As most of you know by now, they are doing a remake of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Not the V show, but the movie… actually it’s more like a total reboot of the franchise, and as such it won’t have any of the people involved from the Buffy TV show… including Joss Whedon. Interesting.
Unsurprisingly, one of the cast members from the TV show, Anthony Stewart Head (the guy who played Giles, Buffy’s watcher) is speaking out and saying some not so nice things. The folks at Moviehole give us this:
“I wouldn’t want to see it, no,” Head, best known for his role as Giles on “Buffy”, admits. “The Kuzuis didn’t do a great job on the movie the first time around. It was Joss’ script at the age of 19, but they changed a lot of it. They said, ‘Look, we know best and we know how to make this movie,’ and it became quite schlocky and high camp.”
Head recalls the time when he went to audition for the Buffy series because he loved Whedon’s pilot script so much, and his agent advised him to watch the movie to get the tone of the show before his screen test. “So I did and I went, ‘Oh, that’s not it at all.’ I went in and saw Joss and said, ‘I watched the movie last night!’ And he went, ‘Oh. Did ya?’ I just put it out of my mind. The bottom line is if a movie was ever to be made, it should be made with Joss Whedon, whether it’s a retrospective or not. But it would be madness to do it without him. [The Kazuis] have the rights to because they have the rights to the original movie, but it should be interesting to see. It may be a bit like watching a car wreck.”
Ok, first of all I’m not one of these guys that thinks ONLY Joss Whedon can do Buffy, anymore than I think ONLY Peter Jackson can do The Hobbit or that ONLY Willaim Shatner can play Kirk. I believe EVERYONE in the movie business is replaceable. Not that they SHOULD be replaced… but just because one person does something great, doesn’t mean it’s not possible that someone else could do it just as well or even better.
However in this case, even though I don’t think a Buffy movie MUST have Joss Whedon on board, I also don’t think the Kazius should do it at all. I hated the original Buffy movie and they are the ones behind it. It’s maddness.
So while I disagree with Giles that Whedon MUST do it… I must agree with him that getting these guys to do it is not smart at all. What do you guys think?
i think its a bad idea, buffy the tv series has a huge fan base, and i dont like the idea of a new cast, for me sarah michelle gellar IS buffy.
The 1st movie was a train wreck and i just dont think it’ll work having the same directors as the film and no one from the tv series being involved, at the end of the day the only reason a new film is being made is because of the huge sucess the series had, not the movie. And because vampires are huge at the min and buffy was the 1st to jump on that bandwagon.
it’d have to something very special to even tempt me into the cinema.
There is a huge difference between Peter Jackson with Hobbit and Joss Whedon with Buffy. That was a false comparison. Joss created Buffy and he is not irreplaceable. And my comment is not off topic.
obviously I meant, he is not replaceable. Gosh, how much caffeine?
As a buffy fan for many years i was shocked to her the where making a the old film that that they say is revamped and to her that sarah was not going to be in it is a total outrage gellar made buffy the vampire slayer what is today and the are not asking joss for help is so unbeiliveable i will only buy the movie if i think it is good and not who acts in it this is a shocking outlet a far cry you lot should be ashaned of yoursevles that all i am say on this matter
instead of rebooting buffy they should look to make FREY,based on BTVS but she is a future slayer in the 22nd cetury.that could start a whole new franchise.
Well this is interesting. I always thought Joss Whedon had nothing to do with the original Buffy movie and instead was created by someone else. That Whedon just came in and rewrote it for a TV series.
Other then the Buffy stuff, I like Joss Whedon allot. Serenity was awesome, the Firefly series was awesome, and he also did a great graphic novel called Fray, which was like a darker and cooler version of Buffy. So this post leaves me to wonder just how much control did the Kazius have over the series as well? Could the Buffy series been allot better if Whedon just controlled it?
Seeing a couple episodes of Buffy in the past, I remember thinking to myself often that I could make a better vampire slaying series then this myself. Then, seeing Whedon’s newer work over the past few years, I’m thinking, he could of totally made Buffy allot better then, couldn’t he? Or did he just get more creative over the past few years?
The series was smart and funny albeit tween girl campy. The original movie before the series was cinematic vomit with zero fan base.
There is no point in rebooting a movie that no one cared about in the first place unless it’s to play off the fanbase of the successful series.
This is all on top of the fact that Buffy is too recent to do a good reboot. It’s not like a Battlestar Galactica.
