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'American Wedding' bride is marrying for real too
August 1, 2003
By Ivor Davis, davisivor@hotmail.com
Moviegoers can't wait to devour the third outrageous slice of American Pie now masquerading as "American Wedding." It's the same gang as in the previous two gross-out movies, but this one is pegged to the events leading up to the nuptials of the not-so-innocent Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and her beau, Jim (Jason Biggs).
Not surprisingly, the wedding doesn't quite go according to plan, mainly because of the shenanigans of the irrepressible Stifler (Seann William Scott), who almost runs away with the movie.
For Hannigan, her role as Michelle has enabled her to conquer the big screen as well as the small; she has just wound up her stint as Willow Rosenberg in TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
At 29, Hannigan is already a show business veteran, having been working for a quarter of a century. She earned her first dollar doing TV commercials at the age of 4.
Born in Washington, D.C., she grew up in Atlanta, where she lived with her mother after her parents split when she was 2.
At 11, she moved to North Hollywood and struggled briefly to make it before finally landing guest shots in "Picket Fences," Roseanne" and "Touched by an Angel." Then she joined the "Buffy" cast and she was well on her way.
Then came a lucrative paycheck as band geek Michelle, who isn't quite what she appears to be.
Ironically, in real life Hannigan is planning her very own nuptials, to actor Alexis Denisof, who is now a regular playing Wesley Wyndham-Pryce on TV's "Angel."
With her long red hair falling over her designer tank top and flashing a massive three-diamond engagement ring, she still looks like a teenager in tight jeans and sandals as she sits in the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles and talks about good times for Alyson.
Millions will see you married on screen; will your own wedding also be a big event?
It'll be just the opposite - outdoors and very natural and small and out of the box because I'm anti-tradition. That's the way we want our dream wedding to be, so we'll probably write our own vows to express our own personalities and do it quietly. I didn't grow up Catholic. I was always trying to explore what I believed and now I've found my path. We want people to have fun but it won't be a circus.
Because your own parents split up when you were 2, did it sour you on marriage?
Marriage was never a priority in my life because I didn't have an example of my parents staying married. I didn't know anything different, didn't have an example of my mother and father being married and didn't understand the concept of two parents. So I never dreamed of marriage.
In "American Wedding," there's lots of surprises. Are your wedding plans going to be a little more predictable?
I've let it go with the flow, but there have been nights when I've woken in the middle of night in a wedding panic. We've sent out our "save the date" cards, although some people did get empty envelopes.
Do you expect an invasion of paparazzi?
No, we're not a tabloidy couple. We're not J.Lo and Ben. In fact, maybe they'll marry the same weekend and that should take the heat off us. I don't imagine anyone will care about our marriage.
Will all the "American Pie" gang be invited?
(Whispers) No.
But there will be some from "Buffy."
Where did you meet your fiance?
He was a recurring character on "Buffy" and so we became friends. But we didn't date for a year and a half. I was never enamored of longterm relationships but once we started dating, it was instant. He proposed romantically when we were having a picnic on a lake in Napa on a drive up to see his family in Seattle.
Are there perils to having two actors in the family?
I never wanted to date an actor; then I met Alexis.
It's nice to have somebody who knows the business as well as you do and so I can come home at night after a hard day and vent. He understands and it's nice to have someone sharing.
It's not as if we're obsessed with the business, because we have many more hobbies in common that focus outside the business and keep us grounded. That's important.
Where will home be?
We just bought a house in Santa Monica and Alexis also has a place in London.
Why did you start working at such a young age?
I knew from the moment I came out of the womb that I wanted to act. My parents were photographers and whenever they needed a baby photo in an ad, they put me in front of the camera and I loved it. It led to commercials and print jobs in Atlanta.
First it was an after-school hobby but later when we were just my mom and me, it helped pay the bills.
Talk about how you see Michelle?
She's definitely become the aggressor. She wants what she wants and gets it. That's the fun of her. Everybody thinks she's the girl next door. But I say don't judge her by her cover.
Surely fans of the movie know that by now?
Yes, the first movie clued everyone in. You think she's this quirky little band geek but by the end she comes out with her little dominatrix side and it shocks the hell out of everyone.
So she's a very changed woman?
In this third film she's really involved. She's grown out of her dorkiness and come into her own. She always had such a true sense of herself and so she's OK with who she is. She likes what she likes, and she wants what she wants. She's herself and it doesn't matter how others perceive her. I just love her.
Do people recognize you for "Pie" or "Buffy"?
Buffy's been on for seven years and there are devoted fans of the show. I'm also beginning to be recognized for the third movie. "American Pie" fans usually see me in the street and yell, "Hey there, band chick."
Do you know what you're doing next?
I'm looking at lots of stuff. But for seven years I went to work every day on Buffy and now that it's over, it's become a whole new world for me. Now I can be choosy about what I want to do.
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"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson
