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Authors: Candace Havens
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The animated television series version of
Buffy
was also in planning for a long time. Whedon initially brought in famed comic-book artist Jeph Loeb to head up development.
Buffy
was also in planning for a long time. Whedon initially brought in famed comic-book artist Jeph Loeb to head up development.
Loeb was very enthusiastic about the project. “I’ve never met anybody who is responsible for so much and yet so generous with his time,” says the
Superman and Batman
illustrator. “It’s his sandbox but he’ll invite anybody in to play. He’s the first one to say, ‘Bring it on.’” As for the cartoon’s content, Loeb says, “We’ll be dealing with the first season of
Buffy
. It was a short season, so Joss didn’t get a chance to tell a lot of stories. Buffy will get her driver’s license. She and Willow will have their first baby-sitting job.” The show will also be written by the live action series’ scribes and drawn by animators Loeb describes as “the best in the business.”
Superman and Batman
illustrator. “It’s his sandbox but he’ll invite anybody in to play. He’s the first one to say, ‘Bring it on.’” As for the cartoon’s content, Loeb says, “We’ll be dealing with the first season of
Buffy
. It was a short season, so Joss didn’t get a chance to tell a lot of stories. Buffy will get her driver’s license. She and Willow will have their first baby-sitting job.” The show will also be written by the live action series’ scribes and drawn by animators Loeb describes as “the best in the business.”
Whedon is also clearly excited. “I’ve seen preliminary artwork and I’m just in love with it,” says Whedon. “And, with the exception of Sarah, I believe that everyone is doing their own voices. There’s zero money to be made. They’re just like, ‘Ooh, I get to be animated? That sounds like fun.’”
The series would be based on
Buffy’s
first season, with
Angel
still around, Willow still straight and in love with Xander, and with Xander still hot for Buffy. The series is intended to have the same quality and intensity of the original, but with solidly G-rated plots and dialogue.
Buffy’s
first season, with
Angel
still around, Willow still straight and in love with Xander, and with Xander still hot for Buffy. The series is intended to have the same quality and intensity of the original, but with solidly G-rated plots and dialogue.
But since the series had been continually delayed, by June 2002, when it was finally green-lighted, Loeb had to leave for another opportunity. Nevertheless, the series will go forward, with the writing duties being split between several writers on the show, including Joss, Doug Petrie, and Jane Espenson.
“When I was first brought in to interview, I was brought in to interview for the animated show,” Petrie told
BBC.com
. “I was shown rough sketches of the characters and some of the sets. I loved what I saw, I was dying to work on the show and I was hoping once I was hired on the live action (series), I would still get a chance to work on it.
BBC.com
. “I was shown rough sketches of the characters and some of the sets. I loved what I saw, I was dying to work on the show and I was hoping once I was hired on the live action (series), I would still get a chance to work on it.
It’s his sandbox but he’ll invite anybody in to play. He’s the first one to say, Bring it on.’—Jeph Loeb
“It’s going to be an amazing show. It’s funny, exciting; it’s all the huge gigantic action that we can’t do in a live show–so the sky’s the limit. There are a lot of ideas that they’ve had in the past five seasons, that were great ideas but they just couldn’t do, budget-wise. So we get to do all those cool high school stories that we couldn’t tell back in high school. Plus it’s the return to the classic
Buffy
, the way it all started, with all the teenagers and high jinks. It’s going to be absolutely amazing.”
Buffy
, the way it all started, with all the teenagers and high jinks. It’s going to be absolutely amazing.”
Joss yucks it up with Michelle Trachtenberg and Alyson Hannigan.
“It does take a long time to put these things together,” says Whedon. “I wanted to make sure that we had the right people and compelling stories. Yes, it’s a cartoon, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good cartoon. If we are going to do it, I want it done right.”
It’s clear that Whedon’s eclectic mix of projects will continue to grow in scale and variety. In April of 2002, Whedon hired Chris Buchanan as president of his production company, Mutant Enemy. In addition to overseeing Whedon’s various television projects, Mutant Enemy will explore production of music and movies as well.
The success of Buffy and Angel, and his joy at producing them, stand in sharp contrast to Joss’s frustration and disappointment at what he calls his “crappy film career.” But the movie siren still calls to Whedon.
Whedon has written two scripts that have yet to be filmed. The first script, titled Suspension, was written early in his career. He unabashedly calls it “
Die Hard
on a Bridge.” The most fun for Joss was figuring out “how many unbelievable things can happen on a bridge?”
Die Hard
on a Bridge.” The most fun for Joss was figuring out “how many unbelievable things can happen on a bridge?”
