Sarah Was "Annoyed" By BTVS, Says Ałyson

[BuffyElevated]

Sorry I can't put the article's text here (I'm on my phone!) but I had to share this with you all:
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...e-vampire-slayer-says-alyson-hannigan-2013105

I'm not shocked. I always thought she came off as ungrateful toward the BTVS fans who made her famous. It's sad to hear Aly say it though.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer came to an end in 2003, the cast was ready to say goodbye. The popular series, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, ended after seven seasons, and costar Alyson Hannigan says Gellar had grown tired of being on the show at that point.

Hannigan, who played sidekick-turned-witch Willow Rosenberg, appeared on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live on Wednesday, May 8, and revealed behind-the-scenes secrets about the show while playing "Plead the Fifth" with host Andy Cohen.

"Who was the most annoyed to be on Buffy the Vampire Slayer by the end of the show's run?" Cohen asked.

"Sarah," Hannigan, 39, replied, to which the audience reacted in surprise. "Well, she had a big career going," she clarified. "It was a lot of work."

But in another segment of the show, the How I Met Your Mother actress revealed that Gellar, 36, grew tired of the show much sooner than that. "What season did Sarah Michelle Gellar officially start to hate doing Buffy?" Cohen asked. "Uh, three," Hannigan answered.

When Gellar commented on the show's end in 2003, she admitted that she wanted to try new things. "I was 18 when I started the show; I'm 26. I'm married. I never see my husband [Freddie Prinze Jr.]," she told Entertainment Weekly. "This has been the longest span of my life in one place. There've been times where that's been difficult -- you want to pick up and go, try other things, live in different places. It feels right, and you have to listen to that."

During the after show, Hannigan explained that she's "not in contact" with Gellar, except for the occasional congratulatory email. But she added that she would "love to see any" of her cast members.

In addition to spilling secrets about Gellar, Hannigan also shared one about herself during the show.

"Tell us one Buffy on-set hook-up we did not yet know about," Cohen said.

"I think Nick and I might have kissed once, like off camera," Hannigan revealed about her costar Nicholas Brendon. "He might have had a boob or something." The actress is now married to another Buffy costar, Alexis Denisof, who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on Buffy and its spinoff Angel, and the couple has two daughters together.

Just the full text from your link.


Wow, I completely agree, I though the same of how she talked about the show and it was fairly obvious, as people made it clear by not denying it for ages.

I completely get it though, I can only imagine being "stalked" by such hard core fans is annoying, but I think it shows the difference between her and someone like Nathan Fillion, who seemed to embrace fandom, and is kinda hailed online everyhwere and for whatever project he does, whereas Sarah is still riding the coattails of Buffy, and tried to distance herself from Buffy by doing bad movies and not great TV shows.

I also really enjoy Andy Cohen, he always gets his guests to be slightly bitchy towards other people!

Although season 3 is sooooo early, I would have thought by 6. Although was around 3, when she was getting big from Cruel Intentions.

And wow, Aly and Nick!

 

[Kean]

Although season 3 is sooooo early, I would have thought by 6. Although was around 3, when she was getting big from Cruel Intentions.

Angel left. *cough* :whistle:

---------- Post added at 11:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 PM ----------

Also, having seen the whole show I feel like this is being blown out of proportion. AH answered that "annoyed" question like she was just guessing, it doesn't seem calculated or narky as it does in the text of the article. Storm in a teacup.

I thought it was interesting that she picked Oz over Tara in the quickfire questions.

 

[Aloverssoulz]

Maybe should wouldn't have been so "annoyed" by the show so soon if season 4 didn't suck XD.

Though i'm a Bangel fan it might sound like just some fanboy nonsense, but Sarah and David were pretty close and everyone knows they were fans of their characters being together, so maybe David leaving did play a small part in her growing boredom of the show in season 4? After all, the show did focus a lot on Buffy's relationships. Has she ever said anything about what it was like to work with the dude who played Riley? I know she didn't like season 6 much.

Plus she has always come across as a tiny bit full of herself 😛 So maybe she thought she could just leave and get a bunch of big movies, which at the time of season 4 was very likely.

PS. Alyson and Nick? And he felt her up? Damn, no wonder he was always so cheery in his interviews.

