Every Little Thing She Does by Matt Springer
This interview, conducted during the production of season four, talked to Amber Benson about joining the cast as Tara Maclay. Amber would contribute several times to the magazine over the years, but this is right at the start, before she knew how important Tara would be, not just to the show, but also the audience at home.

Ever since her first appearance on the campus of UC Sunnydale, it was clear that Tara is… different. After all, she’s part of a segment of the female population that is often misunderstood. All she really wants is to be accepted by society, but it’s her differences instead of her similarities that are emphasised all too often. She’s ostracised not for what she does or how she acts, but for who she is.
    That’s right, Buffy fans – that’s because Willow’s new best friend Tara is… a practising witch. That’s right, a witch. Why? What were you thinking?
    It’s no surprise that contemplating Tara may have sent your brain wandering. Fans certainly enjoyed spinning some fascinating speculations from the juicy nuggets of information suggested by Tara’s character from day one. We know she’s a witch and we know she likes Willow, but if that’s true, then why would she sabotage one of her friend’s spells in a moment of crisis? Is Tara just a bashful Wiccan who likes to keep to herself? Or is there something more sinister lurking just beneath the witch’s warm visage?
    “She’s quiet,” Benson explains. “It’s mostly because she’s shy I think. I can identify with it in a sense, because I can be very shy too. It’s almost like acting is an outlet for me that helps me to not be shy. I feel like Tara’s the same way; her witchcraft empowers her and it forces her out of her shell.”
    Whether she has deep secrets to reveal or not, it’s clear that Tara’s become one of the most exciting new characters ever to show up in the BuffyVerse. For her part, Benson’s thrilled to be attracting so  much attention so quickly.
    “There’s all kinds of theories about Tara,” she says. “People seem to like her, though. I think there’s so many people out there who feel alone and I think Tara has that aspect to her. When you see that she’s not alone and she can make friends, and that people like her and everyone accepts her, I think people out there will see that and say, ‘I feel like Tara, but I can go out there and make my way. People will accept me for who I am.’ I think Tara’s a really good role model, and I’m pleased that she’s me and I’m her.”
    In addition to the theories surrounding Tara’s true motives, Buffy creators suggested early on that Tara and Willow could become more than friends. And when their relationship blossomed into a full-blown romance, Benson couldn’t ask for a better TV partner.
    “All I can say is that Alyson is amazing, and if I have to be in a relationship with a woman on TV, Alyson is the way to go,” she says with a laugh. “Right now our characters are really close.”

    It’s Tara’s magical hijinks that give Benson the biggest charge. “It’s fun, let me tell you,” she says.” “You get to do all kinds of weird stuff that you never get to do anywhere else, like float roses and make katras and all kinds of cool stuff. It was really neat, because when they did the rose, they had it hooked up to a line. We’re doing the spell, and all of a sudden I turn around and there it is. I was like, that’s a little too surreal for me.”
    Though floating roses and bursts of ionised energy rest strictly in the realm of TV fiction, there must have been some form of Tinseltown hocus pocus at work in bringing Benson to the show, especially considering that she nearly missed out on her callback.
    “I auditioned for it, and then I was supposed to go visit my sister that weekend, so I left for the trip on Friday,” she recalls. “They said it would be no problem, because the callback was going to be on Monday. I didn’t even bother to check my messages, and there’s a message from my agent – the callback was going to be that evening, on Friday. I called my agent back and he said, ‘It’s in fate’s hands now.’ Luckily, they called me back in on Monday, and I got the part.”
    Adding to the eerie kismet, Benson also has several connections to other Buffy stars: in 1995 she worked with Eliza Dushku and Lindsay Crouse and worked with Seth Green on teen hit Can’t Hardly Wait. Then of course, there’s that party where Benson met her co-star Alyson Hannigan before either actress had ever heard of Willow Rosenberg.
    “I’ve known Alyson for a long time,” she says. “It’s awesome that I get to work with someone I like and who is just amazing. I walked on the set, I knew her and I felt comfortable.”
    No matter how many friends she surrounds herself with, however, there are still days when the Buffy set seems like a pretty scary place – especially for a new girl. One particular day that stands out in Benson’s mind was when the Gentlemen came to town for Season Four’s ‘Hush’. Of course, many among the Buffy cast and crew, from seasoned Hellmouth veterans to rookies like Benson, were terrified by those creatures’ creepy visages.
    “They were the nicest guys, but they looked so scary,” Benson says. “We were shooting those scenes on location at a really scary spot, and the crew guy who led me to the set was telling me all these creepy stories about working on the movie Seven. Then I saw them, and I just about died! Usually, you see things on TV and you figure they can’t be that scary in person, but they were. Alyson kept looking over at them during lunch and saying, ‘I can’t look at them. They look like dead people.’ A lot of the cast and crew were scared of those guys.”
    So, if Benson had her own witchy powers in real life, she probably wouldn’t even indulge in any Anya-esque curses or revenge spells.
    “I’m going to have to go the beauty pageant contestant route and say world peace,” she says. “Seriously, with powers, I would just want peace and happiness for everyone I love. That’s all.”
    It would seem any theories about Tara’s evil ways might be way off base. If Amber Benson’s attitude is any indication, she’s one witch who seems to be a lot more Glenda than she is Wicked.