Sarah Michelle Gellar Q&A

I still haven't seen the total, final [film]. Tonight, actually. I'm actually sitting through it tonight. You know, as an actor, I'm always going to nitpick, I'm always going to go, "God, I wish I had done that, I wish I had done that." But as a whole, I am so proud to be a part of this film.

Just the performances from everyone. And there's an expectation that makes it more difficult with a film like this. When you have those actors, you have an expectation, and I think that everybody delivered more bang for the buck.

Pardon the horrible expression. I was just really proud that I can, ten years from now, look back and go, "God, I was a part of that."

And honestly, I am proud of the work that I did in this. And that's hard for me to say because I am the constant nitpicker...And not just the end product. It was a really wonderful experience. My game was raised by working with these actors--Forest, Brendan, Andy. These are people you hope to get to work with in your life, but you don't think you'd actually get to work with all at once

Andy said there were instances he gave you some hard times, and you really took it...

He did.

How hard were some of those intense scenes?

You know, tough in some ways and easier than I thought in others. I know Andy personally. Like I know Andy as a dad, you know? And so I don't know that scary side of Andy. You get on that scene, and because of the caliber of his performance, you can't help but be scared for your life.

And because I'm a little girl, he doesn't let go. When he holds me and throws me, he does. And that was great. And the hardest scene, without giving away too much, obviously, is the big scene between the three of us.

And I actually had to leave at one point, because I could not...Normally I'm very good about separating the scene from what's reality, but watching Andy beat up Brendan was actually too hard for me. And I actually had left at one point. I really couldn't watch it. But that scene took, God, like 19 hours. And Andy had a plane to catch. And it was just one of those tough days. But because of the performance, you're just there. The hardest scene, really, for me...Definitely going into it, I was really nervous.

You get excited, and then you get the reality of "now I have to do this." And the very first scene that we shot was the scene in the dressing room by herself. That was a very tough scene to start with, because I didn't really know who she was yet. And I hadn't had any of the experiences.

Another scene I was really nervous about was the scene outside the club where all of the fans come after her. There was a language barrier. We shot in Mexico City. And I was very nervous that they had a lot of experience. I had some of the best extras of my life. They gave me so much to work off of.

Like I...To thank them for that. That night became like an electric night because it felt real. I don't know how to describe it any differently. And oddly enough...We talked about coincidence earlier, and there's a lot in the movie about that. The main girl that first notices me, that calls me out, is the niece of my accountant.

She spoke a little bit of Spanish, got into some drama program in Mexico, and is like the star of a Spanish telenovela. And because she's American and her English is so good, she got hired for the job. And I actually knew her. On a movie based on coincidence, it was kind of an odd coincidence.

Did you do Trista's singing?

No. But unfortunately, I had to do Trista's music video. And I am not the girl that dreamed of being a pop star. I have to tell you, I was not the girl that sang in front of the mirror with a hairbrush. I was petrified. And you add that on top of the fact that Jieho is a music video director. And he wanted this to look...We shot the whole music video.

Like I'm petrified when this DVD comes out one day, there's going to be a music video on there. It's one thing to do a music video as a porn star called "Teen Horniness Is Not a Crime." It's a little bit easier than doing something that's supposed to be "the next up and coming pop star." [laughs] It was like my second day.

The scene before was the big interview scene. So I'm crying, emotional. Now I've got to put the leather pants on, get the body make-up, get the lashes, get the hair. And they had closed the set.

You know, it was a more closed set than a love scene. Let's put it that way. I was more petrified about the music video. I wouldn't let Brendan anywhere near the set that day. I was petrified. And I'm like, "It's Mexico.

Bring me some tequila and let's get this done." And then by the end, I was a little girl in front of the mirror. I was just loving it!

But you've done singing before, and you're good at it, so why didn't they have you do it here?

Did ya hear me sing? But this was supposed to be a different level. And it was also a recording situation, too. It was a time thing. And they had had a girl who had done it when they were writing the song.

So we probably could have gone in in post, and I actually probably could have done this song as well. There was more singing initially. There was a whole ballad.

Like a very deep ballad. And there was no way, musically, that I could do that. And you're talking about, again, someone like Jieho, that's musically trained from Juilliard. I'm not really going to be his...Joss may have been like, "Okay, yeah, you're not bad." Richard Kelly was like...But when you go to Juilliard, you're kind of like, "Sarah, stick to acting."

What about doing the intense scenes with Brendan?

You know, Brendan is a really close friend of mine. And I have to say that my performance would not have been possible without him. To go to the emotional places you had to go, to be able to look into his eyes and see a friend...Not to mention the fact that if it wasn't real, he would know.

He knows me well enough to know. And I think when you have that trust, it makes the scenes, you know, I guess, that much more real. And I feel like I've been really fortunate, I've had a lot of chemistry with the guys that I've worked with.

But this was sort of on a different level. And it is. I'm so used to goofy Brendan, you know? [laughs] You know, people forget about Brendan. And that was one of the reasons why I really wanted him to take this job. And I pushed Jieho, and I pushed Brendan, both of them together.

Because sometimes we forget Gods and Monsters and we forget School Ties, and we forget the caliber of actor that Brendan is. And we get lost because he's so handsome and he's so big, and he's Mummy and George of the Jungle, and he's goofy, and Dudley Do-Right, that they forget about what Brendan is capable of as an actor.

And that's what I love seeing. And Jieho was hard on him. Jieho really, really rode him on this. And it shows, you know? We were both doing stuff that was so far from what we've done recently. We were partners in it all the way through.

Would you consider doing a Buffy movie? Or have you said goodbye to that character forever?