I say if there is anything recent that almost demands a reboot, it’s Star Wars Episode 1-3… God those were awful and need a different producer/director/writer to do a complete overhaul for it’s loyal fanbase to final be satiated without the blind pandering of sheeple.
Rebooting Star Wars is just ignorant. They won’t rewrite the prequels without wiping out ALL of the Star Wars movies and starting over, which will never be accepted by the fans the same way a Buffy reboot wont.
You may not like them, and you may know tons more who don’t but if they threw out all the Republic Era/Clone Wars stuff (which is still getting them scads of money and positive attention) to remake it, it would STILL be criticized to death. Refocusing Star Wars in a different Era would be the best way to reinvigorate the franchise.
I agree Rodney- In fact the smartest thing to down I would say is refocus the Star Wars universe in the old republic era. As sad as it sounds it would be really smart of the lucas gang to do this- especially with the new Old Republic MMO arriving in the next couple of years- cross promotion anyone? But really- it would give them new material, they would be able to escape all prior connections with unliked characters and they could introduce a whole new badass crew.
@ Rodney
How exactly would rebooting Star Wars be “ignorant”? What does that even mean? How can an action be “ignorant”? I’m not playing semantics here, i really have no idea what on earth you are talking about.
If you are referring to the fact that the people in control of the franchise rights are probably unwilling to do it – i completely agree… but that wasn’t my point.
As far as “wiping out ALL of the Star Wars movies and starting over” being never accepted mainstream, i completely agree. But rebbots don’t wipe out EVERYTHING or even a majority of what the universe is built on. Again – you missed my point.
Who said anything about throwing out all of the Republic Era/ Clone War stuff? I said “complete overhaul” which means fixing what’s bad/broken, not completely “discard it” where you start with a blank sheet of paper.
You COMPLETELY 100% missed my point and wrote some die-hard fan, knee-jerk response that is totally irrelevant to anything i said.
The whole idea of this reboot is complete rubbish and I have no interest in a new Buffy movie without the involvement of Joss.
I dunno- I think I’m coming around to the Joss fanboys camp.
As far as I’m concerned this transcend who has the rights and wanders into intellectual property. Buffy is a Joss creation, in many ways is a symbol of his worldview, so to reboot the series ignoring him completely is just a complete low class move.
Really not interested to see where this story goes…it all feels very 90’s…let it go we’ve moved on from vampire killing teenagers.
lol. i thought blood: the last vampire was the new buffy movie.
Buffy isn’t all that good. The only character i liked in it was SPIKE.
I’ll watch it, but for the same reason I might catch a Uwe Boll movie. To see how bad it really is… I beleive they should make a buffy movie but I think it should at the very least involve the only person to date to do the series any justice… I seen the original, I was ok with it for the most part but as soon as I got into the TV show I realised just how bad the movie was. Kazuls had their turn, they raped it for all it’s worth, it sucked and someone (who happens to be the guy who conceptualised it) comes along and does it 10 times better. Simply put letting the Kazuls do buffy again is like digging up the coarps of bea Aurthur and having your way with her.
Joss Whedon is in full control of the Buffy Comic Book. Just read that and be happy it continues where the final season left off.
Let them make a crap-tastic movie to try and cash in on vamp-mania (which will be over when the movie actually releases), and ignore it like it never existed. Although I am sure Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson will be begging for cameos…
I hated the originel Buffy movie , John arent those hate words of you a little bit over the top. You can also say you didnt like it.
Why does it matter to you if he says he hates it versus doesn’t like it? Does semantics bother you that much?
Yhea !!!
The scary thing about a Buffy reboot is that it actually would be successful in this climate. The kids are lovin the vampires, and as Twilight proved, a movie doesn’t have to be good to be successful.
Im a huge buffy fan (my handle is taken from buffy) and id follow it with somewhat mild intrest but as long as joss or any of the writers from the staff arent involved i will not watch it…at the theater. All of the actors can be replaced if they do a reboot, as much as id like to see them do a movie with the whole buffyverse people including Angel and Spike, to me Joss is the only one that Must be included in the movie. Its kind of like one of your favorite bands getting a new lead singer and still calling themselves the same band name…sure they still rock and its ok to see them…but there’s just something different about them.
For my Money id still rather see a Fray, the vampire slayer done by Joss, heavy on the cameos.
Your statement, (Ok, first of all I’m not one of these guys that thinks ONLY Joss Whedon can do Buffy, anymore than I think ONLY Peter Jackson can do The Hobbit) The thing is Joss Whedon is the creator and the writer of Buffy. That would be more like saying lets do the next Hobbit story without Tolkien when he was still living. Hey let DreamWorks do the next Toy Story instead of Pixar. I don’t think you would like that idea. Now I agree some time reboots turn out better, but I may have liked the Godzilla movie if they just called it “Big Lizard Attacks New York!”
