Seth Green: Evil, Junior...Baby!

The red head is gone. Seth's gone blonde! Many fans know Seth Green as Willow's one-time significant other in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or from his role in Greg the Bunny on TV. Recently, however, the actor has built quite a following as Dr. Evil's repressed son Scott in the Austin Powers series of films. Seth is back in Austin Powers: Goldmember and has also enjoyed working on independent films. When we met with him recently, he had a lot to tell us about handling aggressive fans, working on the latest "Austin", wild scenes that were cut and some painful Hollywood experiences. We found him to be very open and thoughtful in person.

TeenHollywood: How did you get involved in the first Austin Powers film?

Seth: I got offered Austin Powers and the Carrot Top movie Chairman of the Board the same week and we really had to think about it. [He laughs]. Carrot Top was gaining a lot of popularity and I was a big Mike Meyers fan but both of the scripts had the same tone. It was this absurd comedy. Thank God I made the right choice. I went with the one that was a little more honest, a little more grounded in reality. This was a gamble, an independent movie with not a lot of money behind it, a first time director and a very high concept script. I can't believe what it's turned into.

TeenHollywood: Do you expect a fourth film?

Seth: I don't expect it but I didn't expect a third or a second. But this could be a prequel. Look at Star Wars. I would have thought Darth Vader was dead in episode one. This whole run has been such a gift to me.

TeenHollywood: When you and Mike Myers go back and forth with the comic exchanges, how much of that is ad-libbed?

Seth: It's scripted. You get a page or so with a few [lines]. We just take for granted that we'll get in there and see what happens. We workshopped it on film. When we got to the second one, it was taken for granted that we would make it up as it went along and, with this one, Mike came up with a concept and we knew we'd spend twelve hours filming whatever came into our heads.

TeenHollywood: We heard about an omitted scene involving mass vomiting around the shark pool.

Seth: It's just as well that it's not in the movie because it'll work really well as a stand-alone scene. It wasn't that it went too far. Mike [Myers] said it's like you have to take it that far to keep it from being gross, to make it absurdly ridiculous. Mr. Roboto goes into the shark tank and we're like "that's horrible" and there's blood and gore and hideousness. One of the guys working on the effect got really sick. He apologized that when he was young there was a road trip and he'd seen a possum by the side of the road and [makes barfing sound]. He really threw up on the set. Mike thought it was so funny. First he told the story to everybody then wrote it into the scene. So Mike [as Dr. Evil] turns to Mindy [Sterling] and says "Frau, you remember that road trip with the possum by the side of the road." That's the kind of improv on the movie that everybody will think is so funny and we'll just put it in...damn possum!

TeenHollywood: Was there a great scene that never even got filmed?

Seth: When Dr. Evil gets captured, Number 2 and Frau and Fred Savage, the Mole, and I are packing up the lair and there's moving boxes and wardrobe boxes with henchmen uniforms in them. Robert Wagner is trying to convince me that we should really invest in alpaca farming. There was this idea that a realtor would come through with some other evil mastermind and she's describing all the benefits of buying this lair. They were going going to get Christopher Walken to play Dr. Claw. He'd be like, "are those turrets included?" and they'd say "the turrets are not but we're leaving the sconces and the laser downstairs." And an aside where the realtor tells him "they're very motivated to sell" and it was brilliant. But they didn't shoot it. It was a money and time thing. There's over an hour of stuff that got filmed that isn't in the movie.

TeenHollywood: Do you want to pull a switch and do a very serious dramatic role?

Seth: I don't have that burning desire to shock people with my versatility. I'm more interested in choosing projects as they come along. You have to love something to work on it for months and then talk about it. You have to really believe in it. I've been at press junkets where I wasn't a hundred percent behind [the film] because it hadn't quite gone the way I wanted it to. I don't want to be in that position again.

TeenHollywood: What about Scorned, your project that never was produced?

Seth: I co-wrote the story with a friend who wrote the screenplay and we were in development at a studio for almost two years. It's one of the most painfully heartbreaking and educational experiences I've ever had. I witnessed the studio's indifference to being true to the content of the script and changing it every month based on what came out and made money. Ultimately we got the rights to the story back and we're just not doing anything with it. I'm likening it to an ex-girlfriend who broke my heart and I still know she's a cool girl and maybe I'd like to meet her in five years but right now we're not going to do anything with it.

TeenHollywood: So do you want to be a producer so you can have more control?

Seth: Control is really subjective to the place you are producing. I just made this movie Party Monster with Killer Films. Independent filmmaking is really satisfying. It's a small group of people very passionate about the same story and making the best movie that they can. Oddly enough, that's the experience we had on Austin Powers because the franchise is so huge and successful that the studio says, "Hey, do what you want." That's very rare.

TeenHollywood: What would be your natural high in life?

Seth: Temple. Going to temple. That's about as naturally high as I can get. That and meditation is a great natural high.

TeenHollywood: How do you handle fans who come up to you?

Seth: Early on, I didn't know how to handle it and I saw a side of myself that I'm keenly aware of now and avoid...allowing my ego to become too gratified by it and taking it seriously. If someone is a fan of yours that's complimentary and to let it effect you on a genuine spiritual or emotional level is pretty detrimental to leading a normal, healthy life.

TeenHollywood: Do Buffy fans still come up to you?

Seth: Oh yeah. Buffy fans are fiercely loyal and I'm grateful for that.

TeenHollywood: When did Buffy fall into your career?

Seth: I did Buffy after Austin Powers but it all kind of happened at the same time. I became a regular on Buffy, Austin Powers did well on video and Can't Hardly Wait came out so, literally, overnight, after having worked for almost 18 years, I was famous. It was a shocking experience.

TeenHollywood: Was it weird to become a teen heartthrob overnight?

Seth: Wasn't that funny? Yeah, it was a trick to do that because I grew up not being popular with peers and being a misfit, awkward and all of a sudden, I was like captain of the football team amongst teens and college kids and I really ate it up. How do you not? But I learned from that experience what kids who are really popular in high school learn; that it is all illusion and it doesn't really apply to you on a day to day basis. I found a successful balance between being a recognizable actor and leading a normal life.

TeenHollywood: How do you handle unruly fans?

Seth: I'm really honest with people. Most people who approach you are so excited or nervous or surprised that you're there that they don't necessarily recognize if their behavior is inappropriate. I had this woman come up to me at a party and just start yelling and I said "You're yelling at me." And she said "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry." You remind people that you're a person. I think I'm kind and gracious but I set boundaries.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.