Jeez, what's next, a guest spot on "Charmed"?

I'm hoping this is incorrect. It just really does not seem the right way to go for Sarah. I know, I know, it's not for me (or any of us) to determine her career, but it seems to me that more serious (or more high-end comedy) roles would be serve her much better.

One man's opinion.

Chris inVirginia | September 18, 19:56 CET

Teenage? Oh gawd please tell me this isn't happening. Now SMG is supposed to play a teenager? Oy-VAY!

Willowy | September 18, 20:02 CET

Another poster mentioned this here at Whedonesque the other day. Apparently, this report originated from a gossip item in the British paper "The Daily Express"which is not noted for its American movie exclusives.

Futhermore, said paper shares the same stable as "The Daily Star", a paper even less noted for its American movie exclusives. So as far as I am concerned it's a load of old bollocks.

Simon | September 18, 20:05 CET

I find this difficult, if not impossible, to believe. To follow up Grudge with this? Huh? Playing another mystically-enhanced teenager? Uh, I don't think so.

If it turns out I'm wrong about this then the world has spun off its axis into the BizarroUniverse or maybe the JustPlainIdioticUniverse.

phlebotinin | September 18, 20:24 CET

Um... surely Melissa Joan Hart would be playing Sabrina, yes? Wasn't her production company (or her mother's production company, or some relative's production company) involved in her TV show?

But I tend to agree with Simon - given the source of this "scoop", a very large pinch of salt is needed.

Outsider | September 18, 20:27 CET

I don't believe this one bit. It's like a step down for her. I really don't think SMG would be interested in that role. It's not like she's desperate for a job.

electricspacegirl | September 18, 20:28 CET

OK. Not to be a pain, but does it really matter? If there is a Sabrina movie, is anyone going to see it, even is SMG were in it?

jgsugden | September 18, 20:28 CET

jgsugden, you're not being a pain, but it does matter, because like so many other fans of the Jossverse, we want to see these actors in roles worthy of what they've shown themselves capable of.

That's why I didn't especially like the role Charisma played on "Miss Match"--it was essentially Cordy 10 years out of high school with about zero character development. I don't want them to be typecast...it's maybe selfish of me, but I feel an utterly irrational affection for them and I want them to do well, and also do good at the same time, i.e., make quality (and, I hope, profitable) movies and TV.

Chris inVirginia | September 18, 20:56 CET

I don't remember where I saw this, and it may be as bogus as the linked article, though a bit more plausible - it said that the producers of the Sabrina movie wanted SMG for *a* role, not the lead.

dreamlogic | September 18, 21:30 CET

Heh...maybe the Slayer makes a cameo? ;)

Willowy | September 18, 21:35 CET

Is this going to be like the Sabrina tv show or more like the Archic Comics source material?

eddy | September 18, 21:37 CET

I kinda doubt the validity of this. As said, the source it originated from is hardly reliable and it doesn't sound like something Sarah would pick right now. If she actually did, I'd be a little miffed. Her not being interested in a Buffy movie all those years and then doing Scooby Doo and Sabrina?? But then as I said I really doubt it's true.

And most of them get typecast unfortunately. Charisma is always a Cordy. Now even a Cordy with visions on Charmed, ugh. Mercedes is always a ditzy blond....it's how it goes. Same could be said for the Friends cast. Never seen any of them be anything but their usual Friends-types in movies .

EdDantes | September 18, 21:45 CET

EdDantes, must take exception--I'm no "Friends" fan, but I've seen bits and pieces of it. The Jennifer Anniston character in "Office Space" is considerably different from her character on "Friends."

Unsolicited plug: see "Office Space." Many times. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

"Now even a Cordy with visions on Charmed, ugh." I see your "ugh" and raise with a "yuck."

Chris inVirginia | September 18, 22:04 CET

EdDantes, the thing I saw didn't suggest she'd expressed any interest in the project, just that they were trying to bulk up the boxoffice with names.

dreamlogic | September 18, 22:07 CET

Lizard! I bought my ex a t-shirt that says "YYeeeaahhhh, I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturday, mmmkayy?" And the boss is standing there holding that stupid coffee cup.

I love that movie.

Willowy | September 18, 22:19 CET

Oh, the shame. Admits to being a huge fan of Salem the cat and the two aunts in Sabrina

Simon | September 18, 22:33 CET

Willowy--I bought a couple of red Swingline staplers for me and my colleague at work (a huge Joss fan) who introduced me to it.

Would love that tee-shirt!

A woman on the elevator at work the other day had some stuff pinned to her jacket. I said, "Nice flair," and she burst into laughter, saying, "I love that movie!"

Okay, way off topic, I'll stop!

Simon: I will weep for you, my brother, for in this I think I see a second Fall of Man.

(!)

Chris inVirginia | September 18, 22:44 CET

Simon, aren't we all allowed a guilty pleasure or two? (Or three or four?)

phlebotinin | September 18, 22:46 CET

No need to feel shamed, Simon. I used to watch Sabrina on ABC before I discovered Buffy.

eddy | September 18, 22:53 CET

I really don't see this as being remotely true.

Sarah isn't going to put so much effort into distancing herself from Buffy for the sake of her career just to go on and take the lead role in another teen supernatural tv show movie adaption. Plus the fact that Melissa Joan Hart is bound to continue to play the part in any movie based on the show.

Word to the wise, if a story is ever linked to a newspaper from the UK assume it to be 90% ficticious and 9% erroneous. The remaining 1% may have an element of truth.

Koven | September 19, 00:27 CET

That's one of the great cult-type movies. It's up there with Princess Bride. It amazes me sometimes how many people love the movie Office Space.

Illyria | September 19, 00:28 CET

I'm not even going to dignify this rumor with a comment.

Oh wait... Bugger! I just did!

zz9 | September 19, 00:44 CET

Maybe should would be playing one of Sabrina's aunts..that would work. Teenager ? puh-leese !!!

cousine | September 19, 01:36 CET

I doubt SMG would do a Sabrina movie not only because it'd be doubtful she could pass for a teenager these days (assuming she'd be going for the titular role), but because it would be a stupid career move.

Now don't get me wrong; I agree with whoever it was that said it's not our place to say what she can/can't should/shouldn't do. But up until this point she's made good moves with her career, even if they haven't necessarily been the most stellar pinnacles of cinematic genius.

Scooby Doo for example proves that she has mainstream appeal, gets a big box office success under her belt, and wins her a lot of attention from both Hollywood and the press. Then, The Grudge helps establish her as an adult actress and helps counter Scooby Doo's happy-children-light-fun-go effect.

Following all this up with Southland Tales, which she seems to be doing, is the correct next step. It's a mainstream genre with an esteemed writer and director and a great cast. It's the sort of flick that has the potential to cement her as a mainstream box office draw if it turns out well, which from the information we have right now, it just may do. A movie spin-off from a recent TV show which she wasn't even in really wouldn't do this, especially when it'd be awfully close to the much-less-likely-to-suck movie adaptation of Bewitched.

Although, damn, Salem the Cat was pretty cool...

Lastly, as Simon pointed out, The Daily Express? Not a great example of journalistic credibility.

Gonnas | September 19, 02:18 CET

Melissa Joan Hart must be pissed...

I loved Salem the Cat. He always had the best lines. And he wanted to take over the world.. which is always cute. Like Baby Stewie on 'Family Guy'. Heh.

Bad Kitty | September 19, 02:34 CET

I don't know if SMG has 'mainstream appeal'. I think that's yet to be proven. The deal with the silly Scooby-Doo movies was the dog. And maybe Shaggy.

I know Sarah has a ton of fans, but I can't see people other than them going "Let's go see Buffy be Daphne! What a kick!"

I kind of have the impression that the big draw with those movies was the nostalgia. The Scooby-Doo cartoon watchers. And those whose kids made them go.

I really think The Grudge is going to show us what she can do. I'm hoping so.

Willowy | September 19, 03:41 CET

Of course I mean other than BtVS...

Willowy | September 19, 03:43 CET

I seriously doubt this as well--at least the part about her playing the title role--because of the age thing. She certainly looks younger than her age but she doesn't look like a teenager. She's got way too much presence for that.

