Beck/Smith Hollywood Exclusive
Gellar's Singing Will Amaze All In 'Buffy' Musical, Says Marsters
"Everyone will be amazed by Sarah Michelle -- the lady can sing!" announces Sarah Michelle Gellar's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" costar James Marsters.
The "Buffy" company is in the midst of shooting a musical extravaganza episode composed and lyricized by none other than "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon -- who has had no experience writing musicals, "and says he can't play the piano. He's doing a lot of different musical styles -- you might say Stephen Sondheim to Hank Williams," adds Marsters, himself a singer and musician.
"Some of Joss's music is surprisingly complicated. Maybe it's a Beatles kind of thing -- he doesn't know enough to know what he can't do, and he's smashing rules everywhere."
With "Buffy" having helped raise UPN's status markedly this season, the network "is letting Joss have anything he wants," as Marsters divines it. The musical has been intermittently in production since the beginning of the month -- with scenes being lensed in-between scenes of regular "Buffy" episodes. "We're actually shooting two and a half-to-three episodes at once. We all feel like we're doing a really cool show, and we're tired."
The hour-long musical show, targeted for mid-November airing, incorporates all the "Buffy" arcs Whedon has been weaving this season, so that all the stories build up to the singing 'n' dancing spectacle, according to Marsters. Gellar definitely shines in the terpsichorean department. "She's been a figure skater and a dancer, you know. She's arguably the best dancer in the company -- and we have a lot of fine dancers."
Marsters makes the point that Whedon "is being called by a lot of people to go into the fancy world of movies. A lot of producers in his position would be tempted to leave Sunnydale ("Buffy's" hometown) and never come back. Instead, he decided to challenge and terrify himself with us. God help us next year."
E!Online
[Gellar's Father] Found Dead
Arthur Gellar, the long-estranged father of actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment Tuesday morning of an apparent drug overdose, according to the New York Daily News.
Police found the 60-year-old Gellar in bed at his home after being called to the scene by a friend who had reported Gellar missing for several days. Investigators suspect drugs may have played a part in his death since medication was discovered near his body. An unnamed family friend tells the Daily News that Arthur was reportedly going through cancer treatment and was also "suffering from depression."
So far Gellar has remained mum on the death, with both the 24-year-old Buffy the Vampire Slayer star and her reps declining to comment on the news.
But Gellar has made it clear in the past she had no love for the man. "He is not a person who exists in my life," Sarah once told TV Guide. "Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don't have a father. I would never give him the credit to acknowledge him as my father." Gellar never divulged the reasons for the rift with her dad, but divorce from her mother, Rosellen, may have had something to do with it. Gellar's parents split up when she was 8 and the actress was raised by her mom.
For his part, Arthur Gellar told the Scottish Daily Record in December that he thought he and his famous daughter might one day patch things up: "There isn't a night that goes by that I don't think of her."
The New York City medical examiner's office is scheduled to perform an autopsy today to determine the cause of death.
As for the younger Gellar, there's at least some good news on the horizon. The teen icon, whose character was brought back to life at the start of Buffy's sixth season (which last week debuted to big ratings on its new home, UPN), is planning to tie the knot with longtime beau Freddie Prinze Jr. later this year. The two are also costarring together as Fred and Daphne respectively in the upcoming big-screen version of Scooby-Doo.
SciFiWire
Trachtenberg Hosts Scare
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) will host Truth or Scare, a half-hour children's series that looks at paranormal phenomena. Each episode will combine science, folklore and pop culture to explore ghosts, UFOs, haunted houses, mythical beasts and ancient legends around the globe.
Four half-hour episodes will premiere on the Discovery Channel on Oct. 25, which will air back-to-back from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT. Truth or Scare will then air on Discovery Kids on Oct. 31, with an all-day-and-night Truth-or-Scare-a-Thon, beginning at noon. Starting Nov. 2, Truth or Scare will air regularly on Discovery Kids on Fridays from 8-8:30 p.m. and 11-11:30 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m.-noon and 8:30-9 p.m.