Death Becomes Her by Rob Francis
After her spectacular rebirth at the end of Angel’s first season, actress Julie Benz‘s delightfully evil Darla seduced our hero, got pregnant, gave birth, died again and got spotted by Steven Spielberg! The ever popular actress looks back at her time on Buffy and Angel and bids farewell to her alter ego’s reign of terror.

At what point did you know Darla was dying in ‘Lullaby’?
When they called to ask me to come back, it was laid out what the plan was. In a way, I was brought in to help facilitate the story and bring in this new character, Connor. I knew going into it that I was going to die. I didn’t know how beautiful it was going to be, but I did know that it was going to happen.

Does this mean the end for Darla, or would you consider more flashbacks and resurrections?
It’s interesting, because you ask yourself, “If I did come back, does it take away from the beauty of my ending?” It would have to be a very interesting reason, and I don’t think they would do it for something that wasn’t going to be big or grand, because I do think they would feel that they wrote such a beautiful exit and that they would want to lessen that. So, it would definitely have to be a situation that meant a lot to the story.
    But in regards to flashbacks, that’s different, because that’s before she died. But I don’t think they’d waste my return on some little joke or something!
    Whenever I see the producers, they say “We’d love to figure out a way,” and I do know that if they decide to make that choice, it’s going to be really great!

What’s been the fan reaction to Darla’s demise?
Darla’s had a very interesting journey with the fans. People hated her for so long and didn’t understand her. They didn’t understand that she was the nemesis – you were supposed to hate her! She was evil and out to kill Angel, the hero! But in the five episodes of Season Three, and in particular the trilogy, she started to really redeem herself, and I think when she died people felt, ‘Oh, my god! Where did she go?’ Suddenly this very important element of the show was gone. Darla has gone through so many ‘love her, hate her, hate to love her’ phases – that whole gamut. So I’ve been shocked that people have been as upset as they were about her going.

What was it like to play that final version of Darla that was influenced by the baby’s soul?
They’ve given me such grand things to play on the show, and to suddenly play a vampire that’s pregnant and who has a little bit of a soul was a challenge. I tried to think of it in terms of just being a woman who gets pregnant who maybe doesn’t want to have the baby – how that would feel. I tried to make it more humanistic. It’s all there in the writing, all that she’s feeling, so as an actor, it’s really just playing from what’s written and approaching it from that standpoint.
    The writers are so great, I can’t say that enough. I want people to know that working on a show like Angel, where you show up and the dialogue is so brilliant, there’s not much you have to do as an actor. It’s all there, and they’ve really captured Darla’s voice and I’ve never doubted anything they’ve ever written. I’ve never thought ‘Darla would never say that.’ So you really just try to play what they write and it’s perfect from that standpoint.

Tell us about your death scene. Was it your last scene of your last day of shooting?
No. My last day of filming was actually a scene where we were in the Host’s bedroom after Angel has to punch out the wall for us to escape. It was horrid. David actually got hurt that day. He meant to hit where the fake wall was and he accidentally hit where the real wall was and hurt his elbow.
    It was good in a way, in that David had to go off and get ice for his elbow and had to rush off, because the hardest person to say goodbye to is the person you’ve gone on the journey with this long, who you’ve shared so many intimate, vulnerable, emotional moments with. We basically just waved to each other because it was too much and a little overwhelming. But having said that, I had to say goodbye to the crew. I was a basket case all that week, knowing that on the last day I was going to have to say goodbye. I was hoping I could sneak away, but I realised that it wouldn’t be right for me to sneak away. So I was blubbering like a baby, saying goodbye. But they had to continue shooting, so five minutes after saying goodbye, they had to go on.

Can you tell us about your role in the Steven Spielberg miniseries Taken?
How I got cast in that was a very odd experience. Supposedly, Spielberg watches Angel, or he was watching it one night with his kids. It was a rerun of the episode ‘Darla’ and he had his people call the next day. They were interested in me for a couple of different projects, and it worked out that I was going to be available for the miniseries he was producing. They offered me the part and I said, “Sure, yes, of course. Whatever you want, of course I’ll do it!”
    Taken is a 20-hour miniseries – it’s the largest miniseries ever to be done on television. It’s about alien abductions through the years, starting in the 1940s and coming through to the present day. It follows three different families, and that’s about all I’m allowed to say at this point. Once again, shrouded in secrecy. It started in December on the Sci Fi Channel in the States. When my manager called me to tell me that this had happened, I burst into tears because I thought he was playing a bad joke on me. It was too bizarre for me to even grasp. It was such an honour for that to happen. I got to work with Tobe Hooper [Poltergeist], who’s an amazing director. He just blew me away. I was a nervous wreck on set.
    I was shooting that simultaneously with shooting Angel. It was right after September 11 and I had to do a lot of flying and it was a very weird time. Very stressful. I was actually on the set of Taken reading the script for ‘Lullaby’ and I was crying in my trailer. Everyone was going “What’s wrong?” and I was going “I die!” I knew I died, but it was just so beautiful.