One time, Alyson Hannigan nearly missed the bus again to band camp.
Forward of the 1999 teen film’s twenty fifth anniversary, the American Pie actress reminisced about her position as lovable band nerd Michelle Flaherty within the raunchy franchise and the way she nearly wasn’t within the sequels.
“One of the best story from the entire thing was that, , it was a low-budget film with all these tiers of negotiations,” Hannigan informed Vulture. “There was an A-tier and a B-tier. I feel I used to be on the underside C-tier with Seann [William Scott].”
She defined that the tiers had been “with reference to pay,” including: “So it’s simply scale plus 10 [percent to an agent]. There’s no negotiating on the C-tier as a result of the character shouldn’t be that vital.
“I used to be like, ‘Okay, nice.’ It was seven days and it was extra of a ardour venture. Then, within the contract, there was a sequel clause,” Hannigan continued. “I stated, ‘Look, I’m getting paid scale plus 10. I’m not going to signal for a sequel. That doesn’t make sense.’ I sound like I used to be being actually tough, however I simply thought it was foolish. In order that they took that [clause] out, which ended up being very nice for me after I did the sequel. There have been a pair sensible issues I did again then.”
Seann William Scott, January Jones, Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Thomas Ian Nicholas star in American Marriage ceremony (2003). Credit score: Common / Courtesy Everett Assortment
Amid final 12 months’s SAG-AFTRA strike, Scott — who starred as poisonous hornball Steve Stifler — revealed he solely made $8,000 for his work on the primary film, which grossed $235 million on the field workplace.
American Pie starred Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Eddie Kaye Thomas as a gaggle of highschool buddies who make a pact to lose their virginities earlier than commencement. When he strikes out with the horny international trade pupil Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), Jim (Biggs) asks Michelle to be his last-minute promenade date.
Hannigan reprised her position because the quirky flutist with a naughty facet, main alongside Biggs in American Pie 2 (2001), American Marriage ceremony (2003), and 2012’s American Reunion.
Amid her breakout position as Willow Rosenberg on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Hannigan stated she was enticed by taking part in Michelle as a result of the character “surprises you on the finish,” including: “I used to be already taking part in, like, the right particular person on Buffy, and Michelle was the alternative.”
Hannigan juggled each roles because the film’s producers “needed to clear my schedule for Buffy,” however she was “simply glad it labored out.”
“The second I labored 11 days as a result of I used to be nonetheless on Buffy,” she recalled. “For the third one, I labored weekends and that was brutal as a result of there was a day after I labored all evening on American Pie and drove straight to the Buffy set. It was like a 36-hour day or one thing. Loopy.”
