This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Whedonesque - a community weblog about Joss Whedon
"And your hair. What color do they call that, radioactive?"
7180 members | you are not logged in | 03 December 2008


Advertising





May 01 2004

SMG Sunday Express Interview. "We went out on a high. What if the movie was disappointing? Would that be what people remembered us by? It frightens me," she says rising to leave, but not before dropping a tantalising: "You never know though. Never say never. That’s my motto."

Well TV series' and films are two different Kettles of Cod. And except for the loyal fans that will watch anything Whedon, moi included, it's a totally different audience that haven't even seen you going "out on a high."

Plus, I have a feeling these guys know the characters and the show well enough to be able to judge the quality at the scripting stage.
I'm sure that if Joss presented her with a great script she'd be on board for it. I believe in the past she has strongly stated she wouldn't ever do a Buffy movie and now it's "never say never". And I don't see Joss throwing together some crappy plot line just to do a movie. He has expressed for years now that he'd like to do another Buffy movie (I think he wants to erase the memory of the first one out of his mind) and I wonder if he's had some master plan spinning around in that fantastic brain of his.
Yeah, actors....they do change their tune often. I think if Sarah suddenly became the next Julia Roberts, that a chance of her saying yes to a Buffy movie are next to nil. However if she's not it sounds more and more likely.

Funny thing is, when the first movie was a bomb, Joss still insisted the show had the same risky, childish-sounding name that turned many people off, because it was important to the point of the show. Yet with Firefly, he's more than willing to change it to 'Serenity' in the movie to give it a bigger chance with the mainstream audience. Makes me wonder if he'd be willing to give a new Buffy movie a different title as well.

Oh, and: "making sure they leave just enough poison to make your mouth tingle."

Ooookay.....sounds peachy! And, Sarah, even if the bites are well balanced, you DO realize that in your body it all adds up right? Ah well, she likes to eat. Brugers and what not. Good to hear. Didn't know she still ate;-)
i like how everybody assumes she doesnt eat much just cuz shes skinny. some people just cant pack on the pounds like some of us. anyways, great interview, and i think if a good script gets sent to her for a buffy movie, then she would be on board too.
Interesting little article. She makes me laugh, she's so pithy and direct. And she seems to have a good handle on her stardom.

"making sure they leave just enough poison to make your mouth tingle."

She didn't mention how eating improperly-prepared fugu can kill you. Only professionally trained chefs are allowed to serve it in restaurants in Japan, otherwise one wrong bite and they might end up with a corpse on their hands. (Though I'm sure she went to the very best place possible to try it.)

Still, that shows she's got a gambler's nerve. For anyone who would eat two bowls of the stuff without sweating it, a Buffy movie shouldn't be any riskier. As long as JW is 'head chef', she oughta be in good hands. ;)
I don't care who prepares it - I wouldn't take a chance with my own life for a little tingle. But she's not alone, I hear a lot of people like it. It's just not for me.

I actually disagree with you a little bit Ed about if she became the next Julia Roberts she would most likely not do a Buffy movie. There has been a lot of speculation that she doesn't want to be stereotyped as Buffy but if she became that big a star she could more afford to revisit Buffy without worrying about being stereotyped.
What do they mean she enjoys "street fighting"? What, is she in a gang or something?
"We went out on a high"

Will someone tell Sarah - and Joss, for that matter - that for many of us, far from going out on a high, season 7 hit an all-time low? I know season 7 has its devotees, but for me and a great many others the last season was a major letdown. This is a show I've followed and championed for years and, in my book, it got better with each season until we hit the drab, unimaginative final season. Personally, I found the last five episodes particularly disappointing. Obviously I'm not speaking for everyone, but I know a large number of Buffy fans would take issue with the proposition that season 7 went out on any kind of high. That makes the case for a Buffy movie all the more cogent, as in: here's a last chance to get it right!
Maybe she doesn't mean S7, but the last episode Chosen.

I dislike S7 but I'm happy with the end of the serie(Chosen). The end was very open and I liked that.

