Date: February 2004
Price: £2.99
Page Count: 52
Editor: Natalie Clubb
Stake Out
There was more unexpected news this month: James Marsters and Mercedes McNab had been the first Buffy alumni to join Angel since Alexis Denisof in season one, and now fans were eagerly awaiting any news on whether any of the other regular cast would turn up on Angel. For his sins, David Fury tried to keep the expectation low, telling fans this month that, for now, Spike and Harmony would have to do: Alyson Hannigan‘s new hit sitcom would keep her busy and Anthony Head couldn’t find the time away to play a part in two episodes this year. Sarah Michelle Gellar had offered, but the actress would actually be told ‘Thanks, but no thanks’, with both producers and writers agreeing that an appearance from Buffy would take attention away from Angel and his new role.
The official line: “Maybe next season…”
And with those fateful words from one of Angel‘s producers, we should have known right then that we were doomed…
And then a rumour started, one that would be confirmed shortly… one other former Sunnydale resident would appear twice in season five before the show would end… It just would be the last Scooby we were expecting…
Other cast news: Michelle Trachtenberg was announced to be going around Europe in the Summer for a movie, unironically called, Eurotrip. Tru Calling, despite competition from Friends, was given the go head to complete its first season without fear of cancellation… and Danny Strong moved from Sunnydale to Stars Hollow as Doyle – head of the university newspaper in the later seasons of WB Smash Hit Gilmore Girls.
There were slight changes to the magazine itself too, with the comic strip, which had been a regular feature since the first issue, being retired, leaving more space for more special features…
Kennedy’s Centre by Tara Dilullo
Things were looking bleak for Willow after the traumatic events of Season Six – and then Kennedy came along to help make things a little better. Actress Iyari Limon chats about her time on the show.
She was feisty and opinionated, definitely flirty and had no qualms about stirring things up from the moment she set foot in the Summers residence. Love her or hate her, no one can deny that Kennedy, the Slayer-in-training, made an instant impression on the Buffy landscape with her very first appearance on the series in ‘Bring on the Night’. The outspoken Potential not only stepped up to a leadership role amongst her peers but she also won the heart of Willow Rosenberg.
Happily, the actress who played her, Iyari (pronounced E-ya-di) Limon, wouldn’t have it any other way. Animated and lighting up a room with her ever-present smile, the petite 24-year-old bundle of energy calls her time on Buffy ‘a blessing’, which allowed her to grow as an actress in ways she could never have anticipated.
Limon started acting young, at 15, in a guest role alongside Julianna Margulies and George Clooney on hit medical drama ER. From there, the Mexican-born actress did guest spots on TV shows including The Brothers Garcia, Strong Medicine and The Mind of a Married Man.
As fate would have it, that path led to Mutant Enemy Inc. and Joss Whedon. Originally, Iyari was called into audition for Whedon’s Firefly. “I had read for Kaylee quite a few times and that didn’t happen. Then I read for a guest star and that didn’t happen. My agents got on a conference call with casting and they said, ‘Joss loves her and is going to hire her for something, whether it be Angel, Firefly or Buffy’.” Encouraged, Iyari kept plugging away, returning for auditions. “I just kept going and then finally I went in for Kennedy. I thought I’d probably wouldn’t get it either. I was so antsy all day thinking, ‘Did I do okay?”, she remembers. “I got the job the same day. I thought it was only one episode, but I was ecstatic because I loved Kennedy and I was going to work with Joss.”
Iyari stepped into the world of the Slayer flying blind, since she didn’t follow the show. “In the scenes I auditioned for, she was a little more wry and very in your face. There was a scene between her and Willow in the bedroom and she was trying to push Willow’s buttons. I thought it was just going to be these two scenes with this girl having fun with Willow, liking her and obviously flirting and trying to get to her. Then the actual episode was nothing like that,” she giggles.
When she showed up for work, Kennedy had undergone a transformation. Still assertive, the character was now more guarded about her role as a Potential Slayer. “She is new and doesn’t know anyone, so she is keeping her distance and being careful – not really trusting anyone completely,” Iyari explains. “But slowly she starts to open up to these people and her vulnerability comes out to Willow.”
Kennedy’s connection to Willow morphed into an unexpected season-long arc for the actress to play – one that grew organically as the season proceeded. “It unfolded as it happened, ” she says. ” Right before we shot the next episode, it was “Oh, you are in the next episode.” I only knew one episode ahead all the way up to the end.”
As the season progressed, Iyari was thrilled to find Kennedy becoming Willow’s new love interest. Playing an overtly lesbian character is still taboo for some actors, but Iyari was at ease with the challenges and excited to explore the relationship., The biggest issue, actually, was fan acceptance. The Willow and Tara relationship was much beloved by the lesbian community as well as the general fanbase, and there was much rumbling at the idea of a new love in Willow’s life after the death of Tara in Season Six. Iyari wasn’t aware of the possible backlash when she started the role but was put through her show history paces by Alyson Hannigan.
