SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR

Dimitri: First of all, congratulations on the Wolf Pack. Amazing show. For our readers, you can watch it in Europe on both Amazon Prime and Paramount+.

Sarah Michelle Gellar: Thank you very much.

Dimitri: Watched four episodes back to back and loving it.

Sarah: Oh, thank you.

Dimitri: I want to finish it, actually, after we do the interview and stuff. Definitely want to finish it. Do you want to tell us more about your character, Kristin?

Sarah: Well, it’s hard because if you’ve only seen the first four, you don’t really learn about her until the back four. You’ll get to know much more about what motivates her and why she’s really there.

For me, one of the things that I always loved about Buffy was they used the monsters as the manifestation of the horrors of adolescence and how hard that is. This was the first time a show struck that same chord using the idea of these monsters to discuss what scares us now, which is this culture of depression, and anxiety, and isolation, and something that I think unites us all, especially post-pandemic.

Dimitri: Absolutely, the whole show is based on the book and of course it’s coming into supernatural but it’s also coming into a very serious subject of the natural wildfires which it’s quite a touchy subject. I used to live in LA and I know how bad it gets at the end of the summer coming to the fall.

Sarah: Yes, I was evacuated, we were evacuated out of our house at three in the morning.

Dimitri: Oh my God.

Sarah: We were out for a week in the last fire. We didn’t know if our house was still there. What I also think is interesting is a lot of the story of the fire is from the point of view of the animals and how it’s changing the makeup of the animal kingdom, which has been a hierarchy, a very specific ecosystem for years, and we’re changing that.

Dimitri: Absolutely. Because I’ve seen a lot of different films and everything about wildfires, but you guys were the first ones to actually touch the animal side because usually you don’t see anything, any animals at all. Of course they’ve been affected during the wildfires you guys really touch the subject of the wildlife out there.

Sarah: Yes, and what it’s doing to the– later on we get into trophic cascade, which is a term you’ll hear a lot in the second half of the show, and just how it really changed the makeup of the animal kingdom.

Dimitri: When you were at the Canneseries, were you just as a recipient of the Icon Award, which congratulations on the Award.

Sarah: Yes. Thank you. We talked about it, but it was really about the Icon Award. It was a great trip.

Dimitri: It’s a nice setup, isn’t it? It’s all pink and it’s so refreshing.

Sarah: It was beautiful. I’ve been to the Cannes Film Festival and it’s chaotic, is the best word that I can use to describe it. On this trip I felt I got such a better feeling for what Cannes is about, and we’re moving into a time where television has become almost bigger than film in a lot of ways. It’s nice to see it honored in that way.

Dimitri: Yes, absolutely. Do you feel that with the, especially coming from the networks, do you think that there’s more time and also better chances to flush out the characters on platforms and given more time to develop the story?

Sarah: Yes. With streaming, it’s definitely more filmatic because you have an– when you’re doing 22 episodes, you’re getting the scripts as it comes. A lot of times you already have all of this in front of you. Even if the scripts aren’t done, you know where it’s going, and you’re able to tell. It’s almost like a longer movie, in a sense, with a much more beginning, middle, and an end. I think that you don’t have the same burnout that you get in network television, and you’re not trying to fill time in the same way. For me, in my life, it’s a format that I definitely like.

Dimitri: I prefer streaming format because some stories would probably never make it on the prime time purely because they’re just too slow burn for the prime time.

Sarah: Well, and you can push the envelope more. You don’t have the same rules.

Dimitri: Absolutely. You can watch it on your own time and pace.

Sarah: Well, I think that’s interesting too, the concept of now we’re bringing television to people and they can choose how they want to watch it. I like to binge, my husband likes to wait every week for a new episode, and so it’s really about how you want to consume it. It’s much more personalized.

Dimitri: Absolutely. I’m a binger as well. [chuckles]

Sarah: I can tell.

Dimitri: Oh, thank you. I take it as a compliment. Yes, I do prefer to wait for a couple episodes before I watch it, rather than just watching week-to-week. I just feel there’s just not enough connection if you watch it week-to-week, but I understand why some streamers now prefer to release it on a weekly basis so that there is more time for the cooler talk and the discussion.

You have stellar castmates, you have brilliant, young, talented guys like Armani and Bella, Chloe. Those guys are just absolutely amazing. This show really kicks in really quickly compared to some other series. This show is up and running within the first 10 minutes. Also, you have Rodrigo as well. I loved him from Westworld. Can you tell us about working with your castmates?

