Caffeinated Clint
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If Joss Whedon had had his way, then 1992’s “Buffy,the Vampire Slayer” would’ve been a better movie, let alone featured a different actress in the title role. But in the early ‘90s, Joss Whedon had about as much sway as C-3PO in a wind storm and what would be, would be.
Before he struck up cred for his work on the “Toy Story” and “Alien Resurrection” scripts, the future pop culture wunderkind was forced to witness as his script – a comedy-horror piece about a selfish cheerleader who discovers she’s both an important and kick-ass vampire slayer – be staked to dust by those who didn’t understand his vision. Yep, that old nugget.
Fox had agreed to bankroll “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”, with Fran Rubel Kuzui – also producing – directing what was, to say the least, a very abridged version of the New York-born writer’s original libretto. He had written a dark, witty coming-of-age yarn, they wanted yuks – and the “90210” crowd.
Not to say Whedon wasn’t very involved in the making of the feature film – he was, he was on the set most days, he just didn’t have a voice on it. With his script, originally filled with spades of witty, clever dialogue and even some darker, supernatural themes, turned into ‘something else’, and actors that rubbed him up the wrong way – Donald Sutherland, in particular, who played the Watcher, bullied Whedon into rewriting his dialogue – it was but a pretty miserable experience for him. Whedon got so fed up with it that he left the production – physically-speaking -and never returned to it.
Had his writing work on TV’s “Roseanne” meant more to the producers and studio, and given Whedon more say at the table, the clever wordsmith would’ve cast Allysa Milano in the title role.
Yep, Samantha ‘Sam’ Micelli would’ve yielded Mr. Pointy.
The filmmaker, who would later go on to direct big-time superhero films like “The Avengers”, was pretty set on the former “Who’s the Boss?” starlet playing Buffy. Unfortunately, the studio didn’t agree with his pick – and went for Kristy Swanson, who had just appeared in Fox’s “Hot Shots!”. Guess they wanted to keep it in the family… or something. Or maybe they just went with someone else, because they could – and wanted to let Whedon know ‘Who’s the Boss’.
Swanson would go on to play one of her few lead roles, likely expecting it would open a few more doors for her than it did, while Milano would play Amy Fisher in a telemovie – one that won her plenty of raves- and help turn the WB’s “Charmed” into a hit.
Whedon would later get a chance to ‘do-over’ “Buffy” when he was able to set-up a TV series adaptation with the WB – even getting his say in casting. Sarah Michelle Gellar was chosen to play sophomore slayer, Buffy Summers. And the rest, as they say, is history.
