Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy Read online

  “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.

  Long before any of the major characters hit the small screen, they were rolling around in Joss’s head somewhere. The idea for Fred (a physicist stranded in an alternate dimension) had been bubbling for a while when he met Acker. “There was just something in the way she read the part that I just knew she was Fred,” says Whedon. “She has a great ability to be very serious and do comedy in the same breath.” Acker would be a series regular in season three.

  “I’m still so excited just to have this job,” Acker enthuses. “I feel so lucky just to work with people like Joss. Anyone who comes to visit us on set is like, ‘This is amazing, you all like each other so much.’ We just have the best dynamic and I think that helps the show.”

  “Then you have Gunn,” Whedon added, “who is the guy with the street smarts. The addition of the character and J. August Richards brought a new dimension to our little group. There’s a definite vibe between his character and Fred, and that could turn into something long-term. Or as long-term as we can get.”

  Andy Hallett, who plays Lorne the Host, is a longtime friend of Whedon’s. They’ve spent a number of hours together hanging out in seedy karaoke bars across LA. (Yes, Joss can sing; he and Kai Cole can be heard on the Once More with Feeling album.) Joss came up with an idea for a demon club owner who could read people’s hearts while they were singing. Hallet was surprised when he learned the character was based on him, and even more so when Joss suggested he audition for the part.

  Lorne is based on Andy, but that didn’t guarantee he would get the job. When they began casting for the part, Whedon asked that the producers see his friend and he left the ultimate decision up to them.

  “He told me I could audition, but he didn’t promise me anything. It was my first time to go out for something like this and they made me work for it,” Hallet told BBC.com in an interview. “This wasn’t an easy job to get, even though the character was based on me. I thought it would be only for a few episodes and then ended up getting seventeen out of twenty-two that third season.”

  In season three, Angel really hits its stride with a complex plot line featuring Angel’s nemesis Holtz, a pregnant Darla, and, ultimately Angel’s confrontation with his suddenly grown-up son. In season three, Angel proved that,
like Buffy, it was ready to rapidly evolve and enter new territory. “What I do like about the show is that it does keep changing and we are full of surprises and people come and go as they do in real life,” says Greenwalt. “People have babies and other things happen. People fall in love and people move forward. The idea that Angel and Cordelia would have feelings for each other, it scared us all and it sort of appeared out of the material. And we said, ‘No, but Buffy’—and he [Joss] was like, ‘People move on. You have to move forward all of the time.’”

  Whedon was the force behind some of the key emotional turning points, including making Angel a father. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Joss’s wife became pregnant with their first child during this season. “He needed something to connect to emotionally. Plus, I just love the idea of this embarrassing effect of a one-night stand.” Joss also decided to quickly bring the child to adulthood. “What are you going to do? Have a baby running around? I don’t think so. There were advantages. He got to have a baby. He got to have his child taken away. And then he got to have a full-grown son. That’s the beauty of it being a fantasy show.”

  “I thought Angel was particularly good this year [2001—2002 season],” says Professor Basinger. “It took them a while to find what this was supposed to be. The story line with the son moved Angel to a whole new level. I’ve found it interesting to watch how this show has evolved. Joss only writes and directs a few episodes a year, but you always know which ones are his. He has a distinct style and a way of storytelling that no one else can duplicate.”

  As much as his cast and producers love him, they still like to give him a difficult time. Greenwalt is quick to point out that there are times when even he wonders where Whedon’s mind has gone. The cast and crew were shocked when Joss wanted to take the show to the ballet (Waiting in the Wings, written and directed by Whedon). It was something Joss had wanted to do for a long time, and it became one of the standout episodes of all time.

  It was Acker’s favorite as well. “By far my favorite episode was Joss’s episode Waiting in the Wings. Even though no one gets to see it in the episode, Alexis and I got to do a beautiful dance number. I hadn’t danced for eight years before that. I had told him that I had taken ballet for fourteen years, but I didn’t tell him which fourteen years of my life [it] had been.

  What are you going to do? Have a baby running around? I don’t think so.

  —Joss

  “Joss is [in] love with the ballet and I guess he felt the show wasn’t quite gay enough yet,” laughs Greenwalt.

  “I just want everyone to know that Angel is not gay,” laughs Boreanaz, “not that there’s anything wrong with that. But Angel is not gay. Are we clear on that?”

  “I wasn’t sure what to think when Joss told me what he wanted to do with the ballet episode,” says Greenwalt. “But that’s just Joss, and it worked. I know that I should never have any doubts about what comes out of that brain of his. But you have to admit that it was a strange idea, one of the more different ones we’ve had on the show.”

  The fans fell in love with the characters too. At the end of the third season, the show was doing better than ever on the WB and was renewed for another year. Unfortunately, the fate of many of the characters was uncertain. Cordelia floated up to the powers that be. Angel was trapped in a box and dumped in the ocean by his son. Wesley was on a binge of self-destruction. Lorne the Host went off to find a new life, and Gunn and Fred were left alone wondering what happened to everyone.

  “You always have to leave them wanting more,” laughs Whedon. “What’s a great show without a few cliffhangers.”

