James Marsters Unpacking one of his most disturbing scenes, which eventually sent him to therapy.
This Buffy the Vampire Slayer The alum recently described his “personal hell” as he reflected on a 2002 episode in which his vampire character Spike tries to force himself on the titular Slayer (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar).
“Actually, Buffy sent me to therapy. Buffy crushed me,” Marsters said Michael Rosenbaumof within you podcast, added: “It’s a problematic scene for a lot of people who like the show. And that is the darkest professional day of my life.”
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The scene in the season 6 episode ‘Seeing Red’ is often considered one of the most difficult to watch. Joss Whedon series, which ran for seven seasons The WB From 1997 to 2003. To prove his love, Spike tries to rape Buffy in her bathroom, although she is able to fight him off.
“Writers were asked to come up with their worst day, the day they don’t talk about, their dark secret, the one that keeps them up at night, when they really hurt someone or when they were really hurt or made had come Some kind of big mistake, and then slap a metaphorical fang on top of that dark secret and tell everybody about it,” he recalled.
“One of the female writers actually came up with the idea, because she had a breakup in college and she went to her ex’s place and thought that if they made love again, everything would be okay,” continued Marsters. . “She pushed herself and he had to physically remove her from the premises, and that was one of the most painful memories of that time in her life.”
Marsters was concerned about how the scene would be perceived by fans of the show, especially given the context of gender flipping in the scene.
“They thought that since Buffy was a superhero they could flip the sex, because Buffy could defend herself so easily,” he explained. “They thought they could do that to a man and a woman and it would be the same thing. I went to them and I said, ‘You know, guys, we’re giving the audience an amazing experience. Everyone who is watching Buffy There’s Buffy, and they’re not superheroes, so I’m doing that with every member of the audience, and they’re going to have a very different reaction.’”
According to the contract, Marsters “couldn’t say no,” adding: “We got the scene in the can, and it was hell. I was [my] A personal hell.”
“I don’t like the sexual predation scenes that have to do with it,” he noted. “I don’t audition for those things. If there is a movie with this kind of content, I don’t go to see the movie. If it pops up on the television, I have to turn off the television before it breaks. I have a very visceral reaction to that stuff.”
Although Geller has watched most of the series with her family, she explained that ‘Seeing Red’ is the one episode they skip. “I have trouble [season] “It wasn’t right for them at the time, and I don’t want to see it again,” she said The Hollywood Reporter last year.
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