Sarah Michelle Gellar ’felt degraded’ After Sex Scenes

POSTED BY: Angeldove
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 13:25
VIEWED: 45612
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ANGELDOVE

Saturday, May 8, 2004 10:32 PM

Quote:
Sarah Michelle Gellar says she was shocked by sex scenes in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
She claims some of the scenes were like a bondage movie, reports the Daily Star.
"It became very S&M and I felt degraded as an actress," Gellar tells this month’s Elle magazine.
The 27-year-old actress says the series left her bruised and tired.
"It was exhausting - physically and emotionally," she says. "There were at least two fight scenes in every episode. I never wore skirts for years because of all the bruises."

I was certainly suprised by the scenes, but I did see their necessity to a point as the story line wasn't about this 'relationship' between the two of them, but about Buffy doing things completely out of character, to simply feel something other than the emotional pain of having been ripped out of heaven. Never would we have thought in the past that Buffy would have been into violent sex as seen in her previous 'love' scenes. It needed to be shocking to hit home.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

SUCCATASH

Saturday, May 8, 2004 11:05 PM

Quote:
"It became very S&M and I felt degraded as an actress,"

Scooby Doo seems more degrading, if you ask me.

FLYINFREE

Saturday, May 8, 2004 11:47 PM

Does this girl ever do anything but complain??!

"...we're still flyin'."
"That's not much."
"It's enough." Malcolm Reynolds and Simon Tam - Serenity

SLOWSMURF

Saturday, May 8, 2004 11:50 PM

Before I read this I was assuming it was in reference to using her voice in that angel episode when he was hallucinating.

She choose the role, its her fault if she didn't realize what it entailed.

LORA

Sunday, May 9, 2004 12:37 AM

Perhaps that simply means she actually felt quite a bit for her character? Buffy often complained of her time with Spike and tried to distance herself from it, as if it were a base part of her life that she just couldn't keep herself from, that she'd sooner forget even though she wasn't strong enough to leave it behind. I don't think I could do a job like SMG's and not begin to believe, just a little bit, that I was the person I was pretending to be...

And I agree, she must have done the Scooby movies for the money. It's a living -- probably a good one -- but I had hoped for more serious work for her. Maybe she needed a change? Some light-hearted fluff after the last couple of seasons?

"Is there any way I'm gonna get out of this with honor and dignity?"

ZORIAH

Sunday, May 9, 2004 5:11 AM

We never heard these complaints when she was filming those infamous sex scenes in Harvard Man now did we?

Incidentally why should she feel degraded as an 'actress' (not character) for the balcony sex scene (which is ALL that she seems to mention in the Elle interview) when poor James Marsters had to work on set for days on end in season 6 wearing nothing but a sock in front of the cast and crew while she was fully clothed and reportedly had fun mocking and teasing him about it?

And as for the S&M - I just don't get that. Bufy jumps him in Smashed after the big fight, she jumps him in Gone when he can't see her. Spike tells Buffy he can hardly keep up with her etc. And public sex? Plenty of people do it. The one time there is talk of handcuffs and we see later it is *Spike* who wears them. Plus both Xander and Anya quip happily about sex with handcuffs.

I fail to see the 'degrading as an actress' slant.

ANGELDOVE

Sunday, May 9, 2004 7:07 AM

Its interesting that you mentioned Harvard Man, which I haven't seen, because I was thinking about Cruel Intentions. And good point about James, he's never complained about all of that nudity.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

ZORIAH

Sunday, May 9, 2004 7:24 AM

Here's what she had to say about Harvard Man:

http://litefoot1969.bravepages.com/buffy/features/sarah_star.htm

But - shock horror - she's recently filmed her first sex scene, for her new film, The Harvard Man. So what was that like?

"I have two steamy love scenes," she admits. "One was on my first day. It was 110 degrees and it was so hot. The scene is in the wood with an actor I'd only just met.

"It was like, 'Hey, it's nice to meet you - now let's have sex!' The entire crew was watching and I didn't know anyone. It was quite an experience.

"It took a few takes to make us more comfortable. I was fully clothed, though.

"I don't think my fans will be too shocked. After all, it's not Buffy having sex up against a tree. It's me, Sarah, the actress."

ARDEN

Sunday, May 9, 2004 7:26 AM

While I certainly support her right to feel however she chooses to about those scenes, I think it a tad unprofessional to speak out now about how uncomfortable it made her. The fact is, as an actress she has a responsibility to work with the material given her, but she has a higher responsibility to herself- to not engage in any role or scene which she feels is demeaning or uncomfortable. If she was not able to separate herself from the role enough to do those scenes comfortably, she simply should have refused and asked them to rewrite. It would not make her a "diva" to ask for such rewrites; there is absolutely nothing wrong with an actor objecting to material they are uncomfortable with, especially as in a series the actor is dealing with new material constantly, and she couldn't have known when she signed on for the series initially that scenes of that intensity might be in her future. She could have expressed discomfort at the inital reading of the script and given the writers plenty of time to alter scenes so that she could film them without undue emotional duress, and still represent the author's vision. I'm not saying she should be condemned if she couldn't separate the performance from reality; acting is a highly personal, emotional process (I speak from experience), and sometimes it's necessary to invest yourself deeply in order to correctly play the role, but she still should have prevented the situation from ever occurring, instead of speaking poorly of what she was "forced" to do.

You got a wife? All I got is that dumbass stick sounds like it's raining.

ANGELDOVE

Sunday, May 9, 2004 8:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Arden:
While I certainly support her right to feel however she chooses to about those scenes, I think it a tad unprofessional to speak out now about how uncomfortable it made her....

Wow, I couldn't have said it better. A long time ago I saw DB on Howard Stern and of course Howard was trying to get DB to dish on Sarah, and find out if they dated off screne, and of course DB said no, that they were both in other relationships and added that out of respect for those realtionships they didn't use tongue in kissing scenes. I found that very interesting. It seemed on that score no one on the crew was forcing her to do something she didn't feel comfortable with. And it may sound disconcerting, but ever since that interview, whenever I see repeats of the shows, I'm always watching the kissing closely, strangely enough, no tongue.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

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