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Freeze Frame Network
from MSN Entertainment
by Angela Dawson
HOLLYWOOD -- After seven years of battling evil creatures on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Sarah Michelle Gellar is an expert at playing a high-stakes defender of humankind. In her new movie, "The Grudge," the pixieish blonde takes on an evil spirit that has it in for anyone who enters a certain house.
"The Grudge" isn't a run-of-the-mill Hollywood horror flick.
It is based on the Japanese hit "Ju-On: The Grudge." And unlike other remakes, it retains many of its Japanese connections. The producers (among them "The Evil Dead's" Sam Raimi) retained Takashi Shimizu, the writer-director of the original, to helm the English-language version. The remake introduces an American heroine (Gellar), yet it retains Shimizu's nonlinear storytelling style.
Several actors from the original reprise their roles in the new version, which like the original is set in Tokyo. Gellar and co-star Jason Behr ("Roswell") play exchange students who find themselves fighting an evil spirit that haunts a suburban Tokyo house. Based on a Japanese legend, the spirit "infects" and kills any human with which it comes in contact. The original "Grudge" spawned a sequel in Japan and had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. earlier this year.
Gellar, 27, says the producers' reverence for the original attracted her to the project. "I wanted to be part of this film because, in my opinion, they were doing it the right way," says the native New Yorker. "Instead of getting an American director to put an American spin on what is essentially a Japanese story, they were going to do it with the original Japanese director."
The film also offered an opportunity for Gellar -- a big fan of Japanese food and culture -- to visit a country she longed to see.
Gellar heard about the remake only after returning from shooting the "Scooby-Doo" sequel in Canada. "I was kind of down," she reveals. After playing such a strong lead character on "Buffy," she was only seeing bland supporting roles in the film scripts she was getting.
"In television, females lead everything," she says. "They're the superheroes, the smart ones. But oftentimes in film, you're the girlfriend, the wife or the daughter. I thought ('The Grudge') was so great -- a really positive female character driving the story."
She admits she "stalked" producer Raimi to get an audition for the film. With only one day to watch the original and memorize 15 pages of dialogue, Gellar still managed to wow him.
"Sarah was solid," says Raimi, best known for his blockbuster "Spider-Man" franchise. He was also convinced she could handle the challenge of working with a Japanese director with limited English skills.
"In television, you get good directors, bad directors, someone who doesn't care, someone who can lead it the wrong way. But she was so consistent and successful for so many years I assumed she had some internal guidance system that would see us through the shoot," he says.
Gellar and Shimizu, despite the language barrier, managed to develop a nonverbal communication system on the set. "He's one of the most in-tune, astute men I've ever met," she gushes.
The 32-year-old filmmaker also gauged correctly that Gellar was looking for a transition from her popular TV series to film roles. She'd already starred in several films, including "Cruel Intentions," "Scream 2," "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the successful "Scooby-Doo" franchise. But she was looking for something that would challenge her. Living in Japan and working on a horror movie for three months would fill the bill, she hoped.
"Going to Japan and living in a foreign country was amazing," she says, her big blue eyes growing wide. "I really got to explore and disappear into the city."
She had heard great things about the country from Freddie Prinze Jr., her husband of two years, who had worked there a few years earlier. She was eager to visit the sites and try out the language and local cuisine.
During her first week there, the cast and crew took part in a purification ceremony, a Japanese tradition. Gellar and co-star Behr offered up food, drink and trinkets to the ancient gods. Gellar recalls being nervous about getting her part in the ceremony right, but she thoroughly enjoyed it. "It was a great way to meet the crew because it was our first interaction with them," she says.
With Prinze unavailable, Gellar joined her cast mates in venturing around the city. She and Behr, who plays her boyfriend in the film, attended a Sumo wrestling competition and visited a karaoke bar during their time off. Mostly, the press-shy actress was pleased to discover that the Japanese media is not as intrusive as its counterpart in the West.
"They are not a tabloid society," she says. "America, England and Australia -- the places where I spend probably the majority of my time -- are tabloid societies. It was nice to have three months without photographers following me around."
Gellar discovered the same respectful attitude extends to the general population of Tokyo as well. She says no one hounded her for autographs, though she is as famous there as she is in the U.S. "It goes back to the culture," says Gellar, who learned some Japanese while abroad. "It's about respect and honor. You don't invade someone's space."
Gellar says it was jarring to return to the U.S. after the shoot. But don't expect her to pull a Gwyneth Paltrow and decide to disappear from moviemaking for a few years.
"I'm lucky I don't have it as bad as Gwyneth," she says. "I don't have a child to protect. The other thing is that this is both Freddie's and my career. I'm not putting him in a situation that he didn't choose and he's not putting me in a situation I didn't choose."
Gellar says she usually becomes protective around her non-celebrity friends and her beloved dogs. Just going to the grocery store can be a challenge, though. On a recent night, a persistent photographer followed her into the supermarket and proceeded to snap pictures as she was shopping.
"I just pulled my cap down over my face and wouldn't look up," she recalls.
But Gellar isn't about revenge -- or grudges. "To me grudges aren't worth holding," she says. "It's way too much wasted energy."
So how does she deal with conflict?
"Each situation has to be judged by itself," she insists. "I don't make life rules."
For most of her life, Gellar has been an actress. She made her debut in a Burger King commercial at age 4. Soon after, she appeared in the TV movie, "An Invasion of Privacy." She played the young Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in the miniseries "A Woman Named Jackie," then landed a recurring role in the long-running soap "All My Children," for which she won an Emmy.
In 1997, she was cast in the title role in the edgy, supernatural TV series "Buffy," playing a high schooler with an exceptional skill for killing vampires. The teen-oriented show, which quickly developed a cultlike following, lasted seven seasons. The show has grown in international popularity through syndication and home video sales.
Gellar is taking it slow after working nonstop for roughly 12 years. Since completing her reshoots for "The Grudge" this summer, she took a few months off. Her next project is Richard Kelly's musical comedy "Southland Tales," which is slated to begin production in January.