The Buffy crew was on location tonight in Van Nuys, on Woodley Avenue between Victory Boulevard and Burbank Boulevard. This is a stretch of very wide road running over a mile through the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. Lots of wide open spaces.Before we go further...
Danger! Danger, Willow Robinson!
By about 8:15 this evening, Xita and I were standing on the corner of Victory and Woodley, looking down the street as various vehicles were driving around. There were two police officers standing at the corner opposite from us and we weren't sure they would let us through. Then this mom and her two daughters crossed the street and walked right past the police without them even blinking, so we figured it was okay for us to do the same.
Sitting across the entire road was a large 18-wheeler truck. Near it was a car labelled "SUNNYDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT," set up on this big tow-truck rig with all sorts of lights and cameras on it. We stood there for quite a while, waiting to see what would happen. Eventually, something did.
Vans came down from the base camp, and out popped Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Danny Strong and Tom Lenk. There was also this black-haired woman wearing black clothes and black boots with thick heels on them. Was this Black Magic Willow? We couldn't tell exactly because it was dark and we weren't quite close enough - although later events made it obvious that this was in fact Stunt Black Magic Willow.
A large ladder was put next to the cab of the 18-wheeler, and someone (The Director? The Stunt Coordinator? I couldn't tell) climbed up onto the roof of the cab. He gets down on all fours and starts saying, "She's up here! She's run out of power, and she's down like this." Stunt Black Magic Willow climbs up and does the same thing. Meanwhile, the four cast members climb into the police car.
So here's the scene. Apparently Black Magic Willow has decided to go after Jonathan and Andrew, and she has magically hijacked this 18-wheeler to do them in. Buffy and Xander have somehow comandeered a police car with Jonathan and Andrew in it, and they're on the run as Black Magic Willow chases them. Then at some point, Black Magic Willow runs out of power and the police car gets away.
They drove up and down the street several times, presumably filming close-up dialogue scenes inside the police car during various points of the chase. A couple of times the 18-wheeler drove past us with Stunt Black Magic Willow standing up on the roof of the cab. It was quite a sight, let me tell you. She even glared down at us once.
Also, just as an aside, at some point they either have to shoot (or maybe they have already shot) Alyson standing up there on the roof of cab being all evil and vengeful. Obviously the truck wouldn't be moving with an expensive star standing on top of it, but they could simulate movement with big fans or something. Given how cold it was tonight and the fact that Alyson would also have those black contact lenses in her eyes, I'm guessing that's not going to be a pleasant experience. Ah, the sacrifices Aly makes in the name of art.
At around 10:30 the crew broke for their hour-long "lunch," and so we called it a night. All in all, it was a good shoot (and we even met some Kitten Lurkers!). Looks like there's plenty of action in the episodes to come.
[This message has been edited by BBOvenGuy (edited March 23, 2002).]