Joss Whedon fans distraught over the recent cancellation of "Dollhouse" might find a silver lining in at least one piece of news today. It appears that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" could find new life above and beyond Dark Horse Comics' well-received "Buffy" comic book series, as a casting notice recently popped up online for a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" motion comic.
Over at SciFi Wire, they've posted the full breakdown of voiceover casting calls for the "Buffy" motion comic, which offers a nice indication of which characters fans can expect to see in the series. Among the notables are slayers Faith, Robin Wood and Kennedy, as well as "big bad" villain Twilight. Curiously, there's also a call for a voice actor who sounds like current James Bond actor Daniel Craig. Read more...
FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: She may be best know as Tara Meers on the series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but Amber Benson (left, with Sarah Michelle Gellar) has since become an accomplished writer. She has written and produced her own films, written several comics and she and co-writer Christopher Golden created the popular BBC series “Albion.” Now, she’s taking her first solo-flight as a novelist with “Death’s Daughter,” which is book one of a trilogy.
During a book signing at Midtown Comics in Times Square, we had the chance to about her new book and its interesting protagonist, a sarcastic young woman named Calliope Reaper-Jones. Amber told Hollywood Crush, “Basically, it’s about a girl who’s father is Death. [Death as a force] is run like a corporation. He’s the president and CEO. And he gets kidnapped and [Calliope] has to come and run the company and find out what happened to her dad. But she’s like a normal girl and she doesn’t want any part of the supernatural world.”
Continue reading about Amber Benson, ""Death's Daughter" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" at HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
By Terri Schwartz
With fan rebellion worldwide against the purported Joss Whedon-less “Buffy,” ex-vampire slaying actress Eliza Dushku said being asked about the reboot is something she’s gotten familiar with in recent interviews.
“I go to Joss’s parties. I’ll just leave it at that,” Dushku told MTV News.
Dushku, who played Faith in Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” television series and its subsequent spin-off “Angel,” expressed no interest in the film or reprising her character in it, though she was not approached like “Buffy” creator Whedon was. With fan interest echoing the same sentiments, it seems like the only people who have interest in the film are oblivious moviegoers and “Twilight” fans looking for an Edward Cullen fix. Read more...
It's a fairly wide consensus in geekdom that nobody wants a new "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" film unless series mastermind Joss Whedon is allowed full creative control (or at least serious consultation privileges). But as it turns out, Whedon himself isn't all that interested.
Whedon spoke with Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch about the hotly-contested "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" film relaunch -- rumored to be an interpretation of the character that not only purports to ignore Whedon's continuity, but is being developed without Whedon's participation. Still, that's not to say that the producers behind the upcoming film didn't reach out to Whedon... eventually. Read more...
FROM MOVIES BLOG: With vampire boyfriends on everyone's wish list, it's not surprising that Hollywood looks to reviving one of its legendary slayers. Not that we would mind of course, as who doesn'twant Buffy to return and save us from the undead? The real question is: does anyone want Buffy without her creator, Joss Whedon?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, there are plans to bring Buffy back to the big screen without Whedon's participation. Instead, it will be a relaunch handled by the director of the 1992 film, Fran Rubel Kuzui, and her husband Kaz Kuzui, along with Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment. It would have no connection to Whedon's legendary television series, or to its comic book continuation, but would instead "reboot" the story from the very beginning in order to not upset the series' diehard fans.
Continue reading about the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reboot over at MoviesBlog.MTV.com.
It's been well publicized that Chris Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer and Michael Madsen would headline "Green Lantern: First Flight" as Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Boodika and Kilowog, respectively. But there's another geek-friendly actress involved that you may not know about: Juliet Landau.
Landau is best known for playing Drusilla in Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire" and "Angel" television series, though she'll soon appear in the animated "Green Lantern" flick as the voice of Labella. Landau says that her performance was almost second nature and that she instinctively knew exactly how the character would sound. Read more...
The universe of Joss Whedon's "Angel" continues to roll along in comics form, and this July, the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" spin-off will see a pair of popular characters return in the pages of IDW Publishing's ongoing "Angel" series.
The publisher announced this week that fan-favorite "Angel: After the Fall" writer Brian Lynch will not only be returning to the "Angel" series for a story focusing on vampire hunter Charles Gunn, but he'll then co-write a two-part story focusing on the vampire Drusilla -- who will make her first appearance in IDW's corner of the Whedonverse. Fans of the television series should also take note, however, as Lynch will script that two-issue Drusilla arc alongside actress Juliet Landau, who played the character in both the "Buffy" and "Angel" television series.
But wait, there's more! IDW has also provided Splash Page with the exclusive first look at the cover of the August-shipping "Angel" #24, created by artist Franco Urru and the first of the two issues focusing on Drusilla. Read more...
Earlier today, we posted some comments from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actor James Marsters regarding his experience writing (and reading) the various comic books that further the adventures of the "Buffy" cast of characters -- specifically, Marsters' villain-turned-hero vampire, Spike.
In describing his experience co-writing a one-shot story for Dark Horse Comics focused on Spike, Marsters called the project a "rude awakening," and criticized the work of artist Ryan Sook, who he claimed made the characters Spike and Drusilla (played by Juliet Landau in the television series) look "feral and ugly." Marsters told MTV News he voiced his complaints too late in the process for anything to be changed.
However, Dark Horse has provided MTV News with an official response to Marsters' comments regarding the 1999 "Spike and Dru" story he co-authored, as well as the choice of Sook as the book's artist. According to the book's publisher, the choice of artist came directly from the "Buffy" creator himself, Joss Whedon. Read more...
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been edited to correct several inaccuracies re: comic book projects' status and creative teams. "Spike and Dru" publisher Dark Horse Comics has also provided Splash Page with an official response to James Marsters comments. -RM]
Though its been off the airwaves for years (and this is back when TV had airwaves), the Buffyverse lives on today in comic book form. James Marsters, the "Dragonball Evolution" actor who played vampire villain-turned-hero Spike in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," recently shared some thoughts with with MTV News about his experience working with “Buffy” comics and how he tries to keep up with his vampiric alter ego.
“I like what I see,” Marsters told MTV News of IDW’s "Angel" series.
With ongoing “Buffy” and “Angel” comics currently published by two separate companies (Dark Horse and IDW, respectively), the character of Spike is, at the moment, making all his appearances in the latter. But when both series were still on the air, Dark Horse controlled the complete Buffyverse and actually hired Marsters to co-write a one-shot comic book, “Spike and Dru,” an experience that the actor confessed wasn’t one of his favorite memories. Read more...
With roles in genre hits like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Smallville," "Torchwood" and now "Dragonball: Evolution," James Marsters has the fandom market cornered. During a recent "Dragonball" press event, the multi-talented actor took a moment to share some thoughts with MTV News about the universes he'd like to return to in the near future.
After "Smallville" fans were overjoyed at Marsters' portrayal of the classic comic book villain Brainiac (and alter ego Dr. Milton Fine) in the fifth and seventh seasons of the popular series, Marsters said he hopes it's just a matter of time before his phone rings with a return offer. However, he admits that his own popularity is a stumbling block.
"The problem is that my manager talked them into paying me a whole lot of money," Marsters told MTV News. "When I heard how much, I thought that we'd probably be talking about Brainiac a whole lot and seeing him just a few times." Read more...
