Screen Rant » buffy the vampire slayer

Joss Whedon To Direct An Episode of Glee

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:40:56 +0000

When you think Joss Whedon and musicals, it’s not with dread. His more creative and unique entertainment venues have generated some very popular products. Some examples of those, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode titled “Once More, With Feeling,” and the latest, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Now, Joss Whedon will be adding Glee to his dossier of credits.

Fox ordered the back 9 episodes of the season of Glee and as a big fan of the show, Joss made sure there was so scheduling conflicts when asked by the studio to direct an episode. In fact, Joss had this to say about the news:

“Hey kids and parents of kids and super-old, like ancestor-old-but-not-dead-yet-type people, just poking my oversized head in to say that the rumors are true… unless something very odd happens in the next few months, I will have the privilege of shooting an episode of GLEE. Why GLEE? Because I love cops, serial killers and gritty urban drama (I haven’t seen the show yet). Why me? Because they’re struggling and can’t afford real directors.“

I definitely enjoy his style of side-stepping banter.

Dollhouse fans, DO NOT FRET. He’s lending his directing talent after he’s done with his work on Dollhouse this season.

On Joss Guest Directing

I don’t know if you know this, but Joss has guest-directed episodes of The Office and apparently, if it weren’t for scheduling conflicts, he was apparently super close to directing an episode of Battlestar Galactica.

Oh, By The Way

In case you haven’t heard, Jonathan Groff (Taking Woodstock, Spring Awakening) has joined Glee for up to 6 episodes.

Sources: Hollywood Insider, LA Times, Whedonesque

You Might Also Be Interested In:

TV News & Notes: Caprica, Smallville & More

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:36:22 +0000

Today we have some info about the ongoing cast additions to Caprica, some scary character add-ons to Smallville, A little tidbit about NBC. I also point something out about that tiny little paltry convention called Comic-Con. LOL. You’ll see what I mean.

Caprica

First up, some interesting Caprica casting tidbits. The last two roles I saw James Marsters in was Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Smallville.

Now, we will be able to add Caprica to my list.

James Marsters will portray a terrorist named Barnabus Greeley, who is driven by moralistic and carnal focuses.

The comedian Patton Oswalt has also been added to the cast list as a guest star, playing the role of Baxter Sarno, a Caprican comedian. Sarno has a talk show that Daniel & Amanda Graystone (Eric Stoltz & Paula Malcomson) eventually appear on.

James Marsters and Patton Oswalt

It will be nice to see how Marsters twists this role into something special, like he’s done to his other roles.

Sources: Sci Fi Wire, EW

Smallville

A few days ago, we reported on the first look at Brian Austin Green as Metallo and it was a cool first look.

On the frightening side of things, at least from what I’m feeling, we’re going to get a dose of the Wonder Twins next season on Smallville.

Yep, David Gallagher (7th Heaven) and Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13) have been cast as Zan and Jayna, the teenage alien superheroes.

I really can’t wait.

Source: io9

NBC Is Playing Nice

Before all the new fall shows begin, NBC is giving fans a chance to play catch up on whatever show they like. For a limited time, NBC is making many of their shows available on NBC.com.

The shows include:

30 Rock
America’s Got Talent
Chuck
Days of Our Lives
Friday Night Lights
Great American Road Trip
Heroes
Kings
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Listener
Merlin
The Office
Parks and Recreation
The Philanthropist
Southland
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
The Wanted

Source: NBC

Comic-Con Just Ain’t That Big!

I was in that mess of humanity called Comic-Con and I thought the lines were pretty long. Attendance this year has been estimated at up to 140,000 visitors by some reports.

In this pic, this one line started at point A in front of me, went up the stairs, turned right, weaved left and right down to point B at the other end of the convention center. It then U turned left, went inside and ended at point C. And there was a lot more line behind me!

Yea, I thought that was a long line. I might have been wrong.

In Tokyo, they recently held Comiket. It’s known as the world’s largest handmade comic book fair.

Now THAT, is a line!

The three-day attendance record for the 3-day Comiket event was estimated at 560,000 visitors, or 4.5% of the population of Tokyo.

I’m thinking I had it pretty easy in that line now!

