Buffy The Vampire Slayer

09:00am ET, 17-March-04

Cardellini Back In Scooby 2

Linda Cardellini, who reprises her role as Velma in the upcoming Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, told SCI FI Wire that shooting the sequel was easier than filming the original cartoon-based hit. "On a second go-round you understand how the effects work and what’s involved," Cardellini said in an interview. "What was really helpful this time was we knew what Scooby was going to look like."

The actress added, "The first time through we were speaking to thin air and the dog was added later. We had no idea what he’d look like, but we also had no idea how he’d act or what his personality would be like. It was a risk and a total exercise for your imagination. The second time we knew what he’d look like and how he’d behave, and we also knew that kids would respond to Scooby and believe in him. So for us it was easier to predict what the scenes would be like while you were acting with something that wasn’t there."

Scooby-Doo 2 reunites the Mystery Inc. gang (Cardellini as Velma, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy) as they try to save Coolsville from an onslaught of villains they’d previously defeated. Gellar’s former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Seth Green is the main newcomer, playing Patrick, Velma’s would-be paramour and curator of the Coolsville Criminology Museum.

"It was a really fun shoot," Cardellini said. "We’d all worked together before, so there was a comfort level there. Seth was great to work with. He’s a good guy and really easy to work with. The first time around it was amazing because it was all-new and we were in Australia. This time, I knew everybody and I trusted everybody and we were back in Australia. It was just more fun. It was more of a free-for-all." Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed opens March 26.