“She is so cute,” Iyari laughs as she relates what Alyson told her. “We were in the make-up room one day and she was like, “Okay, I have to tell you the history. First, Willow was in love with Xander and when Oz came in, people were pissed, but they grew to love him. So when Tara came in, fans said she had to be with Oz! But then they grew to adore Tara, So, I’m just telling you, people aren’t going to be fond of you in the beginning, but they will grow to love you.”
Some fans were indeed vocal in their hostile reaction to Kennedy once the burgeoning relationship with Willow became more apparent. They accused the producer of making Kennedy a replacement for Tara too soon after her death. Iyari sees it differently. “I don’t see it as a replacement and people are always saying that. If fans really cared about Willow they would want her to be happy and if Tara is gone, she needs somebody to make her happy. I went and watched all of Willow and Tara’s stuff, and I loved Tara too.”
Furthermore, she keeps herself distanced from any of the negative feedback. “I don’t hear too much negative and whatever negative is out there, I don’t look at it. I’ve had people ask if I have heard about the stuff online and the Tara shippers and I stay away from it.”
Mid-season the producers gave Iyari an unique opportunity with the episode ‘The Killer in Me,’ which explored Kennedy and Willow’s relationship. It also gave Iyari an entire episode in which to shine. “I loved it,” she gushes. “But initially nobody told me that I was even in the episode!” She started to put it together when Sarah Michelle Gellar jokingly made a comment to her about the differences she would experience in kissing Alyson versus Adam Busch. “I was like ‘What are you talking about?’ So I figured I was in the next episode and when I saw it I was like, ‘Wow!’” She considers that episode her favourite of the season, followed closely by ‘Touched,’ because of the time given to developing her character. “I feel very lucky that they wrote so much for her. I felt I was able to show who Kennedy was underneath.” Her favourite scene in particular was the intimate bar scene with Willow. “I really sunk into her shoes there. I was trying to get to Willow, showing her who I am and trying to build a connection with her. It’s so nice, having been able to show Kennedy and Willow connect like that.”
Aside from the romance, Iyari gleefully cites the physical battles and stunt work as a potential-turned Slayer as her other favourite part of the gig. “I love it! I love getting dirty and not wearing make-up and getting all bloody and grubby and fighting. I thrive on it,” she enthuses.
Having survived the series finale, Kennedy walked into the future with Willow as a full-fledged Slayer, and into television history along with the rest of the cast and crew, a poignant fact not lost on Iyari. “Sometimes, when I really think about it, it was overwhelming. All in all, I felt very thankful to a part of a seven-year legacy and to be in the end of it was like, “Wow.” At the end I went up to Joss and said ‘Thank you for letting me be a part of this!”
Reflecting on Kennedy, Iyari offers that, “I find a lot of Kennedy in Iyari and a lot of Iyari in in Kennedy. I admire her strength and her courage. Her willingness to put herself out there, like this is her job and she takes it seriously.” All attributes that ring eerily similar to a certain young actress forging her own path in Hollywood. She beams at the comparison and adds positively. “I don’t know where I will be two months from now, but that is awesome! I’m just going with the flow and wherever life takes me. I love my career.”
Showing Their Potential by Tara Dilullo
Slayer mythology was fully explored last year as the Potentials hit Sunnydale! We met up with three of the girls, Sarah Hagan (Amanda), Indigo (Rona), and Felicia Day (Vi) to chat about Season Seven, kicking ass, and… knitting?
Judas Priest by K. Stoddard Hayes
We’ve seen some nasty villains over the past seven years… and then Caleb came along. Nathan Fillion discusses religion, Sarah Michelle Gellar and, of course, gouging Xander’s eye out!
Nathan Fillion is late in calling for his interview about his recent guest appearance on Buffy, but he has the best of reasons. “I was doing the last ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording), the looping for Buffy,” he apologises. “It looked great! very exciting, very big fight scene they were doing. I got to see some of the computer special effects. It’s always exciting to go in and get a sneak preview like that.”
Following on from his starring role as Mal Reynolds in Firefly, Nathan’s performance as evil preacher Caleb began with another phone call. “I got a telephone call from Joss, who’s always mysterious. I love his phone calls!” Nathan recalls. “He kind of drags it out, and he saves the information that’s crucial for the very end of the sentence, so it’s always very exciting to get a phone call from him. He said that he had a character for the last five episodes of Buffy and I didn’t get to hear the part that it was a villain until the very end of the sentence. I was very excited! No one has ever let me play a villain. I’ve come close a couple of times but I find my experience in the industry has been that it takes someone giving you a chance. I didn’t get hired for many lead roles at all until Joss Whedon hired me to play the lead. Now people say, ‘Oh yeah, he can do leading man.’ So here comes Joss again to hire me to play a villain, so now I’m hoping people will be able to follow suit and see me as a villain, now that they can actually see me being a villain.”
