Up close with Joss Whedon - Dollhouse

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April 17 2009

Up close with Joss Whedon. Wizard Magazine speaks to Joss about Dollhouse, tv execs, Eliza and Buffy the comic book character. It's the perfect complement to your Saturday morning coffee.

Simon | Dollhouse | 22:51 CET | 29 comments total | tags: joss whedon, dollhouse, buffy

I read it while drinking tea, is it okay? :)

very nice read, thank you. Oh and this:

Yeah, because that was not her first medium and so to make that list at all is cool. I think that's fair. I mean, we can try and do better. You know, we're gonna kill her and then bring her back and then she's gonna get a black costume and she's gonna go all punk. We're gonna do a lot of things to make her a really classic comic character.

almost made me spilled said tea :D

nyrk | April 17, 23:11 CET

This is a very funny interview, and now I'm all excited about Buffy's Season 8 turning into Spiderman 3! Not.

embers | April 18, 01:44 CET

Does anybody die? Oh...it's me. I'm not saying that anybody dies, necessarily. I'm saying that everybody dies. It's awesome!

I honestly think he has given away something here. Soon you'll be erasing them.

wiesengrund | April 18, 01:48 CET

I dunno wisen...maybe he'll do a double twist on us and everyone stays alive and lives happily ever after? It could happen!

nixygirl | April 18, 02:09 CET

Re everybody dies: The imprints “die” and can be “resurrected”. Sometimes they don't really die (end of Target, end of Ghost hour).

Tobu | April 18, 04:56 CET

This was in last month's Wizard magazine.It was a good fun read.

The new Wizard which came out last week had a Best Moments Of Buffy Season 8 list/artcle.

[ edited by Buffyfantic on 2009-04-18 14:16 ]

Buffyfantic | April 18, 05:14 CET

"You know, we're gonna kill her and then bring her back and then she's gonna get a black costume and she's gonna go all punk. We're gonna do a lot of things to make her a really classic comic character."

So, basically, between Buffy, Willow, and Fray, he's basically created the perfect character.

Hmmm, actually, if you substitute "gonna go all sorta ren-fair" for "gonna go all punk," Willow kinda has done the whole Phoenix route, 'specially if we get to count vamp Willow.

doubtful guest | April 18, 05:21 CET

Awww, man. If I ever met Joss, the first thing I wanted to ask him is if he thinks Eliza's hot.

Damn you Danny Spiegel for stealing my thunder!

edcsLover9 | April 18, 07:15 CET

Eliza's hot, Buffy is punk, everyone dies and I think this means today is turning out to be a good one!

Minxie | April 18, 08:07 CET

That was one of his better interviews, honestly. And I actually liked the (presumably playful) admission that Eliza is hot. I'm sure he'd have been obliged to give the same answer on the set of "Buffy", "Angel", or "Firefly" (I like his theme in "Angel" commentaries of talking about how homely Amy Acker is).

I was confused by the answer about Eliza in the role as "Echo", because it seems to imply he might have gone another way with it -- didn't this start out as her show? Like "Joss, I have this contract and this idea" and they fleshed it out and he offered to make it for her once they had this completed idea? Could he have actually not cast her at that point?

KingofCretins | April 18, 10:00 CET

I think the answer really just means she is the reason he took on the project to begin with.

@theonetruebix | April 18, 10:01 CET

I like his theme in "Angel" commentaries of talking about how homely Amy Acker is

That seems to be a Joss staple. I recall similar jokes about SMG and Morena.

witchlover | April 18, 11:03 CET

So, is he vaguely implying that he couldn't stand some of the "Buffy" cast members by the time the seventh season went on?

QuanticoMVP | April 18, 12:13 CET

QuanticoMVP, I agree. It seemed like a pretty obvious dig at someone, but I'm not sure whom.

SteveP | April 18, 12:39 CET

QuanticoMVP and SteveP, thank goodness I wasn't the only one who read that. It put a bad taste in my mouth before bed last night and when I saw it here again I felt the same way.

I mean, those were people who helped you make a lot of money for seven years, if nothing else. Also I'm not sure I'm loving all of the casting on Dollhouse but I think EVERYONE from Season 1 of Buffy was amazingly great. AND they were still great seven years later (writing staff, maybe not so much).

All of a sudden I think I'm starting to understand certain casting choices. I do not like the idea that he casts people based on whether or not he thinks he would still like them in seven years.

ailiel | April 18, 13:02 CET

I also read it as a dig at someone in Buffy (and obviously my first instinct is SMG, given the rumours).

Riker | April 18, 13:53 CET

Let's not go any further along the road of "who didn't get along with whom," OK?

SoddingNancyTribe | April 18, 14:34 CET

You don't get along with me, do you SNT. I can tell.

@theonetruebix | April 18, 14:36 CET

Htmp!

Madhatter | April 18, 15:20 CET

re: the dig thing really quickly, I was just under the impression that he was neutrally talking about the idea of ensemble casts. For whatever reason things might not work out, but in the long/ideal term you're gonna have these actors stick around for up to seven years (or eight in the case of Boreanaz and Carpenter/McNab-ish).

Like I know that they discovered that Rebecca Gayheart wasn't quite right for Inara about a day into shooting and they signifigantly changed the Angel cast partway into the first season for what could have reasonably been story reasons. With the Dollhouse team on the other hand, everyone seems to be pretty consistent and even if he talked about not wanting to have the series turn into too much of a nepotism lovefest, he did manage to bring back quite a number of folk he presumably enjoyed working with.

[ edited by orangewaxlion on 2009-04-19 00:45 ]

orangewaxlion | April 18, 15:44 CET

I do NOT think Joss was taking a dig at anyone. After all this time, that would be incredibly petty - which is not Joss' style. We don't even know how accurate the quote is.

witchlover | April 18, 16:03 CET

He's going to kill everyone? I knew it.

Sunfire | April 18, 16:13 CET

I think Joss, like many of his characters, sometimes speaks carelessly, with no ear to how something might be heard. "Dig" is a valid interpretation, but it's probably not what he meant. I seriously doubt he'd have kept on past "The Gift" if he had those kinds of issues.

Besides, what people think of as beef between stars in a fandom is usually just... a perfectly normal, cordial, professional relationship. Joss doesn't have to have an "I invite you over to watch my kids" type life-long bond to every actor he's worked with in order to have a perfectly comfortable relationship and a willingness to work with them again.

KingofCretins | April 18, 18:48 CET

I laughed a lot at his snarky comments right at the end regarding classic comic book characters.

Buffy the Slayer Layer | April 18, 19:05 CET

A little speculation never did anyone any harm.

Vague comments are always open to interpretation.

Riker | April 18, 19:54 CET

Riker, if you have problems with our moderation, please send your vague comments via e-mail instead of dropping them here on our site.

Caroline | April 18, 21:26 CET

Damn it, where are those blue gloves?! I knew I'd packed them in here somewhere.

Madhatter | April 18, 23:28 CET

I so get his: "I'm so happy not to be in love with her..." comment. I also see how it could easely be missunderstood ;)

Satai (with Punsch) | April 18, 23:43 CET

I saw nothing in that interview that came close toa dig,e ven veiled.

And I also agree about "I was just so happy not to be in love with her, because I couldn't imagine how awful that would be. I don't think she understood it was a compliment." Heck, I couldn't imagine working directly with Amber or Mercedes for any length of time.

DaddyCatALSO | April 20, 16:34 CET

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