Buffy Babes

 written and copyrighted by Mitch Persons in Femmes Fatales

JULIET LANDAU DISCUSSES THE GENESIS & LOVE LIFE OF HER DECADENT "DRUSILLA."
    It's not easy to compete with an articulate, latex dinosaur who's sidekick is Whoopi Goldberg, but Juliet Landau effortlessly stole the limelight in THEODORE REX M (1996). Granted, the $33 million cheesy comedy circumvented theatrical release and did a pratfall directly into video bins. But tolerant viewers were rewarded with Landau as Dr. Shade, whose impersonation of a humanitarian is right on the money. Bedecked in an Anna Sage-red dress, she cheerfully projects a mean streak of noxiousness. If she had kicked the cuddly dinosaur's butt, you'd look the other way. Or cheer her on.
    Eccentric roles seem to be a specialty for the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau: "I have been involved in some rather interesting characterizations. When I did ED WOOD for Tim Burton, I played Loretta King. She was the actress who played THE BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, one of Wood's films. I had to wear this long wedding dress-type gown yet, at the same time, give the impression that I was about to become on of the walking dead!"
    Landau hybridized Dr. Shade's menace and Loretta King's "living/dead" schizophrenia into Drusilla, the waif-like vampire that she plays on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Abetted by "love-partner" Spike (James Marsters), the duo make life a living hell for occupants located in the deceptively placid town of Sunnydale.
    "The roles of Loretta King and Dr. Shade were a big factor in my being cast as Drusilla," explains Landau. "Joss Whedon, the executive producer of BUFFY, had seen my work and asked for a reel to be sent over. Then I met with joss and Gail Berman and David Dreenwalt, the co-executive producers. We had this really incredibly creative, wonderful meeting where ideas were being bounced back and forth. I had read a little bit about Drusilla beforehand, and already had an idea about how I would like to play her."
    The meeting concluded with the birth of one of the TV medium's most vile femmes. "I must give Joss credit for that," insists Landau. "He had a very specific vision about the show, and apparently had the characters of Spike and Drusilla in his mind for over a decade. Drusilla is a very deep character, and there's a lot of dimension to her--a lot of levels, a lot of color--which is really fun for me to play. In terms of her being so frightening, I have come from inside of Drusilla. So to me, she's not scary. Whenever you play a character, you sort of pick up the character with tender hands and you love that character.
    "but then there is that back story about Angel (David Boreanaz), who is Buffy's vampire boyfriend. Angel was also a former lover of Drusilla's. He did a complete turnaround and wound up torturing her before turning her into a vampire. That unspeakable experience left the poor girl mentally unhinged. There's always an element that's unpredictable about how Drusilla is going to react to anything. She's nothing like a clear-cut, straightforward woman, and I think that's the part that makes her so frightening. So when I watch myself on the show, I go `Oh, my God, she is pretty scary!'
    "Even though Drusilla can act so grotesquely, I just love playing her. I'm glad I'm now a semi-regular on the show, because it gives me the time and the opportunity to explore different facets of her character.
    "Joss has describe Spike and Drusilla as the Sid and Nancy of the vampire set (laugh). I really like that analogy. Even their look is a cross between period, Victorian-looking and Kate Moss-cheap.But there's also a sweet, sentimental side to their relationship. That's one of the things that makes them interesting villains. It sort of balances out the evil, horrible deeds that they do. There are moments when Drusilla goes on these bad trips, and Spike saves her from rambling on about daisies dying, or her hair falling out or whatever.
    "Their love can get a little off-beat, too. It really showed up in the episode where Drusilla regains her vampire strength by draining it out of Angel. There was this dynamic with Angel, Spike and Drusilla where things got just slightly kinky. Here was Angel tied to a pole, his hand pierced by a stake, and Drusilla's hungrily lapping up his blood while Spike looks on. It was perhaps the most powerful and frightening scene that I was involved in. Yet at the same time, and in its own bizarre way, it showed the closeness that these three vampires have."