Source: Sci Fi Wire

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Joss Whedon: Dollhouse & Thoughts On The New Buffy Project

Bruce Simmons — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:54:31 +0000

Now that Joss Whedon has wrapped upped his work on The Cabin in the Woods, he’s starting to focus on his 2nd season of Dollhouse.

We’ve got different chunks of news for you today. First, we chat a little bit about the new writers for the show then some character news. Later on we make note on Joss’ opinion on the new Buffy The Vampire Slayer project.

Writing Staff Added To Dollhouse

For any Reaper fans that have become fans of the writers from that show, you will be happy to know that the creators / writers from Reaper, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, have come on board the writing staff for season 2 of Dollhouse. They’ve signed an exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox, and 20th Century produces Dollhouse.

Now don’t be confused. Yes, Joss was given a smaller budget for season 2 but they’re not adding staff. These two replace the spaces vacated by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. Craft and Fain both moved over to the writing staff for Lie To Me.

Work On Dollhouse Is Getting Underway

The first thing we need to address are the rumors of who is or isn’t showing up on Dollhouse because they may have been exaggerated.

According to Joss Whedon, despite reports saying that there was a good possibility of Summer Glau coming on board, there may have been a liberal dose of misinterpretation involved.

I’ve previously reported that he asked Summer if she’d consider coming on board. More recently, Joss said that he first has to serve the work needs of the cast already assembled before anything can be worked out with Summer Glau. Joss says that if something came up that fit her, he’d “… hound her. But the rumors of her becoming part of the show are greatly exaggerated.“ But you have to admit, the potential of her presence on the show is pretty exciting.

Cast, Where Art Thee?

As far as other cast members showing up in season 2, have you noticed a few folks are on other shows? I did, and I was curious.

Continue reading ‘Joss Whedon: Dollhouse & Thoughts On The New Buffy Project’

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Movie News Wrap Up: June 14, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:42:06 +0000

This week:

The box office has a severe Hangover; Vertigo tries to find the real Exorcist; Ed Neumeier talks RoboCop; Angelina Jolie is Wanted; Megan Fox is a Vampire Slayer and Dwayne Johnson goes Commando.

Box office
The Hangover was a holdover this week in the number 1 position. The R-rated comedy should bank another $33 million over the weekend to bring the total of the film up to $100 million after one week on release. With a sequel already in development it looks like this is a new lucrative franchise for Warner Bros – one that doesn’t involve costly special effects. Up held onto the runner-up spot with a weekend take of about $30 million showing that people just love Pixar movies.

Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 arrived at number 3 this weekend with a gross of $25 million. The Denzel Washingtion/ John Travolta starrer faced some hefty competition but its opening is pretty normal for a Washington-led action film. It should have decent legs and a total of $70 million isn’t out of the question.

Night At The Museum 2 grabbed another $9.5 million this weekend, helping Ben Stiller secure at least one more family comedy in his future.

Will Ferrell’s summer bomb Land of the Lost managed another $9 million but the end is in sight and it looks like it’ll have to wait for DVD in order for it to see profit.

Speaking of bombs – Eddie Murphy’s Imagine That will eek out about $6 million. It looks like Murphy’s career may be over. Once he was the king of the box office with a slew of adult oriented comedies and then when things looked shaky, he moved into the family comedy arena where he had a very lucrative career. Now it looks like the family comedy genre is more interested in the likes of Ben Stiller. Does Murphy need Beverly Hills Cop 4? Probably – imagine that!

Long running franchise films Star Trek and Terminator Salvation are pretty much neck and neck with just under $5 million a piece. Their totals on the other hand couldn’t be more different. Star Trek has over $230 million while Terminator has about half that.

Drag Me To Hell and Angels and Demons are also a close call with about $3-4 million each. The Sam Raimi fright pic stands at about $35 million while the Tom Hanks starrer has banked about $125 million. I wonder how much Dan Brown is getting?

Movie News

1. Everyone loves a good scare, that’s why the horror genre is one of the most profitable genres. Horror films are usually relatively cheap to produce and if done right are cross generational (The Sixth Sense).

One of the most successful horror films of all time is William Freidkin’s The Exorcist. The 1970’s classic has spawned sequels, prequels and countless knock-offs. Now Vertigo Entertainment are set to adapt The Real Story Behind The Exorcist: A Study of the Haunted Boy and Other True-Life Horror Legends from Around the Nation’s Capital for the big screen.

