It was once a movie starring Kristy Swanson who went on to do well ...The Phantom and not much else. In the revamped hands of Sarah Michelle Gellar and as a television series it's been a turn-on for millions. Sarah Michelle speaks to Nosmo Hing.

Buffy has kind of a unique high school experience What memories do you have of your own time in school? I had an amazing, amazing time at high school and I think that the reason for that was that I went to a high school that wasn't about conformity - it really stressed being an individual and personal freedom.
My junior high school experience wasn't really wonderful. I went to a private school in Manhattan with a lot of rich socialite children where I really didn't fit in. I was an outsider and it's very difficult to be (one) in a situation like that.

It must have been hard to have a career as an actress and be a schoolgirl at the same time. I think 'tortured' would be the right word. I didn't have any friends in junior high school, because I was different. I left for six months to do a Neil Simon show and when I got back, I just thought everything would go back to the way it was, but everyone said, 'well, you left for six months - you think you're gonna come back and we're just gonna' be your friends again?' And I had no concept that, that was how it could be. I had two friends in junior high school and That was it.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer has captured the imagination in a big way. How is it that the show manages to make the whole area of the supernatural seem so real? I think what makes Buffy so real is how much we put into it and how much we believe. When I'm standing on that set and that monster is coming at me, it's as real as anything can be at that moment. So when I go home, I'm a little shaky and have a lot of nightmares.

There's not much that scares Buffy. But what scares you? When I was younger, I used to totally fear that a kidnapper was going to climb up to my 12th storey window - iusing suction cups like Spiderman and kidnap me. I also have an irrational fear of cemetries and being buried alive.

Didn't you have to do a Buffy episode though, where you were buried alive in a cemetry? I told the producer, "Look, I can't do it, I'm sorry." Through miscommunication, message never got relayed and it was four in the morning and they basically made do it. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done for my job - ever. Some people find centries a turn-on. Some people like sex in cemeteries. Not me. It was horrible! It's really hard to be a vampire slayer if you're scared of cemetries...

In what other ways are you different from Buffy? Let me tell you how un-Buffy I am: For the first episode, I come in and yell, "What's the sitch?" I did not know what 'sitch' even meant. I still have to ask (creator/executive producer) Joss Whedon, "What does this mean?" I just don't speak the lingo. I think he makes it up half the time.

Do you ever watch yourself on TV? I don't I kind of have this mentality that there's gotta be something better that I can do than sit downand watch myself on TV. I also feel like it's bad luck.

You've managed to find time to appear in a couple of movies, like l know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 and Cruel Intentions. What's the greatest between making Buffy and shooting a film? Time. Time is the greatest gift of film. We have such an incredibly quick deadline schedule in the television show - we shoot a show every eight days, with usually one or two days of second unit, as well as having major computer graphics and stunt work to do within it. So a lot of times, your big emotional scenes can get lost in the shuffle, because you're so busy trying to get the big scenes, but when you're doing film, you have that time. Even though Cruel Intentions was done on a pretty quick schedule, we still had time to do take after take and there's also the rehearsal factor. On the television show, if we rehearse it more than twice, it's a really big deal.

Which environment do you prefer, film or television? They're so different, I don't think you can compare them. In the movies, you have a character and you have a beginning, a middle and an end. You tell their story. On the television show, I'm able to broaden the character and I feel that I've experienced her life for the past three years and I take it very personally and seriously a lot of the time. It I compare Cruel lntentions to other movies I've worked on, I can tell you by far it was my favourite movie - the most amazing experience. But } could never compare them.

A lot of movie studios seem eager to cast TV actors in their movies. Why do you think that is? It's really interesting because when you think about it, in America ER can hit, like, 34 million households in one night and if a movie could generate 34 million people to go on its opening day... well... So it always surprises me that people weren't tapping into that audience before. Now what is so interesting and sort of ironic is that in the past three years we've seen all the good people from Friends and ER doing movies and now we're seeing all these people who normally did movies doing television (like) Robin Williams on Chicago Hope and I think it's great that the barriers are being pulled down. If you're an actor, you should be able to do movies or television or theatre. I know I want to do all of that.

Is it a pain in the neck (surely no pun intended - Ed.) that you get more scripts for vampire flicks and horror films than anything else? You know what? It is, to an extent. But the main point is - let's be honest - I wouldn't be here right now, if it wasn't for my television show and I remember that every single day. Cruel Intentions was a rare script to find because most of the movie scripts that I read I don't think are as good as rny show. It's true. I think we tell a little movie every week and I'm so proud of what we do.

How are you coping with the pressure of your schedule? It's been realty hard this year I've been working straight through for about three years now, I haven't taken more than a week off in three years. And like every other year, I planned to do another movie this summer, but after working on CrueI Intentions and having the expehence that I had and a tinished product that I was really proud ot, I was really having trouble, because stuff that interested me wasn't available in my hiatus or couldn't get ready to go in time. So I think what I'm gonna do is take a bit of time out and travel - this is my first trip to London - and live my life a little bit.

What other ambitions do you have? Next year, I'd like to make my own movie - find a script that I'm really proud of and spend the time to develop it with people over the course of the year and then shoot that next year.

How has sudden celebrity changed you as a person? I have become more private about my private life. I've come to the conclusion that the best way to keep your sanity and to keep your basic person grounded is to have a life that is completely separate from what we do. It's the way that I feel I can keep myself grounded.

What about dating? Is it difficult to maintain a relationship at this point? I've dated a couple of people recently, but, with my job, dating takes a back seat. Sometimes I get upset and lonely and it's sort of like, "Wow, I'm the only single person left in America". I can't commit to a serious relationship right now, but maybe that's because I haven't met the right person.

What would The right person be like? He has to be very driven and very serious. I take everything that I say very seriously - you can't take back words and I don't do anything half-way. I don't have much in common with people my own age, so I always have to date people that are older A guy who is 22 - he's in college and is kind of finding himself partying and that's just not me.

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THE SMALL PRINT:

This interview originally appeared in issue number 77 of 'L:A:M - Lifestlye Magazine' (30-11-99)