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Sarah Michelle Gellar:Facing Horror Without Buffyby Lynn B.
The Grudge, made in Japan and based upon the popular Japanese film series Ju-on: The Grudge, places Sarah in a modern haunted house where some really ticked-off ghosts are out for revenge and spreading psychological as well as physical horror. We recently spoke with cast and filmmakers and found them all fascinated with the Japanese culture and their experiences in that country while shooting. We were ready for our sit down with Sarah at Beverly Hills’ posh Four Seasons hotel recently and she entered the room with her nose twitching like Samantha from the old “Bewitched” TV. show. Sarah: Somebody smells really good. The actress moves over my way, sits down, leans over and sniffs my neck. I remind myself that she was a vampire slayer, not a vampire so I’m safe. Sarah: Hey, it’s you! What is that? Is it wrong to sniff people first thing in the morning? I explain that I don’t mind being sniffed and it’s Beyonce’s new Tommy Hilfiger scent “True Star”. She makes a mental note to try it. Sarah looked very un-wintery in her feminine green blouse with black velvet trim and opalescent dangle earrings as she sipped on bottled water and talked about the wonders of Japan, her spooky shower scene, her plans for a future family and life…after “Buffy”. AGW: What is the big difference between The Grudge and a horror film like Scream 2? Sarah: Cleavage. You could not wear a turtleneck in those movies. AGW: Was it seeing the original film or reading the script for The Grudge that hooked you? Sarah: I had been in Canada doing 'Scooby' and I had just gotten home and I was reading a lot of scripts. I was kind of down because I had left such a great character [Buffy] and it set the bar very, very high. In television females lead everything, superheroes are the smart ones. But in films, you're the girlfriend, the wife, the daughter. I got this phone call from one of my managers who said, 'Okay, I know you love Japanese films. There's this film, but you've missed all the auditions. If you want to go you have to go tomorrow. It's fifteen pages of dialogue. I stayed up that night. Mistake number one was watching the film by myself at night. I saw the movie and I read the script and I couldn't believe that they were really going to keep the essence of the movie. Now I thought that 'The Ring' was a great movie, but I thought that the Japanese version was a better film. So I went in and I read. Then I stalked Sam Raimi [Producer] for quite some time. It was the one film that I more than anything wanted to be a part of on every level, to work with Sam, to work in Japan, to get to do a really positive female character driving the story. AGW: Were you worried about doing a horror genre film after “Buffy”? Sarah: Initially, of course. You're like, 'Okay, I'm ready for my big, sweeping period drama.' But, I have thought about it a lot because I get this question a lot, there are two things that go into it. Horror is the field where women can really rule. I'm not the girlfriend. I'm not the wife. This is where women can take a hold of a movie and have a proactive job and the guy is the boyfriend, and people want to see the women be triumphant. Also, look at our past couple of Oscar winners. Halle Berry did Gothika and then Catwoman, and Charlize Theron is doing Aeon Flux. I mean, there's a reason for that because this is where really a woman can shine. I mean, look at Naomi Watts in The Ring. I'm sure that a lot of people probably passed on it first and she was so wonderful in that. AGW: Did you get to take the fast bullet train in Japan? Sarah: Yes, I did. Jason and I and some friends got to go towards the end and we were the only two actors that got to. Freddie [Prinze Jr., her husband] kept joking with me that if I didn't bring home a samurai sword not to come home and you can't take those out of the country. I literally had these visions of like Uma Thurman on the plane with her sword. I just imagined me going through customs trying to get through security checks nowadays. But I did. I got one back. AGW: How do you see your career now, past “Buffy” and “Scooby”? Sarah: Exciting. I guess it's really phase three [of my career] because I was a child actor. I was on a soap. I wanted to come to L.A. and everyone talked me out of it. My agent said, 'You'll never make it. Everyone leaves soaps and come back and you've got such a great role,' but I was eighteen years old and there were things that I wanted to experience. Now I sort of feel like I'm an adult. I think that I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, and I attribute that a lot to growing up in New York City and not living in Hollywood as a child actor. When I did Cruel Intentions it was the first time that I really had to fight for something. It was something that I was passionate about, that I wanted to be a part of. The Grudge was the second time I had that feeling. I couldn't do independent movies when I was on 'Buffy.' If the funding didn't come by a certain day that was it for me. Now I wait. I can wait until I have that feeling. It's about things that are both personally and professionally rewarding, that are exciting to me.
