it's important that
there's a certain line of separation where I'm seen as
Sarah and not Buffy.
Q.
Buffy has had several beaux along the way. How have
you found doing love scenes?
A.
Love scenes are never the most comfortable things in
the world. The best thing about it is I have been with
the same crew for six years so they are like my family.
It is a lot easier doing things you feel silly or uncomfortable
about if you are around people who are that close to you
- although you wouldn't want your real family to see you
doing things like that! To be honest, it is truly the
unsexiest thing in the world. David Boreanaz, who was
one of my first boyfriends on the show, and I were the
worst. We would do horrible things to each other. Like
eat tuna fish and pickle before we kissed. If he had to
unbutton my shirt or trousers I would pin them or sew
them together to make it as hard as I could. Once I even
dropped ice cream on him.
Q.
What does Freddie think?
A.
He doesn't watch my love scenes. Although he was very
into some Scooby Doo scenes with the bad guy - he watched
them over and over again. And oddly enough he liked my
girl-on-girl scene from Cruel Intentions.
Q.
How do you cope with watching his love scenes?
A.
I know what it's like - it's a job. I know how incredibly
unsexy it is. I don't worry.