You know, it's not about that. The answer is "never say never." My fear is this...You know, it was a movie. We had a lot to overcome on a TV show. Everyone's like, "Why would you do that?" So then to go back feels kind of hard. The thing that I worry about, too...And I'm very curious to see what happens with Sex and the City. I'm excited to see what they do with it...

Is that we worked so hard to end the story in a way that would work for everybody. And I know as a television watcher...Like I grieved when Sex and the City was over. Now you're going to bring it back, but you're just going to take it away again! And I don't know how that goes for an audience. And one of the reasons...Buffy didn't really work on the big screen. And people blamed Kristy, but that's not what it was.

The story was better told over a long arc. And I worry about Buffy as a "beginning, middle, and end" so quickly. Like I just...You show me a script, you show me that it works, and you show me that audience can accept that. I'd probably be there. Those were what my hesitations are. Again, Sopranos...I watched people mourn over that show. And then do you open it up again?

X-Files always was a "beginning, middle, and end" type show. It didn't have the same arcs as the other shows. And that's why I believe X-Files can keep going back and forth. Or Star Trek. I'm telling you, like I grieved for Sex and the City. You can bring it back, you're going to take it away again. Are you doing another movie after this?

[laughs] So I'm watching. I'm very curious to see, because that's the best I could sort of compare it to, I think.

Are you still doing Alice?

Hopefully. I mean, it's a passion project of mine. It's a story that I'd love to see. I'm fearful at this rate that I'm going to be the Queen of Hearts because I'm going to be too old to be Alice. [laughs]

It's something I'd really like to see done. And unfortunately, it was the victim of regime change in the studio. And I'm not getting out. And contrary to what you may have read, it's still my project. [laughs] And I'm still working diligently.

So to all those Alice fans, I'm not giving up. Because I believe there is such a beautiful, crazy, cool, twisted story to be told there. [jokes] And if I have to get down and write it myself one of these days, I may have to...Thank you, guys, have a good day.

With all the success you've had in your Hollywood career is it still the indies that let you do what you really want to do?

That's an interesting question. I think that to feel really well rounded you kind of have to do them all. I think that I've done that. I've been in big budget blockbusters, but there's no question that these are the films that are sort of the heart and soul of why we do it. To be in a cast like this and to have the experience that we had, it wasn't so much just

The beauty of the script, but there we were in Mexico city, all of us, in one hotel and at the end of the night you're sitting at the bar and there's Brendan Fraser and Andy Garcia and Kevin Bacon. You're like, 'Is this my life?' And then a story like this where there's so much emotion and so much trust that has to come between the actors so that there is that camaraderie and those experiences.

So there's no question that it's different and I guess what the diffrence is that everyone there does this because they love it. Nobody was there, I promise you, to earn a paycheck.

I think that we all ended up owing money by the time we were through, but you do it because you love it and because of the experience and this one was definitely unparalleled for me in terms of just the cast and the experience.

I'm ten times the actor I was for having worked with this cast. First of all I was pretty much the only girl among those guys, you might not appreciate it,but mfor me that was pretty good. That's a pretty good gig, but just to raise your game to that level I don't know. I feel very lucky.

Could you draw on any of your own experiences for this character, playing her?

There are certain things that I've understood that I've experienced firsthand, but this is based on a real person that Jieho [Lee] knows. So a lot of it was Jieho's experience.

What's interesting is to take my firsthand experience and compare it with what Jieho saw as an outsider and then sort of put them together because I'm Sorrow, but it's about what the theater goers will take away.

So we were sort of like the two people together who were making that happen. Unfortunately I've had plenty of interviews that have gone the wrong way and I've been in those experiences. It's when you know you're dying. You're sitting there and you're getting hot and you're starting to sweat and you're like, 'I know this is not going the way I thought.'

There's always the inappropriate questions.

I've had those too.

The foreign press.

I have domestic press too [laughs].

I've always seen you handle yourself really well though. has anyone ever really stumped you?

Yeah. I've been stumped. You did just now. It's such a weird thing. I always think about this before a day like today. It's so weird because maybe I've met some of you guys like once or twice in passing and maybe some of you I've even seen six or seven times, but you guys are coming in with questions that you need answered that are somewhat of a personal nature and I have to be open enough to be able to answer those.

At the same time you guys have to take an impression away so that in a very short period of time I have to give you who the essence of me is. It's a very complicated dance that has to be done. If you're someone like Trista and you've had no guidance and you're lonely and you don't know who you are, I can't imagine the magnification that that has to add to it.

So I think I understand that. I was eighteen years old when my show became so big and I didn't know who I was. I was just trying to figure that and as an actor you're constantly playing a different character and are always pretending to be someone else, but at the same time you have to keep a handle on who you are and I think that's where a lot of actresses get lost sometimes because that's tough.

I can only imagine that it has to be the same as a pop star because you're not just playing a character you're a persona. When you look at someone like Gene Simmons, he can really walk that balance so well.

He knows when he's onstage who he is, but he knows who he is at home too. They're not the same person and I give him a lot of credit for that because that's really hard and I think that's where Trista was learning how to grow.

What's so interesting specifically about Trista in this movie, yes I was Sorrow and that was the emotion that I was there to experience, but at the same time she's the one that grows the most from learning about Pleasure and Happiness and Love. So I sort of had the biggest arc in that sense, at the same time too.

Brendan said you guys were sitting in a car together when he heard about 'crash' winning? do you remember that?

Yeah, I do. This was really funny actually. This is the best part. He was still filming and I had gone home at that point and in Mexico, right after the Oscars on the same channel that they were showing it on was 'George of the Jungle' in Spanish. It was so great. It was so funny to see that in Spanish and it was literally after The Oscars. It was brilliant.

The Air I Breathe is available to buy on DVD on 15 September courtesy of Pathé Distribution Ltd.

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