SMG as an actress, or: the mystery of SMG

[RonWesley]

The thing I just find so baffling about SMG is that on BtVS, SMG really was Buffy, no questions asked.

That means when you watch BtVS, you never think about the person who does the acting, only about the character she is enacting. Every movement, every statement, its all Buffy.

For the record thats the same with everybody else on the show, but with SMG it was especially strong. I think the body switch with Faith is the only time when SMG didnt performed at top level; Eliza Dushku did a bit better than SMG in doing the other character.

But then you SMGs later work and it just doesnt happen again. All later material whenever SMG appears, she just doesnt actually get into character. She is somehow too self conscious. Her reallife personality is too present. It is as if she has somehow lost the skill to act.

I really dont get it.

Am I the problem ? Do I have some wrong mindset that doesnt allow SMG to represent a different character than Buffy anymore ?

Or did SMG, after she took a baby pause, forget how to do acting ?

Whats the cause ?

 

[NotASlayer]

One problem can be that if a role becomes too iconic for a actor, it is very difficult for the audience to see them as anything other than that role.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

That means when you watch BtVS, you never think about the person who does the acting, only about the character she is enacting. Every movement, every statement, its all Buffy.

I think it's because she had time to grow into the role. When it first started she wasn't as natural in the role as she became. She was kinda stiff the first season. She started getting better in the second and by the time the third season she had settled into the character. Were the show to end after the first season I don't think you would view the character and her acting as favorably.

 

[RonWesley]

I cant say that I have any problem with SMGs acting in season one either. Stiff ? I mean she was supposed to be at a new school so the character wouldnt be fully comfortable. But thats completely valid and in character.

And for example how Buffy cracks jokes during the final battle with Luke is already fully Buffy.

I remember how I felt after watching the first season of BtVS for the first time, and even if BtVS would have had only a single season, it would already have been a favorite tv show of mine. Despite its cheap, almost comically poor production values, like how the monster of the week can sometimes barely move at all, it already had the good actors, strong characters and the strong dialogue. Which already would put it far above many other shows I've watched.

 

[Bop]

I think Sarah felt like Buffy in The Grudge, but she felt different in Scooby Doo and Cruel Intentions. They were all around the same time.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

I think SMG was given really bad advice on roles to take (or made bad choices). Most of the characters she plays are kind of vapid. Buffy the character is 3 dimensional and though she does grow into the role over time, IMO, she's strong all the way through. in most of the other work, it seems she's chosen popcorn rather than 'food'. -- very very thin material that really has no substance. I think maybe it's just the sort of thing she allowed herself and even Buffy as perceived might have been one of these popcorn choices, except it turned out to be so much better written and so well developed. Why she didn't follow up with meatier roles after seeing herself in Buffy is a mystery to me. I get a very Stepford wife feeling from her at times... as if she's trying to conform to a 'non person' version of what womanhood should be... to be the 'good little woman' and therefore can only let herself choose to play idiotic, vapid, pointless characters.

Her choices in characters to play are almost uniformly not anything I want to watch or even think about watching. It's such a colossal waste of talent. I watched a clip from the show earlier today (from checkpoint) and it was easy to see just how good she was... even in a few moments. She never has to ham it up to hold the audience. Had she allowed herself to take a more 'dangerous' path in terms of choices of roles, I could see her becoming good enough to EARN an Oscar (not just winning one as a popularity contest.) I really believe she has that talent. I watch her play off other actors, and she's better than them in a way that is like watching diamonds and cut glass or even diamonds and sand... you can see immediately that you're not dealing with the same level of thing... not even close.

 

[Taake]

I think she put in a good performance in movies like Cruel Intentions, The Air I Breathe, and Veronika decides to die. I never thought about Buffy or SMG while watching Ringer either.

But the sillier roles like in Scooby Doo, Simply Irresistible, or that terrible Suburban Girl, or the straight up comedy stuff in the series with Robin Williams, for those roles it just seems like bringing a lot of herself to it is part of the deal. She is there partly for name recognition, not to put in a stellar performance.

