|
IT'S
A WRAP
ADDED: 01.05.03. SOURCE: SCI-FI
WIRE
Cast and crew of UPN's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
expressed pride in their show and sadness about its end as it wrapped
its seventh and final season last week, and they celebrated with
a party on 18 April in Los Angeles. Alyson Hannigan told SCI-FI
WIRE that she was crying in her final scene and afterward.
"And they said, 'Well, that's a picture wrap,' and it was just
like, 'Wow, there's more [tears] in there.' It just came spilling
out. ... It was very, very bittersweet, an emotional day for everyone.
Lots of tears, lots of hugs. ... It was great, though."
Production
on the BUFFY finale wrapped production
last week, marking the end of the show's original episodes. A wrap
party at the Miauhaus studio in Los Angeles drew current and past
cast members and crew, including Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon and actors
Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Head, James Marsters, Amber
Benson, Juliet Landau, Seth Green, Tom Lenk, Julie Benz and Danny
Strong.
Anthony
Head, who arrived with his two teen daughters, described himself
as "gutted" on his last day. "I felt really odd,
like really sort of in a really strange emotional place," he
said in an interview. "It was like saying goodbye to a very,
very, very old friend. And at the same time, you knew that it wasn't
goodbye. And you knew that there was more life in it, and I'm going
to see these guys. It's what it is. It's come to the right time
and place."
Noxon
said, "I feel everything. I feel like I'm graduating from college
or high school all over again. I feel like I just spent some of
the greatest times of my life. You can only hope taht you didn't
peak in high school, you know?" She added that the upcoming
20 May series finale "is some of the strongest stuff we've
ever done. I just think it's awesome. ... It kicks ass."
For
his part, Whedon said he was exhausted, but happy with where his
show ended, and added that he plans to spend more time with his
wife and newborn son now that the show is over. "We were able
to do the show we wanted to," he said in an interview. "We
were never dictated to. ... We always did ... what we were told
to by the story. Because, eventually, if you're making art, it starts
telling you what to do." He added that he'll miss writing the
show the most. "Being in that room, just beating our heads
against the wall, trying to break a story," he said. "Cracking
each other up for hours at a stretch. I mean, I love filming. But
filming has so much going on. It's not like being in the room with
the writers. It's just us and the characters. And writing those
voices myself. Being alone with them. Those are the things I'll
miss the most."
The
BUFFY finale airs at 8pm ET/PT on 20
May on UPN. BACK
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MINEAR
DISCUSSES PRODUCER SHAKE-UP
ADDED: 15.08.02. SOURCE: ZAP2IT
Writer/producer
Tim Minear is having a busy day.
"Just
like every day," he says.
That's
no surprise since, in partnership with Joss Whedon, he's holding
the reins on The WB's Angel and Fox's Firefly.
Whedon
co-created Angel, a spin-off of his Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, with David Greenwalt, who recently left the show (he
still consults) to be executive producer on the ABC midseason drama
Miracles. As Whedon needed Greenwalt's second-in-command,
Minear, to help him launch his new creation, Firefly, outside
producer David Simkins (FreakyLinks) was brought in to run
Angel.
Just
last week, Simkins departed Angel over reported "creative
differences," leaving the tag team of Whedon and Minear to
oversee both shows.
"It
was an incredibly difficult situation to walk into," says Minear,
speaking from the Firefly sets on the 20th Century Fox studio
lot. "We weren't expecting to fill that position. Just a few
months before that, I wasn't expecting to leave, and if David Greenwalt
had left under any normal circumstances, I would have been there
to shoulder it completely."
"Then
the Firefly thing happened, so everything changed. We didn't
have a wicked lot of time to get to know new people, either before
we selected David [Simkins] or after he was on board. He was thrown
into the deep end of the pool without any lifeguards, and so, because
we didn't have the time to really get in there and break him in,
just everybody decided that it wasn't going to work."
Whedon
and Minear have turned to Angel writer/producer Jeffrey Bell
to pick up some of the slack. "Jeff Bell is there," Minear
says, "admiralling the day-to-day concerns, but Joss and I
are basically running it with everybody. We also have Kelly Manners,
who's our on-set producer, who's there for the nuts-and-bolts stuff
as well."
"It's
a machine that's running and in place, but at the end of the day,
the season arcs and the stories are going to have to be broken by
Joss and me and the staff, just like they have been since the beginning
of the year, so it's not all that different, in that sense."
