BENSON:
No, I didn’t. (laughs) It kind of progressed. It was interesting, because
when I first got it, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be here for very
long. I thought maybe it would be a couple episode. And then all of a sudden,
they’re like, “You and Alyson have this chemistry, We were thinking
maybe—“ I didn’t see it. I’m like, “What are
you guys talking about?” Then I started watching the episodes, and I
thought, “Oh my gosh, she and I look like we’re ready to go visit
the bedroom!” (laughs)
Q:
Macking down with co-stars.
BENSON:
Yeah, I’m like, “I was just being adoring.” I wasn’t,
you know, like, there wasn’t any sex—well, I guess there was. Someone
else was playing that part, not me. So yeah, it kind of became this whole relationship
that I wasn’t expecting at all. Which is really cool, ‘cause it’s
a great show and I have fun, so I can’t complain.
Q:
What are your thoughts on the legacy of the show?
BENSON:
Yeah, it was kind of crazy when they had the hundredth episode party, and there’s
this big cake that says, “Buffy, 100 Episodes.” I’m like, “I
did one, two three. . . “ (laughs) trying to figure out how many. I didn’t
do 100, I just did like a small margin, a little bit of those. I’m not
the whole 100.” It’s interesting, because coming into the show,
there’s this huge fan base, and they were very enamored of Seth Green,
he had this great relationship with Willow, and it was this whole Oz/Willow
thing, and to come into that and have people going, “We don’t like
you taking Willow away from Oz.” It was weird. It was weird to have this
following that had been there for three seasons and here I am kind of the newbie.
It was interesting. I’ve been saying that a lot—isn’t that
interesting.
Q:
Do you get letters from fans saying this stuff?
BENSON:
Yeah. “I like you, you’re okay, but I wish Willow was with Oz.” Actually,
we have something called the posting board party every year, when the fans
basically throw this shindig where they raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation.
It’s a really good cause, and a lot of the cast and crew will go. The
first year I went, I went to the bathroom. There was two women in there. One
of them looks at me and goes, “Do I know you?” I’m like, “I
don’t know.” She’s like, “You’re Amber Benson.
You play Tara, don’t you?” I’m like, “Yeah.” She’s
like, “We think that Willow should be with Spike.” I’m like, “Okay,
I have to pee, so I’m just going to in the stall over there. You keep
talking.” She was very adamant that she really felt that Willow and Spike
needed to be, you know, that Tara should go quietly away and let Willow and
Spike get it on. Yeah, people are very entrenched in this whole Buffy mystique.
Q:
Speaking of fans, the show doesn’t end once the season’s been run.
It goes beyond that—DVD, VHS
BENSON:
You don’t leave their homes, do you? You’re in there forever.
Q:
Do you have any idea how long you are going to stay on the show? Is that up
to you?
BENSON:
They’re so tight-lipped upstairs. Like I was telling them, I didn’t
even know I was going to be a lesbian until like 3 or 4 seasons. So you never
know. It’s the kind of show where people do die on the show and go away,
and then they come back, and then they die again, and then they come back and
have children. Anything can happen, so with “BUFFY”, I don’t
think you ever die on “BUFFY”. I think there’s always you
coming back in some carnation or other.
Q:
How do you keep things fresh for yourself?
BENSON:
For me, I don’t know. I eat a lot of crap at the food craft service table.
That makes it exciting for me. I’m like, “What do we have today?
Ooh, a little Danish. Yummy.” That’s how I keep it—I don’t
know, it’s weird because I’ve never done a long term series before.
I’ve done a lot of film and guest spots on TV shows, and you go in and
you do your thing, and then you’re done, and then you go home and it’s
nice. Here, it’s like, she is me and I am her, and we cannot escape one
another when we are on the set. Like here I’m here in the bronze, and
all I can think about is Willow’s driving stick, it’s over there.
We shot it over there. It’s just this weird, I don’t know. I really
try and like live in the moment when we’re doing the scenes. We don’t
do a lot of rehearsal. We kind of come in and we’ll do a run-through
to see how we’re blocked and what we’re going to do. Then we kind
of just do it. I think that’s how we stay kind of fresh. Otherwise, I
think if we were rehearsing things into the ground, we’d be like, “Mmmm!
Can’t function!”
Q:
How did your parents react to your character being a lesbian?
BENSON:
My Dad thinks it’s really cute that I get all these letters. He’s
a psychiatrist, and he’s like, “How does it make you feel to get
these letters from these young women?” I’m really lucky. I have
an amazing family. My Mom and my Dad and my sister are just 100% supportive
of what I do. If I was playing a toxic avenger, they’d still be happy.
Q:
Do you wish you could kick more butt in the show?
BENSON:
I keep asking to kill things, but they won’t let me. I got to kill one
thing, one thing—that is so not fair. Just one, with an axe. Not even
magic; just an axe.
Q:
What’s your worst nightmare?
BENSON:
My worst nightmare? I’ve had unprepared nightmares, where I go to work
and I’m completely unprepared; I don’t know what the hell I’m
saying. I guess it’s like Christopher during “THE ACTOR’S
NIGHTMARE”, you know, “We’re doing ‘HAMLET’?
No, no, no, no, we’re doing ‘ANYTHING GOES’! What are we
doing? Oh my gosh, well, just sing!” So that’s my worst nightmare
I think. That and scary monsters that eat me.
Q:
What about demons?
BENSON:
No, not demons per se, but just like scary snakes that come after me in the
middle of the night and wake me up. |
