Caffeinated Clint
We “Buffy” buffs smashed beer bottles and dropped ducts when it was announced last week that Warner Bros would be rebooting the Joss Whedon created series – as a feature – without it’s creator.
Whedon soon responded to the news, noting that although it’ll hurt to see ‘his’ Slayer stomping about on someone else’s Sunnydale, he’s OK with it.
And now we know why he’s OK with it : He passed on being involved.
Says Heat Vision, “According to studio insiders, he was approached last year after Buffy rightsholder Fran Rubel Kuzui and husband Kaz Kuzui began developing a remake with Vertigo. After presented with the opportunity, Whedon decided he’d rather work on other projects (he’s making Marvel Studios’ The Avengers). Producers then began searching for a writer and late last year hired actress-turned-scribe Whit Anderson. The unknown Anderson, with only bit film appearances to her credit, came up with a take on the Buffy myth that was strong enough after a couple of drafts to lure Atlas, which partnered with Vertigo to set it up at a studio.
Fox, distributor of the 1992 movie, had first crack, but passed, so Warners slid in, betting that Whedon or no Whedon, Buffy can still slay at the box office.”
Now I can only imagine that Whedon passed because the “Buffy” that Vertigo, and then Warners, wanted to make wasn’t his “Buffy” – as in, it wasn’t going to be a feature-film version of the TV series that people know and love. Whedon couldn’t…wouldn’t… want to be involved in a reboot without his cast… it’d not only seem disrespectful, but he’d be caught up in the ostensible imminent backfire too. He needs his fans – they keep him employed.
Meantime, Whedon’s surrogate, Whit Anderson (She’s a woman), tells The LA Times that she’s a die-hard fan of the ’90s series, “[it] was the one show I would watch when I got home. I just loved this character. I was the same age as Buffy, and it was so rare to have a female lead character on TV in those days who was strong and capable and smart but also allowed to be feminine.”
“The thing that was so wonderful about ‘Buffy’ is what made it special was so timeless,” Anderson said. “The deep struggle she had with duty and destiny, that tug between what you’re supposed to be doing and what you want to be doing. The fate of the world is on her shoulders, but some days she wakes up, and she just doesn’t want to do it. And are we doomed and destined to love someone? That conflict was very interesting to me. Those are the things I loved about her and her world. She also represents — like all the heroes — something empowering for us. She reminds us of what we could be if we were in our top form, the best of us if we were at our very best, and even then we still see the vulnerability and doubts she has inside. That’s where we all connect.”
Hmmm.