"But
I didn't envy David Simkins being put into the middle of that situation,
because it's difficult." BACK
TO THE TOP
ANGEL
DROPS NEW PRODUCER
ADDED: 11.08.02. SOURCE: ZAP2IT
David
Simkins, recently hired to be Angel's show-runner in the
wake of the departure of the series' co-creator, David Greenwalt,
has also left the series. The parting of ways is due to "creative
differences," according to a spokesman for producing studio
20th Century Fox.
It
was only last month that Simkins, who previously ran the short-lived
Fox series FreakyLinks, participated in a luncheon/press
conference with some of the cast at the Fox studio lot, as part
of the biannual Television Critics Association press tour.
With
Simkins gone, the task of running Angel as it moves into
its fourth season falls to co-creator Joss Whedon and executive
producer Tim Minear, both of whom are also shepherding Whedon's
new science-fiction series, Firefly, for Fox.
In
addition, Whedon who continues to team with executive produdcer
Marti Noxon on UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is writing
an Angel episode to air during the November sweeps period
that will see the characters returning to the personas they had
during the first seaosn.
Greenwalt,
who continues to consult on Angel, has taken over as show-runner
of Miracles, a midseason supernatural drama for ABC. BACK
TO THE TOP
ANIMATED
SERIES GETS GREEN LIGHT
ADDED: 22.06.02. SOURCE: SCI-FI
WIRE
Joss Whedon spoke for the first time about the departure of comic
artist Jeph Loeb as boss of the proposed Buffy animated series
earlier this week, telling SciFi Wire that Loeb left because of
production delays. Whedon added that the series has finally been
given a green light. "The process took so long to put the package
together, it just came together on Friday [14 June], and he got
an offer, a big deal over at Warner Brothers, and he had to move
on," Whedon said in an interview. "He'd been shepherding
it for over a year. We'd put together a bunch of great scripts.
He's done an amazing job, but there was no light at the end of the
tunnel. It was a really difficult process, and Chris Buchanan, the
president of my company, finally got it through, but Jeph had to
move on."
As
for when the series might hit the airwaves, Whedon said, "I
literally just heard of Friday it's a go. That's all the information
I have right now, except we already have a bunch of scripts."
There
are no hard feelings on Whedon's end, and he still hopes to include
Loeb on some level, Whedon said. "We love Jeph, and he loves
the project, and hopefully we'll be able to find some involvement.
But the fact of the matter is, it just took so long." BACK
TO THE TOP
ANIMATED
SERIES UPDATE
ADDED: 09.06.02. SOURCE: COMICS
CONTINUUM
According to the Comics Continuum, Jeph Loeb is leaving the
Buffy animated series and heading over to The WB's Smallville.
"The
Buffy animated series is going to happen," Loeb
said. "I left the show in excellent hands and terrific shape.
The scripts are as good as the live-action show - that would be
because the live action writers wrote them! - and the look of the
show is being handled by a world class animation team - that must
go unnamed at this time - and the entire operation is still under
the watchful eye and care of Buffy/Angel creator and
media mogul Joss Whedon.
"We
hope to see some first rough animation by the end of the year. I
was really sad to have to step back to go to Smallville,
but I do feel like I carried the baby through the entire
pregnancy and now someone else - Joss and Mutant Enemy's Chris Buchanan
- will deliver the goods and make it grow up to be big and strong!"
BACK
TO THE TOP
ANIMATED
SERIES STALLED
16.01.02 - According to Sci-Fi
Wire, the proposed animated version of Buffy may be stalled.
"The animated series
is still in the works," exec producer Marti Noxon said in an
interview at UPN's winter press tour in Pasadena, California.
"I think that ... there's been some problems with Fox Family
TV. So I'm not sure it's going to go on, ... not because of anything
having to do with the show, but because I think Fox is not sure that they
want to do more family programming like that. ... It's not going away,
because scripts are written and stuff has already been done. But
right now, the question is where it's going to end up airing."
Noxon, who's currently
stuffing up the original series, said that Joss Whedon and other Buffy
writers have already written half a dozen scripts for the animated
series. "Almost everybody except me," she said with a
laugh, claiming that the animated show is "really funny. It's
really charming. It's got to get on the air. It's definitely
one of those animated shows that skews both for adults and kids.
