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By Chris Snellgrove
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There are many reasons fans enjoy it Buffy the Vampire Slayer so much, from the compelling characters to the highly quotable dialogue. And, of course, all the great romances fueled by some of the hottest screen chemistry in network television history. For many, there was no chemistry greater than that between Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz, but their most shocking scenes during production were not as sexual for a very strange reason: whenever Buffy and Angel shared a kiss, their breath completely. terrible because of Gellar’s crazy pranks.
Bad romance
This strange ritual between Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz goes back to their first match Buffy kissing in the season 1 episode “Angel.” In an unforgettable moment, Angel reveals his feelings to Buffy and kisses her…leading to the revelation that he is a vampire in love with the Slayer charged with hunting and killing his kind. But thanks to Joss Whedon’s DVD commentary, we know the scene was just as unforgettable for the actors for a very different reason: “They both ate as many horrible things as they could before they kissed, just for fun .”
While Sarah Michelle Gillard and David Boreanaz both trying to prank each other during that first one Buffy kiss, apparently Gellar kept this tradition going whenever they had to be physically close to each other on screen. His specific goal (sorry, ‘shippers) was to make their sex scenes as “unsexy” as he could, and the main way he did this was by eating weird things before the on-screen ironing started. This included nasty combinations like pickles and fish that ensured her breath smelled worse than a vampire’s coffin before Buffy and Angel ever locked lips.
More than Bad Breath
Sometimes, Sarah Michelle Gellar was not willing to spoil her breath before the Buffy/Angel kiss and instead chose to pull other funny pranks. A great example of this is that she would deliberately pin her clothes very tightly to herself before scenes where their characters were supposed to get hot and heavy. Poor David Boreanaz would have to make his on-screen intimacy still look bad and nice while making out with a costar whose clothes were very rigidly stuck in place.
On another occasion, Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to tease David Boreanaz on his own show with a prank in the Angel episode “I Will Remember You,” where Buffy and Angel did a lot more than a kiss. This was an episode where the vampire was transformed into a human, allowing him and Buffy to finally do the deed without him losing his soul. Unfortunately, he discovers that the world needs his vampiric strength and turns back time to make himself a creature of the night once again. It’s a powerful and emotional episode, until you learn that Gellar intentionally dropped ice cream on Boreanaz trying to mess up one of his things.
It might spoil the magic to learn that Sarah Michelle Gellar tried to ruin each one Buffy kissing with Angel with bad breath and other pranks, but there is a silver lining to this particular story. All the pranks really helped the two actors bond, and they continued to hang out and have fun together even after Boreanaz started starring in Bones. He would invite her to the set so they could have a snack on craft services together, which would never have happened if Gellar hadn’t decided to snack on world services. i hate food before making out with one of TV’s bleakest dudes.
