Press || 2001

'Dawn' of a New 'Buffy' - by Kate O'Hare
From Zap2It - May 2nd, 2001

She began the season as the mysterious little sister that Buffy never had, and ends the season as the "key" to the future of existence as we know it. All in all, it's been a busy year for 15-year-old Michelle Trachtenberg. She's not even concerned about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" hopping to UPN from The WB this fall.

"I can't speak for anyone else," she says, "but I can speak for myself, and I can say that, as long as we're keeping on, making great shows, it all works out for me. I'm looking forward to hopping back when the season starts and seeing what's going on."

The series is currently charging toward its season finale and 100th episode on May 22, at 8 p.m. ET, with plenty of sword fighting, emotional upheavals and mad chases in vampire Spike's battered RV (since when does Spike have an RV?) along the way.

Speaking of Spike (played by James Marsters), the bleached one and the little sister of the object of his affections have formed an odd bond of their own. He even called her "platelet."

"At first, Dawn didn't like Spike," says Trachtenberg, "then she had a crush on Spike, and now it's at the point of, 'Oh, you just want to use me to get to my sister.'"

That was, of course, until "Forever," in which Spike -- forced to join Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) Scooby Gang last season because a government-implanted brain chip that has rendered him harmless to humans -- helped Dawn cast a spell to raise her recently deceased mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), from the dead.

Says Trachtenberg, "Now we're at the point of, 'Thanks, I'm not going to go as far as to say you're a big brother, but you're a friend, and I appreciate that.' He's also a friend with connections, especially for Dawn. If she goes to [witches] Willow and Tara, she won't get as much information as she will if she goes to Spike."

In "Forever," Spike led Dawn to Doc (Joel Grey), a mysterious older man who gave her the spell she needed -- then gave her a glimpse of his waving tail before she left.

"The tail was quite impressive," Trachtenberg says, "and especially frustrating for me, because Spike didn't see it. He was lighting up a cigarette. Nasty, horrible habit." (According to Trachtenberg, cast pressure may be causing Marsters, a real-life smoker, to give up the habit.).

What was truly exciting for Trachtenberg was working with film and stage legend Grey, star of the film version of "Cabaret," who is confirmed to also be in the season finale.

"We all found out Joel Grey was going to guest star," she recalls, "and we're like, `Wow, that's so cool. I hope we get to meet him!' Boom, we get a scene with him. It was great. James and I were having tons of fun with Joel."

Apparently Grey's presence inspired Trachtenberg to warble tunes from "Cabaret" on the set. "I couldn't help it," she says. "He was like, 'I know what you're singing.' And I'm like, 'No, I'm not singing anything! I didn't do it!' He's like, 'Yes, it's OK,' and then he sang a little bit. He was just wonderful. He was so sweet about it. He signed my CD of 'Cabaret,' and I'm still stuttering about it."

Harder even for Trachtenberg was the episode entitled "The Body," in which Buffy found her mother dead. It was also tough for Sutherland too, because, according to Trachtenberg, every time viewers saw Joyce's body, it was the actress and not a dummy.

"Can I tell you how absolutely scary she looked," says Trachtenberg, "walking into the lunchroom, 'Hi, guys!', with her blue-white makeup on? It was horrible."

"Quite the saddest, saddest story," Trachtenberg continues, "and one of the hardest storylines that I've ever had to represent on-screen. I have such a close relationship with my mom that I didn't want to imagine absolutely any of it. Sarah's so close to her mom, too, we're like, 'Yeah, we can do it, we're not going to think about our real lives. We're Dawn and Buffy.'"

She won't call it "hard," preferring "a challenge," but filming the last few episodes of the season were taxing for Trachtenberg and all of her co-stars. "I have so much excitement for these last couple of episodes," she says. " I mean, they're just great! Not just because I'm able to be part of them -- which adds to the greatness -- but the whole everything, for lack of another big word, the whole everything."

"Seeing the shows and reading the scripts ... as a fan, my heart must have popped out a million times. There are tears that mush up the words that I have to say on the pages, and it's quite exciting."

Also exciting is the prospect of turning 16, which she does this October, and getting her first car. She says her mother wants her to have a vehicle that is "old and large," but the teen has her heart set on something racier -- a silver Mercedes SLK230 Kompressor.

"Cruising down the streets, all you see is the gleam of silver," she rhapsodizes. "I love this car, because, OK, you're sitting at a crosswalk, it's a summer day in California, it's so hot, you're wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and you're like, 'Hey, I'm in a convertible. I want to put my top down, but I'm too lazy to get out and put my top down.' I can just press a button and the hard top -- the hard top, not the little cloth top -- the hard top of my convertible goes back."

"Oh, that's what sold me! I was all about an SUV until he showed me the button. Mom's like, 'Honey, the only moving vehicle you will be getting is a bike with a motor."



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