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 Clare Kramer - Interviewed in Los Angeles August 22nd 2001
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I had no influence on my wardrobe, but I was very happy with the choices that Joss made in terms of my character. I really enjoyed wearing such far-out and expensive clothing. It’s stuff that I certainly wouldn't wear in my everyday life. It’s fun to dress up like that.

For me, it also helps me get more into the character because it is so different from what I usually run around in.

From Ohio to Hollywood
  What originally interested you about becoming an actress?

I grew up in a small town in Ohio and I always loved doing the community theatre and community stuff there.

I danced a lot. I was a ballet dancer too, so somewhere around High School I had to make the decision, "Do I want to dance? Do I want to act?" I chose to pursue acting, so when I applied to colleges I was primarily looking at NYU which was where I ended up going.

Once I got there and out of Ohio, I began to learn about the art form and that’s when I really fell in love with it.

I like to play all different types of roles. Every character I’ve played is really diverse from the last. I guess the thing that intrigues me the most in kind of fiction [is] taking someone’s life and making it come alive, doing justice to what they actually lived.

Was Hollywood everything you thought it would be? I’m still recovering from moving here. It’s crazy, it’s a different lifestyle. It’s not somewhere I really want to raise my kids but I’m enjoying it now and I’ve gotten used to it.

Mad about Glory
  Did you find it easy to play a character with a split personality?

I had to click in first with who she was and what her objectives were, and then all the transitions just made sense.

They made sense to me as an actor because it was really what she was feeling. Analysing what she goes through, choices become easy and apparent, so that was how I handled that – more from a character point of view and then working down into each scene in each episode.

Special effects and apple boxes (spoilers)
  Can you tell us a bit about the special effects that you had to work with as Glory?

The morphing (into Ben) was a big technical process, especially the first couple of times we did it because nobody really knew what we were doing. For example, the first time we morphed you see Charlie talking to the Key. All of a sudden it’s me morphing. That was about a five hour process.

He would be standing there in a certain position and then they’d be like "Okay, freeze." He’d run out and I’d run in and stand on an apple box so I could be the same height. I'd adjust myself and they’d be yelling at me from the monitor, "Move a little to your left" or "a little to your right." We’d finally get in the right position and then you’d come out of the morph. It’s quite an extensive process in terms of filming.

Did he like wearing the dresses?

He was a little embarrassed, I think his mum actually told him that he should wax his legs.

It was always fun to do a scene with Charlie. Although we never got to interact, it was fun to hang out and since those scenes took a long time to figure out the morphing we would always have time to be running around and joking and stuff.

Taking notes
  We hear that you keep a journal of your performance for each of your roles. How does that work?

Well. it’s not so much a journal. Somebody latched onto that term and that’s what it’s been called.

It’s really more of a calendar and a record of what my character experiences in different situations - a reference guide if you will - so that you can arc your character throughout the season. It helps me to create that arc and to define the moments of importance versus the moments of everyday tasks that the character goes through.

It also is a good way to remember the emotional peaks that you hit and a good way to not repeat yourself too much, if you have a record of all that.

Clare hits out
  Are the the stunt scenes tricky to film?

[I did this] scene with Sarah’s stunt double. There’s never and actor and an actor fighting. It’s important because, as in this one circumstance, I clocked the girl right between the eyes and she got a big knot...

People actually called her 'the unicorn' for a while. For safety purposes, you always work with the other character’s double when you’re actually doing the stuff.

Do you do any martial arts?

I love sports [but] I haven’t studied martial arts - except a little Tai Chi - and that was many years ago. I do boxing. I think that helps my punches look real, but I don’t think that really helps me learn the art of stage combat. That was more something that the stunt co-ordinator and my stunt double helped me with.

Minions
  Would you like to have minions in real life?

You know what, I don’t think I’d want them because I’m just happy being by myself. I think they’re probably get annoying.