That said, I think that most of her roles post Buffy have been so-so. Either she is part of an ensemble where she has limited screen time (not much time for a complex part) or she is there because she is SMG - more recently like Do Revenge and Wolfpack. Again, the point isn't to be good, just to provide name recognition and the shine of Buffy-nostalgia. She can earn good money that way, so it makes sense that she is leaning into that now.

I agree with DeepBlueJoy that she either was given bad advice or made bad choices on the roles she's chosen to play. I don't think most of her roles are vapid, I just think they're kind of lacklustre and boring. She wanted to distance herself from Buffy so she kept choosing the anti-Buffy parts, seemingly forgetting why Buffy worked so well for her, how that part played to her strenghts. I've watched plenty of her movies and so many roles she just seems to try too hard to not be Buffy... roles that stands out in my mind for being bad performances are Harvard Man, The Return, Suburban Girl, Southland Tales*, and Possession... It doesn't seem like real life SMG to me, it just seems as a forced attempt to be anything but typecast, but in generally lacklustre material. To me she seems like she wants, or has wanted, 'serious' parts, but have gotten stuck with parts that are just dull.

Even in The Grudge I just remember feeling like she was so meh and everything felt grey and boring. It wasn't fun to see her on screen, it was more like a chore. Kind of like the above mentioned. Maybe it is about what she has been offered, maybe it is about what she has chosen... but I do wish she had gone for some different parts.

I would compare her to Reese Witherspoon who seemed to have less problems with leaning into the Elle Woods of it all, and managed to get from there to more serious stuff. When I watch Witherspoon in stuff like Vanity fair, or subpar romantic comedies, I always see her as Reese Witherspoon. She was never immersive in those roles. But her style is predictable and recognizable, audiences like that, and eventually she got offered both deeper roles or roles in bigger projects of higher quality (still with the occasional weak spots of course). But basically, I think there is a strenght to learning who your audience is and embracing that. If you focus on what works first, you can get to what you want, later.

Though I think mainly SMG's career shows that hits are rare and many good actors and actresses are stuck with settling for roles and projects that are only so-so. Most rom-coms aren't Legally Blonde, most thrillers aren't Silence of the Lambs and so on. Talent is part of it, luck, timing and the right connections is probably more important though.


*Now I love Southland Tales, but SMG is just, meh, in that. Again, it is trying to hard.

 

[hoponlilmama]

One problem can be that if a role becomes too iconic for a actor, it is very difficult for the audience to see them as anything other than that role.

Being typecast can stifle an actor's career for sure.
But all it takes is that one role for that perception to change.

As a couple of people have said here - she hasn't picked the best projects to be part of post-Buffy. I think at this point in her career, I'd like to see her as part of an ensemble in a great TV series, and then work back up to lead role in film/television.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I don't think SMG's acting has gotten worse, but I do think that post-Buffy, I see SMG rather than the character. I loved her in The Crazy Ones, but it was more or less SMG. She was fine in Ringer, it just wasn't a great show. Her small role in Do Revenge also felt like SMG as a principal. I haven't seen Wolf Pack yet. I think I just love SMG that that's what I see, cause I follow her on Instagram. She has the acting talent, remember she does have a Daytime Emmy award, but I think she hasn't had a role that fits her as well as Buffy did.

 

[NotASlayer]

This is pure speculation, but I think part of the problem is the Buffy legacy for her. After S6 and S7 and, in particular, S6, I get the definite impression that SMG wanted to leave anything remotely Buffy-like in her past because I also get the impression that she found the last two seasons, and again, especially S6, so utterly awful to do that she wanted nothing to do with anything like Buffy.

If the series had ended with S5, I suspect she would have looked for similar roles.