Sarah: Oh, Rodrigo Santoro is amazing.

Absolutely. I was very fortunate. You never know when you get young castmates who are fairly new, what that atmosphere is going to be like, and they were so hungry and kind and wanted to learn, and wanted to take it all in. They got along extremely well. It was an extremely collaborative set. Rodrigo is such a pro, and I’ve been a fan of his since Love Actually.

It’s always so amazing to watch someone who works in a second language also, which is something that people forget about him. It’s fascinating to watch that process as well.

Dimitri: Did Rodrigo and you teach the younger kids?

Sarah: It’s interesting how much we also got to learn from them and the energy that they bring to set.

Dimitri: How did Jeff Davis approach you for this show? Besides being on the show, you’re also executive producing the show, so did Jeff approach you in advance? Was it at the script stage when you got approached, or how was the process?

Sarah: It was interesting. I think the studio had a list of people they thought they never had a chance of getting. They said, “Let’s bring it to Sarah.” Jeff said, “Why? She’s never going to do it.” When they first sent it to me, he was right. I had no intention of even, honestly, reading it. Once I did, I was really the same way you were. I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to get the next couple of scripts, and that’s not my normal reaction. I think because of that, it made me interested.

Jeff and I sat down and we spoke, and we like to work very similarly, and I said, “For me to do this, I have to really be a part of it, and that means producing it.” That’s not, for me, a name-only position. For me that means actually doing the work and being a part of it. He was really excited about that. We just realized that we would work very, very well together and we were correct.

Dimitri: You are really a hands-on producer, right?

Sarah: Yes. I’ve been doing this for such a long time that it brings a very unique and different perspective to it. Also there’s something to be said for having a producer that’s on set every day in that capacity, because nobody really knows what goes on on a set the same way that an actor that’s there every day does.

Dimitri: You filmed in Georgia, is that correct?

Sarah: Yes, in Atlanta.

Dimitri: In Atlanta, Georgia. I know there’s a lot of productions coming from Atlanta, from Georgia because of such a good– the value for money, for production. They usually go to Canada for this. Do you feel there should be more shows in California or it doesn’t really affect you? Doesn’t really affect the whole production?

Sarah: Look, obviously I wish more shows shot here because this is where my kids go to school, but I do think that Atlanta is a great city, Georgia is a great state, and I like to keep American productions in America, so I was happy that we were filming in Atlanta. For me, I go back and forth, so it’s not so bad. I just like to see stuff stay in America.

Dimitri: I guess you have to travel all the time between Atlanta and during the production time. Do you have any spare time at all? You sound like you have a really tight schedule, what do you do in spare time?

Sarah: It was definitely tight. I think that, for me, it helps us having young kids. When I’m home I’m a parent and when I’m at work I can focus on work, but I was never gone for more than two weeks at a time.

Dimitri: Is there anything that you want to say to your fans?

Sarah: I’m just incredibly appreciative. I think that being in Cannes and for now, especially post-pandemic, being able to travel and meet the fans in different countries, they’re the reason that I’m still here and I’m still doing what I love. I took a lot of time off to raise my kids when they were really young, and you always worry that when you come back people will have moved on and they won’t really care about your work anymore. The fact that people have been so excited and so warm, I feel incredibly lucky and incredibly appreciative.

Dimitri: If you could give your younger-self an advice, what sort of advice would you give?

Sarah: That’s really hard because I don’t know that my younger self, would listen, and I don’t know that I– you have to go through all the things to get to where you are, but I think honest thing would be just to take it all in because I was always so busy and so focused on work, I don’t know that I had the time to really understand how amazing things were and how lucky I was, because I was just on such a treadmill of work, work, work, work, work. I would just say slow down a little bit.

Dimitri: That’s interesting. You are one of the the first ones to say to slow down a little bit because almost everyone that I interview refer to the anxiety at younger age.

Sarah: Well, I think one of the reasons a lot of us are dealing with so much anxiety is because life is so constant and there’s so much constant coming out of us. Even now, I just try to take, even if it’s just five minutes a day just to sit outside and close my eyes, and listen to birds or the ocean or whatever those things are, and just feel where I am because you can get lost in everything very quickly.

Dimitri: I agree. Especially these days, with too much communication, with everything, technology, sometimes you just want to go back to a little bit more simpler things, less social media, and a bit more personal interaction rather than just constantly have to check your phone and stuff, so yes. Totally agree.

Sarah: Exactly.