It's going to kick Spongebob's ass! Just kidding."
Meanwhile, one regular
won't be taking part. "Joss came to me," said David
Boreanaz, "and he said, 'We're doing the Buffy animated thing,
and you're more than welcome to come down.' And I've just been so
tied up now with work that it just hasn't happened. So I don't think
it's going to happen." Back to the top
LOEB
TALKS BUFFY ANIMATED SERIES
05.07.2001 - Jeph Loeb,
who is executive producing the animated Buffy series with Joss
Whedon, told The Comics Continuum that work is underway on the first six
scripts for the show, which is targeted to premiere on (US) Fox Kids next
season.
"Jane Espenson and
Steve DeKnight are the first from the Buffy staff to contribute
scripts (as well as Joss, of course) and they just hit them so far out of
the park, we may not write any more and just let them have the show!"
Loeb said. "They are funny, bright, intelligent, true to the
mythos and are going to make great animation - the scripts, not Jane and
Steve!"
Loeb said that the show
is at the budgeting phase with Fox Kids, which will determine the
animation studio and more.
"Joss and I are
still very confident this will be an awesome series and a worthy match for
the live-action show," Loeb said. Back to the top
BUFFY'S
GILES MAY GET HIS OWN SERIES
12.05.2001 - Rupert
Giles, who has mentored the young demon fighters on Buffy the Vampire
Slayer for five years, might be staking his own claim to television in
another spin-off to the popular series, writes the LA Times (11
May).
Anthony Stewart Head, who
has played Watcher to Buffy's Slayer since the programme began airing on
the WB in 1997, could become the star of an hour-long show for the UK.
Joss Whedon, creator and
executive producer of Buffy, said he is in talks with the BBC for
six episodes of an occult-tinged show centered on Head's Giles character.
"It would be a
grown-up, quiet show about a cool, grown-up, non-teenage man quietly
solving ghost stories," Whedon said, taking pains to distance the
project from Buffy - which plays primarily to young adults and
teens - and its existing spin-off, Angel. "It would be
very different in tone: slower, more like the series already on TV
there. But not too British."
Head, who started his
acting career in musical theatre in London and still lives there, had told
Buffy's producers that he wanted to be able to spend more time at
home with his girlfriend and young daughters. He won't leave Buffy
entirely, though (His kids are fans of the show and recently spent several
days on the L.A. set as production wrapped on Buffy's fifth
season.)
A veteran of several BBC
series, Head had been popping up on U.S. television before Buffy
launched. He co-starred in the short-lived Fox series VR-5
and guest starred on series like NYPD Blue and Highlander.
He may have been most recognisable, however, for his role in a
long-running Taster's Choice ad campaign.
The new series would
centre on Giles, a high-school-librarian-turned-magic-shop-owner on Buffy,
and his crime-sleuthing activities away from the Buffy crew.
It's not been decided if Buffy cast members will make appearances
on the show, though Whedon says several have already asked to do so.
Whedon is looking for a
UK partner to oversee production. Whedon would hammer out story
lines and draft scripts with the current Buffy writing staff,
perhaps shooting an initial episode in L.A. before production shifts to
England.
The Giles-centric project
isn't the only Buffy offshoot in the works. An animated
series that takes the cast back to high school is planned for Fox's
children's lineup. Whedon says it could be ready for fall 2002.
After a protracted
contract renegotiation, Buffy will leave the WB, switching to UPN
in the fall. UPN outbid the WB by paying an estimated $2.3 million
an episode for the series over two seasons, also agreeing to pick up Angel
if the WB cancels it. Back to the top
ANIMATED
SERIES' FUTURE AT STAKE
10.05.2001 - Although
Fox's Buffy the Vampire Slayer cartoon won't debut until February
2002 at the earliest, Joss Whedon is already waging a war against network
executives. "I though, 'No, we won't fight over budgets,'"
he told TV Guide Online. "But you're never not going to
fight over budgets.
"They're like, 'If
you want seven dragons [instead of one], you have to draw them all, and
it'll cost more,'" he continues. "But I want the show to
look as good as it can, and that's going to cost money."
Despite this, none of his
enthusiasm for the animated Buffy has been drained.
"We're getting to do what we wanted to - the things that you can't do
on the [live-action version]. It's slightly more off-centre...whimsical."
