Rumor: Joss Whedon Turned Down Buffy Reboot

[Logan Westbrook]

Rumor: Joss Whedon Turned Down Buffy Reboot

The producers of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer [http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Kristy-Swanson/dp/B00005LIRA/ref=sr_1_11?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1291199610&sr=1-11] movie reboot wanted Whedon on board, say insiders.

The announcement [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105532-Stake-Me-Now-Warner-Bros-Rebooting-Buffy-The-Vampire-Slayer] that a reboot of the original Buffy movie was in the works, without creator Joss Whedon's involvement, was almost more than some fans could bear. According to insider sources, however, Whedon could have worked on the reboot, but chose not to.

Whedon responded to the announcement of the reboot last week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105577-Joss-Whedon-Responds-to-Buffy-Reboot-News], and seemed to be taken by surprise, but if the rumors are to be believed, he was well aware that it was a possibility. Sources say that producers Fran Rubel Kazui and her husband Kaz Kazui approached Whedon to work on the film before they talked to anyone else, but he wanted to work on other projects - like the upcoming Avengers movie - instead. It was only after Whedon turned the project down that the Kazuis started looking for another writer, eventually going with neophyte screenwriter Whit Anderson, whose take on the story was strong enough to catch their attention.

If the rumors are true, we can only speculate on what Whedon's motives might have been for turning the project down. You might make the case that Whedon was done with the franchise but his involvement with the canonical spin-off comics [http://www.amazon.com/Long-Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Season/dp/1593078226/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291199696&sr=8-2] shows that he's still got plenty of Buffy stories left in him.

A more compelling argument might be that Whedon already has rebooted the movie once, and turned it into a very successful TV show [http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Complete-Season/dp/B00005221I/ref=sr_1_10?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1291199610&sr=1-10]. It's quite possible that the prospect of dropping most of the characters and stories he'd developed to reboot a version of the story he wasn't very happy with in the first place didn't sound too appealing, and certainly wasn't going to win out over the chance to work on the Avengers movie.


Source: Heat Vision Blog [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/joss-whedon-passed-buffy-reboot-54834]


Permalink

 

[Jumwa]

The guy walked off the first movie and tried to have his name removed from the credits he was so displeased with it. Guess he wasn't looking for a repeat.

 

[Actual]

When they didn't get Whedon, that's when they should have stopped production.

I can't figure out what demographic this movie is aimed at.

The fans of the TV show aren't interested as it's got no connection to the program they enjoyed.

The new vampire fans are full up on True Blood, Vampire Diaries, and even Twilight if they're tweens.

Everyone else; this just isn't going to catch their attention. To them it'll just be another vampire film with a silly name, there are easier to market films they'll pay to watch.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

If this is true I'm not surprised. He spent years building and investing himself in his own story and characters, and why would he want to throw it all away? Same reason fans are not happy with the idea.

 

[brunothepig]

Both possibilities. If either are true, then they were good reasons.
However, this is just a rumour. Maybe an insider was just angry that Whedon turned down the reboot. Either way, I'll probably ignore it.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

Why doens't someone throw some money at him to reboot Firefly.

Or better yet, to just make more seasons!

^^^This, well the latter.

Instead of rebooting an old franchise (that I frankly never cared for) why not continue it or make a new one?

 

[Snotnarok]

Reboots are a waste of time and money, 90% of the time the original is far superior. How about you see if he's interested in rebooting firefly instead?

 

[tkioz]

It could be he was honestly surprised, he may have been approached about doing the movie, talked about it, turned them down, and walked away thinking it was dead in the water and not going to happen only to find out later that they are going ahead with it against his wishes.

Honestly if he was involved I'd be thrilled, but as it stands no fucking way, stop rebooting shit, come up with your own damn ideas people. Josh has had Buffy, Firefly, and the admittedly shitty Dollhouse (IMO), but at least they were his own ideas not some cheap cash crab reboot bullshit.

 

[tkioz]

Reboots are a waste of time and money, 90% of the time the original is far superior. How about you see if he's interested in rebooting firefly instead?

I don't think he'd be into rebooting it, maybe continuing it if he could get the actors back, but that's unlikely.

