New Buffy magazine: Interview with Amber

[relativegirl]

Well, Sheridan, if the interview took place before Toronto, it was before Amy gave Amber the FAQ. Many people have read the FAQ and, as a result, thought differently about the whole situation. Maybe Amber's perspective was changed as well. However, there doesn't seem to be any professional upside to any actor criticizing present or past employers, so we may never know. I do hope that one day Amber will be a filmaker in her own right who can afford to be candid about her thoughts about Joss and Marti's decisions and that one day we will know.



Oh and Autumn, for the record, I'm quite confident that I was not born gay. I was turned gay as a young girl by the sight of a woman caressing another woman's arm. So ya see, there is a precise science being applied by the network's standards & practices censors.



ETA: upon further reflection, given that Autumn and I apparently grew up near each other, it was probably Autumn that turned me! I was probably wandering around some mall on a big trip to the city with my family when I saw Autumn touch her then-gf's arm and I was instantaneously turned into a baby-dyke obsessed with girls and boobies and smut-fic. Thanks, Autumn! I owe ya, cuz it's been one fun ride!

~ If I should rock you,
the whole world would rock within my arms ~

Edited by: relativegirl at: 9/14/02 1:11:35 pm

[stephenboothuk]

Am I to assume, due to my last post disapearing less than a minute after I made it, that messages making reference to what an English gentleman would be expected to do after acting in such a manner as to utter disgrace himself, his family and his name are not welcome here?



Stephen



[Edited for typos

Edited by: stephenboothuk at: 9/14/02 1:06:09 pm

[Kendahl897]

The censors , I wonder if they were also responsible for cutting out the stuff of Dawn and Buffy teasing W/T about getting married and such.

------------





Rally, what are you talking about? I've never heard this story before...........

[Willowlicious]

Well, I don't really expect Amber back on BtVS, but this interview didn't influence my opinion on that. It was status quo, really.



As for the timing of the interview, I'm guessing that it took place in late June. My reasoning for that is that she ticked off the fan reaction she knew of as 1) a friend going online, 2) a lesbian bar, and 3) the signing in Santa Barbara. Seems odd that, if she had already done TorontoTrek, that she'd not mention it as it was the biggest and most detailed interaction with fans she had. She was doing some press the week she was on her way to Toronto (the newspaper article that first mentions her visit to a lesbian bar). I'm guessing she did this one around that time as well.



As for the over-zealous arm touching, thank god for censors! Lord knows that children would find that more disturbing than the skinning of a man. Or an attempted rape. Or a blood splatter. Love is much more dangerous than violence.



Amy

--------

"It's a luscious mix of words and tricks that let us bet when we know we should fold."

"Caring Is Creepy" by The Shins

[stephenboothuk]

I was going for a slightly more colorful way of saying that Mr Whedon has acted in an utterly disgraceful manner, such that it brings himself and all those who associate with him into disrepute. Reading much of what he, and others at ME, have said makes me feel physically sick. Mr Whedon's behaviour in relation to Willow and Tara disgusts me.



I found particulalrly disgusting his claims that he didn't know that Willow and Tara were effectively the only lesbian couple on main stream television because he doesn't watch TV. The level of pop culture references in the shows he producers would seem to indicate that he has at least a general awareness of what is out there and I'm sure that the fan letters talking about how great it is to finally have a realistic lesbian couple on TV gave at least a hint.



Stephen

[Gatito Grande]

Quote:

---

Yeah, there's nothing that will scar the kids like that arm touching. Someone call in the censors!

---

Or Oprah.



I just love this:

Quote:

---

if Tara’s in bed with this girl that she’s in love with, of course, you’re going to be touching.

---

Amber's just so "Duh! This is what a love scene is!" (And, as "Alyson didn’t care" she apparently grasps the deal also).



But apparently the censors (or their lackies) live in a world where making love involves no touching.

Quote:

---

Basically, they told me not to touch Alyson so much, because . . . apparently I was overzealously running my hand up and down her arm . . . the censors were going to care.

---

I can imagine:



" Cut! Hey you two: enough w/ the arm-stroking! This ain't porn. Let's move on---hurry and change out of your 'modesties' and into your blood-drenched."



Freakin' 'phobes.



GG Ranting and raving about WT for 300 posts and counting . . . Out

[kyraroc]

Kendahl897 -



I believe she was referring to the following scene, which was in the shooting script of "Seeing Red" but got cut -



INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY



Willow and Tara hustle down the stairs, tousled and flushed, adjusting their clothes.