 

[NoShip]

This is pure speculation, but I think part of the problem is the Buffy legacy for her. After S6 and S7 and, in particular, S6, I get the definite impression that SMG wanted to leave anything remotely Buffy-like in her past because I also get the impression that she found the last two seasons, and again, especially S6, so utterly awful to do that she wanted nothing to do with anything like Buffy.

If the series had ended with S5, I suspect she would have looked for similar roles.

SMG, like everyone in the industry, speaks in code. Gushing about directors and producers and writers and cast mates means: "I'm a TEAM PLAYER - Please Hire Me Next Time".

SMG & JW "broke up" over S6. SMG's won't do Buffy without Joss is what she said, but, the media leaves out the poison pill: "when he sends me a script" which means 'I won't work for Joss without SCRIPT APPROVAL".

Script Approval is what ended the negotiations for SMG's participation in TV S8. So, nothing has changed since 2002. There was never a snowball's chance in hell for a reunion movie or miniseries.

Also, SMG and JW directly disagreeing about S6 at the EW reunion in 2017 was a direct shot at Whedon. SMG holding her ground was her letting Whedon & Hollywood know that she has no interest in working with him again.

On SMG's post-Buffy career, Whedon did threaten to end it. Before 2020, he had a lot of influence. And we know he was pulling the same bs with Gal Godot in 2017.

 

[The Bronze]

99.9999% of actors don't get to be in something as good as Buffy once. Even fewer get multiple great roles. At some point Sarah made the decision to prioritise family life and selected projects around that. Not that surprising she hasn't found another hit fishing in a smaller pond.

Think she's happy enough to get paid for name recognition and reasonable hours.

 

[hoponlilmama]

99.9999% of actors don't get to be in something as good as Buffy once. Even fewer get multiple great roles. At some point Sarah made the decision to prioritise family life and selected projects around that. Not that surprising she hasn't found another hit fishing in a smaller pond.

Think she's happy enough to get paid for name recognition and reasonable hours.

I think it was a combination of wanting to be with family, and also probably feeling a bit disheartened with Hollywood.

She'd already had a child when her first TV series Ringer was canned after its first season. Had had her second kid when The Crazy Ones was cancelled. If either series had been renewed she likely would've continued, considering she was the lead in both.

But going by what NoShip said, did JW have a hand in either series having the plug being pulled on them? Or just any work in film?

 

[Kendar]

Yeah, a lot of actors from a long running series tend to have a career drop-off after that series, esp. if the series was their first big break. Let's look at the Buffy main cast after Buffy. Note: When i talk movies and leading roles I'm looking primarily at theater debuts, not straight to video. I'm also only taking characters who were on three seasons or more:

Sarah Michelle Gellar: Supporting character in a few horror movies (the best while she was Buffy). Three series where she was the lead/co-lead (none went more than a season). Various and assorted smaller roles and voice work.

Alyson Hannigan: One substantial series. A 4 movie series (3 of which debut while Buffy was still on). Assorted smaller appearances and voice work.

Nicholas Brendon: Probably the worst career of the gang. One reoccurring role on Criminal Minds. Numerous small roles in straight to video films and character work in TV series.

Anthony S Head: Probably one of the better careers, but he was already fairly well established by Buffy. After Buffy he had numerous British series, some of which made it to the USA. At least 3 series that were aired in US. Lots of one season shows, but that's not as uncommon in British TV.

David Boreanaz: One of the big exceptions. After his Buffy time he has had two major series(12 seasons and 7 seasons) AND a spinoff series (5 season). Some smaller movie roles and/or leads in less popular movies, but 3 successful series makes the other stuff incidental.

James Marsters: One successful series as a major character, and a lot of reoccurring character work, and one season of spinoff. Lots of voice work (and he also does a LOT of audio book readings, including The Dresden Files.

And so on.

Note that everyone listed with the possible exception of Brendon has had successful careers after Buffy, in that they probably didn't have to take other jobs to support themselves. But there hasn't been a lot of major fame work outside the noted exceptions.