ON BEING THE FIRST BUFFY
Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson dish the dirt on the original Buffy movie
It was a little too polite to call a throw down between Buffys.
But actress Kristy Swanson, who played the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, apparently took exception to recent comments made by her TV successor in the role, Sarah Michelle Gellar. The latter actress was quashing rumours in the press that there would be a spinoff movie with the cast of the cult-favourite series that ran from 1997 to 2003. Gellar said she was too old. And, besides, “People forget, Buffy was a failed movie. Buffy didn’t work as a movie,” she said.
The movie in question is the 1992 original, which starred Swanson in the titular role opposite Luke Perry, Donald Suther- land, Rutger Hauer and Paul Reubens. Joss Whedon wrote the script and later retrofitted the lead character for TV audiences.
“I thought that was kind of silly,” says Swanson, who will be appearing at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo April 17, 18 and 19, about Gellar’s comments. “I mean, look at what that did for her career. I think everyone should count their blessings. I understand if she is Buffy-ed out or whatever, I get that. On the other hand, be gracious about it. She talked about how unsuccessful the movie was. And, truth be told, the movie was not unsuccessful. The movie was very successful. It wasn’t a blockbuster in the theatres. But it became a cult classic. I look at that as a success. And if that wasn’t successful, then she wouldn’t have had that series.”
Campy and smart, the film version was Whedon’s first real kick at the can. It followed the adventures of a seemingly shallow cheerleader who learns she is actually The Chosen One, a vampire slayer who must do battle against a vampire king named Lothos (Hauer). Whedon, who would go on to create shows such as Firefly, Angel and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., had been a sitcom writer and script doctor, but Buffy was his first screenplay that was turned into a feature film. He has been fairly open over the years about the problems he had with the movie, saving his most savage criticism for iconic actor Donald Sutherland, who played Buffy’s mentor Merrick, and who Whedon once described as “just a prick.”
But Swanson’s memories of the film were decidedly more positive. For one, working with Sutherland was “just lovely.”
“It was fabulous,” she says. “It was a great time of my life. I look back fondly at 1992. I’m grateful for that experience and getting to know all those guys. Paul Reubens is still a very good friend of mine and so is Luke. I’m still friends with quite a few of the crew members of that movie. Some of them were at my wedding.”
It’s true, the original film did not exactly do blockbuster business at the time. But, as tends to happen with campy and smart movies, a cult following began to grow when it was released on video. In 1997, Buffy reappeared as a television character and ran for six years.
“I actually thought it was wonderful and great that Buffy was going to live on and become a TV series,” Swanson says. “That was great for young girls to be able to have that role model. I was in full support of it and thought it was fantastic. I never expected to be asked to do it or be a part of it. I think I was probably 27 or older when it came out. I could no lon- ger play Buffy. A lot of people ask me that. They assume because I was not a part of it I was somehow upset. That’s just not the case at all. I was in full support of the series.”
Swanson would continue to act in films throughout the 1990s, including a heart-wrenching performance as a naive date rape victim in John Singleton’s harrowing 1995 ensemble drama Higher Learning. In 2006, she married Canadian skater Lloyd Eisler. The two met when they were partnered together for the 2006 reality program Skating With Celebrities. While Buffy was certainly a strong and memorable character, Swanson says she was not particularly concerned about being typecast.
“I’m really happy with how hard I worked over those years to do a wide spectrum of different characters to show I wasn’t just (Buffy),” Swanson says. “I think I’ve been lucky. And now that I’m in my 40s, I play the mom. It’s awesome. I love it.”