“I was hysterical”: the miscommunication that made Sarah Michelle Gellar face her greatest fear.
Being Buffy the Vampire Slayer might seem like a fun job, what with getting to fight unspeakable demons, date sexy vampires and save the world every other day. But as Buffy Anne Summers herself points out continuously in the show, being the slayer is no cake walk. And neither is playing the slayer, according to Buffy’s real-life acting counterpart, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Then again, playing a vampire slayer when you’re afraid of cemeteries isn’t always going to be fun. Although Gellar’s more difficult stunts were done by doubles, there were still certain things that couldn’t be avoided. Buffy tends to get herself into pretty sticky situations, often at the cemetery, and sometimes they can’t be filmed with a stunt double.
One of the worst situations Buffy finds herself in is dying at the end of season five. As if that’s not bad enough for the character, the Scooby gang then decides to get their magic on and resurrect her. Only they don’t think to dig up her corpse before working the spell. So while they think they’ve failed and head home, Buffy awakens in her own coffin and has to claw her way out.
So, being buried alive, another of the actor’s fears, was one of those sticky situations in seasons six. And so, Sarah Michelle Gellar was buried alive, too, despite being terrified.
“I told the producer, ‘Look, I can’t do it, I’m sorry;,” she explained. “Through miscommunication, the message never got relayed, and it was four in the morning, and they basically made me do it.”
Give the prior accusations levelled at creator Joss Whedon for his on-set behaviour, it’s not hard to imagine the young actor being given no choice in the matter, so, like a consummate professional, she did it.
“I was hysterical. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done for my job, ever,” she said, “Some people find cemeteries a turn-on. Not me. I cried the whole way home.”
It’s one thing to like hanging out in cemeteries, it’s a whole other thing to get buried alive for your job. Sure, it forced Gellar to face her fear, but it doesn’t seem like she hot much other than trauma out of the situation. Unless we consider Buffy’s panic and desperation during the scene to be down to Gellar’s actual panic in real life. But a scene isn’t worth risking someone’s mental well-being.
Then again, if an actor was ever going to have to face their biggest fears, it makes sense that it’s on the set of Buffy, given the fact that Buffy and her gang face pretty much everyone’s biggest fears at some point during its seven seasons.
Original article at Far Out Magazine.
