20 Hot Celebrities - Sarah Michelle Gellar

How did you enjoy shooting in Southport, North Carolina? It wasn't exactly the city life you're used to, was it?
It was hard sometimes--I think the people resented us somehow. They would close restaurants down when they saw us coming. People would decide to clean their boats and saw wood when we were filming, right next to the shoot. But in their defense, it's hard. We changed their life; we monopolized their little town; we were up at weird hours. And for me--I grew up in New York City; I live in L.A. now--I didn't know from small-town living. There was no Starbucks, you know? Things closed at nine!

The good thing about working on a movie in a small town is that it was an amazing bonding experience. The four of us didn't have anybody else but each other down there. We had one local movie theater and I think it was playing Tootsie first-run.

You're a veteran of scary scenes at this point in your career. Was there anything in particular in this film that gave you a good scare?
I think the [villain's rain] slicker scared us more than anything. Love [Jennifer Love Hewitt] and I would be walking around Southport and we'd see a fisherman in a slicker and get a little freaked. It's good to be home--luckily, there aren't too many fishermen walking around the Beverly Center! But it was pretty terrifying. I know the scene that horrified me the most was me in a bathing suit. That was horrific, that was horrible, that scared me.

We know what Buffy's high school is like. Can you tell me a little bit about your own school years?
My "Buffy experience" was junior high school. I went to a normal private school--I mean, everyone goes to private school in Manhattan, although it seems odd to people in the Midwest--and I was a nerd. I was very into my studies, and I was not the most popular. I was sort of punished for what I did. I had that same decision: do I go to a school dance or slumber party or do I go to an audition? No one cared what I did, because it wasn't about my lipstick or my outfit that I got last week at Betsey Johnson. It was a very, very hard time for me.

But my high school experience was amazing. I went to school called Professional Children's School. It's for anyone with irregular schedules--musicians from Julliard, ballerinas from the School of American Ballet, and writers, and just the most talented group of young people where your talent is special, but it doesn't affect your schoolwork. Everybody there had a talent, and everyone was respected. If somebody didn't like you--they didn't talk to you! They didn't make fun of you, punish you. You could, you know, mess around with how you dress. You really had that chance to find yourself, and I thank God for that school. I went to that school feeling amazingly untalented. That school was my lifeline. Let me tell you something--talent night at our school? There was nothing like it.

That talent show must have been a little better than the ones we see in Last Summer.
[Sings badly.] I'm gonna live forever . . . Yes. [Laughs.]

As you've noticed, you're huge on the Net. Do you spend much time online yourself?
Not really. I went right from I Know What You Did to Scream to Buffy. I don't have much time. I don't have two hours to sit on the Internet and look--if I have two hours, I'm sleeping.

You mentioned earlier that the sarcasm we see in Buffy comes directly from you. I think that a lot of people develop that kind of a sense of humor as a defense mechanism when they're out of the social mainstream. Can you trace that back to your time in junior high, when as you say, you were a nerd?
Absolutely! It's, you know, "Aw, f--- that. Oh well." It was my side comments, aside to myself. Jamie Kennedy, from Scream 2, always jokes, "Do you always have to be so damn sarcastic?" It's me, it's who I am. I'm funny that way! Take it or leave it.

Sarcasm is a defense mechanism; at the same time it's funny. There's no ill will meant in my sarcasm. I think I offended some radio interviewers the other day.

What did you say?
Well . . . I have a very sick mind, and sometimes the conversations just go way too far to the left, you know, and it just went there! [Laughs.]

Rosie: You can catch our next guest every Tuesday night on the enorously...enorously, is that even a word? Oh gosh. She's on Buffy and she's cute, and that's the point. And take a look.

Sarah: No, it's perfect. Angel needs to drain a slayer, than I will bring him one.

Rosie: Scary stuff. Drained blood. Please welcome Sarah Michelle Gellar. How are you?

Sarah: I think Rob Lowe is crazy, because I was freezing in that movie theater yesterday and I was sitting right next to him. I had the seat right across the aisle from him. And I was freezing, I was so cold. I was so cold.

Sarah: I was so cold. And he just said Lauren's wife was cold, so there were mixed things going on.

Rosie: Maybe that's odd to me. Maybe all the girls under 100 pounds. All the people over 100 pounds were sweating buckets. I need a little extra sure. You were so funny on signal.

Sarah: Thank you. It is the most amazing show. I would love to be on that show. I could never do it week after week. But they are so talented. Every one of those cast members, and what they do in a short period of time, I am in awe of them.

Sarah: I was crying again. And we didn't have the greatest dress rehearsal. The first time you have a great dress rehearsal. And the dress rehearsal had problems and I was depressed and I walked into Lauren's office like this, but the live show was great.

Sarah: We were commenting on all these magazine covers have these women holding their breasts. I don't understand, and you couldn't get me to do, but they got me to do this exit. They wouldn't have to do the main stage where I would have to be naked, so we came on to your lovely stage so I could hold my breasts here.

Rosie: Nice to know you held your breasts in the studio. You would be too embarrassed to be nude.

Sarah: Yeah, I don't know. I think if you are on a magazine cover to promote a movie, it's for other reasons, and of course, I see why --

Rosie: Listen, if I looked like you, I would be nude right now. But you look beautiful here. What's the difference between going like that, and going like this.