Sarah: I believe in the idea of spirits. I've been to houses where murders have happened and you have that sort of eerie feeling. I get a lot of déjà vu. I always feel like I've been here and experienced this. Maybe I'm just crazy. But I definitely believe in the idea of something that powerful transcending. I really do. AGW: Did anything frightening happen on or around the set? Sarah: The amazing thing was that they started with a purification ceremony. It's traditional in Japan when they're starting a movie that has spirits and has sort of that essence. They bring in a Japanese priest or monk and he comes in and blesses everyone. The entire crew comes and I'd probably been there maybe a week and unfortunately Jason [Behr] and I were the only two actors there at that point. We had to get up and be a part of it. I was petrified. I was like, 'I know that I'm going to mess this up. I'm going to curse the entire movie.' AGW: What did you have to do? Sarah: They told us that we had to get up and make a bow and clap and it looked, to me, to be similar to the hokey pokey, but a little more spiritual. I was trying to concentrate the whole time, but at the same time I was desperately trying to practice in my head. Jason hadn't eaten breakfast and his stomach started to rumble and make these noises and of course I become the twelve year girl in high school who starts giggling in the middle of this thing, and I can feel the entire crew going, 'Great. American actors.' You ask the spirits watching over us to bless the set and to bless our crew and to bless our production so that there are no injuries and no disasters. You give fruit and you give Sake and you give prayer beads and probably other things. They sent me a video of it and it's just amazing and it was sort of a great way to meet the crew. AGW: But you got through it? Sarah: Yeah. It was such a beautiful, beautiful ceremony. Then at the end you get to drink Sake. Now I'm in a ceremony on a set that involved alcohol at ten thirty in the morning, I think it's pretty genius. I don't know about you. So we were actually lucky because we stuck with tradition and went through it and every producer had to get up there. The Sony executive had to get up. Jason and I had to get up. All the main actors. It was just amazing. AGW: Was it always a goal to go to Asia? Sarah: I think that everyone has that one place that they want to travel or that they want to experience and for me it was really Japan. I love the films from Japan. I love the food. I love the alcohol. I love the people. I love the idea that it is a culture based on respect and honor and tradition. You respect your elderly and you respect your city. Usually, half the actors want to sit in their hotel rooms and eat Dominos and watch American movies. But that wasn't the case here. Everyone wanted to learn and soak it in. I got lucky because Jason had the same fascination. So it almost became a competition between the two of us like who could plan the more fun day and who would learn more Japanese. AGW: You shot scenes in the streets with no extras, just ordinary people passing by. Were you recognized a lot? Sarah: You know, the first three months that I was there, I obviously stood out a little bit being a little blonde American girl abroad, but I was able to really experience something that I had desired for so long on a real level like not coming in through a back entrance and keeping my head down at a tourist attraction. We would go to the Tokyo tower and I stood on that line just like everyone else. Look, I'm not saying that I want to go to Disneyland tomorrow and wait in the lines because clearly I don't, but being able to really look up when I'm walking and see everything. But by the time that I went back in the summertime 'Buffy' was really hitting and it wasn't as easy and I have a sneaking suspicion that once this movie opens there my anonymity in Japan will be gone. AGW: So no one chased you down the street and no background people are waving at the camera? Sarah: It’s about respect. They don't do that. You don't go into someone's space and you don't invade their space. I was fascinated because we did this scene where I'm trying to find the subway and other people are walking back and forth and they're not looking at the camera. I'm so used to being in L.A. where it's like, 'Hi mom! Hi Dad!' You don't have that. AGW: You were working with a director who didn’t speak much English. Did you feel like you were acting for him or for his interpreter? Sarah: I acted
for the director. The very first week that I got there I said, 'What have
I gotten myself into?' I would go to restaurants and I'd sit at like a
sushi bar and I would listen to the people around me. I'd be like, 'Could
I give them notes on what they're saying? Could I say, "You're not
really emoting on this?" I was lost. I thought, 'What've I got myself
into?' By the end, the translator said to me, 'I feel like I'm going to
lose my job because you guys don't need me anymore.' We had developed