Killing Firefly is one crime I'll never forgive Fox for, it rates higher on my shit list then anything Fox News has ever done, and that's saying something.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

In the words of a Buffy member
"Re-boots? That's like SO last century."

 

[tehroc]

Reboots are a waste of time and money, 90% of the time the original is far superior. How about you see if he's interested in rebooting firefly instead?

Because Firefly is awful and despite a handful of you guys the majority aren't interested in a Western set in space. If I wanted to see westerns I would watch cowboy movies with The Duke in them.

 

[comadorcrack]

Or we don't believe rumours until we hear the truth?

 

[tehroc]

Reboots are a waste of time and money, 90% of the time the original is far superior. How about you see if he's interested in rebooting firefly instead?

Because Firefly is awful and despite a handful of you guys the majority aren't interested in a Western set in space. If I wanted to see westerns I would watch cowboy movies with The Duke in them.

Yeah, that "handful" of guys have only kept the show one of the biggest continuous sellers on Amazon, made enough waves for the show to be amped into a movie AND the only reason that the show never continued on another network was because Fox refused to sell the rights to it to Universal who were looking to buy.

Oh, and The Duke was a angry, drunken sissy who made a career playing the same role over and over.

If its soooooooo popular as you would claim, then why hasn't FOX brought it back like they did with Family Guy? Oh that's right the demographic just isn't there to justify it. Also more people have pirated the movie then actually paid to watch it.

You Whedonheads are just as bad as the otakus around here. Visibly irritated that someone doesn't share their interests.

 

[Snotnarok]

Reboots are a waste of time and money, 90% of the time the original is far superior. How about you see if he's interested in rebooting firefly instead?

Because Firefly is awful and despite a handful of you guys the majority aren't interested in a Western set in space. If I wanted to see westerns I would watch cowboy movies with The Duke in them.

Yeah, that "handful" of guys have only kept the show one of the biggest continuous sellers on Amazon, made enough waves for the show to be amped into a movie AND the only reason that the show never continued on another network was because Fox refused to sell the rights to it to Universal who were looking to buy.

Oh, and The Duke was a angry, drunken sissy who made a career playing the same role over and over.

If its soooooooo popular as you would claim, then why hasn't FOX brought it back like they did with Family Guy? Oh that's right the demographic just isn't there to justify it. Also more people have pirated the movie then actually paid to watch it.

You Whedonheads are just as bad as the otakus around here. Visibly irritated that someone doesn't share their interests.

So it wasn't about Fox airing the show out of order, (skipping the first episode entirely), putting it on at an absurd hour. Let me get this straight, according to you Family Guy costs the same to make as a live action sci fi show with actors props special effects and sets? Your argument makes little sense.

But no no you're right, it's only the obsessed ones that defend it, must be why it won an Emmy it actually has a huge fanbase.

Just maybe people are actually irritated because you say things like you know what happened and you don't. But, you also say your ignorant information in a very antagonizing way while generalizing people and insulting fans of other mediums. It's not about anyone being obsessed, it's about you being vocal with incorrect information and insulting people.

So why not take a step back and think about how you say things instead of insulting people

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Seeing as I'm among the people who enjoyed the movie but disliked the series, I'm not entirely put off by this little project. In spite of me being appreciative of a lack of Joss Whedon, it's still a reboot of a movie that didn't need a reboot.

In retrospect, I'd rather Mr. Whedon tackle this and leave The Avengers to someone more appropriate.

 

[Azuaron]

I'm a little confused why all this is making big news now. And here's an article a few days after that of Whedon saying the producers reached out to his agent. [http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Buffy-The-Vampire-Slayer-Gets-A-Total-Reboot-Without-Whedon-13275.html] Quote:

"I think that's something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck." - Joss Whedon

Nothing that's happened in the past two weeks is a surprise to anyone; it's just the formal announcement and the responses to the formal announcement.

And can you really blame Joss? He's working on an Avengers movie. Goners may (or may not, who knows) enter production soon. The Buffy reboot is going to be a reboot of the original movie by the producers of the original movie which Joss hated so much he tried to get his name removed from the credits.