WILLOW: We're here! Ready for action -- uh, bad guy fighting action.



Buffy is by the coffee table, the evidence she managed to save from the Trio's lair piled on it. Dawn is perched on the coffee table, muching from a box of cereal.



BUFFY: Oh, guys, you didn't have to -- I mean, if you want to be alone --



WILLOW: No, we're good.



TARA: We're better than good.



Tara can't help giving Willow the shy, sexy-thrilled smile. Willow returns it.



BUFFY: Great.



WILLOW: (not listening) Super...



She kisses Tara. It quickly segues into grand passion. Buffy and Dawn are swept away in the joy of their rekindled romance. They hug each other, then quickly become aware of how maudlin they're being. They shift into a good natured mock-a-rama.



DAWN: (to Buffy, overblown) Oh, I love you so much!



BUFFY: (overblown) I love you more!



They shower each other with mock loud kissage. Willow and Tara laugh.



WILLOW: Okay. We'll stop.



DAWN: You better not.



BUFFY: We're just jealous. True love.



DAWN: Marriage.



BUFFY: Baby carriage.



DAWN: (eyeing Willow and Tara) How does that work exactly?



*****



Sigh. This is the kind of thing they choose to cut . . . And can I add my agreement that in a season which was filled with brutal misogynistic murder, graphic violent sex and attempted rape, and nausea-inducing death scenes, I am soooooooooooooo glad we were saved from the terrible arm-touching?



--- KR

[Robin]

Sweet dialogue! Damn it, they should have shown this instead of all the crap they were willing to give the audience this season!

[Sheridan]

kyaroc if they hadn't cut that they wouldn't have time for the shooting scene, no wait, now I'm really confused, can some explian to why that would have been a bad thing?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the
person you l-love

Willow: I am

[sheila wt]

I just wonder how much more arm touching that scene could have... Tara is touching Willow all the time. That's an image that you just don't forget, you know.



Anybody else would give anything for the raw footage tape of that scene?

Sheila

...................................................................


“Come and put the ‘hot’ in my tub.” Tara winked as she whispered. ("Bookmarks & Broomsticks" by The Rainbow Writers)

Edited by: sheila wt at: 9/14/02 2:06:12 pm

[Robin]

Obviously I'm not getting it: is this a new interview with AB or is it an old one?

Actually I'm not expecting AB back on the show but still.

[kbk3022]

It's a new interview, as in we haven't seen it before. But it's also old, because it seems to have been conducted pre-Toronto Trek.



Kasey

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You should come around here on Halloween,
you'd really see something then...
we all jump off the roof and fly."

[Tara Croft]

I don't understand why they would cut that I mean they show Buffy and Spike going at it like....God knows!! But they won't show a conversation that mentions Willow, Tara and marriage in the same sentence??



Makes you wonder what kind of idiot actually makes these decisions..... Anyway.....

An epiphany of one so pretty

You are a shining light

[chelehel74]

The same kind of idiots that named Buffy the worst show on television due to it's showing of sex and violence. WWE wrestling was lower on the list then Buffy for god sake.



It's a weird world

[VampNo12]

Thanks duellistjc for taking the time to type up the transcript, it's greatly appreciated! I agree the interview is new in the sense we haven't seen it before, but does seem to take place before the Toronto convention. Reading this interview again shows what a classy person Amber is, while makes me again feel the opposite towards Joss (as well as the censors). I know I am repeating what everyone is saying, but the idea that Tara's touching of Willow had to be toned down in the same episode with a violent death and rape attempt just blows my mind. No this shouldn't be surprising, but still brings out my bitterness and !



Nothing new on the contract front, I assumed she didn't have one, I just wish someone would once and for all say she isn't coming back (or if she is say it's for 1-2 episodes). After reading this interview I don't know how I feel, but in a sense I just feel plain tired, as well as the need to again revel in some bitterness. Thanks again for the interview!

[Sheridan]

Not only is that cut scene sweet it makes Buffy and Dawn, Buffy especially, seem so much more sympathetic. I wonder how much of the seeming indifference of the others to Tara's death was due to this sort of crappy cuts?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the
person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Scout]

Is it my imagination or did we start hearing more stories about the censors after Buffy and Spike got all hot and heavy in Smashed. It seems like since the two of them started making a spectacle of themselves, the censors started taking a more active role in toning down Willow and Tara’s storyline. We weren’t hearing about this kind of interference at the beginning of the season.



“We both had band tops. I had boxer shorts and she had biker shorts.” And can I say that this visual was almost as entertaining as the sheets.