I said may have liked.
“but I may have liked the Godzilla movie if they just called it “Big Lizard Attacks New York!””
If it was called that…then at least I would have been able to sit throught it.
I’m pretty sure it’ll get made but I won’t be seeing it…I’m not hoping for it to get made without Whedon or any of the other actors but I don’t think the people who botched it the first time should attempt a repeat…I wouldn’t be opposed to someone GOOD (not necessarily Whedon) trying to expand the Buffyverse…
I think they should just continue the tv series.
It’s pretty clear the producers didn’t understand what Whedon created, and they should stay away from it
They understood enough to bring him on when the show was being produced.
They should do the same thing now too.
If they announced WHEDON was rebooting Buffy…. at least the fans would care!
I agree everything is done for a quick dollar, but unless they do something like bring in one of the actors for the show, they really risk alienating the core fanbase, much the same way Star Trek risked it was well.
I guess Star Trek was able to save mostly everyone, so Buffy does too, but it’s pretty unlikely given they aren’t using a guy who knows the universe in and out, and who has a huge cult following.
Unlike Trek, this wouldn’t be an “in canon” continuity break. This is a pure reboot ignoring all that went before.
They are guaranteed to alienate the fanbase, and there has already been lots of backlash and mockery at their expense online already. It would be suicide for them to move forward now. So people are wondering if they are just stupid, or are they doing this to “rally the troops” and show the support they would need to make another Buffy movie or something in canon related.
I have to disagree with Rondney,
Buffy quite simply isn’t that popular. It is like Firefly… a strong and loyal fan base who overestimate their size.
Going after the non-buffy fan base isn’t a bad idea in and of itself.
Buffy’s fanbase is similar to Firefly’s in how passionate they are, however is much bigger. The show was on television for 7 seasons, that’s 4 more than the original Star Trek.
That being said, the success of a Buffy movie unfortunately won’t live or die by Whedon, but the team handling it now will F it up, and it probably will bomb at the box office.
The one thing that studios do like about Joss Whedon, is that his fans are passionate and will buy DVDs, that’s how Serenity got made.
buffy needs to be done by josh and josh only the movie will not be a major hit but it will be good
JOSS Whedon. Not Josh.
For someone who insists no one else can do it, you seem willing to give it to Josh…
I have to say while I see you point, John- I honestly don’t agree.
You’re completely right when you say Buffy has a strong and loyal fanbase- but these are the exact people you WANT to go after. What they’re doing is alienating the fanbase that was there, and then trying to reach a wider audience. The problem with this equation is the ‘wider audience’ probably won’t care about the buffy reboot and the people who would have cared are now too pissed off.
This is exactly the opposite approach Trek took- where they reached out to their core fanbase by making it canon and making it (somewhat) true to the original- wherease reaching out to a wider audience.
This is why a complete reboot of the Buffy franchise without Whedon will fail.
All this time I thought Head (not Giles, John, Giles is his character on the show) was also hired because Joss Whedon loved watching him drink instant coffee!
Seriously though, Head shouldn’t worry. Like the first film, not many people will see it either…but because it will have nothing to do with the TV series and/or the spinoffs. That is the core of the Buffy fanbase. Nobody can say “this is for the fans”.
Who/what are they doing it for?
A quick dollar whore. Plain and simple- but the painful truth.
Hey Darren,
My man, I’d hate to break it to you… but every single movie that ever hits theaters is made for “A quick dollar”.
There is a growing theory online that they are doing it as a bluff to lure Whedon and others on board to “save” it from them ruining the franchise.
These guys haven’t done anything SINCE Buffy, so its all the ammunition they have.
john did you make the anniversary solely to make money or because you love film and want to make movies?
Hey Alfie,
fair question. Remember, I’m in the unique position where I’m both the director AND the producer. It’s my money I’m putting into the film.
Soooo…
As the director, I’m doing it because I really wanted to try it and make a movie.
BUT…
As the producer and investor in the movie… I did it because I at least want to get my money back and more.
Producers are the ones who make the movies (when it all comes down to it, because nothing happens unless they sign the checks), and the reason they invest, is to get a return on their investment.
You know what I meant.
They are only doing it because of a brand name, and keeping nothing that made it a brand name but the title (recast) character.