For my character I loved them - they did everything for me - but as Clare I think that I’d probably feel a little bit claustrophobic with people always around me.

Tips from Faith
  You worked with Eliza Dushku (Faith) on the film Bring it On. Did she give you any advice about working on Buffy?

When I filmed Bring It On I didn’t know I was going to do Buffy, but Eliza and I stayed in touch - we’re actually really good friends - so when I auditioned and got the part I called her. [I said] "Guess what? I’m going on your old show," and she was really encouraging and supportive.

She told me I was going to have a wonderful time, [that] the crew and the cast were great and what to expect. It was nice to have that as a resource for information before I actually set foot on the lot.

Clicking with the cast
  Were the Buffy cast easy to get along with?

Well, it was strange. I was definitely welcomed by everyone, although I met people slowly. The first day, I worked I worked with Sarah so I met her right away and she was great.

I had a lot of scenes with minions and with other sorts of creatures, so I didn’t spend a lot of time with the cast until the last couple of episodes. That’s when I really got to know them. They were wonderful, they were very sweet.

Sarah and I had a lot of fun. I’m not sure why exactly – we just did. I really enjoyed working with her. And of course the minions were fun, although I felt bad for them because they spent so much time in make-up.

Powerful Part
  What were your feelings about playing such a powerful character? (spoiler)

I was extremely happy with my character. I think it’s a once in a lifetime role that you get to play a god with all these powers and these great circumstances. The scenes were so diverse and the writers did an excellent job.

I was just very thankful, yeah it’s unfortunate that I didn’t have more scenes with the rest of the cast but there’s other projects to work on like that. I really loved my character. A lot of people hate her but they just don’t understand her.

Working with Joss
  Joss Whedon. Creative genius?

He was extremely creative, obviously. I remember the first time I met him, I thought "Wow, there’s something special going on in his mind". The more I learned about the show - because I really wasn’t too familiar with it before - I got the part, the more apparent that became.

He basically just pounded out the scripts and would come on and direct. You brought what you did to the table and then he would tweak it to fit his vision. It was a joint effort but he definitely had a clear vision of what he wanted from the beginning.

Glorious Moments (spoiler)
  Which episodes form Season Five did you particularly enjoy working on?

My first episode was an amazing experience. I had this wonderful monologue. No one knew who the hell I was or who my character was and I got to come in and do a great fight scene and work with Sarah, which was awesome. That episode has a really special place in my heart because it was my devirginisation to TV, basically. I loved that one.

I really enjoyed the episode where I got to work with the snakes (Shadow). I think that might have been my third episode. I just felt that it was really cool and something fun to do.

I loved the 100th episode. A lot of time went into that. Everyone kind of gave it their all and so I think it turned out really special.

Tell us about that great big tower you had to fight on

The section that you’ll see us fighting on - the close ups - was about 30 feet from top to bottom and that’s us fighting on there. But, of course, they had mats all spread out and everything like that. Everyone was very cautious but that was really exciting. I enjoyed that.

Cult Classes
  Going through acting school, were there ever classes on 'Cult TV' acting techniques?

Well, you know what, there wasn’t. I studied at Lee Strasberg in New York and they just taught you how to develop a character. Within that, the extenuating circumstances really didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if you were on the moon or if you were in Idaho, a character’s a character.

If you have that core being, then the circumstances are just extraneous. A lot of schools do teach acting for TV or commercials acting. I personally don’t have any experience with that so I can’t really comment on it. I’m sure it’s good but I just don’t know.

Life after Glory
  Since Buffy what other projects have you been working on?

I just did a little independent movie in Montreal called The Mallory Effect, just a little cameo appearance.

It was really really fun, because I got to go up and see the city, work with a group of young film makers, kind of 'out there' guerrilla style, and play a really fun character. [It's a] girl who runs a company, so that was nice and it wasn’t fantasy so that was a switch from Buffy. Now I’m just waiting to see what happens.