[ edited by Kate on 2004-05-02 00:20 ]
I actually didn't like a lot of the middle episodes of season 7 and thought they dragged a bit and were too focused on the potentials but I loved the last five episodes and to me, it did go out on a high. And you indicate that each season got better until the final one yet a lot of people complained about season 6. You would think that the majority of fans hated season six because of all the internet bashing of it yet if you go to Amazon.com it's rated 4 out of 5 stars with 180+ reviews and that indicates to me the majority of fans enjoyed it. I wouldn't be surprised if that is also the case with season seven.

And I just did a quick search on the UK Amazon site for season 7 and it is getting 4.5 out of 5 stars on their site which indicates to me the majority of fans did like it. Can't check the US ratings yet because it isn't listed for us here yet.

[ edited by blwessels on 2004-05-02 00:21 ]
She may have been referring to the original Buffy movies, when she says "what if it was dissapointing". But considering Joss' recent works and how far the character of Buffy has come and the supporting characters, she threw in that you never know thing. To leave people talking. I think she'll do it, she doesn't seem like the bitchy type who would dissapoint fans, as well as her former cast mates. I'd really like to see what a buffy movie could do, I mean the show accomplished so much, a movie would probably take the buffyverse to a whole other level.
I appreciate that a lot of people did like season 7 but when I referred to "many" I meant that a sizeable minority strongly disliked it. Equally, a sizeable minority attacked my own favorite season - season 6. I don't want to start listing the pros and cons here but I think it's fair to say that the main attacks on season 6 were aimed at its "darkness" (and heck - i like my drama dark!) whereas the criticisms of season 7 tend to be more detailed: the boring potentials, Willow/Kennedy ship, the Giles character screw-up, the crowbarring of Nathan Fillion into a role that made little sense in the first place and ... (better stop here - running away with myself!).

Of course, I realize it all comes down to a matter of opinion ultimately but my own feeling is that, while season 6 has improved with repeated viewing in many people's eyes, I don't believe the same will be true of the final season. For myself, I've watched season 7 through three times now, and for the first time in my years of Buffy viewing I find a season just get worse on repeat views.

Anyways, as long as Sarah really believes the show "went out on a high" the less likely she is to agree to a movie. Worth keeping in mind, whether you agree with my taste in seasons or not :)
"I think she'll do it, she doesn't seem like the bitchy type who would dissapoint fans, as well as her former cast mates..." - Gio

I won't say A WORD, blwessels... not one word. ;)
Whatever! She's not a robot! And all that star gossip is bullshit 1/2 of the time! Seriously, Willowy and Blwessels need to face the realization that not everyone who quits a show is like fucking Suzanne Summers from Three's COmpany! And I really do believe that if Joss decided to make another Buffy movie she's be in it. I mean have you seen what kind of films she has lined up for the next 2 years? If you don't look into it and tell me she wouldn't crawl back to her Buffy role. She's a good actress, but some of her roles in movies have been garbage.(excluding cruel intentions, harvard man, and I know what you did last summer.)
And if Buffy had decided to go into season 8, I really think we'd have to go through another season 6, and I would have really hated that! If anyone feels the need to respond to that, then review each episode before you say anything. Excluding the evil Willow episodes, the rest of the season was hugely dissapointing!
Whoa Gio - Willowy said that to me because I am known for defending SMG big time. Please know the facts before you attack someone. I was thanking her because she acknowledged how I felt and refrained from making any negative comments. It was in a joking and light hearted manner and your reaction was way overboard.


And as for your comments about her having crap lined up for movies (and here comes my defense mode - you asked for it) I think she has some really promising movies coming out.

[ edited by blwessels on 2004-05-02 06:34 ]
Sheesh Gio, chill out already! We don't do that flaming thing here. If I want to hear a lot of 'fucking' used in posts, I'll go to Aint It Cool or something.

And no one blames Sarah for ending Buffy. Joss was kinda done too which is well known. How Sarah lied to her coworkers and how that magazine came out was less than classy, and also far from tabloid gossip. But you know what? She's just a human being, and it's really okay to accept that your favorite actors can have character traits that are less nice. Like we ALL have. I don't get it. They're all just people. But look at the net. Sites and boards either show blind, gushing worship or utter contempt and bile.