a shorthand. You take what you understand of the language, you listen
for the specific cues, you watch facial expressions and intonations and
you learn. Sarah: I love to travel. My suitcase is always packed. My dream in life is to be Eloise at the Plaza. I'm the only person who gets excited for press junkets just because I'm in a hotel. I got room service this morning. I forgot my dental floss and I called downstairs and this nice man came up with dental floss. I mean, I am a hotel child. I love them. I love travel and I love to experience different places. AGW: Your character is a social worker who becomes a home caregiver briefly. Could you do that? Sarah: There are two gifts, one is a nurse or an at home caretaker. The other is a teacher because they are our two most important jobs. I have the bedside manner. I think that I make people laugh, I'm pretty cheery, but I'm not good with sickness. We were up in the room before and everyone wanted to watch this show where they were doing plastic surgery and I cannot watch those shows. I can't even watch 'Nip Tuck.' AGW: Did your hubby Freddie visit you over there? Sarah: He unfortunately didn't. He was working which was sad. I kind of rubbed it in because the first time he got to go to Japan I was on 'Buffy.' They wouldn't let me go. He would call and tell me about the amazing things that he ate and all these places that he went. I was so mad. Now it was my turn. AGW: Are you thinking about having a family eventually? Sarah: Oh, absolutely. But I think that people forget that I'm only twenty seven years old and I'm not ready at this point. It is something that I want to do and luckily, again, as women's roles are changing in this industry it's more and more acceptable and you don't lose your career by disappearing for a little bit. You don't have to feel obligated to work right away or your place in this business is going to disappear. AGW: Do you and Freddie take breaks and just enjoy yourselves? Sarah: Absolutely and I think that he went through a similar thing which was that he sort of got pigeonholed into a bunch of movies and he said, 'I have two options. I'm either going to continue like this and not be creatively fulfilled or I'm going to take a break for a little bit and find myself.' He's actually filming this movie right now. It's an amazing script. It sort of reminds of Stand By Me. He's in New York working with Alec Baldwin and having the time of his life. I'm so glad because I felt so spoiled by The Grudge and I wanted him to have that experience of working with great actors and a great director. It's like I can go on tour with this film and then I'm going to sit on a set for two weeks and just hang and live off of his per diem. AGW: Is it easier now for actors to move between TV. and films? Sarah: I remember wondering why television stars were never in movies ten years ago because if twenty four million people watch a television show at night, why doesn't that translate to box office? Why doesn't that happen? Now we don't think twice about people going from television to movies to film. Gary Sinise has one of the great roles out there right now doing 'CSI.' I mean, you have that freedom. Look at Gwyneth Paltrow doing Shallow Hal or Sky Captain. In the old days you'd be relegated to corsets only and you wouldn't have that freedom. AGW: Will there ever be a “Buffy” movie and would you do it? Sarah: It was a movie [first]. It was a very unsuccessful movie. I don't think that it was that bad. I thought that the character was great. It was funny. But it just didn't work. I spent my entire first year telling people, 'No. No. It's not the movie.' They wanted to change our title because people were so afraid that no one would tune in. My second fear is that inevitably people are going to be disappointed. I loved the finale. I was very happy with it. I truly believe that it should have been two hours. I think that there wasn't enough Xander. I think that there was too much of the Slayer-ettes. I think that we had to cut stuff to keep all that in. So I'm fearful that in an hour and forty minutes, how do we pick one story? We went out in my opinion on top. It was a great story at the end. But, I'm a very big believer in never saying never and in three years or three months I'd read it if Joss said, 'Here's a script. Read it and see how you feel.' |
 
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We
either screamed in terror with Sarah Michelle Gellar when she was stalked
by that weird fisherman dude with the hook in the “I Know What You
Did” films or watched various monsters scream in terror as “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer” and then Scooby’s pal Daphne really went
all “action” on them! Well, the pretty, petite blonde actress
is still facing the supernatural but as a “normal” girl in
the new horror flick The Grudge in which she co-stars with “Roswell”
cutie Jason Behr. 
AGW:
This is a really scary film. Do you believe in ghosts?