  Angel entered its fourth season looking very strong with some fascinating plot lines developing. Angel is rescued from his watery tomb by a morally ambiguous Wesley. Cordelia returns without her memory and befriends Connor, who now seems to be something of a male vampire slayer. The sixth episode of the season, Spin the Bottle, is written and directed by Whedon.

  Angel’s strength so far this season comes despite some serious challenges. At the end of season three, coproducer Greenwalt announced that he was leaving the show (he would continue to serve as a creative consultant). Greenwalt moved to Touchstone Television, where he serves as the show runner for the new ABC fall-season drama Miracles.

  Joss is [in] love with the ballet and I guess he felt the show wasn’t quite gay enough yet.

  —David Greenwalt

  Greenwalt did not leave because of any issues with Joss or the show, but because he saw the opportunity as too good to pass up. “An unexpected thing happened to me when I first read and then saw the pilot for Miracles, which is that I fell in love,” says Greenwalt. ”It’s got everything—it asks the big questions about existence, it’s got irony and danger and horror and hope, and these are all the things that I love.

  Angel site visit

  During January 2000, I had the opportunity, along with several other television critics, to visit the set of Angel. While we were there, we had a chance to talk to Joss and the cast as a group, and then we had private chats with each of them.

  The thing that struck me when we first walked in was how big the soundstage was, but how tiny the actual set containing Angel’s living quarters. His bedroom and kitchen were so small that I can’t imagine how they were able to film in there.

  Now remember, this was the first season, before they blew everything up and moved to the big beautiful hotel.

  Think a small New York apartment, maybe in Hell’s Kitchen. Everything on the set was grimy and made to look dirty and old. The kitchen looked like any you might find in a small apartment. But there was one big difference. The refrigerator didn’t work, but there was a nice supply of blood inside. The blood wasn’t real, we were later told. But the fridge had one funky smell.

  Those early episodes of Angel had a dark and gritty look, and the sets were exactly as you see them on screen. “You get used to it after a while,” Carpenter told me during a private chat. “I’m one who likes things neat and tidy. There’s a bit of Martha Stewart in me, but even I got used to it eventually. But it may have made me even a little more obsessive about keeping my home clean,” she laughs.

  While we chatted, I watched Boreanaz as he showed off his digs. He didn’t see them as small and dirty at all. It was as if he was at home, showing off a castle. He was so proud and happy to have us there. It was kind of sweet, actually.

  Joss was the same way. When someone made a derogatory remark about Angel’s digs, the creator had a quick comeback. “Well, he is a vampire,” Joss laughed. “What do you expect? He needs some place to sleep during the day and he has a fridge full of blood. What more does a vampire need?”

  “Isn’t he cute?” Carpenter said as we moved away from the group for our chat. “He’s like a proud father,” she said of Joss. “That’s the great thing about being on this show; he and David are so into every detail. The sets and the characters, they care about everything. Now if I could just get them interested in my wardrobe,” she laughed.

  Joss concedes that Cordelia’s wardrobe has not been a high priority. “She’s the only girl around, and I guess we weren’t paying much attention to the clothes she wears,” he said. “We heard from a lot of women who watched her on Buffy and liked that she had all these cool clothes. Now she’s on Angel and she wears jeans all the time. The truth is the character sort of hit rock bottom and doesn’t have a lot of money for clothes. She’s also been out in the field a lot more, fighting the bad guys, and she can’t do that in high heels and dresses. I can’t believe I’m the one talking to you about wardrobe,” he laughs. “Look at me, I’m the last one to talk to anyone about the right clothes to wear.”

  One thing he did take offense at was the criticism that, when she wasn’t wearing jeans, Cordelia’s clothing was skimpy at best. When she was an actress trying to make it in Hollywood, there were a few low-cut dresses and bikinis on the show.

  “If it involved the story for some reason, then we might have to do something like
that, but it doesn’t happen often,” says Whedon. “We are more likely to make the guys dress in something ludicrous than we are Charisma.”

  “I don’t mind getting to wear something sexy now and then,” laughs the actress. “It reminds people that I’m not just one of the guys. Well, I am, but you know what I mean.”

  For the record, Joss himself was wearing his trademark T-shirt with a checkered shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

  “You know, I came from a show called Prophet, but nobody in America saw it. But it made a splash, and I was lucky enough to work with Joss for six beautiful years. And, in fact, my contract was up at Fox. I took myself to the beach and watched the ocean. I said, ‘You know, I think I’d like to be on my own.’ And it wasn’t fun to leave Joss and not work so intimately with him anymore, but for me it was like, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to be a part of this show. It’s so good.... And it seems like a natural next step forward for me as well.”

  Whedon bears no ill will. “It’s a good move for him,” says Joss. “He’s still gonna consult for Angel, so that’s good for me, but it’s killing me. I’m losing a great writer, a great producer, a great director, and a guy without whom I have yet to make an hour of TV He’s the real deal, and there aren’t that many of those.”

  Whedon brought in David Simkins (Roswell, Freaky Links) as replacement show runner. This was an unusual move for Joss, as almost all of his senior staff grew up with Buffy and Angel and were part of this world long before they took on executive responsibilities. Joss acknowledged the challenges Simkins would face. “David [Simkins] is finding his feet. But you know you don’t just walk into a show that someone else has created and instantly know the game. But he’s aware of that and we are working with him. He’s very smart and story-savvy, and he’s an experienced producer.”