"Movie/TV News: Sarah Michelle Gellar"
Source: IMDB
Date: 11.20.00
Sarah Michelle Gellar is often described as the thinking man's sex symbol. The product of a posh Manhattan upbringing and elite private schools, Gellar was reading philosophy and studying college-level mathematics when she was barely 15. Her brains and cynical wisdom also turned her into an outsider in school, giving her a taste of the same kind of rejection which has left Buffy the Vampire Slayer a somewhat forlorn kind of modern-day hero.
The notion of the outsider is something that Gellar readily shares with her character, and just as the series has evolved into one of the most popular programs of its kind, so has Sarah Michelle Gellar grown into a dynamic and in-your-face woman.
The biggest news in Gellar's life of late has nothing to do with Buffy, however. Her hot new romance with Freddie Prinze Jr., arguably the sexiest young actor to grace the screen since Brad Pitt , has changed her life in many ways. She's confessed to feeling far more relaxed and comfortable in her personal life than ever before, and enjoys the sensitive time she spends with Prinze when she leaves the set of Buffy every night at eight or nine.
As things have turned out, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has established itself as one of the most popular and innovative series of its kind. Not only is it the backbone of the Warner Bros. TV network, but it has also been sold to more than thirty countries around the world. And success sits well on the shoulders of the ravishing Sarah, a girl with a fiersome intellect and gift for intense introspection. Critics have acclaimed her as one of TV's top actresses, and at the same time Gellar has also begun to forge a career in film - playing in I Know What You Did Last Summer , Scream 2 , and Cruel Intentions .
Gellar is the product of a wealthy Manhattan upbringing where her mother raised her after divorcing Sarah's father when Sarah was just a toddler. Gellar was discovered at the tender age of 4 when a talent scout spotted her eating with her mom at a New York restaurant. It only took a week before the irresistably cute little Sarah was appearing in a TV film called An Invasion of Privacy , a role that would lead to appearances in over 200 commercials.
One of those TV ads was in a spot for Burger King in which Gellar trashes McDonald's hamburgers as undersized. That led to a lawsuit in which the then 4-year-old Gellar was called as a witness in a multimillion lawsuit brought by McDonald's against Burger King.
Sarah would go on to study at the prestigious Professional Children's School in Manhattan where she became a competitive figure skater, earned a brown belt in tae kwon do, and graduated with straight A's. In the meantime, Gellar was a successful model and actress, earning well over a million dollars before she was 15.
We spoke to Sarah Michelle Gellar late one afternoon at the Café Rizzi in L.A. where she had just been dropped off by none other than Freddie Prinze, Jr. They definitely make one of the sexiest pairs in Hollywood, and for the time being it seems like a match made in heaven. Sarah was wearing a sexy tank top and and imitation alligator skin pants to our lunch.
THE INTERVIEW
Q: Sarah, you've kept your romance with Freddie Prinze Jr. very low-key. We don't read much about you two?
GELLAR: That's true. This place is so full of rumors and gossip that we decided we would try to stay away from parties and film premieres and just be ourselves without the pressure of being followed by photographers. So far it's worked out really well and I think it's helped our relationship that we haven't been turned into a so-called celebrity couple.
Q: Do you think the spotlight the media puts on celebrity couples creates a lot of negative pressure on those relationships?
GELLAR: Yes, it does. You become afraid of being seen at certain public places like restaurants or movie theatres because you want to share some private time like anyone else and not feel as if you're being watched and fussed over. I respect the fact that I have a lot of fans and I owe my career to that kind of support. But when you're with your boyfriend, you want to just relax and talk about personal things and just be normal and you can't do that if suddenly ten or twenty people start crowding around you when you just want to buy your popcorn and watch a movie like anyone else.
Q: Did you ever think about how you would react to celebrity worship before Buffy turned you into a star?
GELLAR: Actually, I thought a lot about how I would feel. You never realize how important your moments away from being a so-called celebrity become. Everybody gets tired or has bad moods or feels depressed and when you're in a negative frame of mind, the last thing you need are people staring at you or asking for your autograph. Obviously, you have to be friendly because being an actor involves a serious obligation to respect your audience.
But sometimes you feel like crying because all those people who are smiling and telling you how much they like you don't realize that maybe you had an argument with your best friend or things are working out in your private life.
Q: How has your relationship with Freddie Prinze Jr. changed your life?
GELLAR: I don't want to talk about that very much because I feel our relationship is the one thing we have an obligation to keep only for ourselves. We don't even talk that much about each other to our friends. But obviously I love Freddie a lot and ever since we've been together I've felt a lot more together and happy. I had a bad breakup last year and being with someone as sweet and sensitive and caring as Freddie is a wonderful thing. He's a beautiful man inside and out and not at all impressed with his own looks. He's very self- critical because he wants to be known for being a good actor and not for his looks.
Q: Did you worry about dating an actor who is being hailed as the next great American sex symbol?
GELLAR: No, I felt like telling some of the people who have been jealous of my success, and particularly some nasty actresses whose names I won't mention - eat your hearts out, girls!
But seriously, when I began seeing Freddie, all I thought about was how terrific a guy he was and that I couldn't believe how nice someone could be despite a lot of the attention he's been getting the last year. He hasn't let any of the publicity inflate his head. He's staying very focused and cool and only wants to improve his craft and made good movies.
Q: How happy are you with the continuing success of Buffy?
GELLAR: I think the show is improving every year. Buffy has evolved a lot and becoming much more aware of the world and also gained a tremenous amount of self- awareness as well. She's not as much of a victim in her personal life as she used to be and is taking more responsiblity for the choices she makes. And, of course, the battle with evil still goes on and she respects her obligation to continue the fight.
Q: Does Buffy ever get tired of the battle?