Sarah doesn't need 'defending'. People can have their own conclusions about who we'd think we'd like if we knew them in real life. And we can disagree without anger and we can all acknowledge we could be dead wrong. I can understand it if posters'd go "Sarah SUKS! She's STOOPID!" but I've never seen that kind of behavior on this board. So saying "I don't think Sarah will do a Buffy movie" for example doesn't warrant pulling out the growlings and the fuckings.

Also, I think it's odd to suggest that if we rewatch a season we're bound to agree with your tastes and conclusions. Really, I won't. Like whirlgig, I like S6. I like dark drama and angsty stuff. And S6 took a lot of risks and went further than most of the show. Yes I had my problems with certain elements, but overall I enjoyed it. Believe it or not I also consider it one of the funniest seasons. And I've seen it plenty. Like whirlgig says, it's also a matter of taste.

I also enjoyed S7, but I agree that in plot, characterization and such, I feel it was the most flawed. I still wonder if they were trying to pave the way for a 'Slayer school' spin off and focused so much on Kennedy and the other SiTs for that reason. And Giles, Willow, Xander (and yes in my opinion even Spike), kinda suffered for it. Which is sad considering it was the last season.

And Blwessels, I could be wrong but if Sarah was as successful as Julia Roberts now, I really don't think she'd revisist Buffy. Through everything, I've gotten the impression she wants to leave it behind if she can. But I could be wrong, and even if I'm right, she could change her mind as time goes by.
Gio, and all our newer users, we recommend lurking here for a while and getting to know the place and people before you barge in like that. The language you are using and the attitude towards other posters is unacceptable here.

Norman, this is the last time I'm going to ask you to use capitals in your post where they're appropriate.
Norman, this is the last time I'm going to ask you to use capitals in your post where they're appropriate.

caroline, do you guys truly police capitalization/punctuation as a routine or is this something new to the site...? i've really never come across anything like that before, and i'm a tad gobsmacked as to the whys and wherefores of such a practice.
As much as I would I love to see a Buffy film, I tend to think it's best to let the dust settle, at least, for the time being. Let everyone have a rest from it, let them go off and do other things. Maybe then they'll come back to it refreshed, and we will get a film... and it will be great.

As for SMG, I personally have no interest in the rumours. She played the Buffy role brilliantly. She's made some good films (well, I enjoyed them) and I suspect she's going to make some great films. I, for one, look forward to seeing them.
"How Sarah lied to her coworkers and how that magazine came out was less than classy"

Even AH and NB never said SMG lied to them ,she just didn't say anything to them about her intentions or the magazine

I'm not saying that was nice but it is totally differently from lying to them
"We worked so hard for so long that at a certain point we just went nuts..." and the fact that she's been working for "23 of her 27 years" (Really?) makes me wish someone would tell her to just slow down a little. I think it would be difficult to inform your acting with any life experience if you were not able to actually have much of a personal life. If you were constantly going from one gig to the next. I know she works in an extremely competitive profession, but it would be a shame if her marriage or private life suffered trying to keep up or get ahead.
"makes me wish someone would tell her to just slow down a little" -Bloodflowers

Isn't that what she's doing right now?

Buffy ends:

May-July: 3 months SD2.
Aug-Febr:7 months of free time (she did a few charity's and The Simpsons)
Februari-March: The Grudge and promoting SD2
April: Free time

That's working and having a private life.
I also enjoyed season 6 and 7 but I will agree that season 7 seemed to have a lot of holes that weren't filled and were left to the imagination. I think EdDantes is right when he says that he thinks they were possibly setting it up for a Watcher's school. But from what I've seen with most people who said they hated season six is that a lot of them when rewatching it liked it more the second time around.

As for SMG doing another movie, time will only tell, I really wonder if she already has her mind made up one way or the other. If she really never wants to revisit the role she's smart enough not to come out and say that and if she would do it again, she's smart enough to act like she'd consider it (be offered more money that way).

And one more comment from me to Gio. It's nice that you feel so loyal to SMG but others have their reasons for not feeling that way and whether you agree with them or not you should be respectful in your comments. This is a discussion site and there will be a lot of times where you won't agree with someone and if your reaction is going to be that heated everytime you read something you don't like, you might want to go post somewhere else. Other people may feel just as strongly as you do in not liking SMG (or some other celebrity) but people usually are very thoughtful in giving their reasons why and it can become heated but usually remains respectful.

And I do 'defend' SMG but she is human as EdDantes said and she isn't perfect (as no one is) and there have been several people who have said that she told her co-workers she'd be doing another year and then a couple of days later it was annouced to the world that she was done with Buffy. These are legitimate gripes and several people on this site have said they saw Nick Brendan in person stating this is what happened and then AH in an interview implied the same thing. I for one feel that this was poor judgement on her part but I don't know what she was thinking or was there to witness the conversation.

The point is, you flew off the handle because you thought someone didn't agree with you and was attacking SMG yet you turn around and attack Suzanne Somers. How do you think Suzanne Somers fans will feel? And not that I'm a Suzanne Somers fan but she did a brave thing back then, she demanded more money from the producers who were making a fortune off the show she was on and was shunned and condemned for it. Larry Hagman pulled a similar stunt and told his people he wouldn't come back unless they gave him a significant raise and he got what he wanted. When Suzanne did it, people were outraged and asking "who does she think she is". When he did it and won, people were praising him and stating how brilliant he was. It was a different time but a very sexist time too.
blwessels, what about Joss Whedon. The SMG interview with EW was with Joss Whedon. So it's obvious that he knew about that interview. So SMG told him, her boss that's she was done with Buffy. She did the right thing, the rest was up to him. It was his job to tell his cast/crew.
Yes, Gio, blwessels was right on the money. It was meant light-hearted and she took it exactly how I meant it. See, we know each other a bit from being on here a while.

Like Caroline said, lurking is best if you are a newbie. That way you can get to know people and their personalities, likes and dislikes before just jumping in and flaming. This board doesn't allow that anyway. None of us do that.
Kate, I like SMG and I think she is a nice person. My point was that others feel they have legitimate reasons to not think so highly of her because of what happened with Nick Brendan and AH (and other reasons that I don't agree with). I wasn't there so I didn't see what really transpired and no one has heard SMGs side of the story. I have also stated in other posts that she may have been signed to an exclusive contract with the magazine that announced her departure from Buffy and was under legal obligations not to let it slip. Again, I don't know because I wasn't there. I also feel that it was up to ME to break the news to the cast but again, that is my feelings. That was my whole point to my post, that we each have our own thoughts on these matters and there is no way that everyone will agree.

My personal take on what happened is SMG had already discussed with Joss and had already done the interview and was uncomfortable with the conversation taking place with Nick and Alyson and just didn't know how to handle it. We don't know if she came right out and said yes, she'd be back next year or if she just didn't say no for sure. I don't want this to turn into a big debate about that whole thing again because that wasn't the point of my post. My point was to Gio that there is going to be a wide range of opinions on this site and everyone is going to have their own take on events and we should just be respectful of each other.


Willowy saw Gio's comment "she doesn't seem like the bitchy type who would dissapoint fans, as well as her former cast mates..." and could've jumped all over that and gave her opinions on SMG but chose not too and as a nod to me and to lighten up the moment made a joke about it. I appreciated it and thought it was funny.
blwessels - As always, you make very sound observations, but I think Kate does have a point about it being Joss's job to announce the departure of SMG to the cast and crew. If memory serves, Joss stated that he and Sarah sat in a trailer at the start of the season 7 shoot and mutually decided that this would be the last season (this was before the interview in question). Alyson's remark about not being told wasn't directed at Sarah - at least not by name: I took it to refer to the Powers That Be at ME. Whether BtVS ended or not was their call. After all (showing my geek credentials here), Blake's 7 continued quite successfully - and under the same name - after Blake left and Avon took over the lead.
"The SMG interview with EW was with Joss Whedon."