The book (and I presume the film) follows a reporter who attempts to track down the real person who inspired the Freidkin movie. The reporter discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

It sounds like it could be promising in a Mothman Prophecies sort of way.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

2. Ed Neumeier, producer and writer of Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop, has discussed the currently in development remake with Moviehole.

Neumeier who isn’t involved in the film said:

‘’Obviously, I hope they do a good job and don’t make a mess of it like they managed to with RoboCop 2 and 3. Darren Aronofsky, the director of record last time I checked, is a talented guy and I presume he’ll do something interesting. The biggest problem the new movie may face is MGM’s shaky financial health”.

Not an awful lot to go on but I presume that no news is good news. Having said that – it’s a shame that neither the writer nor Verhoeven are involved in the film, however the duo are developing a film together. Neumeier said:

“Verhoeven and I are hard at work on our epic about Los Angeles, the LAPD, marriage, divorce and bank robbery called Black & White and Red All Over.”

Source: Moviehole

3. Timur Bekmabetov is preparing Wanted 2 and Angelina Jolie is set to return in the sequel to last year’s action hit.

Bekmabetov told Russian site RIA Novosti:

“In July we will start preparation for the film. I think in the late autumn or winter shooting will be performed. The shooting will take place in America, India and Russia.”

Apparently the budget of the film will be in the region of $150 million. Expect a good chunk of that to go to Jolie.

Source: Comingsoon

4. Cinefools have some interesting (and far fetched) rumors.
The first being that Megan Fox is set to star in the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer film. Now, I’m pretty sure that this will never happen – but it’s probably safe to assume that Fox’s name at the very top of the producer’s wish list. However she is a very busy young lady and I’m not too certain that they’ll be able to snag her.

The Transformers 2 star is a hot commodity at the moment and just the kind of name that would probably make some fans forget that Joss Whedon isn’t involved in the reboot.

5. The second rumor (and slightly more likely) is that Dwayne Johnson is set to step into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fatigues in the remake of Commando.

The Schwarzenegger remake/reboot bandwagon has been rolling on for some time with Terminator Salvation on release; Predators in development and Conan on the way. However, why remake Commando? It’s a pretty silly but highly enjoyable film that works because of Scwarzenegger and he is what separates it from a multitude of forgetful action films with D-list talent.

Johnson was all set to become the new Schwarzenegger until he was sidetracked by family comedy. Maybe he saw what happened to Eddie Murphy and decided that it’s time to get out the guns.

Source: Cinefools

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

You Might Also Be Interested In:

‘Buffy’ Reboot Without Joss Whedon?

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:34:58 +0000

Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment, and the original franchise rights holders, Kuzui Enterprises (Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui), of the movie Buffy The Vampire Slayer are looking to remake the popular vampire slayer movie and at the moment, it looks like they’re looking to do it without Joss Whedon.

Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay for the 1992 movie and as we all know, was brought back to helm the highly popular TV series that ran from 1997 to 2003, and also led to the 1999 spin-off, Angel.

Despite the rich history of the Buffy TV franchise, there are no plans to use some of the more popular characters from the TV series like Angel, Willow or others. They’re looking to take the franchise into a darker direction than the original and have a slayer that is destined to protect each generation of humanity.

At the moment though Whedon is not attached to this new project.

It may only be that he has not been contacted by Kuzui Enterprises yet and has not been ruled out. At this point they are meeting with writers and hearing what they have for ideas on the new premise.

Our Take

For this premise to actually work, they need to be very careful how they approach this new idea of theirs.

I like the idea of it being darker but the idea of anyone else helming a Buffy project aside from Whedon might be breaking a holy seal of such.

They already have an installed fanbase, but it will be a fine line they’ll be walking if they use anyone besides Whedon. Yet sometimes, change is warranted and can be successful. It will be interesting to see what happens. As details develop, we’ll keep you apprised.

How do you feel about this potential change to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer franchise reboot? Who do you think might be a good writer to replace the irreverent Joss Whedon – or do you think this is just noise to generate media buzz, saying they aren’t looking at Whedon to guide the reboot?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

You Might Also Be Interested In: