Buffy's Little Sister by Jill Meisner

From Upfront, Vol. 133, No. 13 - March 5, 2001

Michelle Trachtenberg, 15, plays Dawn, the newest member of the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer family. True to her Buffy heritage, Dawn—who appears to be Buffy's little sis—is not your typical angst-ridden TV teen; she's the key to humanity's future. Acting since childhood, Trachtenberg has played some key roles, most notably Harriet in Harriet the Spy, but never before has she controlled the world's destiny. Here Trachtenberg talks with UPFRONT about playing Dawn, the souvenir she most wants from the set, and good advice her mom's given her.

UPFRONT: I hear you were a big Buffy fan before you joined the cast and that you used to collect Buffy memorabilia. Do you still?

TRACHTENBERG: I still do here and there. I've gotten a couple mugs, and I drink my tea out of them in the morning. I write down all of my homework assignments in my Buffy planner. It's really great actually being on the show. Being on your favorite show is just wonderful, to be able to see all the behind the scenes stuff, to actually be with the people every day.

UPFRONT: Have you collected anything from any of the shows you've appeared in? Stolen anything from the set?

TRACHTENBERG: No, not yet. My goal is to have a stake by the end of the season. I want to have one of the stakes that Buffy uses to stake the vampires. I think that would be really cool.

UPFRONT: Can you describe the mystery behind Dawn? What kind of force is she?

TRACHTENBERG: The creator, Joss Whedon, has been hinting about Dawn for a couple of years now. What she is, is this good force of energy. We don't really know much more beyond that yet, but these evil people are after her and she's the Slayer's new mission. It's Buffy's job to protect Dawn—to protect her from anything. If these bad guys get her, it's the end of the world, because she is the key to mankind. She's this portal that, if it is opened, mankind will be destroyed. But, and here's the big but, Dawn does not know any of this. She thinks she's been Buffy's sister always. I just think that I¹ve been her 14-year-old sister forever, and she's annoying because she won't let me borrow her cool pants.

UPFRONT: How do you get along with the other members of the cast?

TRACHTENBERG: Sarah [Michelle Gellar] and I have a wonderful relationship, because we actually worked together on All My Children when we were both a little younger. I have a big sister of my own, but Sarah's like my big sister on the set, and she's really great because she's always taking care of me. I got a cold on the set and she would bring me hot tea and lozenges and all of that. Everyone's great. It was a little nerve racking entering the show in its fifth season, but everyone just welcomed me with open arms—cast and crew—and I'm having a great time. I just loved my first day. It was great when I actually saw the sets and saw how it all works. As an actress, I kind of can guess how it all works, but it was just so funny coming into my favorite show and seeing all of it, where Buffy and Angel first met and all that kind of stuff.

UPFRONT: Have you become close with any of the other people on the show besides Sarah, like Nicolas Brendon (who plays Xander) or Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow)?

TRACHTENBERG: Oh, yeah. We all have a great time together, especially if it's a scene with the group of us. It's very hard to get us to stop joking around and actually do the scene. We're all always having fun.

UPFRONT: What's Buffy's nemesis Spike (played by James Marsters) really like?

TRACHTENBERG: You might think that Spike is mysterious and evil, but he's not. He's really funny. We get together on Sundays and we go and read Shakespeare at [creator Joss Whedon's house]. We just sit around read a play. There was a play where James had to sing and play on his guitar. We all have fun, we have a great time.

UPFRONT: What do you usually do when you're off the set?

TRACHTENBERG: Well, I'm usually running off to school or finishing up a couple of geometry problems. We're doing proofs right now, and it's frustrating, but I'll get to the end of it.

UPFRONT: What's your favorite episode that you've been on?

TRACHTENBERG: I think that's Episode Five, the fifth show of the season. It's where we get into who Dawn is and all of that. Episode Five is really great because it's where Buffy finds out I'm not actually her sister, that I am this force. Through playing Dawn I got to trick the audience in a way, because with every scene until the very end we wanted people to keep guessing: Is she evil? Is she good? Is she evil? Is she good? So, that was really fun, playing both extremes.

UPFRONT: You're a sophomore this year, and you're being tutored instead of attending an actual school. Is it tough for you?

TRACHTENBERG: Sophomore year is very, very tough. It's the first year that colleges actually start looking at your grades and all that stuff. I have all honors classes, too. There is so much work, but I've been pretty good at maintaining my A's and doing the whole thing. School is good because it stretches your mind. I have college prep courses, and those are very, very hard. But, anytime that I ever feel that I'm not sure what I'm doing I know that I can go and ask my teacher and she'll totally explain it to me, which is great because I learn from her and from the fact that I can figure this out, yet what other information do I need to figure this out.

UPFRONT: I've heard that the book Jane Eyre had a big influence on you. Why is that?

TRACHTENBERG: Well, it just showed that even in that time, there were always women around to stand up for their own rights, to be brave and have a great belief in themselves, have confidence in themselves. That's my biggest thing. If Ican give advice to anybody, it's to believe in yourself. My mom gave me that advice when I was very young and it has come in handy more times than I would think. It's really important to understand that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. I know I sound very after-school-specially, but it's important to have confidence. Another book that I love is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Because the main character, Franny, has confidence, she is able to conquer all of the demons in her life. And I must say that I have recently gotten into the whole Harry Potter series. Yes, they're really great. Harry has confidence too; he's a little burst of energy.

UPFRONT: What was your favorite Harry Potter book so far?

TRACHTENBERG: That is really hard, because I was never really into Harry Potter until I first came on the set. And then Sarah and Joss [Whedon, the Buffy creator] were like, "Are you crazy? You need to start reading them." So I did begin to read them and I finished all four in two-and-a-half weeks. And now it's like, "Oh no, the fifth one isn't going to come out forever!" I was spoiled, I had them all right there. So, I've started rereading them. They're each so creative and really, really, great. I almost want to say the second one, The Chamber of Secrets, but I love the first one too. They're all just very creative. I think that J.K. Rowling has an incredible imagination, and I would love to just meet her one day to just pick away at her creative mind, see what's there.

UPFRONT: What are you reading right now?

TRACHTENBERG: The Catcher In The Rye. I read it for myself when I was in sixth grade, just because I heard it was a great book. I enjoyed it then, and now I have to read it for school, and study it for tests and do the whole close reading thing, but it's still as good as it was before. It's such an interesting, interesting book. I recommend it to read for everyone. I also just finished reading The Odyssey. The Odyssey helped me realize that through every book, every person goes through their very own odyssey. They are Odysseus [The Odyssey's main character] and they go through all the obstacles of their life. His story just illustrates everyday man's story.

UPFRONT: You've been acting since you were very young. How do you keep things real for yourself?

TRACHTENBERG: I think the way that I keep it real is with my mom. She's really wonderful in a sense that she has done everything that she can do. Every time we go on location she makes sure that I have a week or so off at the end of every shoot just to go and experience the sites of where we are. That's one of the questions that I almost want to scream at, "Have you lost your childhood?" It's so untrue. When people think of child actors, usually they think of the failed cases, all of the people that went through drugs and all that horrible stuff. They don't realize all of the success stories there are. Take Jodie Foster, who's one of my big, huge role models. She's incredible. Not only has she paved the way for women in film, but she was a child actress who made her transition to adult acting wonderfully and brilliantly. I hang out with my friends on the weekends. I see them all of the time. I e-mail with them. My mom would kind of prefer that we don't e-mail as much because I am always on the phone. You learn so many positive things in the business. It's a whole learning experience, and it's really incredible. There are a lot of kids, don't get me wrong, out there who are not happy, but I'm ecstatic to say that I am not one of them. I feel that I'm incredibly lucky in my life to have found my passion so early in life. It teaches discipline, responsibility, and respect. It's just a wonderful and fabulous business. When I was younger, the question always came up, "would you rather go audition for the school play, or go on an audition for a commercial?" And without even a second of thought, I was like, "I want go do the commercial." This is what I love to do, and my mom never stood in the way of that, she supported me. It was just something that I loved to do and still love and will love in the future.

UPFRONT: You said that your mom likes to make sure you have a week or two off at the end of the shoot to explore. Do you have a favorite place that you've been?

TRACHTENBERG: Oh, yes. We actually went to London, which I loved. I love British people's accents. They're just so beautiful. It was just wonderful. Mom made sure we went to all the museums and the Tower of London, and of course we had to make a little stop at Harrod's [department store]. London's great.

UPFRONT: What do you like best about being a teenager?

TRACHTENBERG: I'm looking forward to getting my license soon. So, I'm inching towards that vroom-vroom thing. My mom's holding on to her chair at the other end of the room, she's looking at me like, "oh my God." For some reason every time I say that, people are like, "Would you please give me a warning?" I'm really looking forward to driving. I can drive a golf cart perfectly if that counts for anything.

UPFRONT: Are you going to get a car right away?

TRACHTENBERG: I might just get a car because I'm going to have to start driving to work. So, I'm going to start practicing, doing the driving school thing. Probably, my first car is going to be a little beat up car just to get me in the groove, so I won't be paranoid with a new car.

UPFRONT: What do you think is the most important part about being a friend?

TRACHTENBERG: The best thing about being a friend is being able to listen to your friends. It's incredibly important, when a friend is going through a hard time, not to just be like "I went through the same thing too, blah, blah, blah." It's mostly to listen to what they feel, to hear their thoughts and hear their pains. Then at the end you guys can collectivelyshare your thoughts and experiences. Friends are really important, but what most people don't realize is that your biggest friends are your family. Again with the after-school-special: I have an incredibly close relationship with my mom and my sister. A lot of kids don't talk to their parents, which is really sad because you both have so many interesting things to add to each other's lives. Parents are wonderful to have as friends, because they know you like nobody else does, and they experienced all of these things in their time. Sometimes we may not want to listen, we have to experience it for ourselves, which is understandable and great. But occasionally, "Mom, what do you think about this?" really, really, helps out.

UPFRONT: So, what's your most memorable Hollywood moment?

TRACHTENBERG: I loved meeting Al Pacino in London. We were doing the press tour for Harriet the Spy, and we were standing out on the doorway of the hotel, and my mom and I turned around and AL Pacino is standing right there! It was just amazing. He's such an incredible, wonderful, talented actor. I was like, "Oh my God, you're Al Pacino." And he was like, "Hi, nice to meet you." And he'd seen my work and complimented me on it, and I was like oooooohhhhh! It was very exiting to meet him. He was amazing. I'm still kind of a spaz when it comes to that. If I ever saw Jodie Foster, I don't even want to imagine what I would sound like. It would be embarrassing. .

UPFRONT: What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

TRACHTENBERG: There has been a whole lot of advice that I've picked up through my life. But the most important is to believe in yourself, because if you can believe in yourself then you can listen to all the other advice.

UPFRONT: What are your goals for the future?

TRACHTENBERG: I want to move up in my adult career. Buffy was the beginning of my transition period. As much as I loved Harriet the Spy and that whole thing, I'm kind of moving on, and Buffy was a great step towards that. And besides, it's my favorite show. So, I can't go wrong.