Uhm I have that magazine (Hey it's a collectible. 'Buffy Quits'!) and Joss isn't doing that interview with her, she's being interviewed alone. Maybe Joss knew already and she asked him to keep it quiet.

And indeed Gio, any bad word about Sarah you feel is obviously made up, but you have no problem bad mouthing Suzanne Sommers and accepting all the bad stories about her as gospel....

And really, like Blwessels said, Sarah did lie to her coworkers. And I think it's classless. But that doesn't mean I now 'hate' Sarah. We've all done stuff that we aren't proud of. Maybe she was being too careful, or wanted too much for it to be her surprise story to the media. I don't know. She's still one of my favorite actresses. I don't see the big deal. And maybe it's true she and Carisma and/or Emma didn't get along. Or maybe Emma and Marti didn't like each other. So what? Not everyone gets along. (Except apaprently on the set of 'Firefly')Personally I've never seen any workplace where everyone gets along. Again, don't see the big deal.

Blwessels, you once again are one of the reasons I like this board so much. Often we agree, sometimes we don't but you're one of the best people I've ever 'met' to disagree with.

Uh, wait that sounded weird....ah you know what I mean.

Anyway, with a possible Buffy movie, would it be a 'Buffy' movie or more a 'Buffy/Angel' movie? If so there would be a greater reason to give it a different common title. I would've said a while ago that 'Hellmouth' would be good, but then, it was destroyed. Any takers?

[ edited by EdDantes on 2004-05-02 20:15 ]
"there have been several people who have said that she told her co-workers she'd be doing another year and then a couple of days later it was annouced to the world that she was done with Buffy."

Strange James apparently never heard that as he made no mention of it in a recent talk and in fact seemed to indicate that SMG said nothing at all but he did say the unoffical word going around was that it was the last season and you were fooling yourself if you thought it wasn't
Thanks Ed, I got what you meant.

As for people on sets not always getting along, I always thought the group for Angel seems to have been pretty tight and happy. And Firefly, unfortunately, didn't last long enough for people to start getting on each others nerves. It's a normal thing to happen.

I hope it will be a Buffy/Angel movie because it would be nice to combine the two groups and see what kind of plots they can come up with. We got a little taste of what Andrew in the mix would be like when he guested on Angel. I'd love to see how Buffy reacts to how Wesley is now (and the Wesley of today would make a good love match for her - please no attacks by the shippers!!). And before Fred became DeadFred, she would've been able to charm all the men of the Buffyverse too (Willow seemed to take a liking to her!). And I'd just love to see Andrew following Angel everywhere he goes, chattering away and being all Andrew like as Angel just tries to ignore him. It could be quite fun. Oh and Xander could be a much darker, kind of bitter person now. He lost his eye and he lost his girl, and now he's more determined than ever to fight evil.

As for a plot, I haven't a clue but there still is a Hellmouth in Cleveland!

Whirligig and Kate, if what you both say is fact, then I do think Joss should've told everyone as soon as the decision was made. If that is the case, it wasn't fair of him to leave SMG in that position because maybe they discussed he'd be the one to tell everyone and he didn't. Again, though, none of us can really know for sure what transpired.
Tracy, as stated on our 'about' page:

"Please use proper grammar, capitalization and spelling as best as you can. This will help keep the discussion on topic and it makes your posts easier to read."

If you have any more questions please drop us an e-mail as we do not elaborate on site policy on the site itself.
"Uhm I have that magazine (Hey it's a collectible. !) and Joss isn't doing that interview with her, she's being interviewed alone."-EdDantes

EW, Buffy Quits interview

JW:’’It would be difficult to overemphasize Sarah’s value to the show.’’ Adds ’’Buffy’’ creator Joss Whedon: ’’There’ve been times that we didn’t get along. There have been times when we’ve palled around. But no matter what, she was the other half of ’Buffy.’ In seven years, she never let me down.’’- EW interview



"Maybe Joss knew already and she asked him to keep it quiet."-EdDantes

It's more likely that he told SMG to keep quiet, cause he was thinking about doing a spinoff. And the rest of the cast was still under a contract.