Nathan’s connection to Buffy goes back to the beginning, when he was among those who auditioned for the part of Angel – a fact that makes one wonder what might have been! He has also known Nicholas Brendon since his first days in Los Angeles, and Sarah Michelle Gellar since both worked on different soap operas in New York. On Sarah as a series star, Buffy‘s latest guest star has nothing but praise.
“Sarah Michelle Gellar is actually an excellent host for guests on her show,” he says. “One of the ways that really stood out for me, when the actors rehearse a scene, everybody’s asked to be quiet for a moment so we can work it out and see what works and see what doesn’t. You only have a couple of minutes to rehearse, so it needs to be a little bit quiet. If there was noise going on or work going on, Sarah would always take it on herself to say: ‘Sorry for the noise, I’m sorry. Hang on one second! Guys, let’s make sure it’s really quiet.’ She takes responsibility on the set. It’s very nice, makes things run a little smoother. It’s a very professional thing to do and helps you a lot.”
As for his own role, you can hear the excitement come into Nathan’s voice every time he talks about it – when he’s not slipping into Caleb’s pleasant Southern drawl to quote a line or describe the character’s motivations. Hearing Caleb’s voice on the other end of the phone is just creepy.
“That’s the word I get the most,” says Nathan of Buffy, fans’ reaction to the pleasant-spoken preacher.
“I was just in love with the idea,” he adds. “I have a theory about villains. The ones that scare you the most are the Ted Bundy’s, the guys who are really charmers, good-looking fellas, just you have no idea how twisted they are inside. The ones that are dressed in black and coming at you, mad and yelling and screaming all the time, they’re obviously playing a villain. You know what’s coming because you can expect it. You can see it in their face, you can see it in their walk. The ones I really enjoy are the ones you don’t see coming. I really enjoyed that Caleb was charming and Southern and sweet. Everything he said in the script, all his lines, I saw him smiling pleasantly. I think that just playing that pleasantness was enough, because the evil was in what he said and in his actions, so I didn’t need to play evil, and I think that gives him some layers, some confusing kind of dichotomies and paradigms.”
Though only two episodes had aired at the time of the interview, Nathan had already heard plenty of audience feedback. He talked to fans at the Buffy wrap party, and reported that he watch ‘Dirty Girls’ with a couple of die-hard fans.
“I was very happy with their reactions,” says Nathan. “They were very upset when I knocked Buffy across the room with one punch and she was down. They were, ‘Oh, my gosh!” It was really wonderful to watch their reaction too, especially when I poked Xander’s eye out. Caleb taking Xander’s eye, they thought, ‘Oh, that’s just not right, that’s a main character! That’s not okay!’ They were very concerned.”
And what’s it like to act in a scene where you gouge out someone’s eye?
“It was great!” says Nathan enthusiastically. “Nicholas Brendon, number one, I’m comfortable with him, he’s a really nice fella. He’s a guy who can joke around and then when the cameras are rolling he can just snap to it and just be straight focused. And I get to grab him by the back of the hair, and he really let me be free as far as just grabbing a hold of that guy so it wouldn’t look fake. He was very comfortable just letting me manhandle him. They gave me a fake thumb which was cut short, and put a tube in there, and when I pressed into his socket, they just squeezed this tube and out comes all the blood from my thumb! It poured down his face, into his mouth and he screamed. I was disturbed just watching it!”
Before the conversation ends, Nathan takes a moment to discuss the reasons behind the untimely demise of the TV series Firefly. “I can tell you why it wasn’t cancelled,” he says. “I don’t think it was a bad show. It was a good show. It wasn’t cancelled because it looked stupid, because it didn’t. It’s heartbreak. I would put that down in the history books as the best job I ever had. Everything about it was right! I loved it!”
Nathan may not be done with Firefly, and reports that he’s been having some conversations about the show’s creator about story ideas for a Firefly movie and he admits the possibility is “very exciting”.
Meanwhile he has just completed a pilot for a comedy for NBC and hopes his recent exposure in Firefly and Buffy will lead to bigger and better opportunities.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer fella!
Seven Wonders
It was the Season that introduced us to Caleb, Gnarl, Kennedy and Principal Wood, saw the return of Faith, The First and Andrew, and, along the way, featured more Potentials, Ubervamps and Greek togas than you can shake a stake at! We reflect on all 22 episodes from the back to basic ‘Lessons’ right through to the tear-jerking ‘Chosen’…
Episode Spotlight
Superstar.
Poster
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy.
The Watcher's Guide 