‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this March and though it has been nearly 2 decades since Sunnydale was destroyed but the world was saved in the cult classic’s finale, interest in the show and its cast and crew is enduring.
One thing fans of the 90’s-00’s surprising mega hit always want to know is if the rumors of onset tensions were true.
Now, thanks to Evan Ross Katz’s new book, ‘Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts”, many stars of the show are speaking out about what really went on when cameras weren’t rolling.
‘Buffy the Vampie Slayer’: On Set Tensions Were Real-Sarah Michelle Gellar Tells All In New Book
Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg) and David Boreanaz (Angel) both declined to be interviewed for the book, so we can only take Sarah Michelle Geller’s (Buffy Summers) word for it when she says, “Look, we worked really hard hours. We were young, we had ups and downs. Everybody had arguments,” she continued. “There were times where David could be a handful. He never really was to me, but I’m sure [he was]. And I’m sure I was the same way to people also, right? It wasn’t rosy. Nobody gets along all the time. And Alyson and I had moments. There’s no question. But you’re young.”
However, Sarah, the youngest and busiest of the core cast is not trying to shift blame. She fully admits she was the source of the problem sometimes, too.
“I’m not excusing myself, either. There are times where I wish I could have done things differently, but I didn’t know how to handle the stress that I was under,” she continued. “I was really young and I didn’t have any outside life. I was the one that was always working and sometimes I would be resentful of the fact that they didn’t have to work all the time. It ebbs and flows, and anyone that tells you that they get along with everyone all the time, it’s just not true.”
In fact, tabloids telling tales of the tension generally centered on Geller as being the main problem on the Buffy set. Julie Benz (Darla), however, jumped to the star’s defense in the book, saying she heard the rumors about Gellar being tough to work with but never believed them.
“It’s just that she was a woman, a young woman, and there was a lack of respect towards her with her knowledge and experience because she was female and because she was young.” Benz explained while saying the on-set friction “was all kinda high school.”
Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson) agreed, saying the Buffy set was “definitely pettier than other sets” he’d worked on. He noted a lot of jealousy between the cast of twenty-somethings.
Another co-star who believes Geller didn’t deserve the bad wrap she got is Emma Caulfield (Anya Jenkins).
“She was the lead on the show. It was an ensemble cast absolutely, but the show lived and died with her. There’s a level of power there and a level of voice that needs to be accounted for. And if that isn’t received well by certain people who have very large egos and who have no interest in working in that fashion, then yeah, there’s going to be conflict,” Caulfield detailed.
So, if the conflicts between the cast were not all Geller’s to shoulder, where did the hostility stem from?
Creator, writer and show runner Joss Whedon has been in the news a LOT lately after being called out by many actors, crew and writers who worked for him on television shows and movies.
One specific actor was Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) who has been very outspoken about the treatment she endured on the Buffy and (Buffy spin-off) Angel set. While detailing Whedon’s behavior she mentioned how he pitted her against her co-stars and did his best to alienate her.
Geller, who spoke up in solidarity for Carpenter when the allegations surfaced last year, believes whole heartedly that the conflicts trickled down from the top with Whedon being just one of those who fostered the toxic workplace environment.
“I think that unfortunately the set we were on and the world we were in was pitting us against each other, she said.
Adding to the claim is Amber Benson (Tara McClay) saying, “It starts at the top—and I’m not talking about Sarah, I’m talking about Joss. And it creates the tone of the set,”
Caulfield agreed, “There are so many examples of what happened from the top down of, ‘This will really make the girls hate each other. This will make the men angry. This is going to stir some toxic shit.’ And … and it did.”
So, how are things between the stars now?
Nicolas Brendon (Xander Harris) admitted he needed distance from the show to understand how “magical” Geller was in her lead role and, 20 some years later he sees what an “amazing f—ing Buffy” his co-star truly was. “I did not give her the credit in my head that she deserved. And I wish that I had,” he added.
With joint appearances at events like ComicCon and other fan conventions appearances, along with Whedon’s public reckoning, the cast have rebonded and are close today.
While hindsight is 20/20, Geller believes “I think it would have been different if it was today. It would have been a very different relationship.”
Its true that the misogyny in both the press and in the entertainment industry has tempered (somewhat) since the young actress helmed such a huge show, still important in pop culture to this day and it is likely the temperature on set and in the tabloids would be different today.
“But we have a great relationship now,” Geller assured author, Katz.
The juicy tell-all, ‘Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts” by Evan Ross Katz is available now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUZdqNPDqAE
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