Plus, Joss can now tell
the tales that he couldn't before the Scooby Gang's graduation from
Sunnydale High. "It's nice to go back to the well of adolescent
stories, and the very basic dynamic of, Willow likes Xander, Xander likes
Buffy, and Buffy can't admit that she's attracted to that Angel guy."
No deals on who will
voice the gang have yet been struck, "but I'm hopeful that we can get
our cast to do it. It wouldn't be the same without them."
Back to the top
GILES
SPIN-OFF
09.05.2001 - A few more
snippets from a Buffy convention attendee (as posted on AICN):
"...A few
interesting bits of information were dropped during the course of the
weekend, the most interesting and exciting piece of which came from Tony
Head, who told us his wish in coming back to live in England, and
therefore reducing his role in Buffy, but this wouldn't necessarily
mean we would see less of Giles as, according to Tony, Joss is a
very big fan of British TV and would love to do a TV series over here in
England with the BBC, and in fact he has already been in talks with them
about the possibility of a Giles spin-off series entitled Ripper
with the other possible title of Watcher. The only
information Tony could give at this time about the show was that it would
deal with 'ghost stories and inner demons'. The way in which Tony
was talking about it seemed as if all parties were extremely interested in
having this made, with the BBC excited about the prospect and that Joss
has already written up the first episode."
Thanks to Darren for
posting this to ABUK. Back to the top
UK
BUFFY SPINOFF?
03.05.2001 - Note: this
contains some major season five spoilers for BBC2 viewers from the sixth
paragraph onwards.
Anyone who thinks that
Joss Whedon in particular is stretching himself too thin these days will
be alarmed by Buffy co-executive producer Marti Noxon's comments to
Sci Fi Wire about another spin-off series, this time centring of Tony
Head's character (this might be what Joss
was talking about when he mentioned having a fourth series in
production in addition to Buffy, Angel and the Buffy
animated series).
"There is the
possibility of a limited series with the BBC, starring Anthony Head,"
Noxon said in an interview. "It's not a done deal, but this is
in discussion. There's an idea of taking the Giles character and
doing a limited series in Britain next year, maybe just a limited run ...
like a miniseries, perhaps, turning into a series."
The discussion is a
reaction in part to Head's previously stated desire to remain closer to
the United Kingdom and his family, Noxon confirmed. "It may not
come to pass, but it's being discussed," she said. "It
would be really awesome if it did happen, and I'm sure there'd be a way
that people here would see it too. We'd hope."
In the meantime, Noxon
said that she will take over much of the day-to-day Production chores on Buffy
next year, as Whedon spends more time developing a proposed Buffy
animated series, comic books and other projects. "I'll be
co-running Buffy with Joss," Noxon said. "Now, I'm
sort of second in the chain of command. But next year, we're going
to be more equals, although there is no equal to Joss [laughs]. But
in title, we're going to be more equal."
Season five spoilers
follow
There's worse news for
those who think the series' concentration on season-long arcs is having a
detrimental effect on the show.
"I think 'oh grow
up' is a great way to [describe next season's story arc]," she
said. "The season-long themes for everybody will be about sort
of getting kicked into the adult world - in some cases, kicking and
screaming as you go. But it's time for everybody to make some
decisions and take on some more adult responsibilities. So that's
going to be stuff that's going on thematically next year. Obviously
with Joyce's death, Dawn and Buffy and all of the members of the Scooby
Gang are going to be dealing with Buffy and Dawn, at least, having to live
in a much more adult world. There's no buffer. Buffy has no
buffer next year. So obviously that's really going to change the way
she has to face the world, and the way that everybody else does, because
it's a real reality check for all of them."
One of the surprises next
year (well, not really since Joss is always going on about it): a musical
episode. "It is an all-singing, all-dancing Buffy, with
music written completely for the show by Joss," Noxon said.
"Because he doesn't have enough to do [laughs], what with seven or
eight television shows on the air, or whatever he's got, and the comic
books he writes and the movies, ... he decided he wanted to learn how to
play the guitar and piano, and now he's composing incredible music."
Back to the top
NOXON
CITES 'SCHEDULING CONFLICTS' FOR BRITNEY PULLOUT
14.11.2000 - Britney
Spears has pulled out of a planned guest appearance on Buffy the
Vampire Slayer due to scheduling conflicts.
