After looking at Amber Benson’s resume one can’t help but be impressed. She is a writer, director and actress with roles in The Crush, Steven Soderbergh’s King of the Kill, Bye Bye Love alongside Matthew Modine and Imaginary Crimes in which she costarred with Harvey Keitel and Elisabeth Moss to name a few. She has also reached cult status playing Tara Maclay, Alyson Hannigan’s love interest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer which became a staple for teens in the late 90s and early 2000s. Her most recent project is Patrick Meaney’s horror/fantasy House of Demons, being released by Smith Global Media on February 6th. We decided to speak with Amber about Buffy, House of Demons and much more in this exclusive interview.
Your latest film is the horror/fantasy House of Demons. How did you become involved with this production?
I actually met our director, Patrick, on the set of one of his documentaries and we struck up a friendship. So when he was prepping House of Demons, he reached out and asked if I’d be interested in coming out to play and I said: Definitely!
What was the most challenging part of playing Maya in House of Demons?
Having to give the cool hippie/sixties wardrobe back at the end of the shoot. I loved getting to step back in time and play such a cool ‘earth mother’.
Since you are a writer yourself, whenever you are looking at scripts what do you pay attention to the most? What stood out to you in the House of Demons script enough to take the part?
I look for stories that grab my attention and keep me reading. House of Demons was such a strange, wild ride that I knew I wanted to get involved.
Your role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer has become somewhat iconic and ahead of its time because it addressed certain topics that weren’t being explored that much on tv. Did you know while filming that you were doing something special?
I think everyone knew we were doing something special when we were making Buffy. The Willow/Tara story line was at the forefront of normalizing LGBTQ relationships and making them part of the framework of network television. We were all honored to be a part of something so important.
Do you have a favorite memory or episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Dancing into a pole during one of the musical numbers in Once More With Feeling.
The whole Buffy cast reunited recently for an Entertainment Weekly shoot. Was there any discussion about a possible reboot? If so, would you be open to the idea?
I think I’ve put my Buffy days behind me, but I love the idea of The Slayer universe moving onward – even if it’s without me.
Do you have any other upcoming projects you would like to discuss?
Sarah Kuhn and I are working on a follow up to the Clueless: Senior Year comic book that we did for Boom Studios last year.
You can pre-order House of Demons on Amazon here.
Originally published February 3, 2018. Updated March 7, 2020.
