Sarah Michelle Gellar girl-talks with her "Scooby-Doo" costar Linda
Cardellini while fiance' Freddie Prinze, Jr. butts in.

From "Seventeen Magazine" July 2002

(Thanks to Les)

 

Four things that make Sarah happy:
1.  Dr. Seuss stories---they're her all-time favourites.
2.  Opera.  "I think it's amazing people can sing like that." she says.
3.  Taking pictures.  Sarah went to photo camp six summers in a row.
4.  Freddie, of course.

LC  When did you know that acting was for you?

SMG  When I was four.  I was on a play date and this woman came up to me and
asked if I would like to be on TV.  I said, "Of course!"  and gave her my
phone number.  I mean, I was only four!  I had just literally learned my
address and phone number that week.

LC  Was it hard to live a normal life once you started acting?

SMG  When I was on "All My Children" it became difficult to juggle work and
high school.  I had to make a decision.  So I told my mom that I wanted to
act.  I said, "If I don't get a good job where I'm making good money in a
year, I'll go to college."  And then I got "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

LC  Did you realize how big "Buffy" would turn out to be?

SMG  Yes and no.  There wasn't a lot of hype, but I think I knew we were
doing something special. I was originally cast as Cordelia, not Buffy. I had
long dark hair and I was a New Yorker.  When they couldn't find a Buffy, I
begged and begged for the part. I auditioned like 10 times and had to do a
screen test all over again!  I worked really hard for this part.  That's why
I think I deserve it.

LC  What's the weirdest rumour you've heard about yourself?

SMG  There were rumours for a while that Selma Blair and I were together.  It
didn't seem that odd to me at the time.  But I shrugged it off.  And there
was a story years ago that I had an eating problem.  The paper wrote that
Freddie and all his friends came over and cooked for me and made me better. 
It's kind of funny looking back on that now.

LC  What's the best advice your mom ever gave you?

SMG  To follow my dreams.  There were so many times I wanted to give up.  My
mother always told me to follow my heart.  It's nice that now I'm in a place
where I can give back to her for all the years she sacrificed for me.  I flew
her out to Australia for Mother's Day and took her to a Kylie Minogue concert.

LC  OK, let's do some Freddie questions.  Now, we know your plans are private
and I respect that but (cell phone rings)...saved by the bell!

SMG  We've been engaged for a year, and it's fun to cherish that. I'm only
going to be engaged once, so we're really enjoying this time.

LC  What nice stuff does Freddie do for you?

SMG  Freddie threw me a great birthday party---he rented out an ice-skating
rink and got all of our friends to come.  It was total disco ice-skating. 
Then we went to this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant and just hung
out for three hours.

LC  Do you have any pet peeves?  (Sarah laughs and looks at Freddie.)

FP Jr.  Don't look at me. I'm perfect!  (laughs)

SMG I'm a neat freak, so it bugs me when Freddie's guy friends come over and
leave candy wrappers on the table.  Or when they leave popcorn and jelly
beans on the floor for the dogs to eat.

FP Jr.  Yeah, but they were just trying to feed the dogs!

LC  How do you make a Hollywood relationship work?

SMG  We're a very un-Hollywood couple. We have a really great group of
friends. We have board-game nights with them---that's our idea of a fun
evening, board games until 3 A.M.  You still owe me a shopping day, missy.

LC  I have to save up for that!

SMG  No, you don't.  I have some expensive tastes, but Rampage is my
favourite store.  Half of my wardrobe comes from there.  And I'm proud of
that.  I love going to the mall; I love all those stores.  I don't know what
a Prada backpack was until I was way out of high school. It's much better to
buy inexpensive clothes and then get a Burberry hat and throw it together. 
It's all in how you put it together.

LC  Have you always had such style?

SMG  I wore a uniform when I was in lower school, and I loved not having to
figure out what I was going to wear. I couldn't afford the latest trends so
it made my life easier.  I think high school would be a much better place if
everybody had to wear a uniform. 

LC You're a redhead in "Scooby-Doo." Do blondes have more fun?

SMG  I have been a blonde on "Buffy," a brunette in "Cruel Intentions" and
finally I'm a redhead for "Scooby."  When I first dyed my hair blonde, I did
notice little differences.  Some people think that brunettes are a little
standoffish. And people started talking to me more when I was a blonde,
especially in California.

LC  Tell us about your most embarassing moment on "Scooby."

SMG  We had plenty of those. The day you and I had to come in our bathing
suits---and they had moved that scene up a week. 

LC  And we hadn't shaved our legs!

SMG  For like two weeks!

LC  Do you think that Daphne is ever jealous of Velma?

SMG  I think Daphne's very jealous of Velma.  Daphne wants to be the smart
one and to have people think her plans are worth something.  I think that's
why the cartoon was so popular---it was one of the first cartoons that had
characters people could actually relate to.

LC  What did you think of Freddie's blonde hair for the movie?

SMG  It was cool.  I'm wearing a wig in the movie so I wondered why he'd want
to bleach his hair and have his scalp hurt like that.  About once every 10
days Freddie had to sit and have his hair coloured.  While I was swimming and
lying out in the sun, he was stuck at the hairdresser!  I like him better as
a brunette, though.

LC  What did you do the minute you finished filming?

SMG  I wanted to spend some time with Freddie so he'd remember what I looked
like.

LC  Smart, very smart.

SMG  And that I'm fun to be around.

LC  What advice do you have for girls?

SMG  All young girls need to believe in themselves.  In high school peer
pressure is very scary.  But you should listen to that voice in your head.  I
would never go back to school. Some people say high school was the greatest
time of their lives, but man, I don't know anybody who feels that way.  The
sad thing is, high school doesn't end after high school!

LC  Yeah, life's just a bigger version of high school!  What's the hardest
thing about being a woman in show business?

SMG  I think it's hard to be a young woman anywhere.  There are always
obstacles we need to overcome.  Sometimes Freddie jokes with me about women's
hormones.  We have these crazy things running through our bodies once a
month.  Women aren't expeced to stay home and do the dishes and laundry
anymore, but I still feel I need to do all that stuff even though I work. 
And because men are crazy, women have it hard.

FP Jr. It is harder than being a man. Y'all have it rough!

LC  What do you do when Freddie isn't around?

SMG  Well, I didn't have that many girlfriends in high school so I didn't
know how special it was to have girls' weekends. But when Freddie went down
to the Dodgers' spring training this year, I had a free weekend and went on a
road trip with my girlfriends. It was very Britney Spears in "Crossroads." 
We had the crazy one, the smart one and the troublemaker.

LC  So which one were you?

SMG  I was probably the smart one.

LC  Nerd!

SMG  My friends told me that for one week this summer I coudn't read any
books.

FP Jr.  She's my little brain.  But some of those books are mine!  The
comics---I have one shelf full of comic books.

LC Tell us about your very first crush or boyfriend.

SMG  I barely remember all that.  The day my life started was the day Freddie
and I got together.  Everything else is kind of a blur.

LC  Favourite gift you've ever received?

SMG  My engagement ring.

LC  As it should be---it's beautiful!

                                                           END