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Faith dabbles in the dark side with a reckless brand of slaying - no wonder Sunnydale`s a spicier place these days. On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she`s Buffy`s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) current nemesis, but it`s 18-year-old actress Eliza Dushku who gives Faith her wild kick. Though she has certainly no stranger to the gym, Eliza didn`t know any martial-arts moves at all before she joined the Buffy cast this season. But she learned fast: When her director yells "Action!" on the set, he`s not kidding. To step over to the vampire world, Eliza has to pack potent punches and killer kicks into every workday.
How does she get all the slay plays down? "We have an awesome stunt coordinator. I watch the stunt guys and then practice the moves myself," Eliza says. Jeff Pruitt, the show`s stunt coordinator, says lots of the fighting we see on Buffy has to be done by pros. "But we let Eliza do some blocking and hitting, because she`s so enthusiastic," he says. "Before she started the show, I had her watch Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and some old samurai movies to see their expressions when they slam some guy against the wall. Then we practiced in front of a mirror, with some ducking and yelling. Now she gets a big kick out of it."
Eliza gets something else out of doing her own down-and-dirty work: "After days of taping, I have black-and-blue marks all over me," she says. But the buff chick`s gotten better at battle. "Now they can film me more, because I can add together a kick and a duck and a spin and a punch more realistically."
Battles can get a bit too realistic. "In one scene I had my walkman on, and Buffy came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder to get my attention," Eliza says. "I was supposed to flip around, but I was so down with dancin` that I turned around and socked Sarah in the jaw! I yelled, `Cut! Cut! I`m so sorry! Are you okay?` She was like, `Yes, yes. You could`ve gone on.`"
As if all that rough stuff weren`t enough, Eliza likes to pop Tae Bo tapes into her VCR when she gets home and work out for an hour or two. Friends turned her on to this new exercise program a few months ago when she complained about not getting a tough enough sweat sesh at her gym. Invented by a martial arts champs, Tae Bo mixes traditional martial arts moves with kick-boxing, boxing, and aerobics.
(To order the how-to tapes, catch the infomercial or call 800-637-6632.) "It`s the kind of suuff we do on Buffy - roundhouse kicks, side kicks, uppercuts, and punches," Eliza explains. "It works the whole body. I`ve never sweated so much in my life."
Being in slayer worthy shape`s no walk in the park - unless, of course, it`s a dark park at night, populated by vampires. We`re glad Eliza showed us her moves on the beach during vampire-free daylight.
Reprinted from YM Get Gorgeous - Spring 1999