 

[Robb Stark]

I agree with [MENTION=7585]Kean[/MENTION], I think that this is being a little blown out of proportion. For starters, it's virtually impossible to discern tone from picked passages of a full interview. And considering the long-running rumors (of which, to be fair, I have no idea if they're true or not) that Sarah and Alyson have been at odds for some time, and I don't totally buy it on this alone.

However, if it is true, I don't think it's a case of Sarah being "ungrateful" towards her fan base. She did the show for seven years and had, at the time, a very lucrative movie career on the horizon, one which would pay her substantially more than BTVS. That doesn't mean she "hated" the show or doesn't understand what it did for her career in the first place. It just means she wanted to move on to other projects. Christopher Nolan said he doesn't want to direct any new Batman movies. Does that mean he's ungrateful to Batman fans?

I'd have to look for specific sources, but I've heard Sarah say positive things about Buffy and the show in recent years. I think she attempted to distance herself from it so she wouldn't fall into Mark Hamill typecast hell, but from what I've heard from her or others, she doesn't "hate" BTVS.

 

[VisionGirl]

I haven't watched any of the clips (where can I view it?). Honestly I think it's kind of natural for someone to get tires of doing the same show & playing the same character for 7 years. I'm sure it was a demanding role and that working for Joss is not easy. Yeah it's kind of annoying that she was annoyed & almost makes it seem that she acts "above" the fans. But she has said some nice things to say in the last few years, I think that maybe she has come to appreciate the fans.

I like the suggestion that it had something to do with David leaving. I didn't watch at the time seasons 1-3 aired, but there are a ton of pictures of the 2 of them off-screen and I can't help but think something was going on. They looked very cozy. Then again last year I watched those clips on YouTube (from VH1 maybe? Where the cast is introducing they're favorite videos) & he's really cozy with Allyson. I think he's just a big flirt.

 

[Blaze]

This isn't much of a shock, neither does it make me like SMG any less. I mean she had the right to grow tired of doing the same thing over again, and a very demanding thing at that. I can at least appreciate that she stuck with it and did an amazing acting job. I never got the feeling that she was actually sick of the role, so to me she did her job, what ever personal issue she had on set doesn't phase me too much.

The fact that Aly and SMG aren't much on good terms (rumors?) actually hurt my little fan heart a bit more than SMG growing tired of playing Buffy lol.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

I don't see anything wrong with any of that.

If anyone, I think Boreanaz seems the least grateful. Saying that, I love Boreanaz' work.

There's just a lot of irony in any of Whedon's alumni looking down their noses at Joss' work--I'm not saying that's what Sarah's doing here, but others do--because, a lot of the bigger celebrities from the 'verse way back when, are growing in obscurity, where Joss is arguably the most successful director in the world right now.

To me, all of these folks are extremely talented, but even Whedon himself doesn't necessarily come off as the most pleasant person. I agree with the mention of Nathan Fillion as someone who seems super. I've only seen him in Buffy and Doctor Horrible, but in interviews he seems like the kind of guy who is extremely down-to-earth.

Look at Julie Benz, she's someone whose star keeps on rising, and she still loves to talk about her work as Darla. Same deal with Eliza Dushku. James Marsters seems to get more humble the more success he sees. You've got Neil Patrick Harris who's one of the biggest celebs in the world, and he's still thrilled to do little bit projects like webseries and kids cartoon shows to satisfy his own nerdy interests and give a little fan service.

The one who gets me is Vincent Kartheiser; the guy openly says he dislikes Joss' work. Kartheiser has a nice little career right now, but Joss put him on the map as far as I know. The one I don't get is Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion says Denisof is easily the most gifted actor around, he seems lovely, and has a beautiful family, yet he's only seen middling success. Maybe if Alexis had married a Playboy Bunny instead, and cheated on her while she was carrying his child...

 

[Gum Gnome33]

I think this might be exaggerated too but to the extent to which there's truth to it, I have to say that it makes--for me--Sarah's work even more impressive. I mean to be annoyed with or irritated by the fact that you've been stuck in the same role for years, not knowing what else you could be doing and yet still THROW yourself into a character in such a way which completely masks any inkling of who you are in real life while acting--that's really commendable.

