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My Chat with Julie Benz 11/7/02

This is a partial transcript of a recent chat at the SciFi Channel that I was part of. I am VampireGirl in case you didn't guess. I left in a few other questions by people who asked about Darla and not Julie's new mini-series Taken. The link at the bottom of the page will lead you to the entire transcript if you want to read the rest. I felt very lucky that the moderator asked her five or six of the questions I posted. Yay us!

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: So you still ice skate, non-competitively I mean?

JulieBenz: No I don't

JulieBenz: Occasionally I go around Christmas time for fun

JulieBenz: It's something I did every day for 13 years

JulieBenz: But it's not something I do a lot of now

JulieBenz: GA

<Minke> to <ChatMod>: Of all the roles you've played, which did you find the most challenging?

JulieBenz: That's always hard

JulieBenz: I would say Darla definitely on Angel

JulieBenz: But Kate as well

JulieBenz: Darla because she was so big, and grand, and large

JulieBenz: But Kate because she is who she is

JulieBenz: It's very to be so ordinary

JulieBenz: When Darla hugged another character you always wondered what her real intentions were

JulieBenz: With Kate a hug is a hug

ChatMod: <Sorceress> to <ChatMod>: Who are your favorite writers?

JulieBenz: Well a few of my favorite novelist are Ayn Rand and Hemingway

JulieBenz: I read a lot so its about the story, the book, and the characters

JulieBenz: It's hard to come up with a short list

JulieBenz: Television and film writers Tim Minear is my favorite and Joss Whedon of course

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: Have you been drawn into the music world like so many of the other actors from the Buffyverse? Your Ella Fitzgerald was just so impressive.

JulieBenz: Thank you very much, but a singer I am not

JulieBenz: That was my most terrifying moment off screen

JulieBenz: I have no desire to venture into the music world

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: Did you find yourself lost in Darla? I imagine she could be a scary place to find yourself on any given day.

JulieBenz: Yes. She's definitely lived in my dark places

JulieBenz: The places where I don't like to go to

JulieBenz: She took a toll on my emotionally

JulieBenz: It's hard to go to work every day and deal with that kind of anger

JulieBenz: Then come home to a normal life

JulieBenz: I am a much more cheerful, lighthearted, happy person than Darla was

<Crippledlion> to <ChatMod>: Joss's show are very unique compared to most other 1hr dramas on TV. How was working with Joss and crew different compared to working on other shows?

JulieBenz: The difference, as an actor when you get a script you know all the work is pretty much done for you

JulieBenz: All you have to do is show up and do your thing

JulieBenz: The work is done for you

JulieBenz: Say your lines

JulieBenz: The characters are so well fleshed out

JulieBenz: I never felt like "Darla wouldn't say that"

JulieBenz: Or Darla would do that that

JulieBenz: They knew her better than I knew her

JulieBenz: And very few other shows offer the characters such a rich life

JulieBenz: The characters have so many layers built into them

JulieBenz: They aren't just on the surface

JulieBenz: Plus the span of time

JulieBenz: How many characters on television are 400 years old these days?

JulieBenz: Not many

JulieBenz: GA

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: Is that ever hard to accept, that a character that lives in your head really belongs to someone else? Knowing they have the power to make you go to an even darker place?

JulieBenz: No

JulieBenz: They're the ones who create it

JulieBenz: As an actor you are the vessel through which the writer's character performs

JulieBenz: Ideally it's a collaboration

JulieBenz: But ultimately the character doesn't belong to the actor, but to the writer

<DaScape> to <ChatMod>: Do you still enjoy attending the Buffy and Angel conventions, although you aren't in either show any more?

JulieBenz: I certainly do

JulieBenz: I love going to the conventions and meeting the fans

JulieBenz: If it wasn't for the fans she wouldn't have been kept alive for so long

JulieBenz: I really enjoy meeting the fans who gave her that life

ChatMod: : If given a rematch, could Darla kick Buffy's arse?

JulieBenz: No.

JulieBenz: I don't think so

JulieBenz: Maybe

JulieBenz: I don't know

JulieBenz: Okay -- sure

JulieBenz: GA

<Pompon> to <ChatMod>: Do you feel, no matter what you go on to do, that you will have a special place in your heart for Darla ? or do you think as time goes by, you will regard her the same as any other part you've played ?

JulieBenz: All characters I play are special to me

JulieBenz: But Darla especially because I invested so much in her for so long

JulieBenz: And playing Darla was very pivotal in career so she will always have a very special place in m heart

JulieBenz: GA

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: Which did you enjoy more the Darla/Angelus flashbacks or the modern day scenes, you had undoubtedly some of the best costumes...

JulieBenz: I would say there was always something magical about shooting the days we were in the period costumes on the back lot at Universal late at night

JulieBenz: But there was also something really great about modern day scenes shot on the top of a roof in LA with the amazing scenery when you looked around

JulieBenz: It's always great to be "on location" rather than in the studio

JulieBenz: And those period costumes gave me some physical pain

JulieBenz: The corsets. Ouch

JulieBenz: That was a drawback

<DaScape> to <ChatMod>: Did you have to avoid getting a suntan to play a vampire?

JulieBenz: Yes  

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: You come from a family of like five generations of doctors right?

JulieBenz: Yes

JulieBenz: I wanted to be the first female doctor in the family

JulieBenz: Now I'll just have to play one on TV

<vampiregirl> to <ChatMod>: Do you feel that at 30 you are just hitting your stride as an actress so to speak?

JulieBenz: I would say yes

JulieBenz: The past three years especially I feel that I've come into my own as an actor

JulieBenz: I'm making good choices

JulieBenz: Intelligent choices about work and a craft I've studied forever

JulieBenz: I still have a long way to go

JulieBenz: But I would say with age comes a sense of self really

<AdmAckbar> to <ChatMod>: Since MAC will becoming out with a Darla action figure. How do you feel about having your likeness made into an action figure?

JulieBenz: I hope they gave me smaller thighs

JulieBenz: I told them to give me longer legs

JulieBenz: It's a bizarre but cool thing

JulieBenz: It's a cool moment when you become an action figure

JulieBenz: But the process is so weird

JulieBenz: My face is scanned and in a computer somewhere

JulieBenz: Every nuance

JulieBenz: It freaks me out

JulieBenz: But it will be cool to show family some day

JulieBenz: I almost Didn't agree to it

JulieBenz: But David said "Come on. You've gotta do it. It's really cool" So he talked me into it

For the Full Transcript go to: SciFi Channel