Emma Caulfield

In my on-going quest to interview every single Buffyverse performer (thankfully they all keep starring in enjoyable projects, so it’s a much easier goal to attain), I bring you this chat with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s” Emma Caulfield. In her new movie, "Timer," Emma plays the adorably named Oona — a modern day woman living in a slightly futuristic world.

In this warped reality, everyone relies on a technology which generates a clock that counts down to the moment you lay eyes on your soulmate. Said clock is lovingly, but painfully, affixed to your wrist so no one is ever without their "Timer." But when Oona falls for someone before her clock zeroes out, she has to decide to follow her heart or her timer.

Considering the film’s subject, Emma and I talked all about love: whether true love exists, what it’s like to have the undying love of Whedonverse fans and what she loves the most about TV comfort food.

PopWrap: What were your thoughts when "Timer’s" script first came across your desk?

Emma Caulfield: I loved the script when I first read it. My immediate thought was, "how do I do this movie, how do I convince them to hire me, who do I have to sleep with?” [laughs] I’m a lucky girl because they ended up hiring me, yay!

PW: Oona is a very interesting character, did you do anything specific beforehand in order to play her?

Emma: You know, I always love and dread these questions because I wish I had some great actor answer. Like what my method is. But honestly, I wing it. I feel like there’s some sort of immediate understanding with a character and if I don’t have that, I’m likely to do a really bad job. I just related to her. It’s kind of impossible to go through adolescence and not understand the search for love. I think it’s a pretty universal condition.

PW: Do you believe in the romanticized love concepts — true love, love at first sight, etc?

Emma: I don’t think that anyone can legitimately say that love at first sight exists. It’s something else. Lust, maybe. As someone much more clever than me said, you see first with your eyes, then your mind, then your heart. I’m grossly paraphrasing it [laughs] but looks are the first thing we have to go by. There’s definitely a physical attraction that’s so intense that you might call it love at first sight. I’ve had deep like at first sight [laughs]. Why we love who we love is such a mystery.

PW: What do you make of Scantron-ing your way to love, with say Match.com surveys?

Emma: I think there’s probably legitimacy to a survey telling you who you have the most in common with. But I don’t know that it means you’re compatible or that you’ll love that person. I mean, the more you have in common with someone the better your chances, but what about opposites attract?

PW: The movie opens with Oona visiting a Timer store which is a treat for "Buffy" fans because Kali Rocha (who played Anya’s best friend Halfrek) works there. Did you plan that?

Emma: That just happened naturally. It was the perfect symbiotic moment – she showed up to set, I had no idea and I couldn’t have been happier. I love that girl so much. It was just like old times playing scrabble in our trailer, like no time had passed at all.

PW: Summer Glau recently told me that being a part of a beloved Joss Whedon project gives you an unwavering set of fans — have you found that to be the case?

Emma: Oh, definitely. It is a little bit of a double edged sword though, because I think you end up having to work twice as hard to win them over, which is weird. They love you so much to begin with, but they’re still married to how they remember you. So in that regard it can be difficult, but the "Buffy" fans are incredibly supportive and loyal and I’m very lucky to have them in my corner.

PW: Eliza Dushku once mentioned that she was creeped out by fans who got her Faith tattoo for real — any overly devoted fan moments for you?

Emma: [laughs] Eliza said that, too funny. I actually had someone tattoo my signature on their body. That was kind of weird, like why would they want my signature? I guess that means I’m always with them.

PW: Is it one of those moments that’s sweet until you really think about it?

Emma: [laughs] Yea, it’s dedication. I have never loved anything so much that I’d like to permanently brand myself. But more power to ya!

PW: What about "Lost?"

Emma: Best show ever! [laughs]

PW: I know you’re a big sci-fi fan — what appeals to you about the genre?

Emma: There’s something very hopefully, to me, about sci-fi. At least in my favorite versions of sci-fi, like "Star Trek." Mankind has really worked it all out – we’re motivated by much purer motivations than what we are today and everyone is quite unified by a common goal. We still don’t live in that time. We never have. I find it comforting. It’s like TV comfort food.

"Timer" opens theatrically in Los Angeles today and in New York on May 14.