Rosie: When you look at yourself in a magazine cover, do you think that looks like you?

Sarah: I'm so far removed. I see the girl that gets up with the puffy eyes and bed head. So I separate. I never think that's me.

Rosie: When I see myself on a magazine, I think there's that Rosie O'Donnell.

Rosie: I never looked like that in my life. I think they air brush everything.

Rosie: I wish they could digitally retouch me now. Then people say, god you look great here, as if you look like crap right now.

Sarah: Oh, my god, you are so much prettier on television. I get that all the time.

Rosie: What does that mean? Kids go crazy for you. They are always screaming when you pet out of the car. That kind of response must be overwhelming?

Sarah: It is overwhelming, but it is an honor. When I was growing up where the character was here rowic and could take care of themselves, and it's really special to have kids come up to you like that.

Sarah: To a point. I have to separate that Buffy is a role model, not necessarily Sarah. But I'm pretty boring.

Sarah: Have yourself a merry little Christmas. May your days be bright from now on your troubles will be out of sight so have yourself a merry little Christmas now. Merry Christmas McDonalds! Happy new year!

Sarah: I think it was the next day my mother sent me to singing lessons. She said you're going to learn how to sing.

Sarah: There was a big lawsuit. The first commercial I did for Burger King. I said do I look 20% smaller to you, I must do McDonalds because their products are 20% smaller. So McDonalds sued J. Walter Thompson and me at five.

Sarah: I had to go meet with a person and talk. All I know is that all 5-year-olds have their birthday parties at McDonalds and I couldn't go. Truth in advertising everything you see on television is true.

- Interview with Sean Chavel -
(Scooby Doo Interview)

Sarah Michelle Gellar has for a long time been a small-screen star with her hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but she is joining off-screen beau Freddie Prinze Jr. for this summer's anticipated blockbuster Scooby Doo. Gellar suggests that she had to fight the role of Daphne Blake nonetheless, and show the producers that she has the right stuff.

"At the beginning they were skeptical," she says. "I went in with how I thought she would walk, and what her voice would sound like and her mannerisms. It was a big-old sell job." One would think that landing the role in a live-action Scooby Doo movie would be one of the easier feats in her career. This is the young ingÚnue that has been a Golden Globe nominee for her television series, a 1998 Blockbuster Award recipient for Best Supporting Actress for her role in I Know What You Did Last Summer and an MTV award winner for Best Actress and Best On-Screen Kiss for Cruel Intentions.

Gellar is, if anything, popular with her young boy fans and with young girls who want to see themselves as 'Buffy'. But hard work and determination, in addition not taking anything for granted, even in Hollywood, is how Gellar feels she has become successful. In fact, she still trains for Buffy with such activities as Tae Kwon Do and other martial arts to stay in shape for that role. Gellar can be dynamic and assertive, but also funny and vivacious in the most spontaneous of moments, and is especially beguiling with how she talks faster than any average Cary Grant-Rosalind Russell movie.

Is it beneficial or a liability to have your real-life boyfriend star in the same movie?
It would depend on the project. There's no concern that this would ever crossover to our everyday lives. It wasn't heavy and dramatic, and god, we're taking it home! We really felt like a gang, just like the movie, which was appropriate.

Freddie is a self-proclaimed 'Scooby Doo' fan. Did you study his home video collection?
I watched a lot of episodes of the cartoon. For me, the main thing was the physicality. I studied the way she posed. At the beginning, I couldn't do it because she always at some (contorted) angle. Daphne must have had a chiropractor.

When it comes to Scooby Doo, have you ever met any bizarre fans?
I met Velma. I was at the Britney Spears concert, and this woman came up to me and said, "I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Velma." Her voice was just exact. She was a little old lady and non-assuming. It was the coolest thing really.

Your character is always talking about "Scooby snacks". So what do you feel about them?
It's a mixed confection. They sell these "Scooby snacks" at the store, and they're cinnamon-graham crackers. They're really good. But we get to this scene on the set at the beach where we all have to eat them. [Simulates queasiness] But they weren't the same "Scooby snacks". They were this concoction that looked good on camera. They were like soy-cheese or something. By the first couple takes we were like 'mmm.' But by the fourth take, we wanted a spit bucket.

Now that we're on the topic on swapping fluids, tell us about your kiss with Freddie?
It was such a non-scene. It was one of those mornings (the crew) was so behind. It was like one take. I really believe that scene was filler so they could get all of the extras together to get to the next scene and just had time in turnaround before the next set piece.

Is a family-oriented film something you were ultimately gearing towards?
Family films are movies that people overlook. Actors don't always want to do family films. Studios don't want to produce them. Children however are the movie-going audience of tomorrow. When I was young, I could remember E.T., The Princess Bride or Who Framed Roger Rabbit? These movies were family movies that my mother loved and I loved. And we could talk about them.

What do you think happened to those type of movies in the marketplace?
I always say that I blame multiplexes for the ruin of family films because it's so easy for families to split up. So you could see a kid's movie, but the older kids can go across to another (cineplex) and time a movie out so everyone gets out at the same time. It's so important to have a family film where everyone goes and the parents love it, the teens love it and the kids all love it, too.