Joss Whedon Was Offered ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Reboot, Turned It Down
By The Movie God
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Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Last year when we heard that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was a strong possibility, it sounded as if even then, creator Joss Whedon‘s involvement was quite doubtful. Recently it was revealed that the reboot was now under the wing of Warner Brothers, and that newcomer Whit Anderson had been hired to write the script.
Whedon responded to the news with humorous words that we all got a chuckle out of, but as it turns out, he may have had the opportunity to work on the movie after all, and chose to turn it down.
According to reports, Whedon was offered the chance to take part in the reboot — possibly as a writer, one would speculate, but most likely as just a producer — last year when we first heard of it. This was when the rights to Buffy were owned by Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui, who have since sold them to WB, and Whedon decided that he would rather work on other projects. With Joss currently directing Marvel’s juggernaut, The Avengers, you have to assume that he might have been in the midst of trying to score that job when the new Buffy was presented.
Whedon could come out tomorrow and tell us this was never the case, but if this is the case, it’s not hard to understand that Joss didn’t feel there was anything new to do to his Slayer creation. It hasn’t been that long since we last saw the show, and it’s beyond contestation that Hollywood has a habit of remaking and rebooting a little too soon these days.
Unfortunately, this also makes it hard for fans to be upset about Whedon not being involved in the project. Though they still every right to be infuriated at the thought of anyone even making this to begin with!
There is a history of bad blood between Joss and the Kazuis (which sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon title) that stretches back to the original movie. Basically, he wrote a dramatic script with the typical Whedon humor laced throughout — like the show — and the Kazuis, failing to get the point, turned it into a broad comedy, and worse, a bad movie (the original script is actually pretty good).
Later, when Joss made it into a TV show, something in the Kazuis’ movie contract meant they would receive royalties and credit on everything with the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” label and all related titles and characters. So, they got a cut of the profits and executive producer credits on both the Buffy AND Angel TV series without lifting a finger.
It was a source of some frustration for both the creators and fans of the shows that these people’s only contribution to the franchise was to nearly bury it, yet they were rewarded by Joss’s efforts to resurrect it. Now, years later, they try to milk even more profit out of it by rebooting it?? A series ONLY made popular enough to warrant a reboot by Joss’s hard work? And they have the nerve to offer him a chance to “maybe write, but likely just produce” it? The injustice of it just gets my creative hackles up. I’m sure they thought they were being very kind, but it’s more insulting than anything.
If I were Joss I would have turned them down as well.
(…says the rabid fanboy. Joss, on the other hand, is being very honest, but very classy about the whole thing, which will only serve him in the end. Us Whedonites can brandish the torches and pitch-forks while he has some well-deserved fun playing with the Avengers.)
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Contestation???
Comment by kell — November 30, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
…okay, mini-NeverRant coming…
There is a history of bad blood between Joss and the Kazuis (which sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon title) that stretches back to the original movie. Basically, he wrote a dramatic script with the typical Whedon humor laced throughout — like the show — and the Kazuis, failing to get the point, turned it into a broad comedy, and worse, a bad movie (the original script is actually pretty good).
Later, when Joss made it into a TV show, something in the Kazuis’ movie contract meant they would receive royalties and credit on everything with the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” label and all related titles and characters. So, they got a cut of the profits and executive producer credits on both the Buffy AND Angel TV series without lifting a finger.
It was a source of some frustration for both the creators and fans of the shows that these people’s only contribution to the franchise was to nearly bury it, yet they were rewarded by Joss’s efforts to resurrect it. Now, years later, they try to milk even more profit out of it by rebooting it?? A series ONLY made popular enough to warrant a reboot by Joss’s hard work? And they have the nerve to offer him a chance to “maybe write, but likely just produce” it? The injustice of it just gets my creative hackles up. I’m sure they thought they were being very kind, but it’s more insulting than anything.
If I were Joss I would have turned them down as well.
(…says the rabid fanboy. Joss, on the other hand, is being very honest, but very classy about the whole thing, which will only serve him in the end. Us Whedonites can brandish the torches and pitch-forks while he has some well-deserved fun playing with the Avengers.)
Comment by NeverWanderer — December 1, 2010 @ 6:22 am
con·tes·ta·tion/käntÉ™sˈtÄSHÉ™n
Noun: The action or process of disputing or arguing.
Comment by The Movie God — December 1, 2010 @ 7:55 pm