The Goofy Girl That Everyone Loves

Wow! It was way more than we could have hoped for. The third helping of American Pie is actually better than the first two. No, really! In American Wedding (as American Pie 3 is now touchingly called), they’ve ditched the token girls, in order to focus on Stifler and company’s gross-out antics, played out against the wedding preparations for lovable pervs Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan).

Michelle is the sole surviving female character from the original film, having towered above the rest of an admittedly unmemorable crew. Hardly surprising, given that she’s played by Buffy superstar Alyson Hannigan, who made her debut at the tender age of three months in an industrial video, and spent a childhood landing doubtlessly lucrative roles in McDonalds’ commercials and the likes.
Though already a working actress, having garnered roles in My Stepmother Was An Alien and TV shows like Roseanne, her career-turning break arrived in 1997 when she landed the role of bookworm Willow in the seminal teen-vampire teleseries Buffy The Vampire Slayer, her character proving so popular – aided by her metamorphosis into a lesbian witch – that she banked $250,000 per episode for the final series.
Alas, Buffy is no more, but Alyson has taken a memento of sorts: her fiancé Alexis is a regular on Buffy’ s spin-off series Angel. Moviehouse caught up with the unusually down-to-earth star to talk Willow, weirdoes and wedding plans.

Given that it’s a three-quel, were you worried that AP3 wouldn’t be up to much?
Yeah, but every actor wants to be in a trilogy! There was more pressure. With the first one, you’re just like ‘Wow, I wanna do this!’ And then the second one, you start to think ‘OK, I hope everyone likes it as much’. With the third one, you kinda worry about higher expectations. But I loved the script straight away. It’s so sweet and I love the way that Jim and Michelle end up together.

Are you missing Buffy yet?
Yeah, I miss my friends. That’s really just starting to sink in. Like when Alexis got his script for Angel, I started to think ‘I used to get my script around now’, but the novelty of not working hasn’t worn off, yet.

You must suddenly have loads of free time, right?
Yeah, it’s really kinda liberating! Like I just had an offer to do this really amazing one-hour TV show, but I had to turn it down, because after seven years doing the one hour thing, I can’t go back there right now. For one thing, I would never see my beloved. ‘Cos of the hours we used to work, we ended up like ships passing in the night for the longest time.

You must miss Willow specifically?
Oh yeah. Lots. I loved her and I loved the way she grew as a character over the seven years. She started out as this wallflower that couldn’t even speak in front of boys, and then she blossomed into this lesbian witch that tried to destroy and save the world all the time.

And everybody seems to adore Willow. You’re bound to miss that...
Totally. I think everybody either identifies with Willow, or they think she’s like somebody they met in high-school. I still get fan letters saying ‘I’m just like Willow’, or ‘My best friend is just like you’, or ‘That was me in high-school’. People just really relate to her, and that’s special. So, I’ll miss her as much as the show. I started doing it when I was 22, and it was the most amazing thing I had ever worked on. I learned so much about acting, and the whole business, I met my honey there and I met friends that I’ll have forever.

You must know your Pie brethren almost as well by now?
No, because the restraining order takes care of them! Definitely, we have the family thing going on. Usually, you do a movie, and it’s three months together, and then you see each other again when you’re doing press, but you never see the crew again and when it’s over, it’s over. But we’ve had to keep coming back together, so that’s really nice.

After the success of the Pie movies and Buffy, the future must look a bit like working without a safety net?
Oh yeah, now’s the really scary part. I’m really concerned about what my next move should be. I’ve been really lucky – it has been a great journey, but I’ve got to take risks now. Eek!
Speaking of journeys, I read that you ended up in Cork recently...
Yeah, I was doing the whole roots thing. I drove through Wales and took the ferry over, but I didn’t find anything really concrete about my family, and considering I get completely fuzzy after one glass of Guinness, maybe I’m not as Irish as I thought!

Do you worry that you’ll always end up getting the goofy girl, and bookworm parts?
Yes and no. Because I like being goofy, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that nerds are the more interesting people in later life. I think that you have to suffer to be interesting. Like, I’ve only ever met one person who enjoyed high-school where I just felt the need to get out. Alive, preferably. In elementary school, people made fun of me, ’cos of my very white skin, and I had black hair and black clothes. You know, depressed chick. Very attractive. But I’m good now, and I have Alexis by my side. It’s all good.

You both met on the set of Buffy. Was it a love at first sight thing?
No. It was more like flirt at first sight, but because we were working together I thought that getting together would be a really bad idea. And besides, most actors are so annoying, so they were never very attractive to me. But I was definitely attracted to him, and we ended up as really good friends for a year and a half before we dated. And that was great, ‘cos if you really know the person, and they’re still around, that’s a good sign, where before relationships for me were always ‘Let’s ride the big, fun wave until it gets to be work. Then. I’m bailing!’

Your own wedding to Alexis is coming up. Will you be doing the meringue thing?
No. Nothing so grand. I’m just going to do the natural setting thing. Something outdoors. Just fun stuff, and something simple where we get to express how we are in our life. It’ll be cool!

American Wedding is released August 15