“In
Suspension
, terrorists take over the George Washington Bridge,” Joss tells. “Interestingly enough, I wrote it thinking, ‘Okay, I’ve got the George Washington Bridge, and it’s like
Die Hard
, so maybe I can sell it.’ What I love about
Suspension
is that the lead character, Harry Monk, has just come out of prison. He’s from New York and has been imprisoned in New Jersey for fifteen years and just wants to get to New York. That, right away, felt like the perfect thing for somebody who did not want to be on this bridge; somebody who just desperately wants to get back to New York. Then it’s the whole redemption thing, because he was in jail for shooting a cop, so that when he hooks up with other policemen, they hate him; they don’t trust him and he has to earn their trust. It’s a redemptionthrough-violence story, which I like a lot.”
Suspension
, terrorists take over the George Washington Bridge,” Joss tells. “Interestingly enough, I wrote it thinking, ‘Okay, I’ve got the George Washington Bridge, and it’s like
Die Hard
, so maybe I can sell it.’ What I love about
Suspension
is that the lead character, Harry Monk, has just come out of prison. He’s from New York and has been imprisoned in New Jersey for fifteen years and just wants to get to New York. That, right away, felt like the perfect thing for somebody who did not want to be on this bridge; somebody who just desperately wants to get back to New York. Then it’s the whole redemption thing, because he was in jail for shooting a cop, so that when he hooks up with other policemen, they hate him; they don’t trust him and he has to earn their trust. It’s a redemptionthrough-violence story, which I like a lot.”
It’s a redemptionthrough-violence story, which I like a lot.—Joss
The second script,
Afterlife
, is classic science fiction. It’s about a scientist, Daniel Hoffstettor, who is slowly dying from a fatal disease. He and his wife, Laura, are trying to make the best of his last days, but the knowledge of his impending death hangs over their lives.
Afterlife
, is classic science fiction. It’s about a scientist, Daniel Hoffstettor, who is slowly dying from a fatal disease. He and his wife, Laura, are trying to make the best of his last days, but the knowledge of his impending death hangs over their lives.
Then Daniel dies and (no surprise for Whedon fans) ... wakes up! A government agency named Tank has transferred his brain into a virile young body. Daniel was given a second chance at life and the opportunity to continue his research. But Daniel wants more. He wants to see his wife again. So Daniel escapes but he soon finds that he is in the body of an executed serial killer. His face is infamous, and soon both Tank and the police are hunting him.
Even worse, the personality of Jamie Snow, the serial killer, is beginning to emerge and he must battle it to retain control of his body. He ultimately finds his wife but then must confront the forces chasing him.
The movie may be produced one day, so I won’t reveal the ending. But according to
screenwritersutopia.com
, “Afterlife’s finale is absolutely showstopping in its blindsided punch. Joss wraps all the threads in his hand and thrusts us toward a big, exciting, passionately zealous, sharp ending.
screenwritersutopia.com
, “Afterlife’s finale is absolutely showstopping in its blindsided punch. Joss wraps all the threads in his hand and thrusts us toward a big, exciting, passionately zealous, sharp ending.
“Afterlife is a great Hollywood action-thriller with a grinning plot that seems so simple on paper but takes a grand master to craft into something that stays off the road of hokum. With equally large dollops of fantasy and reality, Joss is able to walk the center ground—and strike the heart of impermanent movie heat.”
Joss also got involved with
X-Men,
doing a rewrite which was then almost entirely rejected. “I just felt there was some weak characterization,” he said of the script he saw. “Long stretches with no forward momentum in the plot. And more importantly, there was no Danger Room [a staple of the
X-Men
comics]. So I put in a big Danger Room, I tried to keep it, you know, cheap. But they threw all that out. I was so excited about writing it. It was so much fun. I felt very passionate about it, which was probably a terrible mistake.
X-Men,
doing a rewrite which was then almost entirely rejected. “I just felt there was some weak characterization,” he said of the script he saw. “Long stretches with no forward momentum in the plot. And more importantly, there was no Danger Room [a staple of the
X-Men
comics]. So I put in a big Danger Room, I tried to keep it, you know, cheap. But they threw all that out. I was so excited about writing it. It was so much fun. I felt very passionate about it, which was probably a terrible mistake.
“I can’t tell you how excited I was to write that film. They said, ‘Hey you want to do this?’ and I jumped at it. Who wouldn’t? I love comic books and at that point no one had made a great movie from one. This was my chance to really make my mark, and then they trashed the whole thing. I think one line of what I had written was left in the film. It could have been so much better if they had let me do what I wanted with that one.”
Like Charlie Brown running at the football, Joss again ran at the movies, only to fall flat on his back. “It’s like, ‘How many signs do I need?’ Every time I do the same thing.
Alien Resurrection
happens and I go, ‘Never again, I’ll stay in TV where I’m happy’ Then the
X-Men
thing comes up and I say, ‘That could be so cool.’ So I dive in and they don’t give a flying [expletive] what I think is cool. It’s like I forget what a writer is in the movies, which is nothing. It’s entirely true. My whole movie career has been a cautionary tale.”
