Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (18 page)

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Authors: Candace Havens

BOOK: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy
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Greenwalt credits Boreanaz with helping him keep his temper. “David is always reminding me that we all have a purpose here, we are all here for [a] reason and it all fits together in a way that you can’t always see, and he’s actually helped me keep my temper a few times.”
“It’s important to stay grounded,” says Boreanaz. “You have to keep reminding yourself that it’s a show. We’re here to entertain and put out the best product that we possibly can. And on our show, we set the bar extremely high. Sometimes I set it high and get frustrated with myself, but that’s just the type of person I am.”
The first season was a tough one for everyone involved. The show was still trying to find itself creatively and though they had many hits, there were also a lot of misses. The balance between dark and light was often difficult for the writers to define, and there were many times when the show was overly dark.
As noted,
Angel
was initially conceived as film-noirish, with each episode setting up and resolving a detective case. This format, while interesting, abandoned some of
Buffy’
s core strengths, notably the focus on relationships and the multi-episode story arcs.
There were also problems with the two creators, Greenwalt and Whedon, being stretched too thin. They were both working sixteen hours a day, six days a week, and while they felt like they were telling good stories, they were the first to admit there were problems. In the middle of the season, Whedon, Greenwalt, and all of the writers were thrown into meetings to find out what it was the show was missing. The network execs, who were patient with Joss in the past, insisted that they fix the show and do so immediately
“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, it’s the end of the world,’” Joss relates. “It was the network telling us that we needed to make an adjustment, and David Greenwalt and I saying, ‘We wish we disagreed with you, but we don’t.’
“It was a matter of getting back to what we told the network we would do,” says Whedon. “We created this world for Angel but at the same time we had to make the stories something people could relate to in some way.
“We knew when things weren’t working,” Whedon says. “It was a matter of sitting down and doing a bit more planning. We had to take a hard look at the first year and see what worked, and what didn’t. Then we had to make some decisions about what type of show we wanted to put out there.”
Some cast changes were made and new characters were brought into Angel Investigations. Doyle (Glenn Quinn) who was one of the original members of Angel’s entourage was written out and Cordelia inherited his demon powers. They also brought in Alexis Denisof, who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on
Buffy
, at the end of the season.
When they began the show, they had wanted to do an anthology where each episode wrapped up a case. Unfortunately, the viewers were more invested in the characters and the mythology. So, the show began to take a turn for the better when the characters were better developed, with multi-episode story arcs and a stronger mythology for the series. The writers felt they had a strong through-line with the Wolfram and Hart story, so they decided to make the lawyers a part of the show’s mythology.
Charles Gunn (J. August Richards) was added to the investigative team and the writers brought back some old
Buffy
favorites, Darla (Julie Benz) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau).
“We were sitting around talking about the show with some of the writers and producers,” says Joss, “and the idea came up to bring Darla back as a human. It was something we all immediately jumped on and knew would work within the show. That relationship and Angel turning to his dark side helped to define the season. We still weren’t exactly where we wanted to be, but I don’t think you ever are 100 percent happy with anything you do.”
“Having five [regular] characters really allows for more complex stories to come out of the characters, rather than coming from the outside, which is where we
thought
they would come from when we first started the show,” says Joss. Then we started looking for another female, and Amy Acker [Fred] walked into the room and just stole the hearts of every single person who saw her. Actually, she hasn’t given them back yet. I’m afraid when she does she’s gonna give out the wrong ones and I’m gonna get someone else’s.”
 
Gunn (J. August Richards) brings a touch of normalcy and romance to the
Angel
team.
 
