Alyson Hannigan, who played teen witch Willow in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, says that there is no chance she'll do a big screen remake unless Joss Whedon is involved. When asked by Cinema Blend about the decision to not involve Whedon in the project, Hannigan said, "That's a very big mistake in my opinion. I mean if Joss isn't involved, it's only the title."
Earlier this year reports began coming in that Roy Lee and Doug Davidson of Vertigo Entertainment were working with Fran Rubel Kuzui, the director of the original 1992 film, on a darker, more modern storyline. They plan to sever all ties to the television series with it, which means that characters like Xander, Faith, Angel and Spike would not appear anyway.
While the producers have not ruled out Joss Whedon's involvement entirely, they have yet to approach him, either. Whedon wrote the script for the original movie and eventually became a producer, writer, and director for the series. He disowned the original big screen version after he was disappointed with the final cut of the film, saying it did not suit his vision.
The rights to the Buffy franchise are owned by Kuzui Enterprises, not Whedon, so if the producers want to move forward with or without Whedon, they could very well do so. Don't expect fans of the television series to jump on board though, as there have already been websites set up to stop the Buffy remake, and one could suspect that Joss himself would do everything in his power to make sure that the memory of the highly acclaimed series is kept well preserved for future generations.
Comments
Hannigan is right. Not approaching Whedon for this is a huge mistake, and I won't watch it at all if they go through with it without him. There would be no Buffy at all, and certainly not a popular franchise to draw on, if not for Whedon. These big "remake" fanatics seem to see nothing but dollar signs when it comes to rehashing things we've all seen a billion times. While I tend to think this is just another attempt to jump on the hot-ticket Vampire train right now, something as foolish as not calling in the Buffy expert could potentially drive the entire train off-track.
You're exactly right, Jennifer. This is just another attempt to cash-in on the vampire craze right now, and not calling Whedon would be a HUGE mistake. This is one case where Hollywood should just think of the fans who could potentially destroy the movie before it even gets off the ground.
The recent comics, carrying on the stories of both Buffy and Angel TV series, are good enough for me. They involve the writers, directors, producers and actors from the series - as well as Whedon, himself.
Buffy without Spike et al will dilute the concept to little more than a Twilight-esque hangover from the original.
I should probably say that I've never seen an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel, or any other spinoffs (if there are any).
However, I do remember going to see the original, and I remember it being pretty awful. Seeing how the movie sucked, and the show has a crazy fanbase, it seems pretty stupid to go about making the new movie this way.
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