Kevin Smith On A Surprising Sarah Michelle Gellar Audition Before Masters Of The Universe: Revelation - Exclusive
The work of two of the biggest '90s pop culture icons is now officially intertwined with the creation of Netflix's animated series "Masters of the Universe: Revelation." Long before Sarah Michelle Gellar ever took on the role of Teela in "Masters of the Universe," she auditioned for a pretty major Kevin Smith role. These days, Kevin Smith is busy showrunning "Masters of the Universe: Revelation," but as it turns out, the MOTUR powers that be are pretty big fans of Michelle Gellar's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It makes sense: Both shows shine a spotlight on powerful women.
During an exclusive interview with Looper for Part 2 of "Masters of the Universe: Revelation," Kevin Smith dished on how he came to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar on the show, which of his roles she tried out for as a teenager, and what it's like working with pop culture's favorite badass vampire slayer.
The audition that almost was
Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't take on a whole lot of roles anymore, so we asked Kevin Smith what the process was like getting her on board and what it was like working with her. Smith had two words to describe Michelle Gellar: "She's bliss." He added, "I didn't work with her prior to this. Of course, I'm way familiar with her work. She's a pop culture icon — has been for decades now, thanks to 'Buffy,' thanks to playing Daphne in 'Scooby-Doo.'
Their paths unknowingly crossed decades prior to their work together on "Masters of the Universe: Revelation." Smith explained, "We did a little wrap party before the first half of part 1 aired. While we were out there chit-chatting at the party, I was like, 'This is so nice. We finally got to work together.' She's like, 'Well, I auditioned for 'Mallrats' back in 1995.' I was like, 'What?' She was like, 'Yeah. I was a kid. I was still doing soap operas in New York. I auditioned to be Trish the Dish.' She's going, 'But I was way too young.' She was like, 'I was actually 16-years-old.'"
Smith had the appropriate response to that revelation, saying, "I was like, 'Oh, my God. I could've had Buffy in our movie? Oh, man.'"
Kevin Smith's new favorite person
On how her casting came about, Smith recalled, "She was the first person that came up when we were talking about Teela. Most of the writers room, Ted Biaselli, our producer, Rob over at Mattel, Rob David, all of these people are hardcore 'Buffy' people." Though Smith respects the show, he wasn't into "Buffy" quite like the rest of his MOTUR co-workers. "I have nothing but respect for 'Buffy,' but I was not an ardent watcher and stuff, but loved her performances in many other things. So I was down like a clown with the idea of Sarah," Smith noted.
However, Smith wasn't only impressed with Sarah Michelle Gellar's work as an actress, but how she manages to be a superhero both onscreen and with her family. "Working with her was lovely. She's so real, you know what I'm saying? She's more mom than anything else. She's constantly on mom duty. We would have to stop sessions because she had to go pick up kids, and not like 'my people are picking up kids,'" Smith explained. "She's a hands-on mom. So really cool, man, that she's such a well-rounded person. Gives you a great performance, but you expect that because she's been doing it for years. It's so nice that she's an actual human being that you can relate to and stuff. I like her. She's one of my new favorite people."
Fans can check out Part 2 of "Masters of the Universe: Revelation," now streaming on Netflix.