B.L. It must have been nice to taking a break from being Buffy the Vampire Slayer to play Daphne in Scooby-Doo.
S.M.G. It was great. The roles are totally different, so it was fun being able to try something new.

B.L. When you first found out that you were going to play Daphne, was it at all intimidating? How did you feel about it?
S.M.G. It was absolutely intimidating, and you're taking two factors into consideration. First of all, this character is so iconic. Everybody knows Daphne, everybody knows what she looks like, how she sounds, how she talks, and it's not just in this country. I'm talking all over the world. So that is automatically daunting. Then there's the fact that you are taking this beloved two-dimensional character and you have to make it three-dimensional and modernize it. How do you do that? How do you stay true to this character that people love and pay homage to, yet make your own mark on it and make it fun for people?

B.L. Tell me about the wardrobe, because we all know that cartoon characters NEVER change their clothes! Plus, I heard that you hated wearing the short skirt.
S.M.G. You're right. Believe it or not, I felt self-conscious in them. I am a jeans girl through and through, not a short skirt girl; so it was very difficult learning how to move in them and how to manoeuvre myself. And then to have all these sequences where Daphne is always getting captured — not to be able to wear padding was brutal. I got knocked around a lot and I wasn't able to wear back pads or kneepads or elbow pads or anything, so I got bruised up quite a bit.

B.L. There had to be some advantage to wearing the outfit?
S.M.G. I have to say that in the beginning of filming it was Australian summer. So there was Linda Cardellini (Velma) just sweating in her sweater, and Freddie dripping in sweat from his costume, and I'm going "Ha, ha, I have a nice breeze in my sundress. I think that I'll get a little tan today". Then it all came back to bite me in the butt when we moved into the winter shoot on an island to do all of the outside work. It was cold wearing those same little skimpy outfits.

B.L. You must have really enjoyed working with your fiancé, Freddie Prinze Jr., especially for the fact that in this movie there is this tension between Fred and Daphne, so you are on edge with each other.
S.M.G. It was absolutely fun. I don't ever see us doing a serious dramatic piece together where we have to be really emotional. Some of the things that we had to do in Scooby-Doo were just such a great opportunity. As a matter of fact, working with Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) was amazing. We're talking about someone whom I have known for eight years and whom I've had such a wonderful close relationship with. This movie is about a group of friends who have been through so much together. So to get on set and not have to be asking a bunch of questions of each other was so freeing. I think it added to the relationship on screen.

B.L. You had an extremely gruelling schedule while making Scooby-Doo. I can't believe that you would shoot Buffy The Vampire Slayer all week long and then you would hop on a plane to Australia for 17 hours to go and shoot the film. What was that like for you?
S.M.G. It was intimidating at first because I was in L.A. for two weeks, then I would be in Australia for two weeks, but it was so much fun. One of the nice things for me despite all of the sporadic travel was that I wasn't away from home for seven months. Every two weeks I went home and saw my dogs. I spent time with my family. I was in my house, versus having to sit through seven months of being away from everything.

B.L. But it must have taken a toll on you after awhile.
S.M.G. Yes, it was tiring and before my body could ever get adjusted to one time zone, it was time to switch.

B.L. In this movie Daphne is no damsel in distress, she really kicks butt! How different was the action than doing Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Was it more intense?
S.M.G. It was very different for me. I had never worked with a wire team before. So, I had a wire team from Hong Kong come to the set to teach me what to do. Also there was a language barrier because they don't speak English; so that was very difficult. But I had so much fun, I felt like I was a circus performer.

B.L. Why do you think that Scooby-Doo has endured for 30 years?
S.M.G. Someone asked me that the other day and I have been thinking about it a lot. I think that normally we look at a character, say like Austin Powers, and we make fun of the sixties because it is so outdated and so silly. But you take this cartoon that was made in 1969 and no matter what decade you put each of these characters in, they exist. Whether Shaggy was a flower child in the sixties or a hippie in the seventies, a surfer in the '80s, then in the '90s he's a skateboarder dude. Now it's Generation X. These characters exist no matter what decade you put them in.

B.L. I can't leave without asking you about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You must have a blast making that show.
S.M.G. I do. It is truly the best thing that has happened to me. Going to work everyday is so wonderful.

B.L. The show has turned quite dark; what are you hoping to see in the next season?
S.M.G. I really hope that we are going to go back to where the show originated — it wasn't as dark and serious. We have already started talking about next season and I think that fans will be pleased with what the writers have in mind.

B.L. Did you ever think that when you signed on to the show that it would last so long and have legions of fans?
S.M.G. I knew that it was a smart, well-written show but, no, I never thought it would have the following that it has. I am lucky to be a part of it and to work with such a great cast and crew.