Thanks for taking the time to type this up!

[Miss1234Kitty]

Thanks for the transcript. I don't usually post here, but I thought I'd check it out. As for the touching - *pout*. They get to kill Tara but we don't get over-zealous touching?



Gem

Tara: There's just so much to work through... and can you just be kissing me now?

[btvs sara82]

Thank you very much for posting this interview with Amber, Duellistjc! Really thank you.



Some point from this, sad and againg sad, interview:



1) How beautiful and incredible women is Amber Benson. I really love her. She likes Tara very much and I can feel her sadness because a stupid man called Joss Whedon killed her "secondary" character. I really wish her the biggest lucky possible, 'cause she deserve it. She doesn't deserve JW stupid plot.

2) How people can be so stupid, insane and primitive?

Sometimes I just stop and think "Where I live?" .

Quote:

---

AB: It was very low-key. Basically, they told me not to touch Alyson so much, because if Tara’s in bed with this girl that she’s in love with, of course, you’re going to be touching. But apparently I was overzealously running my hand up and down her arm. Alyson didn’t care, but the censors were going to care

---

Well, I'm not gay, and, probably some "censors" will think I'm insane and I need good therapy, probably for months, but I love, love, love, love, love and again l-o-v-e Willow and Tara! D-e-e-p-l-y. And I'm not scary seeing Willow touching Tara's arm! Why the hell must I be?! Can someone explain me?!

Quote:

---

If Tara’s in bed with this girl that she’s in love with, of course, you’re going to be touching.

---

Oh no, that's wrong , 'cause when you are in bed with your lovers, you spend this moment thinking how the hole of ozone is becoming always bigger, if tommorow will rain cause you have planned to go fishing, and you are using your left hand to turn the volume of your tv showing Ally Mc Beal and with the left hand you are cleaning the chips bag !!!! Kinda obviously!

I hate censors! Man how I hate them! We would have seen more W/T fuzzies............. first I + than I can only

Yeah, Gatito Grande, we need to call Oprah.......



About the interview, before I have read it I have depressed, sad, unhappy, tears coming from my eyes, after, well, I hope, as all of you have said, it's old. That's only I can do. As much as I love WT I can't do anything else. Except praying.

Last sentence: I want her back!



Sara



.

[Rally]

Indeed what Kyraroc posted is what I was referring too. Just in my conspiracy theory / Oliver Stone type mind... I brought it up because SDK mentioned the episode coming up short and the need to bring in James Leary (Clem) to shoot a filler scene. I just wonder if the show came in short because of the censors taking out W/T stuffage.

------------




Well officially, of course, I have to say that I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

...SDK mentioned the episode coming up short and the need to bring in James Leary (Clem) to shoot a filler scene.

---

So instead of W/T goodness or that sweet scene in the living room we got Clem? I have nothing against Clem, but am I alone in not seeing him as an adequate substitute?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the
person you l-love

Willow: I am

[XWickedXWiccan]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This bites. They cut off arm touching?? That is so wronge I have a friend who is totally straight and she says it's wronge if you put the rape, blood, death, and well ect. I'm glad that Amber is doing the whole independent filming and hope she does well. I also haven't seen "Chance" so that stinks. And thanks duellistjc now I can save money for this great poster of Amber.

--------------------------
Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstacy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bare. If we can live without passion maybe we'd know some peace. But we'd be hollow, empty rooms, shuttered, and dank, With out passion we'd truly be dead. ANGEL in "Passion"

[Rally]

Quote:

---

I have nothing against Clem, but am I alone in not seeing him as an adequate substitute?

---

Maybe, like I said, it's just my conspiracy theory. We know for fact that "evil's good" got cut. We know for fact that Amber was made aware of not touching Aly too much because of the censors. We know for fact that the show came in short and they added in the "hot wings and knight rider marathon" scene to SR. We know for fact that the "marriage / baby carriage" stuff is in the script.



The scene always played rough and a bit awkward. So I am simply saying it wouldn't suprise me if they actually shot that scene and the censors cut it.

------------




Well officially, of course, I have to say that I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Robin]

Who exactly are these "censors"? The people from UPN? Some hysterical "save our children"-commitee?

It doesn't make any difference who's responsible for censoring, but I'd like to know who we are talking about.

The scene the way it was aired was sweet, compassionate and full of love and not too "sexy" in my eyes.

What the hell is wrong with those people?!





And to all the members from GERMANY: Don't forget to VOTE on the 22nd!!!

