Buffy star James Marsters gives rare insight into friendship with Sarah Michelle Gellar
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James Marsters, the star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has given a rare glimpse into his friendship with Sarah Michelle Gellar and revealed why 'no one else would have lasted' in the role of Buffy Summers in an exclusive chat with Reach.
Ahead of the eagerly awaited reboot, fans of Buffy are likely to be re-watching the 1997 series, which will see Gellar return as Executive Producer, if all goes according to plan.
In the original series, penned by Joss Whedon, Gellar portrays the lead character Buffy Summers, who must juggle her normal teenage life while battling vampires, demons and other dark forces.
Marsters, who joined the cast in the second series as vampire Spike, quickly became a fan favourite and a mainstay on the show. Even after decades, the stars appear to maintain a close bond, with Marsters taking the opportunity to laud Gellar as the driving force behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In a heartfelt tribute, he said: "She's amazing, by the way. I really believe that if anyone else would have played Buffy, we never would have lasted seven years.", reports Surrey Live.
"Because we worked up to 20 hours a day and so there's not a lot of sleep happening, and she was in almost every scene.
"I was in about a quarter of the scenes and it turned me to ash," he confessed. "I can't imagine what would have happened to my psyche if I had her workload. I think I might just have had a breakdown around season 5. I mean, anyone really would.
"TV shows normally film for around 12 hours a day and that's long enough, frankly. But Sarah was always there and she never flagged, she was never late, she always had a good attitude, she knew her lines, she was a monster.
"And consequentially, no one else could relax because she was always just so on point. She was amazing," he said again.
Delving into their off-screen camaraderie, he shared details about how they stay in touch, discussing family milestones.
"Sometimes we email each other about our kids and we'll be like, 'Oh they're doing this, they're doing that.'".
"My kids are older than hers so I always beat her," Marsters joked. "She'll say, 'My kids just learned to make brownies, yay!' And I'll say, 'Well my son just got back from China,'" he continued, not concealing his amusement.
Speaking of the series' revival, he expressed: "It's good because I think the world needs Buffy Summers. The world needs that message maybe more than ever."
Keen not to spill any secrets regarding the forthcoming reboot, he made clear: "I'm not allowed to talk about any of it!".
"I'm trying to thread the needle here..." he conveyed. "But what I will say is that at the beginning of every show we said, 'For every generation there's a new slayer.'".
"And that was a promise that we never really made good on, and I think that it's high time someone did."
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