Alien Resurrection
happens and I go, ‘Never again, I’ll stay in TV where I’m happy’ Then the
X-Men
thing comes up and I say, ‘That could be so cool.’ So I dive in and they don’t give a flying [expletive] what I think is cool. It’s like I forget what a writer is in the movies, which is nothing. It’s entirely true. My whole movie career has been a cautionary tale.”
I felt very passionate about it, which was probably a terrible mistake.—Joss
Halle Berry delivers one of the few Joss lines lef in X-Men. “Do you know what happens when a toad is hit by lightning? The same as anything else.
8
F
irefly
irefly
“Fox came to Joss and said, do you have any sort of uplifting, homegrown stuff that’s yatriotic, and he said, ‘I have [a] show about depression in deep space’. And they said ‘OK, we’ll have that. . .”—Anthony Head“It’s about the search for meaning
. . .
and did I mention there’s a whore?”—Joss Whedon
J
oss entered the 2002/2003 television season with a full plate.
Buffy
was in its seventh and possibly last season, and Joss was determined to see it to a brilliant conclusion.
Angel
, just hitting its stride, faced the loss of both David Greenwalt and David Simkins. But despite these responsibilities, Joss’s most important project was
Firefly
. Heavily promoted and launched on a major network, (Fox, by some measures, is one of the top-rated networks)
Firefly
was a high-profile new series. Unlike
Buffy, Firefly
would not have the luxury of operating in relative obscurity as it slowly develops its audience.
oss entered the 2002/2003 television season with a full plate.
Buffy
was in its seventh and possibly last season, and Joss was determined to see it to a brilliant conclusion.
Angel
, just hitting its stride, faced the loss of both David Greenwalt and David Simkins. But despite these responsibilities, Joss’s most important project was
Firefly
. Heavily promoted and launched on a major network, (Fox, by some measures, is one of the top-rated networks)
Firefly
was a high-profile new series. Unlike
Buffy, Firefly
would not have the luxury of operating in relative obscurity as it slowly develops its audience.
Joss was well aware of
Firefly’s
importance and he felt the pressure. “We aren’t
flying
under the radar any more, I’ll tell you that,” Joss explains. “And that’s a different feeling. I miss it [flying under the radar]. It’s more pressure, but ultimately, developing a series is always complicated.
Firefly
is no exception, but neither were
Buffy
or
Angel
. It’s a miserable process. More miserable than it should be. The fact is I have three shows now that I adore and are exactly as I had hoped they might be and more. So, ultimately the process must work.”
Firefly’s
importance and he felt the pressure. “We aren’t
flying
under the radar any more, I’ll tell you that,” Joss explains. “And that’s a different feeling. I miss it [flying under the radar]. It’s more pressure, but ultimately, developing a series is always complicated.
Firefly
is no exception, but neither were
Buffy
or
Angel
. It’s a miserable process. More miserable than it should be. The fact is I have three shows now that I adore and are exactly as I had hoped they might be and more. So, ultimately the process must work.”
Set five hundred years in the future, the hour-long drama takes place on a small transport spaceship named
Serenity
.
Serenity
is a Firefly-class spaceship (the ship lights up in the back and vaguely resembles a firefly). There has been an interstellar civil war, and the show focuses on the rough-and-ready crew of
Serenity
. The crewmembers are willing to take any job, legal or not, to stay afloat and make money They are the cowboys of the Western frontier of the future. They seek adventure and, occasionally, try to find a purpose in a difficult world.
Serenity
.
Serenity
is a Firefly-class spaceship (the ship lights up in the back and vaguely resembles a firefly). There has been an interstellar civil war, and the show focuses on the rough-and-ready crew of
Serenity
. The crewmembers are willing to take any job, legal or not, to stay afloat and make money They are the cowboys of the Western frontier of the future. They seek adventure and, occasionally, try to find a purpose in a difficult world.
The idea for the show came about “three years ago, when I was reading
The Killer Angels,
the book on Gettysburg,” says Whedon. “I just got obsessed. I’d always wanted to do a science-fiction show and I got obsessed with sort of the minutiae of life way back when—that early life, frontier kind of thing, when things were not so convenient as they are now. And I wanted to do a show in the future that really had that sense of history. The idea that it never stops, that we don’t solve all our problems and have impeccably clean spaceships in the future; that we’re all exactly the way we are now and were a hundred years ago ... I got to thinking about what might have happened after the war, and then sort of ran with that into the future.
The Killer Angels,
the book on Gettysburg,” says Whedon. “I just got obsessed. I’d always wanted to do a science-fiction show and I got obsessed with sort of the minutiae of life way back when—that early life, frontier kind of thing, when things were not so convenient as they are now. And I wanted to do a show in the future that really had that sense of history. The idea that it never stops, that we don’t solve all our problems and have impeccably clean spaceships in the future; that we’re all exactly the way we are now and were a hundred years ago ... I got to thinking about what might have happened after the war, and then sort of ran with that into the future.
BOOK: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy
13.39Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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