DARKWORLDS.COM:
Jesse Knight from Darkworlds.com chats with Joss Whedon, the creator of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL and the upcoming film SERENITY. In this, the second part of a three-part interview, Whedon discusses the future of BUFFY and ANGEL.
DARKWORLDS: I know that you love your actors unconditionally, and after watching BUFFY and ANGEL for so many years, it’s obvious that no one in your cast is ever better than when directed by you. What’s your trick in bringing out the best in them?
WHEDON: Well, first of all, I have an advantage - two advantages - one, I created the show so I understand it as no other director can; two, I’m everybody’s boss so they learn their lines. Actually they all have a pretty good track record of learning their lines anyway, but everybody’s minding their P’s and Q’s. But I think mainly it’s because when I do an episode, it is my intent to fall in love with every character again. And I don’t like a character to be in a show of mine without a moment that defines them. Be it a dramatic or comedic moment, it absolutely crystallizes them. And in the case of BUFFY, it was always I had to do the big episodes. In the case of ANGEL it was the opposite. And so in BUFFY I got the big moments because I was doing the pivotal episodes. In ANGEL, I got to do it in a more sly fashion. I got to just say, “What do I want to see these guys do that they’re great at?” because I was doing the sort of incidental episodes. I didn’t have the onus of importance, and I could really just cut loose. And at the end of the day, I’m also looking to push myself. I don’t just want to go there and phone in something, I want to try something creative. Every time, I want some new challenge. And for the actors as well. As James Marsters said, “If we don’t have the shit scared out of us at least once a season, we’re not getting it right.” So I give them the musical, I give them THE BODY where they really have to push themselves. Because I know they can and I want to as well, and it’s hard to ask that of them by somebody who’s just stopping by.
DW: Did you ever have a plot construction that you threw out for being too out there, or too challenging for you or anybody else involved?
WHEDON: No, I mean, I think there are times when we look back and think maybe we could have constructed something a little more elegantly. There’s been certainly things we wanted to pursue that we couldn’t because an actor left or a situation changed, but there was nothing where we said “Okay, this is just too wacky.” I mean, we did THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, with ANGEL That was basically like, “Well, our guest actors (Christian Kane as Lindsey, and Julie Benz as Darla) are both unavailable for the last four episodes.” Lindsey and Darla were central to season two, and then they were gone. And we had four episodes left, and I said, “Can we do a four-episode gear-off? Can we just go to Oz?” And the answer was, “Why yes, sir, you can. Because you’re the boss.” And some people were sort of like “I don’t know,” some people were like, “Let’s do it!” But we went there.
DW: In your entire career as a storyteller, what are you most proud of?
WHEDON: In my entire career as a storyteller, what am I most proud of… I’m most proud of the fact that I was part of the wave of making the female hero something more than a footnote, or a heroine in disguise, or sort of a hapless person with martial arts skills, and for examining that character. If I was going to pick specifically, I wrote a musical one time. I’m all over myself about that.
DW: Are you, yourself, completely done with any future incarnations of BUFFY or ANGEL?
WHEDON: No, I don’t think so. There’re a lot of characters in that universe that are a.) very exciting, b.) very beloved, c.) played by people I really like, who d.) would actually like to play those parts again. I do believe that David and Sarah have moved on from those parts, but I think the universe is very rich, and there’re still stories to be told. And I haven’t let go of it at all. I’ve definitely taken a breather. I was in there for eight years, and I didn’t exactly come up for air.
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