'Can't Hardly Wait': The 'Buffy' Connection

It's not surprising that many teen flicks from my adolescence feature actors who also appear on Buffy. Actors who auditioned for parts on Buffy would be auditioning for other high school roles as well. But I don't think I've ever noticed a larger critical mass of Buffy actors, both recurring characters and guest stars, in a single project outside of the show than I did when I rewatched Can't Hardly Wait.

Of course, Seth Green plays a main character in both the film and the series, but also keep a look out for Amber Benson, who appears only briefly. (She had a slightly larger part that was cut in editing.)

Paige Moss, who played Veruca in season four, also has a couple quick scenes, which makes all the points of Willow's love triangles present and accounted for.

The rest of the double-dippers include:

Clea DuVall
(Jana/Marcie from "Out of Sight, Out of Mind")



Channon Roe
(Jock #1/Jack O'Toole from "The Zeppo")



Christopher Wiehl
(Horny Guy/Owen from "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date")



Eric Balfour
(Hippie Guy/Jesse from "Welcome to the Hellmouth" & "The Harvest")



John Patrick White
(Tassel Guy/Pete from "Beauty and the Beasts")



Nicole Bilderback
(Ready to Have Sex Girl/Cordette from "The Wish")

Nicole Bilderback was also in Bring It On, another teen movie from my adolescence with a (much smaller) contingent of Buffy alums. Also, looking up how Bilderback was credited on Buffy unexpectedly resolved an issue for me. In an episode of Angel (I think it's "Rm w/a Vu"), Angel tells Doyle that people called Cordy's high-school clique "The Cordettes," which always made me scowl because I thought Jane Espenson had just made up that really lame name for no apparent reason. I don't remember any character on Buffy referring to Cordelia and her lackeys as such, but apparently the writers did. We just didn't know about it because we weren't reading the scripts. It doesn't make me love the line from Angel, but it makes me scowl a lot less.