"It's not
happening," co-executive producer Marti Noxon tells TV Guide
Online. "It's off the plate completely."
However, the character Spears would have played will live on, Noxon
adds. "We're still going to do the episode, we're just going to
do it with someone else," she says, declining to reveal the
specifics. "The [story] idea is still valid, and we're going to
go ahead and run with it. But now that [Britney's] not available,
we're going to push that episode to a little bit later."
The pop princess - who
is friends with Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar - isn't ruling out
the possibility of a future appearance. "Britney loves the show
and she'll probably do it one day," says her rep, "but right
now, they just can't schedule anything." Back
to the top
BRITNEY
APPEARANCE ON BACK BURNER
Updated:
16 October - Though everyone seems to be game for Britney Spears
guesting on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it appears to be nowhere near
a done deal. An unnamed source close to the production spoke to NY Daily
News gossip Mitchell Fink, cautioning, "The talk is back and
forth, [but] no deal is set... They would write whatever [Spears]
wants. At most, it would be for one or two episodes, but it's still
on the back burner as of now."
Source - Cinescape Online.
Back to the top
WANKER'S
NEW BUFFY COMPOSE
04.09.2000 - (as spotted on
alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer by Fraxis):
After a long search,
Thomas Wanker will replace Chris Beck from the second episode of season 5
(Beck will score the opening episode). In a tenuous Buffy
link, Wanker provided additional music for The Thirteenth Floor
which featured Tia Texada who starred alongside Charisma Carpenter in Malibu
Shores. Well, I did say it was tenuous.
And, no I'm not going
to say anything about him facing a stiff challenge or having a hard act to
follow...
The original source
for this is www.soundtrack.com.
BRITNEY
ON BUFFY?
Updated: 2 August
-
Mr Showbiz has this to say about the rumour:
Britney Spears is coming to the WB! No, the
teen diva isn't getting her own series, but, according to Joss Whedon, the
series creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's "very
likely" that Spears will be guesting on the ironic teen drama.
The belly-button-baring singer had been in talks to
guest star on Dawson's Creek, but the deal never came off.
Since the Oops! ... I Did It Again songstress is a pal of the
slayer herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, a guest shot on the vamp drama was
a no-brainer.
No word on the supernatural plot line that would
hook up the two blond teen dreams in TV land, although producer Gareth
Davies tells Entertainment Weekly that the former Mouseketeer can
do "just about anything she wants to, I suspect."
How are the die-hard fans taking it? One
hilarious fan posting to the official Buffy site: "I do not
care if Britney Spears is on the show next season, as long as she dies a
really horrible death. Or, at least her character does. Her
breasts may be indestructible, [however]."
So... do we start accusing Buffy of pandering
to pre-teens? Coupled with the addition of 14-year-old Michelle
Trachtenberg (of Harriet the Spy fame) next season - it does look
like the 4-year-old cult show is losing its edge.
Click here for some
possible good news on season 5 (contains spoilers). Back
to the top
DAWSON'S
CREEK'S
GAIN IS BUFFY'S LOSS
Updated 28 July
- After failing to work out a guest spot on Dawson's Creek last
season, Britney Spears and the WB finally seem to be in sync. Buffy
the Vampire Slayer co-exec producer Marti Noxon told Entertainment
Weekly's website that it's "very
likely" that the pneumatic pop star will appear in a season five
episode. "She's a friend of Sarah Michelle Gellar's and she
loves the show and wants to do an episode," Noxon says. And
what would the midriff mad moppet do, asks EW. "Just
about anything she wants to, I suspect," says producer Gareth Davies.
Back to the top
CHRIS
BECK LEAVES, SCORE ALBUM ON THE CARDS
12
July: Posted by Chris
Beck on the Bronze:
Good news, bad news,
bad news:
The good news is, Sony
will definitely be putting out a score album.
The bad news is, it
won't be until Spring 2001. They plan on releasing a second song
album in time for Christmas 2000, and that one may have one or two score
cues like the first one from TVT.
The other bad news is,
I've decided that it's time to pursue my dream of becoming a big famous
superstar movie composer, and I'm leaving Buffy. It was one
of the most difficult decisions I've ever made, but it's made, and I feel
it's the right one, at least for me in the long term.
Besides all that I got
back from Africa two weeks ago and I'm in the midst of moving my studio
across town, so things are chaotic everywhere. Back
to the top
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