A lot of performances are so transparent; you get essentially the same person in interviews as you do onscreen. But Sarah plays Buffy with passion--she puts fire and purpose into Buffy's soul so that you can see it in her eyes! To do that reluctantly day after day--wow. I know after I've played the same piece for multiple performances or auditions I have a lot of trouble conveying the heart of it after a while. Art isn't an easy thing to pull out of your butt when you're otherwise boggled down with human emotions like boredom, hunger, curiosity, doubt.

Good for her!

 

[marie21]

Angel left. *cough* :whistle:

---------- Post added at 11:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 PM ----------

lol ^^ yes, the two actors seemed pretty close and I'm especially referring to their acting skills. For three years, especially for season 2 and 3, they have grown accustomed to each other and to one another's acting skills. It's not a surprise if I'm a bangel fan, they had chemistry and they really played well together!
It must have been hard for SMG to see her acting partner leave the show. I remember reading somewhere that in the episode when Angel leaves Sunnydale, SMG was very emotional when she played those scenes with Angel leaving her. She was really good in those scenes and part of me believes that it wasn't just an act. Buffy's emotional state felt real. maybe on some level, SMG was sad too. 🙁

Anyway, I kind of understand why she grew tired of playing in the show...the actors and the whole crew had to be on set every day, all day and between the shooting of the scenes, they had to learn their script...we tend to forget how exhausting it is to be an actor in a TV series... Like Sarah said, she didn't see her husband much during these years. and there's also the fact that at some point you want to try something else, you don't want to be seen as an actress who just had one role to play, however great it may be. Unfortunately for her, it seems that except maybe in Sexe/ Cruel intentions, she didn't have other great roles.

It's very different for Nathan Fillion, Firefly was just one season TV show, and in Buffy, he only has a noticeable role in the last Season. But he also has had many various roles in some movies and TV shows, I remember very well the movie "Waitress" and he's such a good actor that I remember his role in that movie! I think he's an actor who manages his career and chooses his roles very well! OK, maybe now it seems that he's only known as Rick Castle but at least, it is a job and a great part at that. We can't say the same thing for Sarah or the other actors in BuffyTVS, except for Alyson Hannigan who is also known for her role in How I met your mother.

 

[Lyri]

I don't think we're learning anything here that we don't already know, except maybe the fact that Sarah grew so disillusioned so early in the show's run. I had thought it was during S6 that her feelings changed, because we all know how much she hated Buffy's fling with Spike, especially the scene in 'Dead Things'. She'd been pushing for Spuffy to happen, but I don't think this was what she had in mind.

I'm left wondering, though, what happened between Sarah and Alyson. When Sarah hosted Saturday Night Live, she held up a sign at the end that read 'I Miss You, Aly' which I thought was sweet. I wonder why they're relationship changed.

It seems to me that, unless they were friends before the show, Sarah and David kept to themselves mostly. David and Christian Kane have known each other for years, long before Angel, and Kane still refers to David as his best friend. Sarah and Michelle Trachtenberg had known each other for years and Sarah pushed for Michelle to get the role of Dawn, and they were spotted out shopping together not very long ago.

However, a lot of the 'guest' stars seem to be very good friends. Julie Benz, Charisma Carpenter and Clare Kramer seem to have an awesome relationship, so much so that Charisma and Clare were bridesmaids at Julie's recent wedding. Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof seem to be good friends and of course, there is Alexis and Alyson.

I think we've all been spoiled with the likes of the Firefly cast, who are all still very good friends, especially Jewel Staite and Sean Maher, and the Supernatural cast, Jared and Jensen were groomsmen in each other's weddings.

It does make something inside me feel a little bit weird that the cast all had such issues that we weren't privy to, even though I know it's unreasonable to expect them all to get along and be best friends just because I want them to.

 

[Kean]

I was only joking with my comment about Angel/DB leaving but there could be some actual merit to that theory. I started thinking about it and I remember some quotes from SMG.

"We had the most amazing working relationship I've ever had, I've been very blessed with the guys that I've worked opposite, but David and I had a very, very special relationship. In three years of working together, we never had so much as a disagreement, and that's just unbelievable, considering the hours we spent together."
- Sarah Michelle Gellar

Q: "What are your feelings about the departure of Angel and how is this going to change the series?"
SMG: "I'm nervous. Part of the success of Buffy is David and my relationship with him, both on camera and off. He's incredible. He's grown so much and I trust him more than any guy I've ever worked with. I'll miss him."

