Nicholas Brendon is as funny and flippant as the character he played for seven years on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer.''
When asked in a recent telephone interview about his role in the upcoming ABC Family movie "Celeste in the City'' (airing Sunday at 8 p.m.), he said, "I wanted to play Celeste, but they said, 'No, you still look like a dude.' ''
Instead, Brendon plays Dana, the gay cousin of Celeste (Majandra Delfino, best known from "Roswell"), a young journalist who comes to New York City in desperate need of a makeover.
"I hate to sound cliched, but I wanted to take something else on,'' he said. "It was a lot of fun, really. I'm not playing a romantic lead. On 'Buffy,'' I did have a girlfriend. It's nice to be in a project where I didn't have a love interest. I was my own love interest.''
Dana and his friends take to Celeste like the gang on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.'' Brendon changed his posture, his walk and his voice for the character. There's not a trace of the beloved member of the Scooby gang. After joking that he thought of playing Dana like Harvey Fierstein (complete with a spot-on impersonation), Brendon said he was wary of making Dana too much of a stereotype.
"Once I got all the lines down, I just kind of came up with him. He's based on no one. I could have gone way over the top, and I just choose not to. I wanted to keep him real and still utilize the comedy. It wasn't written like Sean Hayes' character on 'Will and Grace.' ''
Since "Buffy" ended last spring, Brendon has adjusted to life without the series. "I miss the camaraderie of it,'' he said. "It was pretty much all of our first jobs. Seeing the show become what it became, going through that together . . . that's seven Christmases, seven birthdays - you build a huge bond.''
After filming 145 episodes of "Buffy,'' a show full of humor but not exactly lighthearted, Brendon is focusing his efforts on landing a sitcom for the fall.
"I want to do a sitcom in front of a live audience and have fun. I did a sitcom pilot for Fox last year when I was finishing `Buffy', and acting in front of an audience is amazing. It's like theater basically and you get that energy from the audience.''
Also appealing is the schedule of a sitcom, which is often less demanding than a one-hour drama.
"If I want to start a family, it's a lot easier with a sitcom,'' Brendon said.
There is still talk of the cast coming together for a big-screen version of ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' something Brendon, who lists ``Once More with Feeling,'' ``Hush'' and ``The Zeppo'' as his favorite episodes, is definitely open to. But fans won't be seeing Brendon reprise his character of Xander on the WB series ``Angel,'' which ends in May.
"Joss (Whedon, executive producer) didn't ask me to be on 'Angel' because Xander and Angel don't get along. But there's not enough conflict to have it make any sense.''
The actor is the spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation of America. He conquered his stuttering through acting classes and practicing tongue twisters. Brendon often corresponds with people who stutter via e-mail and meets them in person.
"There are so many different phases of stuttering, and it always breaks my heart. I always wish I could say, `When I'm done hugging you, . . . your stuttering will be gone.' ''
