In a new interview, Sarah Michelle Gellar (45) spoke about her exhausting work as a teen star in “Buffy” – and about the sexism in Hollywood that she still encounters today.
Gellar made her acting breakthrough at the age of 20 starring in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Speaking about working on her hit series, she told The Guardian: “22 episodes burns everyone out, not just the writers. Today we live in a world where shows can be eight to ten episodes and don’t kill you.”
She doesn’t regret that she had to turn down many promising offers for “Buffy” – “Fight Club”, “American Beauty” or “Gangs of New York” are mentioned as examples in the article. “I did a great TV show,” Gellar said.
The death of Robin Williams (1951-2014), with whom she worked on the sitcom The Crazy Ones, changed her attitude as a workaholic. “When we lost Robin, it was a complete reset for me,” Gellar said. She realized, “Everything is racing past me and I’m missing out.” At that time her son was two months old and she realized: “There was no break and I had to stay at home for a while.”
She’s back in business now – the forthcoming release of “Wolf Pack,” the spin-off of the series “Teen Wolf” on Paramount, will feature her in a supporting role. But even at the age of 45 and her career path, she regularly has to assert herself as a woman on the set. “I’m still not taken seriously by men on set,” says Gellar. Sometimes she feels the need to read her resume in such situations, then she wants to say: “How many of these shows have you done? How often have you done a night shoot, a stunt, at 2 a.m. with 250 extras – all those things? Not only did I produce it, I was there. Listen to me, because I know where I’m from.”