"When Angel first went evil, I had to separate myself from David (Boreanaz) because our scenes together hurt that much more. David was my most trusted person on set. When I would cry on camera, he was the only one who could calm me down - when Angel broke up with Buffy ("The Prom" episode), I couldn't stop crying for 25 minutes." - Entertainment Weekly, 1999

"I can't say enough amazing things about David Boreanaz. We had the most amazing working relationship I've ever had, and I've been blessed with the guys that I've worked opposite, Ryan Phillippe, Jerry O'Connell, Jamie Kennedy and I;ve adored them all. But David and I had a very, very special relationship. In three years of working together, we never had so much as a disagreement, and that's just unbelievable, considering the hours we spent together. And we worked so well together. We could gauge each other's moods. We could help each other. So, for me, it's very daunting. Part of the reason Buffy worked was Angel, and you get these, What if I can't do it on my own? What if I *need* David?

And and this one from DB that sheds a bit more light on how close they were while working together:

"It changed and it took Sarah a while to understand, " Boreanaz divulges. "There was such a connection and then I had to be really pissy towards her, very aggressive and it was difficult. After the scenes I always made it a point to give her a hug. You have to keep the chemistry alive outside of what's going on. So I really reinforced that I was there for her. It was definitely difficult at times." In Expose? June '99

Plus this video from the Teen Choice Awards:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS-N_-glck4"]Sarah Michelle Gellar dedicates award to David Boreanaz - YouTube[/ame]


There are tonne more quotes like these but the gist of it is that DB was her best friend on set and she seemed to view their relationship as a partnership both on and off screen. Having him there helped her. So, I can understand how shitty it would have been to lose that person. It's strange, it almost mirrors what happened to Buffy on screen.

 

[fredthe3rd]

Is it true that Buffy and Angel (the shows) were filmed right next to each other? So they'd have still seen each other but but not been acting together.

Also there's a couple of UK shows I watch which I consider to be victims of their own success. Because they don't have their seven season contracts like in the US they can't keep hold of their actors. Both Misfits and Being Human have haemorrhaged actors because they're young, and want to try new roles and suddenly they're getting a lot more offers of work because of their success. It's only natural for new actors to want to move on. It's just that in a America they're tied to a contract.

 

[marie21]

I was only joking with my comment about Angel/DB leaving but there could be some actual merit to that theory. I started thinking about it and I remember some quotes from SMG.

"We had the most amazing working relationship I've ever had, I've been very blessed with the guys that I've worked opposite, but David and I had a very, very special relationship. In three years of working together, we never had so much as a disagreement, and that's just unbelievable, considering the hours we spent together."
- Sarah Michelle Gellar

Q: "What are your feelings about the departure of Angel and how is this going to change the series?"
SMG: "I'm nervous. Part of the success of Buffy is David and my relationship with him, both on camera and off. He's incredible. He's grown so much and I trust him more than any guy I've ever worked with. I'll miss him."


There are tonne more quotes like these but the gist of it is that DB was her best friend on set and she seemed to view their relationship as a partnership both on and off screen. Having him there helped her. So, I can understand how shitty it would have been to lose that person. It's strange, it almost mirrors what happened to Buffy on screen.

I know that you meant it as a joke but I took it seriously because I had read these comments that you've just posted so I knew that Sarah was pretty much affected by David's leaving the show. 😉
Thanks for the video, I hadn't seen it. 🙂

Is it true that Buffy and Angel (the shows) were filmed right next to each other? So they'd have still seen each other but but not been acting together.

I don't know about that...What I do find funny is that in the early season 1 of Angel (re the torture scene), David was physically pretty much still the same as he was in season 2 of Buffy whereas by the end of season 3, we can see that he had put on some weight! ^^ lol so my guess is that they had already shot some episodes of Angel during season 3 of Buffy. 😕

 

[Lyri]

so my guess is that they had already shot some episodes of Angel during season 3 of Buffy. 😕

It could be because there could have been as little as six months between shooting eps of BtVS S3 and AtS S1, which would explain why he didn't change much. Whereas, later on in AtS, David suffered a really bad knee injury and couldn't work out as much as he used to, meaning he put on weight. There was a point in S5 where Angel spends a lot of time sitting down to allow David to recover from the surgery he needed to fix it.

