Women of Action: Stuntwomen for Sarah Michelle Gellar on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'

Hollywood Journal

Melissa Barker and Michele Waitman joined 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' as Sarah Michelle Gellar's stuntwomen about halfway through the show's seven-season run.

Transcript

00:00Ultimately, if we were any part of shaping the path for other female shows,

00:06for women who could be strong, who could be sensitive, who could make mistakes and

00:11who could still kick some bleep, then I think we're just honored to have been a

00:15part of that progression and I'm glad that we're still part of that discussion.

00:25For me, it was amazing to have two stunt doubles at the same time because there's

00:29so much going on all at once.

00:30You're learning your lines, you're learning these stunts and so I could have one preparing

00:34and I could have another one that sat with me and helped me and got ready and so I felt

00:37like I hit the jackpot when I got two stunt doubles.

00:39And she learned choreography faster than I did.

00:41I don't know about that.

00:43It's true.

00:44I think what people don't realize about an actor and their stunt double is you're

00:49all creating this character together so you really need partners.

00:53It's not just that, oh, that someone can now step in and someone can do this stunt move.

00:57It's about, you can still portray the character, portray the emotion, especially on a show

01:00like Buffy where so much of the fight sequence was a manifestation of emotion.

01:04And so you need stunt performers that are performers.

01:07And so for me, I always credit the character of Buffy not just to me but to both of these

01:11two because that character was a culmination of all three of us.

01:15I love to fight.

01:18I love fight scenes and I love breaking things.

01:21I'm very vocal.

01:22I love to get into it.

01:24The first time I got to go through glass was like heaven.

01:27It felt so wrong and so right at the same time.

01:29Especially on Buffy, we had a lot of fights.

01:32So it was a lot of fun.

01:34I can tell you what her least favorite part of working on Buffy was.

01:37At one point when there was Buffy and then the one was taking her place, sometimes they

01:42also had to literally double me on camera and somebody had to kiss David Boreanaz.

01:45That was you.

01:46That was you!

01:47Oh my god, I thought it was you!

01:48I'm standing with David Boreanaz and then the director comes over and she's like,

01:53okay, you know, when your lips meet or something like that, I'm like, what?

01:58And Sarah was off to the side as the one.

02:00I was laughing.

02:01I got you.

02:02Oh my gosh.

02:03I was dying.

02:04But he was very nice and it was okay.

02:07I don't think you can say that it's any one individual's work in particular that's why

02:14it resonates.

02:15I think it was the show as a whole.

02:17It was a cultural moment.

02:19It was something that everyone had experienced.

02:21It was the first time, I think there were genre shows before, but no one had really used

02:25the genre as a manifestation of the horrors of adolescence, of growing up, of your first

02:30love.

02:31And I think it was the first time you really saw those two worlds together.

02:34So I think that's what makes it so powerful and makes it relevant and makes it meaningful

02:39to generations that keep coming because everybody has a first love, a first loss, a first parent

02:44that they've lost or someone that's really, really mean to them and you just wish you could

02:48beat them up.

02:49She got to do it.

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