[xita]

Oh I am sure it was shot, because it is in the shooting script. That's what they use when they shoot.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Tara and Willow

Accept NO subsitutes

[wiltar]

thanks for typing the transcript up.



And also, thanks for sharing the shooting script part, I really hope that they will put this little part on the dvd, would love to see it!



Patricia

---------------

W-what were they looking at?

-The hotness of you doofus!!!

[urnofosiris]

duellistjc. thank you very much for that transcript.

Quote:

---

posted by Justastraightdog

Though I'd really like to know what Amber (not as an actress, but as a writer/director) thinks about the "it was necessary" question now, with a greater distance to

---

My thought exactly, when she says this:

Quote:

---

As much as I hate the fact that she died, I think that it was needed. I know they were really worried about making people unhappy, but it was the only way to take Willow to another level. It furthered the plot and made it possible for Willow to go bad.

---

it sounds to me like she only heard one scenario over and over again, coming from Joss Whedon who can no doubt sound very charming and convincing. He sure had me fooled for a long time. I have read many a scenario in speculation in which Willow could still have gone over the edge in a way that would have been interesting without it turning into a 3 episode evil lesbian and bad wig special effects cliche.



This interview was done after the SB signing, but before Toronto Trek apparently. I hope and believe she has read the lesbian cliche faq now, which Willowlicious has given to her. So she must be aware that we at least are not saying they killed Tara because she is gay.



Judging from her comments during that con her feelings and opinions might be subject to change. Also she genuinely cares about Tara and her fans, us, I don't doubt her sincerity for a second and I hope she will make more movies. My faith in her talents is far greater than that of Joss Whedon. She is not oblivious to the world around her and she actually does care about how her works affects people.



Oh and of course two women in love touching each other's arms has to be censored, unlike attempted rape, BS fucking all over the place or Tara getting her heart blown out. Too bad WT were not just individuals in love regardless of gender when they were shooting and cutting those WT scenes. That only applies when they are getting killed or going insane and skinning people alive apparently, in any other situation the censors suddenly remember they are lesbians in love and not just individuals in love.



The sheet story is amusing though, heh heh, bless them for making the best of it.

--------------------

Tara: "uh Willow?"

Willow: "No dancing naked, huh?...It just won't be the same."

Tara: "That's all right, we can save it for later" ----From Wilderness, the newest WT comic written by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden

Edited by: DrG at: 9/14/02 5:11:39 pm

[Rally]

I was able to find the mag today, here are some scans:



Amber Interview 1/5

Amber Interview 2/5

Amber Interview 3/5

Amber Interview 4/5

Amber Interview 5/5



One close up of this pic from the interview, because I really liked it.



The Goodbye Sunnydale portion of the Episode Guide

------------




Well officially, of course, I have to say that I have no idea what you're talking about.

Edited by: Rally at: 9/14/02 5:40:40 pm

[kbk3022]

Oooh, a new W/T musical pic! I love it. Thanks for the scans Rally. It kinda makes me mad though that Tara is grouped with the Trio in the Goodbye Sunnydale thing. Since it seems that all of them are coming back.



Kasey

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You should come around here on Halloween,
you'd really see something then...
we all jump off the roof and fly."

[theatremouse]

i apologize ahead of time if i'm waaay more offtopicthan acceptable, this struck me in a segue-ey sort of way, plus, i'm taking a logic class this semester so i could verrrry easily diagram for you why i am, in fact ON topic, but i wont, cuz i'm not that much of a nerd, and it's pointless, but anyway, in response to the transcript, i dont see anything remarkably new or different said or implied in there. but at the same time, now four hours after i read that initially, i've just been futzing around tvguide and come across this:

"The dearly departed: Amber Benson, Willow's bewitching lover, Tara Maclay. Cause of death: When vengeful nerd Warren Meers took aim at Buffy, Tara was hit by a stray bullet. Afterlife: Benson already has two indies in the can — the Sundance pic Taboo and Chance, which reunites the writer-director-leading lady with Buffy's James Marsters. I n addition, Benson has agreed to return to Buffy this fall in a new role."

which is from tvguide online's article about dead characters' actors from buffy doing just fine after getting killed off, as opposed to most actors who get axed. but anyway, my thought is, tvguide is a much more credible publication than buffy mag, so why would it say this on aug 28 (thats the article's date) if the "amer'll be back" spiels are hogwash.

consequently, i remain firmly in the "waitin and seein and not carin enough to want to ponder ME's fucked up brains at the moment"camp.

but thus is my food for thought.

peace out.



oh PS: i boldafied to accentuate the point part of the blurb.

Willow: It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and... skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay.