Friday, May 29, 2009

For the sake of argument...

It's amazing how much debate has been generated over the idea of remaking Buffy the Vampire Slayer without Joss Whedon. It shows how her fans have been very protective of her, and how the TV show, not the movie, has been recognized as canon.
As I said before, Fran Rubel Kazui can make her Slayer movie, but she can't be called Buffy.
We also found out the need for a Buffy movie actually comes from two sources. The first is the flood of vampire books, movies and TV shows. Maybe Harmony Keller has the right idea making a reality show about vampires in the Dark Horse comic series. If she walked into Borders...at night, natch...and saw the flood of vampire book series aside from the Twilight saga, she'd jump on it. The CW is set to give us the Vampire Diaries, where a teenage girl has to deal with two vampire brothers in love with her, or at least her neck.
The other one is the new wave of movie studios trying to reboot familiar franchises. It's being done with Star Trek and Terminator. Why not try to re-imagine Buffy, and hope Joss Whedon is too busy to notice? Well, his fans have to time to say why this shouldn't happen.

But who could make a good Slayer? That's a tough question because the list of teen actresses who are funny and tough is very short. Some at the Whedonesque boards have suggested Katie Cassidy for her work in Supernatural, or Olivia Thirlby, who was a cheerleader in Juno. I'd like to throw in Leven Ramblin, who played Riley in Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. She might make a good Slayer. Another choice ma sound odd...anyone remember Britt McKillip, who was Reggie Lass in Dead Like Me? She's 18 now, and might borrow a bit of Ellen Muth's deadpan style to be a Slayer.

It's easier to come up with Watchers. The list of future mentors of vampire Slayers can get long very quickly. I suggested at Whedonesque that Michael Emerson from Lost would be a good hoice. I also proposed Ray Wise, that fashionable Devil from Reaper. You can even look at a couple of Whedon alumni, like Mark A. Sheppard or Johnathan Woodward. How about Dennis Haysbert, who made a great president and insurance salesman, or Patrick Stewart? How about Joel Grey, who played a big part in season five of Buffy? If you think a woman would make a good Watcher, some possible candidates could include Jill Hennessey, Lena Headey, Jean Smart or even Glenn Close.
Come to think of it, get the cast of Burn Notice, and you have the coolest Watchers' Council ever.

So, if someone wants to remake Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I've given out some casting suggestions. I still say your Slayer shouldn't be called Buffy. How about Yohko? That worked in Japan nearly 20 years ago

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