GELLAR: Yes. It's not easy to maintain a double life sometimes but as she's become more mature, just like I have in my own life, she's learned to respect herself more and gained the kind of self-confidence you need to be able to deal with personal problems. She's evolving into the kind of person she wants to be, even though she knows she has a long process of self- discovery before she's going to feel completely comfortable with her own identity.
Q: Is that the key to Buffy's appeal, the fact that a lot of people, especially teenagers, identify with her struggle for respect and her qualities of determination?
GELLAR: Absolutely. Buffy's on the same kind of voyage that so many smart but insecure people experience in high school or in college. Growing up is the most difficult and agonizing thing you can imagine. You're struggling to find good friends and feel some comfortable within a social circle, and if you don't feel that you belong to any group or that you don't fit in anywhere, you begin to doubt yourself and feel even more self-conscious. I've gone through periods in my life where I hated my school, I hated my classmates, and I just hated my whole life.
Q: So, in a way, Buffy's success has helped reassure you that you're not as weird as sometimes you yourself might have thought you were?
GELLAR: Right. For a long time the girls in my high school tortured me every day because they were so jealous of the fact that I was doing TV commercials and appearing in TV movies.
They would make nasty comments about how I would be a has-been at 17 and that I would never make it as an actress. So my success with Buffy has been my way of showing them how stupid and wrong they were.
But I've also learned that after a while you don't care about those nasty people you meet along your way in life. You can't let their warped behaviour or their petty jealousy become a part of you. You just have to let it all flow to the side and be very clear that you're motivated to succeed not because you want to prove to your old classmates what bitches they were, but because it's something I want for myself.
Q: Do you ever find yourself lapsing into Buffy mode in your personal life and taking inspiration from her take-charge attitude when she battles vampires at night?
GELLAR: Sometimes. In a way, playing Buffy has helped me assert myself and feel vindicated. I used to feel like a loser sometimes, at least socially, and the success of Buffy has given me a lot of confidence in life even though I know luck plays a big part. But I know that if there wasn't some part of my own character that comes through Buffy and draws people towards her, then the series would never have been so successful. At the same time, I know that Buffy is only one step in my career, and even if the show were to disappear tomorrow, I still have a life and I still have a lot of ambition that I can have a good career as a serious actress.
Q: Is there something darkly sexual about Buffy's battles against vampires?
GELLAR: (Laughs) I don't think so. I guess you could develop some psychological profile that she's releasing a lot of sexual aggression by spending her nights killing vampires instead of having sex, but that's not what the series is saying. It's much more a story about female empowerment and finding one's own identity and staying true to yourself and your own beliefs. Buffy's character is about honesty and integrity.
Q: Do you also feel more confident sexually these days?
GELLAR: (Smiles) I think being more at ease about yourself helps you in every area of your life. I've never been the girl who's been able to go after the cool guy at a party and I've never felt that I'm so pretty or sexy that I can just walk into a room and have people attracted to me. But I don't think sexuality has anything to do with looking sexy. Being sexually open and good in bed has much more to do with self-confidence and a sense of wanting to express yourself with your body. Great sex starts in the head and works its way down. (Laughs)
Q: Is there any contradiction in the fact that Buffy is seen as a sexual icon by some critics when you see yourself and your character differently?
GELLAR: Buffy likes sex, but she's more concerned with being loved and being accepted for who she is. She lives with the contradictions of not being able to make her real life live up to her intellectual ideals of how she should be living it. As a vampire-killer, she turns into the aggressive, fearless person she has to be. But in daily life, she's still a mess and still finding her way. I think that's why people identify with her because her personal struggle for integrity and self-evolution mirrors exactly the kind of battles everyone goes through in life. We're all struggling to become the kind of person we would like to be.
Q: You've become an adult while playing Buffy. How do you feel your personal growth has been affected by having a full- time job at a fairly youg age and working long hours?
GELLAR: The great thing about acting in a TV series is that it focuses your life. You don't have that much time to worry about not having a boyfriend or not being invited to some girlfriend's party or studying for exams. I've known that I've wanted to be an actress since my childhood, and so in a way that clarifies your perception of where you're going with your life.
The negative side comes when you realize that because you have been working so hard, you haven't been spending as much time as you need reading, being with friends, and travelling as much as you might have wanted to if you had more free time.
Q: Do you ever think of quitting Buffy?
GELLAR: I'll stick with the series as long as the scripts are good and I feel that we're not disappointing the audience. It would be really awful if we became very cynical and simply got to churning out Buffy episodes so we could make more money down the road. The show is successful enough and I owe it a lot, so I'm more than happy to be where I am.
Q: Do you feel any pressure to try your hand at simply concentrating on a film career?
GELLAR: No. I'm still young enough not to have to worry about not having a film career or worrying about being stereotyped in the role. These days, TV actors are finding it pretty easy to move to film if that's where they want to go. So I just look at making a movie or two during the summer and going back to being Buffy the rest of the time.
Q: Has Buffy's message for women changed at all as the series has evolved?
GELLAR: No, not really, even though Buffy's character has become more complex. It's all about not tying your identity and self-esteem with how many friends you have, how attractive people think you are, or whether you have a boyfriend or not. I think the basic message is that you should exercise the freedom to be who you are and not subscribe to anyone else's definition of what cool or normal should be. There's so much pressure in society today when it comes to clothes and weight and appearance, especially for women. Buffy is telling girls to get your act together and stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Q: Final question, does being in love make it easier or harder to work long hours in a series like Buffy?
GELLAR: A lot easier. The best part is being able to come home at night to someone who really loves you instead of just reading a book or watching a movie by yourself. Life is a lot easier and more fulfilling when you're not taking the trip by yourself.