Amy Acker—is she still keeping Joss’s heart?
“It’s progressed considerably,” says Boreanaz of the show. “From what it was in the beginning and how it was, you know, kind of searching and what were these characters actually doing in the big city and in Los Angeles.
“... everything just fell into place from day one of season three. The characters are all strong, they each have their own identity and they’re each going their own paths, but all of those paths are going to the core....”
Season one ends with restoration of Darla (killed in season one of
Buffy
) and the destruction of Angel’s cramped apartment/office.
Angel
kicks into gear in season two, which opens with a new, more expansive set and a restored (and now human) Darla. The story features a turn towards evil for Angel, his epiphany, and a Darla-Drusilla rampage. According to Greenwalt, Joss came up with many of the season’s twists. “That’s one of the things I’ve loved about working with Joss, which is, ‘Let’s do this. What if he locks all the lawyers in the room and lets these vampire girls kill them? What if he fires these people? What if they go to another dimension?’ You know, there’s always something new. It’s not the same formula every week and that, for me, is what keeps it exciting,” says Greenwalt.
Amy Acker [Fred] walked into the room and just stole the hearts of every single person who saw her. Actually, she hasn’t given them back yet. I’m afraid when she does she’s gonna give out the wrong ones and I’m gonna get someone else’s.—Joss
 
 
Julie Benz and Juliet Landau, looking lovely and dangerous. Would you care to be locked in a room with them?
Season two ends with a four-episode story arc that takes Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, and the Host to the Host’s native dimension, a hellish place featuring human slavery and the absence of music. These episodes put Angel in a black-and-white world in which being a hero is much more straightforward. Speaking before it aired, Joss said, “I couldn’t be more excited about it. In this world, Angel can walk in the sunlight, so he’s loving life. He’s a hero, but then, of course, he learns there’s a price to pay.” Never one to mince words, Whedon added, “I’ll go on record in saying it’s a gay romp.”
That’s one of the things I’ve loved about working with Joss, which is, ‘Let’s do this. What if he locks all the lawyers in the room and lets these vampire girls kill them? What if he fires these people? What if they go to another dimension?’ —David Greenwalt
 
These episodes are notable for showcasing Joss’s first acting role as Loren’s dancing brother, Numfar. This came about when Whedon jokingly showed Greenwalt and Minear his idea for the crazy dance and the producers thought he looked just stupid enough to be great in the part.
Before he knew it, the decision was made to put makeup on Joss and turn him into the grotesque and not-too-talented dancing fool Numfar.
“No, no, it was just a crazy thing we did and it was funny,” laughs Whedon. “I had a little fun making myself look like an idiot. The makeup took two and half hours, but the idiot part was fairly simple.”
I’ll go on record In saying it’s a gay romp.
—Joss
 
Joss confesses he has the acting bug but is trying to be realistic about his limitations. “I’ve always had it, and I think it’s part of being a writer and a director. It’s knowing how you want things to be played. But I don’t have the face—that’s the problem—and I don’t want the giant ego. I don’t want to become Kevin Costner, singing on the soundtrack to
The Postman
. The acting bug mostly [came] from doing our weekly Shakespeare readings.”
Nevertheless, it’s hard to shake the bug. “Well, you know, I keep saying to Greenwalt, ‘Yeah, this story’s interesting, Angel’s going through a lot, [but] what’s the Numfar of it?” Joss says, sounding very much like Xander.”What’s Numfar learning? What’s Numfar dancing about? Let’s really examine the important things!”
 
Joss demonstrates his acting talents when captured by
Star Wars
storm troopers.
“We started the show with three characters and we’ve sort of grown each year,” says Greenwalt. “Look at
Buffy
over there. They have, like, forty-one regulars and you can’t get in the room when everyone is together,” jokes Greenwalt. “Again it’s a direct influence from Joss for our own show. We like to get new people in the mix, and we’ll see if we can add a new one [regular character] every year. We’ve done it so far. The bigger the family gets, the more the merrier in a way. People come and go on the show and I love having certain characters go back and forth. It gives us more people with more problems and issues to work with.”
I don’t want to become Kevin Costner, singing on the soundtrack to
The Postman
.—Joss
 
 
Joss with former executive producer David Greenwalt.

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