Transcript typed and provided by Krazy Kat
This interview from Access Hollywood aired on July 12th, 1998.
Clip of Sarah practing martial arts. Sarah, wearing a white tee and black, three striped Adidas pants, is throwing right-legged roundhouse kicks against a trainer's hand pad.
Access Hollywood: "Well there she is working on those famous vampire slaying moves. Sarah Michelle Gellar always looks pretty great doing it. And that's probably the reason "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has reached cult status. Sarah has made a name for herself as the heroin of this way-out show. But there is no stopping this young star, now that she has found a way on the big screen as well."
Sarah: (Interview shot with medium length, brown, layered hair and a denim blouse): "It's amazing, it's incredible, and the best part for me is that I'm doing, I'm doing what I've always wanted to do, I've been working in this business since I was four years old."
(Burger King Commercial)
Access Hollywood: "In 1981, at the ripe old age of four, Sarah Michelle Gellar hit the scene selling hamburgers for Burger King. Well from burgers to bigger roles, Sarah built her career with bit parts on TV and stage. It was 1993 when she hit it big, landing her role of Kendall Hart on All My Children."
(All My Children Clip)
Access Hollywood: "Sarah spent three years on the soap and even grabbed a Daytime Emmy for her performance. (Clip of Sarah receiving her Emmy at the 22nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards). But it wasn't until 1997 that she was cast as Buffy in the WB series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," that people really started taking notice. As the high school student who slays vampires by night, Sarah flexes her comic muscle as well and her real life martial arts muscle."
Access Hollywood: "She has a brown belt in tae kwon do that helps her in the outrageous fight scenes the show is famous for. Sarah loves kicking vampire butt and wants her fans to know that she will be throwing those killer kicks for a long time to come."
Sarah: "I will definitely be back for a full season coming up. You know, you take it year by year. I love the show, I'm not leaving any time soon. There were rumors that I was quitting for a movie career. Those rumors start everywhere and that's not true. I love my show, I love being able to do both, though."
(Clip of Sarah get pictures taken at the premiere of "I Know What You Did Last Summer.")
Access Hollywood: "And she is juggling both television and movies. In fact Sarah feels fortunate that her role as Buffy brought her to the attention of producers, who successfully cast her in two of the top grossing slasher films of 1997."
(Clips of "Scream 2" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer.")
Access Hollywood: "She starred alongside Neve Campbell in "Scream 2" and played a beauty queen opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and Sarah feels fortunate to make movies that appeal to her generation."
Sarah: "What's nice about the movies these days is they're giving something to young people that we didn't have before and that's intelligence. They're three-dimensional intelligent characters and I think that's wonderful. And it's been a long time coming. And to be lumped with Neve and Love is great. I respect all of them. I love working with them and the fact that we all do television and film, it just makes it that much better.
Access Hollywood: "So much, though, that Sarah has just finished filming her fourth film, "Cruel Intentions.""
Sarah: "I'm not used to fighting in short leather mini-skirts and substantially high heels, so it's a little more difficult."
Access Hollywood: "She seems to be handling fighting and sexy lingerie just fine. In this remake of "Dangerous Liasons," set in the present day, Sarah takes on the challenge of love and seduction just fine."
(Clip of "Dangerous Liasons." Sarah sitting crossed-legged on a sofa, holding a wine glass, whilst Ryan Phillippe is staring down at her. Sarah's character harshly says to Phillippe's character, Sebastian, "You're just a toy Sebastian, a little toy I like to play with." Next shot shows Sarah throwing a punch at Phillippe. He wrestles her to the ground.)
Sarah: "It's hard to find characters that are more interesting than Buffy and I got lucky with interesting characters this year, but if I couldn't find interesting female roles, I would just do my show and I wouldn't do movies in the hiatus."
(Clip of Sarah, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Jennifer Love Hewitt, walking hand in hand all dressed up for a prom type event.)
Access Hollywood: "So far so good for Sarah Michelle Gellar. The future looks nothing but brilliantly bright for the 21-year old star who says success is taking her by storm."
Sarah: "The funny thing is that when it happened to you, you don't really have time to stop and think about it. Your life changes very quickly and it's very hard to adapt to that change very quickly. You know, you try the very best you can to keep your life the same and basically my life is just work, work ,work, work, work. And so you miss a lot of that."
Access Hollywood: "Now Sarah Michelle Gellar is currently shooting a new movie called "Vanilla Fog" with actor Sean Patrick Flannery. It's about a department store exec who tries to resist falling in love with a young woman because he believes she is possessed by magical powers. It sounds right up Buffy's, that's Sarah, alley."