Whedon is developing a spin-off that may involve current ’’Buffy’’ regulars and will be pitched first to UPN. ’’It will be a completely different animal,’’ he says. The good news for fans: Gellar has promised to make occasional guest appearances on the spin-off. The bad news: The spin-off will not be based around sexy bad-girl slayer Faith, played by Eliza Dushku, who is committed to a Twentieth Century Fox pilot directed by Phillip - EW interview



OT: how do you link in a post?

[ edited by Kate on 2004-05-02 21:02 ]
Kate: to link, use normal html tags. You can learn how to do that here.
"It's more likely that he told SMG to keep quiet, cause he was thinking about doing a spinoff. And the rest of the cast was still under a contract." - Kate

And that would be putting her in an awkward situation if then confronted by castmates if she was coming back. I know when I've been asked to keep a secret and then am confronted by the person who doesn't know the secret you feel horrible and awkard and sometimes are forced to lie.
Caroline , Thanks:)
It's a testament to the passion of BTVS fans that one year later we are still arguing about whether or not SMG caused the "abrupt" end of the show. My long-term memory has faltered with age so I don't remember the events or details all that clearly. However, I was always under the impression (since the beginning of the seventh season) that Year 7 would be the last. It is for this reason I found Nicholas Brendon and Alyson Hannigan's "shock" to be a bit disingenuous.

In regards to the actual content of this article, I doubt that in a year or two's time, Sarah will still be singing the "we went out on a high" tune. Despite her immense acting abilities, I think Sarah will never be offered a character as rich and as layered as Buffy. Plus, it is extremely unlikely that Joss Whedon would let a second Buffy movie be "disappointing". As much as SMG will always be remembered for her role as Buffy, this is even more so for Joss Whedon as the show's creator. Joss needs to redeem the disaster that was the first Buffy movie.

[ edited by mai on 2004-05-02 21:55 ]
Well, Nick said he was already signed for another season, should there be one, so I can understand his confusion, and Alyson came right out and said she heard it in a magazine.

I think they all knew that the possibility of show stoppage was there, it just wasn't definite.
Nobody seemed to be in much doubt that S7 was going to be the final season of BtVS in its original format. Quotes by many of the actors and writers/producers made prior to SMG's "announcement" make this absolutely clear.

Alyson Hannigan said she was upset that the "announcement" was published without the actors knowing about it in advance. However, she also said the actual news didn't come as a surprise. We will never know exactly what went on behind the scenes. Personally, I wouldn't want to point the finger of blame at any one particular person. For myself, it doesn't much matter if some relationships had soured. It's what they did in front of the camera, rather than behind it, that interests me the most.

Some actors were contracted to do another season if it happened. That's because TV actors usually sign multi-season contracts. Gellar's contract was coming to an end, but it wasn't the case for all the actors. However, I always got the impression that those who planned (or were contracted to) to stay with the show were waiting to hear about possible spin-off ideas, rather than a continuation of BtVS per se.
Yes, I remember Nick Brendan announcing well before the EW article that season seven would be the last one.

That said, it seems foolish to get caught up in finger-pointing and blame when none of us were there. It didn't appear to be a nice thing that SMG didn't tell her castmates about the EW announcement, but we don't know anything for sure. I love Alyson Hannigan to death (at least I love what she appears to be), but I'm not going to accord a bitchy comment or two from her about SMG as gospel.

These endless SMG discussions are fascinating because they are just that, endless. I wonder if we'll all be debating SMG's character when she's 80 years old.
Just a point to add, I was at Fusion Con this weekend and Emma was at great pains to point out that she's been online and seen that some fans were interpreting recent interviews as saying that she and SMG had issues ... she wanted to go on record that the only problems she was refering to were with the suits at Fox ( I'd elaborate but this is a family board .. or maybe I misheard and she was saying " duck" Fox )
debw, thanks.
Yes thanks for clarifying that debw. Much appreciated. I'll mention that next time I post an Emma interview.



You need to log in to be able to post comments.
About membership.

joss speaks back home back home back home back home back home