David Boreanaz has found himself reminiscing about his first day on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, notably his first encounter with the series star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
During a chat with Josh Horowitz, host of Paramount+’s The Summit, the actor was asked about his first time being on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer set and what attracted him to the role of Angel, the vampire who becomes romantically linked with Gellar’s titular character. The actor revealed that on his first day on set he was instantly impressed by the star’s kindness. “I meet Sarah for the first time on the set the day before I’m supposed to shoot the next day,” he recalled. “And I remember walking into the set, it was very low ceilings, and there was a fight sequence going on, and there was Sarah, kind of in the distance. And, you know, I met her, and I was just amazed at how they just finished doing a scene, and the crew was breaking up and moving, and there she was. She was so bubbly and energetic and very kind. And there I am… just holding my cool, right?”
He went on to share his own inner-struggle in the face of Gellar’s overflow of energy. “Just like, just whatever you do, you’ve been there, you’ve done that,” he said. “Don’t ever show your weaknesses, right? I’m like… I’m dying on the inside. I go, ‘Yeah, you know, see you tomorrow at work… it’s gonna be great.’ I’ve never really done this before, ever in my life, right? So getting that job was huge.”
Boreanaz’s Angel debuted as a recurring character in 1997 during Buffy’s first season, appearing in seven of thirteen episodes. Buffy and Angel begin a relationship, but it’s complicated by Buffy being sworn to fight the forces of evil, such as vampires and demons. Angel himself is a vampire, but he has been cursed with the remorse of a human soul following his evil days as Angelus. With a soul, he’s allowed to assist Buffy in her duties as a Slayer, thus setting up one of television’s most iconic romances.
When asked what attracted him to the role, the actor, who now stars on the series SEAL Team, expressed that he respected that Angel was a character that could get knocked down but would always get back up again. The actor added, “I remember reading the breakdown. It was like… this vampire with a soul. He was 240-something years old, and he’s kinda like the ‘Joe Louis’ of fighters. You can knock him down, but he’s always gonna get back up… right? And I really identified with the fighter aspect of it. Like, a character who’s gonna get back up no matter how many times he gets knocked down. So that was my kind of mantra going into that process of being cast for that role.”
Angel’s Arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Eventually, the relationship between Buffy and Angel failed to reach is former heights. Consequently, following Buffy‘s third season, Angel left the fictional town of Sunnydale for Los Angeles, setting up Boreanaz’s own headlining exploits on the spinoff series Angel. Also created by Joss Whedon, the show ran for five seasons and 110 episodes. It followed Angel’s occupation as a private detective in the City of Angels as he works with his own team to “help the helpless” and save souls that have lost their way.
