Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy Page 13

  But Simkins didn’t work out and left after a few months. Executive producer Tim Minear expressed some sympathy for the difficulties Simkins had joining the Angel team. “It was an incredibly difficult situation to walk into ... he was thrown into the deep end of the pool without any lifeguards, and so, because we didn’t have the time to really get in there and break him in, just everybody decided that it wasn’t going to work ... But I didn’t envy David Simkins being put into the middle of that situation, because it’s difficult.”

  Minear insists that the show will not be hurt by Simkin’s departure. “It’s a machine that’s running and in place, but at the end of the day, the season arcs and the stories are going to have to be broken by Joss and me and the staff, just like they have been since the beginning of the year, so it’s not all that different, in that sense.”

  With Simkins gone, leadership of the show falls to Whedon and Minear. How this will affect the show is unclear, but it’s certain that given Joss’s other responsibilities, in particular the launch of Firefly, his time for Angel is limited.

  7

  New Worlds

  “My big dream for Batman 3 was that they would do a Dark Knight, and superman would come down and be a government stooge . . . that was my dream.”

  —Joss Whedon

  From Buffy’s launch in 1995 to the present day, Buffy and Angel clearly dominated Joss’s time and energies. Nevertheless, Joss was also involved in countless other projects, from the Fray comics to planning new television series, from writing a song for Anthony Head’s album to overseeing Mutant Enemy, his production company.

  Joss had been playing with the idea of doing a comic for some time before deciding to launch Fray in 2001. He wanted a project that related to the world of Buffy and Angel without being part of it. So he developed the idea of Fray, a slayer from a world hundreds of years after Buffy’s.

  Perhaps the greatest appeal of the comics for Joss was the opportunity to operate without limitations. “The great thing about comic books is you can do whatever you want as far as the story goes. There are no real limitations to what you can create, except that you have a small amount of space to do it in. I can have flying cars and huge skyscrapers and whatever I want visually and you just can’t always afford to do that in film.”

  Joss has been reading comic books his entire life and has a great respect for them. There was the Spider-Man, Warlock, and X-Men in the early days. He continues to be a fan of Daredevil and reads The Preacher and Sin City.

  Fray, looking very slayer-like. FRAY™ & © JOSS WHEDON, PUBLISHED BY DARK HORSE COMICS, INC.

  As he has about most things, Joss has strong feelings about the comics that are being written today. Joss complains, “... I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Superpowers. Why is it now that everybody’s like ‘I can reverse the polarity of your ions!’ Like in one big flash everybody’s Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don’t understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it’s true.”

  Whedon was determined that Fray would be written with the same quality standards as Buffy or Angel. He didn’t want to do anything halfway and he took his time developing the stories and working with artist Karl Moline. Originally, he had thought he would do two or three books, but as the story began to grow, Joss couldn’t give it up. In the end, Fray became an eight-part story (not yet completed as of this writing).

  And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it’s true.—Joss

  Stylistically, Fray looks something like Blade Runner or The Fifth Element. The buildings are stacked far into the sky and there are cars flying around Manhattan. There are the extremely wealthy and the incredibly poor and downtrodden. The radiation in the air and water has resulted in a world with both diseased humans and mutants, who live together.

  Fray centers around the world of a reluctant slayer, Melaka Fray. In some ways, she’s like Buffy, but with notable differences. Melaka is older when she finds out she is a slayer, and unlike Buffy, she is a thief, part of the underworld and without much sense of social responsibility.

  For several hundred years there’s been no need for a slayer, because magic, vampires, and demons no longer existed. Melaka and Erin, her sister, had difficult childhoods. Erin is a police officer, which naturally leads to conflict with Melaka. When Melaka discovers she’s supposed to slay vampires, she wants nothing to do with it. If she can’t make any money at it, she doesn’t see the point.

  In the second book, Melaka begins to sense her powers and realizes that she really is different from most people. While still reluctant, she begins to accept her responsibilities as a super heroine.

  Unlike Buffy and Angel, Fray is more an adventure story than one about horror. That’s something Joss did on purpose. There is a touch of gruesome horror now and then, but for the most part it’s about Melaka dealing with her personal demons while reaching for a higher purpose. The reluctant superheroine must constantly deal with creatures that are beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

  Whedon describes how the creation of a comic compares to television. “It’s similar in that you’re looking for the big moments, you’re looking for the big emotions, and you’re constantly saying ‘these guys are overacting.’ It’s different in the sense that you have to choose a still picture that will convey what usually you would have movement to convey. When you’re taking off in the air or landing, which one is the one you need to show? How much do [you] need to convey visually? How much can you do in one panel? That’s different and pretty exciting, just because it’s new.”

  Like most things Joss is involved with, Fray is successful. From the moment of its launch, the comic flew off the shelves. The first issue of the comic book sold out of its first printing of twenty-six thousand copies less than two weeks after it had been released. The success of the series forced Dark Horse Comics to publish an additional ten thousand copies per issue for the remainder of the series.

  “Fray really clicks along, and it is, I think, everything you’d get out of a movie if Joss had an unlimited budget and all the time in the world,” says Scott Allie, the editor of the series, in an interview on darkhorse.com. “The artists are really kicking ass. When Joss saw the final, lettered and colored pages for the first issue he really flipped—like a kid in a candy store who’d suddenly found he owned the joint. Dark Horse is just plain dumblucky to have him. I’d put Joss up against any comics writer, with the exception of Alan Moore.”

  Whedon was as surprised as anyone at the success of the series. “Well, I of course wanted the comic to become a cult hit, but you never expect these things,” says Whedon. “It’s been very exciting to create this alternate universe for a slayer, and have people be so accepting. I’m working with some of the best in the business and that has a great deal to do with the success. But yes, I’d say I’m surprised about what’s happened.”

  Joss has said that he’s open to the idea of a Fray television series. “It would be very expensive, on account of all the flying cars and whatnot,” Whedon said. “But I kept the option open to develop it for other media.”

  Whedon has also found time to develop three new television series—Ripper, Buffy the Animated Series, and Firefly (Firefly is discussed in the next chapter).

  Ripper takes place in England and revolves around Buffy’s Giles. Anthony Head will star and the show, if green-lighted, will air on BBC. Joss describes Ripper as follows: “He’s a very lonely character who has had his life tied up in this one woman, and then he has to come home and get over that. He had to find his life again. It’s a mystery, but it’s a very quiet and adult show. His family, dead and alive, are a big part of it. There are monsters who sort of represent what is wrong with humanity, but it isn’t the frenetic scary ki
nds of monsters we see in Buffy. It’s a mystery show with some horror aspects. We have a lot of ghosts in mind.”

  When Joss saw the final, lettered and colored pages for the first issue he really flipped—like a kid in a candy store who’d suddenly found he owned the joint.—Scott Allie

  Joss promotes his Fray comics.

  Whedon’s tight schedule has delayed the show, but he remains committed to it. “There will come a day, soon I hope, when I can take the time to go over there and get it done,” says Whedon. “Once I get there it won’t take long. I know exactly what it is I need to do. I know how England itself will be a character in the show. There is so much to play off there and it is something, again, that I’ve always wanted to do. The character will be perfect for Anthony.”

  Anthony Head remains confident as well. “It will happen,” he says. “Joss really wants to do it. Jane Espenson has already written scripts. He’s been busy prepping [for Firefly] and it’s going to take quite a workload. That suits me, because I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment. Maybe some time in 2003 or 2004, maybe something will happen.”

  Enterprise visit with Joss

  There was a party on the Paramount lot for all of the UPN shows. Joss and several members of the Buffy gang were there. It was a simple meet-andgreet where you chat a little and then eat and drink a lot.

  Joss had both of his hands bandaged after an incident with limes, chicken, and some sunlight. The limes and sunshine had created a chemical reaction that burned his hands. It looked painful, but he was more embarrassed than anything. “Nothing more than my own stupidity,” he said of the bandages.

  The big draw for the party was a chance to see the sets of the UPN series The Enterprise. At the time none of us knew that Joss was working on his own space series, but he was like a kid on the set. At first I thought he might make fun, but there was nothing but joy on his face as we waited to go through the iron gates and into the first set.

  I was in Joss’s tour group. He listened carefully as different crewmembers explained the working parts of the sets. The first stop was the engine room and the main cabin of the ship. Joss played with the dials and sat in the captain’s chair. He checked out every inch before we moved to the next set. I was busy making notes for a story I was working on, but it was hard to miss Joss as he turned all the knobs and pushed the buttons on the computers.

  His cohort Marti Noxon was there right along with him. He turned to her a few times and said, “Man, we need one of these.” At the time I had no idea what was going on in that mind of his, but it wasn’t long after that party that the announcement was made about the pilot for Firefly. While it’s been mentioned that Firefly is the anti-Star Trek, I’m not sure Joss sees it that way. He seemed to have a great deal of respect for the Star Trek legacy and, while he had fun, he was almost reverential about the whole thing.

  Almost a year later, when I visited the Firefly set, Joss promised that he had not been trying to get ideas from The Enterprise visit. “I was curious and thought it would be fun to check it out, but I wasn’t really looking for ideas for our show. I did get some ideas of what I didn’t want to do. We weren’t going to have the big swinging captain’s chair because that had been done. But I know that no matter how much I say I wasn’t on some kind of mission, people aren’t going to believe me. I just thought it would be fun.”

  There’s a childlike fascination Joss has with the world, and at the same time there is a worldly view of what is taking place. It’s that dichotomy that makes him so interesting.

  Joss shows us his damaged hands, caused by some combination of lime juice and sun.

  The animated television series version of Buffy was also in planning for a long time. Whedon initially brought in famed comic-book artist Jeph Loeb to head up development.

  Loeb was very enthusiastic about the project. “I’ve never met anybody who is responsible for so much and yet so generous with his time,” says the Superman and Batman illustrator. “It’s his sandbox but he’ll invite anybody in to play. He’s the first one to say, ‘Bring it on.’” As for the cartoon’s content, Loeb says, “We’ll be dealing with the first season of Buffy. It was a short season, so Joss didn’t get a chance to tell a lot of stories. Buffy will get her driver’s license. She and Willow will have their first baby-sitting job.” The show will also be written by the live action series’ scribes and drawn by animators Loeb describes as “the best in the business.”

  Whedon is also clearly excited. “I’ve seen preliminary artwork and I’m just in love with it,” says Whedon. “And, with the exception of Sarah, I believe that everyone is doing their own voices. There’s zero money to be made. They’re just like, ‘Ooh, I get to be animated? That sounds like fun.’”

  The series would be based on Buffy’s first season, with Angel still around, Willow still straight and in love with Xander, and with Xander still hot for Buffy. The series is intended to have the same quality and intensity of the original, but with solidly G-rated plots and dialogue.

  But since the series had been continually delayed, by June 2002, when it was finally green-lighted, Loeb had to leave for another opportunity. Nevertheless, the series will go forward, with the writing duties being split between several writers on the show, including Joss, Doug Petrie, and Jane Espenson.

  “When I was first brought in to interview, I was brought in to interview for the animated show,” Petrie told BBC.com. “I was shown rough sketches of the characters and some of the sets. I loved what I saw, I was dying to work on the show and I was hoping once I was hired on the live action (series), I would still get a chance to work on it.

  It’s his sandbox but he’ll invite anybody in to play. He’s the first one to say, Bring it on.’—Jeph Loeb

  “It’s going to be an amazing show. It’s funny, exciting; it’s all the huge gigantic action that we can’t do in a live show–so the sky’s the limit. There are a lot of ideas that they’ve had in the past five seasons, that were great ideas but they just couldn’t do, budget-wise. So we get to do all those cool high school stories that we couldn’t tell back in high school. Plus it’s the return to the classic Buffy, the way it all started, with all the teenagers and high jinks. It’s going to be absolutely amazing.”

  Joss yucks it up with Michelle Trachtenberg and Alyson Hannigan.

  “It does take a long time to put these things together,” says Whedon. “I wanted to make sure that we had the right people and compelling stories. Yes, it’s a cartoon, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good cartoon. If we are going to do it, I want it done right.”

  It’s clear that Whedon’s eclectic mix of projects will continue to grow in scale and variety. In April of 2002, Whedon hired Chris Buchanan as president of his production company, Mutant Enemy. In addition to overseeing Whedon’s various television projects, Mutant Enemy will explore production of music and movies as well.

  The success of Buffy and Angel, and his joy at producing them, stand in sharp contrast to Joss’s frustration and disappointment at what he calls his “crappy film career.” But the movie siren still calls to Whedon.

  Whedon has written two scripts that have yet to be filmed. The first script, titled Suspension, was written early in his career. He unabashedly calls it “Die Hard on a Bridge.” The most fun for Joss was figuring out “how many unbelievable things can happen on a bridge?”

  “In Suspension, terrorists take over the George Washington Bridge,” Joss tells. “Interestingly enough, I wrote it thinking, ‘Okay, I’ve got the George Washington Bridge, and it’s like Die Hard, so maybe I can sell it.’ What I love about Suspension is that the lead character, Harry Monk, has just come out of prison. He’s from New York and has been imprisoned in New Jersey for fifteen years and just wants to get to New York. That, right away, felt like the perfect thing for somebody who did not want to be on this bridge; somebody who just desperately wants to get back to New York. Then it’s the whole redemption thing, because he was in jail for shooting a cop, s
o that when he hooks up with other policemen, they hate him; they don’t trust him and he has to earn their trust. It’s a redemptionthrough-violence story, which I like a lot.”

  It’s a redemptionthrough-violence story, which I like a lot.—Joss

  The second script, Afterlife, is classic science fiction. It’s about a scientist, Daniel Hoffstettor, who is slowly dying from a fatal disease. He and his wife, Laura, are trying to make the best of his last days, but the knowledge of his impending death hangs over their lives.

  Then Daniel dies and (no surprise for Whedon fans) ... wakes up! A government agency named Tank has transferred his brain into a virile young body. Daniel was given a second chance at life and the opportunity to continue his research. But Daniel wants more. He wants to see his wife again. So Daniel escapes but he soon finds that he is in the body of an executed serial killer. His face is infamous, and soon both Tank and the police are hunting him.

  Even worse, the personality of Jamie Snow, the serial killer, is beginning to emerge and he must battle it to retain control of his body. He ultimately finds his wife but then must confront the forces chasing him.

  The movie may be produced one day, so I won’t reveal the ending. But according to screenwritersutopia.com, “Afterlife’s finale is absolutely showstopping in its blindsided punch. Joss wraps all the threads in his hand and thrusts us toward a big, exciting, passionately zealous, sharp ending.