Sarah Michelle Gellar

FDM: Time slot?

SMG: That’s exactly the thing that bothers me. Not you. No, you really bother me right now. No, that’s what bothers me. That’s how they think. Okay, this is a summer- - I remember that it used to be you could see great movies any time. Now it’s like summer is for blockbusters, fall is for the movies that they can’t fit into any other time, that’s like September. Then Oscar movies start, it used to be post Thanksgiving. Now the awards are earlier so it starts earlier. January is when they dump movies. And it’s just so- - it seems to me so obvious that wouldn’t it be better for the marketplace to have these movies spread out? Not just people don’t only go to the movies in summer time. If that was the truth, then in the summer time they would count the whole week’s worth of the box office but it’s still only a weekend. So why does it matter- - sorry, I get a little upset. It’s just frustrating. Why does it matter? Why can’t- -

FDM: How would a studio market this?

SMG: I think they would run like hell.

SM: It’s impossible to say. We think maybe end of summer 2006 or fall of 2006. The film will be ready in March.

FDM: What’s the budget?

SMG: Isn’t that like asking someone’s age? Isn’t that like asking me what my age is and my weight is and my measurements?

SM: It’s 150 million dollars.

SMG: No, say it’s like 1.5 so whatever it makes, we’re good.

SM: No, but then they’re going to buy it for less.

SMG: 180 million dollars. 2 billion dollars.

FDM: Are you taking it to film festivals?

SM: Not to sell it. I don’t think I’d like to sell this at a festival. We’ve been there, done that with Darko.

FDM: Cannes maybe?

SM: Yeah, but Cannes hasn’t really- -

SMG: Con’s a festival now?

SM: I’d love to take this movie to Cannes.

SMG: It’s going to be soon though.

FDM: No, Cannes.

SMG: Oh, I thought you meant like Comic-Con. I thought you meant Comic-Con. I was like that’s going to be a festival soon.

SM: Yeah, it will be.

SMG: That’s more buzz- - the truth of the matter is, it’s like as prestigious as whatever Cannes says. Does the general public really pay attention to the movies that win? That’s a question I don’t know.

FDM: Did you have to research anything for this?

SMG: You know what the truth is? In this day and age, everything is so cross-marketed that the lines have blurred in my opinion between what is an actor and what is a celebrity. What is reality? All you have to do is pick up a magazine or turn on the television and you can get ideas from places that five years ago you couldn’t. Is that a politically correct answer?

FDM: Did you model her after Jenna Jameson?

SM: I mean, the role is written for that kind of icon.

SMG: I think it’s more based on a cross between these reality stars that come in and all of a sudden are populating advertising. I mean, everyone’s got an album these days. Everybody. Every time you turn around, someone’s got an album.

FDM: All the teen stars.

SMG: I’m so glad it wasn’t when I was a teenager, boy.

FDM: How do you play this role not as a caricature?

SMG: Carefully. Carefully. We have a great director which is part of it. We have someone that really watches out. There’s depth to all of these characters but in a sense some of these- - there is a sort of cartoonish element to what’s happening to celebrity in this country, personally I think.

FDM: Do you sing in the film?

SMG: That’s something that’s being discussed. Originally, I was a different character and so I did not sing. I was in roller skates- - that’s my part that I miss. I used to be in a musical on roller skates, but I was a roller skater. But that got cut from the film which I’m so bitter about. It was a Karl Marxism musical on roller skates which I thought was genius and people were really calling for. It’s no longer in the film. I was getting my roller skates all ready and getting my [UNINTELLIGIBLE] and legwarmers and shorts all ready. You think Donnie Darko’s director’s cut was long? Wait until you see this director’s cut. And then my character was a rapper and then I was going to rap, but now my character has a song.

FDM: We’ve seen you sing.

SMG: Yeah, that’s part of the problem. That’s part of the problem. I’m trying not to expose any more people that need to be.

FDM: How nice is it to work close to home?

SMG: That’s so weird. It’s one of those things that’s like you go on location and you’re there for a week getting ready. Here it’s like you’re walking the dog, you’re paying the bills and then 10 minutes later, you have to go to work. It’s a very sort of odd- - I’m grateful for it and so glad to actually film a movie in Hollywood. Although some of these locations are pretty far. I could probably fly to some of them.

SM: Yeah, some of the Hidden Valley ones you can fly to.

FDM: Anything like doing TV where you’re in one place?

SMG: No, I mean, I don’t think being in one place- - this movie’s been moving locations every day. A television show, usually you’re in a studio base and you’ve been doing it quite a few years versus we move at a pace I think faster than daytime on this movie.

SM: And a different location in and around LA every day.

SMG: Sometimes more than once a day.

FDM: Discovered anything new about LA?

SMG: Yes, the Poopdeck. There’s actually a restaurant called The Poopdeck.

FDM: What do they serve?

SM: Beer.

SMG: Beer and not Capri Sun, not Orangina, but what’s one of those like- - it was like a Capri Sun or something. Orangina maybe?

FDM: Prefer working at this pace or on slower studio films?

SMG: I prefer this not so much for the pace but just more for the experience. There’s not 40 million people trying to make a decision, trying to please a boss. We’re all here just to make a good film and to work together and it’s incredibly creative. It’s very familial. It’s just a much- - I think it’s just a much more positive experience although it’s some of the best catering I’ve ever had on a film. Actually, I think hands down the best. I’m going to go all the way. The best catering I’ve ever had on a film.

FDM: You and Freddie switched places?

SMG: It’s funny in the sense of he’ll say to me, ‘You don’t understand. You’re doing a movie. I’ve been on my feet all day.’ I’m like, ‘For real? For real I don’t understand?’ So that’s kind of odd. And the times are funny because I’m on nights and he’s more organized in terms of- - or last week he was getting out of the house at like 3:30 in the morning.

FDM: Any advice for him?

SMG: Yeah, do a sitcom. Don’t do a one hour. That was actually my advice. He was going to do a one hour. I was like, ‘Are you crazy? You know what people make for sitcoms and how little they work, right? You see all of our friends on sitcoms.’

FDM: More horror movies?

SMG: You know what? I only see myself doing films that interest me and that are a little bit off the beaten path. I will go wherever that takes me. I just- - I always say it just can’t be generic. I can’t be the girlfriend or the wife or the- - you can’t play the characters that I’ve been blessed to play and then do that. I can’t be the girl in the film.

FDM: Doing Alice?

SMG: No, not next.

FDM: Girls Guide?

SMG: I may actually do one or two- - it’s all sort of- - we ran long on this one so it sort of changed things but that’s okay. That would be early next year though.

FDM: Did you hear about I Always Know What You Did Last Summer?

SMG: What? You guys are making this up.

FDM: In Utah.

SMG: They’re letting them make that in Mormon territory? You guys are all kidding.

FDM: Straight to video.

SMG: That sounds like one of those jokes that we all made behind the scenes. It does sound like a Simpsons joke.