 

[white avenger]

Angel left. *cough* :whistle:

Yeah, but Spike more than filled that little void. (You KNEW I couldn't let that slip by unchallenged, right? And Sarah did say that James was one of the very few actors who she had ever worked with who was her equal in commitment and professionalism. And the Buffy/Spike romance was her idea, which Joss initially didn't approve of until he saw how well the fans liked it in "Something Blue."

But, costars notwithstanding, it's hardly a rare thing for an aspiring actor, eager to face new challenges and demonstrate their versatility to quickly tire of playing the same character, week after week, year after year. Plus, let's face it, it must be kind of nice to work for a few months on a movie and get paid enough to take off for the rest of the year, spending time building a family, studying, or whatever you care to. Sara wanted, and still wants, to be known as "Sara," not "Buffy." (I saw her very definitely correct a fan who addressed her that way once)

For every James Arness, who happily played Marshall Matt Dillon for over twenty years, there are a hundred actors who take a role on a TV show HOPING that either their character is written out, or the show itself is cancelled after a couple of years. Actors, for the most part, want to be nomads, moving from one role to the next, never having the time to become bored with one single character.

Sarah Michelle Gellar wants to be an actor, not "the girl who played Buffy." It's my understanding that she either wasn't considered for, or had to decline, roles that she would have really wanted to do, because of the shooting schedule of the series or contractual considerations. Given that, and the fact that she had obviously become bored with the character of Buffy, I fully understand why she was less than happy about continuing with the part.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

The worst one I've heard of was when Jeffrey Donovan ("Burn Notice") mentioned lightheartedly in an interview, that when he was starring in Changeling with Angelina Jolie, the cast were exchanging contact information, and Jolie refused to give Donovan her phone number. It's kind of sickening in my opinion. I could see it if Donovan was just some kid asking for a movie star's number, but the fact that he's a middle-aged man, an established actor who has been in several A-list films, and stars in a successful TV series...

 

[EffyStonem]

Yeah, but Spike more than filled that little void. (You KNEW I couldn't let that slip by unchallenged, right? And Sarah did say that James was one of the very few actors who she had ever worked with who was her equal in commitment and professionalism. And the Buffy/Spike romance was her idea, which Joss initially didn't approve of until he saw how well the fans liked it in "Something Blue."

Do you have a source for this, because as far as I've read, Sarah hated the Spuffy relationship because she thought that Buffy was stronger than that (I'm trying to find the original quote).

Plus, Sarah is one of the biggest Bangel shippers around. A couple of quotes from Sarah re Bangel:

"Angel is Buffy's true love. They have something you can never repeat. I mean, I understand it when people say nothing is ever the same after your first true love. They were soul mates."

"There is a definite connection between Buffy and Angel. It's love in its truest most pure form."

 

[Ethan Reigns]

There was a special on TV several months ago called "Captains" that features all the Star Trek captains from Star Trek: Then Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. William Shatner was famous all his life for one role as Captain Kirk in the last 78 of the 79 episodes of the show and really couldn't shake his association with it until Boston Legal, dacades later.

I can easily visualize Sarah looking at this and wanting to take on other roles before she was forever pigeonholed as Buffy.

On the other hand, David Boreanaz did well as Angel and subsequently did well as FBI agent Seeley Booth in Bones, although the chemistry between him and Emily Deschanel is nowhere near as good as Angel and Buffy.

 

[Blaze]

Do you have a source for this, because as far as I've read, Sarah hated the Spuffy relationship because she thought that Buffy was stronger than that (I'm trying to find the original quote).

Plus, Sarah is one of the biggest Bangel shippers around. A couple of quotes from Sarah re Bangel:

"Angel is Buffy's true love. They have something you can never repeat. I mean, I understand it when people say nothing is ever the same after your first true love. They were soul mates."

"There is a definite connection between Buffy and Angel. It's love in its truest most pure form."

I think it was said in an interview a while ago with SMG, she did encourage Spuffy but then it ended up not being what she had in mind and hated where Joss took it. At least that's from memory so I might be wrong, I'd also be interested if someone could find the actual link.

I know Sarah has said on multiple occasion though that she's definitely a Bangel shipper.