TEMPTRESS!
TV DEMONS ARE USUALLY SLAVERED IN TONS OF ELABORATE
MAKE-Up THANKFULLY, BUFFY SIMPLY OPTED FOR CLARE KRAME!
Place any small, wet-nosed puppy in the hands of a lady and their maternal
instincts will
immediately kick in — the floppyeared scamp will be hugged to their
bosom, stroked with their
hairbnish, made to wear an enormous pink bow and whispered to in ridiculous
“baby talk”.However, not all of God’s creatures are subjected
to such affection by the fairer sex — if you drop a
stag beetle, scorpion or tarantula into their lap they’re more
likely to wet their delicate
underwear than whittle up a nice insect-arium out of a shoe box. So
it was a relief on FHMs shoot with actress Clare Kramer—who plays
Glory in Buffy The Vampire Slayer— that she didn’t run a mile
when
a 12f1 long, albino python snake was produced and suggested that it
be wrapped around her shoulders like a rather jazzy scarf "Once
I got used to touching it I was fine, I let it slither allround me,”
says the 22-year-old from Ohio. “The woman who owned the snake
was like, ‘It’s OK, we fed him two days ago, so he shouldn’t
be hungry yet.’ To be honest I’d much prefer to hold a snake
than a hamster I don’t dig little rodents.” This wasn’t
Clare’s first experience with a snake, for the past six months
she’s been filming
episodes of the cult vampire slayer TV series, and one required her
character to conjure up an
enormous snake-like creature from the depths of Hades. “They had
made a mock reptile house with
different snakes in,” says Clare. ‘But a 22ft python escaped
into the wall of the set So Sarah (Michelle Gellar) and I were standing
on our chairs while they deconstructed parts of the walls to get the
thing back.”
Clare’s initial glimpse of movie life was when she had a small
role in the comedy in & Out in
1997 alongside Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck arid Matt Dillon. “I had
some lines in that, but they got cut through the course of filming.”
Then last year she landed a part in the high school
cheerleading comedy Bring it On, starring her now good friends, Kirsten
Dunst and Eliza Dushku, and meant three weeks of intensive back-flipping
and pom-pom shaking at a cheerleader boot camp.
“We went and were integrated with the professional cheerleaders
who made up the rest
of the squad: she says. “We learnt everything from the basic cheers
to stunning — which is where you’re tossed in the air”
FHM caught up with dare at the chilled out,surroundings of The Mondrian
Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, which transpires to be the scene f~ one of
the aspiring actress’s wildest nights out “The little group
of girls I run with, who all did Bring ft On — Eliza (Dushku),
Bianca (Kajit and Nicky (Bllderback), tend to get into trouble when
we go out together,” she says. “When the movie opened we decided
to celebrate. Firstly
Nicky and Bianca came over to my apartment to help me clean it because
they said it looked like
a homeless person’s apartment. We did clean all day then had a
few drinks and went for dinner. We ended up coming here — still
dressed in sweats from our cleaning. We were shouting
Bring it On number one movie!’ and being so rude and obnoxious.
A couple of people larnded
in the pool so the manager threw us out”
Were you one of the crazy party-goers taking a dip?
I was holding onto a heat Lamp which was at a 45
degree angle with me on the end of it, and two guys
trying to pull it back upright. It was a close one
Han you lived in Los Angeles Long?
I was flown out here for an audition and I
thought I was only going to be here for three
days. I haven’t been back to New York since
arough I still have my apartment there. I didnt
get the part I auditioned for but then I thought
"Well. I’ll stay a week and see what happens"
I ended up getting work offers and I was [ike,
“Hmm, maybe LA. is not so bad, Let me shack up
with my friends for a few weeks.” My sister is
slowly shipping out my stuff from my home in
New York.
Were you a fan of Buffy before joining the show?
I’d never seen it, I had no idea what it was. I
knew my friend Eliza (who played vampire slayer
Faith) was on it for two seasons, but I didn’t know
what to expect.
You get to have fight scenes with Buffy, Sarah
Michelle Gellar, have you ever Iamped her in the
face by accident?
I once clocked Sarah’s stunt double right between
the eyes — she had a big knot on her forehead and
two black eyes. The crew called her unicorn”. I
felt so terrible. When I first went on the show I
told the stunt co-ordinator that I wanted to do as
much as possible. I do as much as I legaly can
do. But I box three times a week, so that comes in
handy because I know how to throw a punch that
looks real
The cheerLeading boot camp doesn’t sound Like
much fun, did you try and escape by tunnelling
under the barbed wire fences?
No, it was hard work and we were all in much
better shape than when we originally turned up
for the movie. I dislocated my shoulder, which
was not even a big deal. The coach just pulled it
and popped it back in its socket. I think my
shoulder must have been Loose, I wasn’t doing
anything aggressive with it. I had to sit down with
a bag of peas on my arm for a bit, built wasn’t a
big deal
Did you ever get the cheers compLeteLy wrong?
There were a lot of takes where we were falling
down so we had to re-shoot them. We wanted it
to Look good, we didn’t want professional
cheerleaders to watch it and go, “Oh my God,
that’s solame.”
Were you a cheerLeader when you were at school?
I was. But I didn’t mesh too well with the squad. I
had a small group of friends I hung out with, we
were sort of the nerds of the school— we were in
the recycling club and ran the newspaper. My
junior prom was a nightmare because I found out
my first boyfriend had slept with this other girl,
and despite breaking up we were still going to the
the prom together because he’d already booked
the limo. Not a Lot of people Liked me and wanted!
to hang outwith me. In my senio ryear I got a
boyfriend, who was more involved socially so I
came out of my shell. But Looking back, I’m just
glad it’s over.
Apart from hamsters, what are you afraid of?
I don’t Like the dark. I’ve gotten over my fear a
bit over the past few months and I’m now
sleeping with only a Little night Light. But I
used to have to sleep with the closet Light,
the hall Light and the bedroom light on.
What was your first taste of the brtght Light and
greasepaint?
My first acting job in Ohio was doing L
ive appearances as the Wendy’s girll from
the burger chain. The real girl who played
her was called Melissa but she got
pregnant, so I tried out and got the gig.
I had to wear this blue gingham frock,
knickers that matched and the full-on
blonde braids with Large freckles. When
I was in parades, I’d be given toys to throw
out to the children and if I was in a bad mood
I’d aim at particutar people and try to peg them
with the toys.
Was that the worst job you’ve had?
No, I worked at TCBY — The Country’s Best Yoghut
when I was at college. I was making $4.60 an
hour. I’d be sitting there serving yoghurt on a
Friday and Saturday night watching people going
out for the evening. It didn’t close until 1am and
then you had to spend an hour mopping the flool
I was Like, “Someone please rescue me.” I can’t
eat yoghurt to this day.
If FHM were to take you for a perfect weekend,
where would we head off to?
We’d go hiking. I used to enjoy cross country
running so I like being out in the open. One
time I went hiking in Malibu and I saw this
sign which said, “Beware of mountain lions
so I was Like, "Oh my God!” I found myself
a big stick and made as much noise as
possible as I walked so didn’t sneak up
on a sleeping Lion.