I only ever saw one episode of "Sabrina the Teen-aged Witch" and I loved that damn cat! I only recently found out that Savage Steve Holland ("Better Off Dead", "One Crazy Summer", and "Eek the Cat")was behind the show and I wished I had seen more. My guess if it was lame it had to do with the fact that it was a network sitcom and probably had potential to be much better. If there's some kind of possibility that he is making some kind of movie out it, it might be really good.

marmoset | September 19, 04:18 CET

Please don't put me down as a killjoy, but to me the cat was SO obviously a puppet/robot. Turned me off. And the writing on that show was - don't wanna be too harsh here but - insipid. I never got past the first ten minutes.

Sorry Sabrina fans! Don't mean to be the wet blanket!

Willowy | September 19, 04:33 CET

This seems so unlikely that I'm not even going to start worrying about it :-) Taking on a movie like Sabrina would really contradict just about every public statement Sarah has made since BtVS ended. In fact, she recently (perhaps at ComicCon??) said that she would only want another superhero role if it were original - that with Buffy, there had been a previous movie and with Daphne, the cartoon - and that she wanted somthing to be really hers. Of course, the likelihood of that happening in the present Holywood climate is zero.
Oh, unless, Joss and Sarah decide that they want to work together again (starts praying quickly - maybe God will hear this prayer before the gates of heaven close on Yom Kippur).

WWBD | September 19, 04:43 CET

I hope that was fake news, please god!!! :S

Angel TheVampire | September 19, 04:59 CET

Willowy, regarding the writing, to (nearly) quote my Russian grandma, "crapsh*t!"

Chris inVirginia | September 19, 06:08 CET

Heh. Gotta love the Russians!

Willowy | September 19, 06:40 CET

Willowy, i could not agree more. The writing on Sabrina made me cringe on many occasions. I suppose we have to be fair though. It was a kids show for the most part and so the whole "moral of the week" type scripting was to be expected i suppose.

Having said that some of the episodes where Sabrina casts a spell leading to unexpected and "hilarious" consequences (by which i of course mean pretty much every single episode!) actually managed to make Charmed look like a show with depth and adult themes.

When Charmed makes you look poorly scripted you really need to worry!

Koven | September 19, 14:13 CET

Twaddle such as this 'report' is the stock-in-trade of British tabloids like the Daily Express and Daily Star, one or both of which was responsible for starting this rumour. It is worth remembering that it was the Daily Star that announced, in a 'World Exclusive', that Holly Valance was taking over the role of Buffy from SMG!

Some would argue that this kind of thing is harmless. I don't agree. It will now become a 'fact' and in five years time there will be people asking, "Whatever happened to that 'Sabrina' film SMG was making?"

It is when these tabloids spew out their disgusting racist, sexist and homophobic garbage that they become really dangerous. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing how much harm they do. I am sorry to rant, but in my professional life I am concerned with the implementation of ethical standards, and these so-called newspapers have none.

On the subject of 'Sabrina', I used to watch and enjoy it with my daughters until they decided they were too old for such trivialities. I suspect they were more embarrassed about spending time with their father than anything else.

alien lanes | September 19, 16:21 CET

What? The cat was FAKE? That would explain the talking, I guess...

bogu_salias | September 19, 20:25 CET

As I recall, it's a condition of the Sabrina license that the "Teenaged Witch" bit be retained, no matter how old the character actually is at any given time. This was why the show's name remained the same even though the Sabrina character was in her twenties by the very end.

So, in the unlikely case that SMG ended up in the titular role, it's not a given that she would have to play a teenager.

weds | September 19, 23:21 CET

I do agree that the writing was inspid. It was gentle humour of the worst kind, i.e. the unfunny kind. But I still think the cat was cool.

Gonnas | September 20, 02:35 CET

By the third season the Sabrina writers were phoning it in, like a regular Disney on TGIF/Friday night, but the first two seasons rocked. Penn & Teller on a family show, folks. That's pretty bold.

Augh! I did it and I said I wouldn't. I again swear not to be an apologist for Sabrina. Man, I'm weak sauce.

bogu_salias | September 20, 02:54 CET

Okay, since you brought it up...the cat on Sabrina was played by Nick Bakay, who had earlier played a "voice" on the Comedy Channel Show "Night after Night" with Allan Harvey. I liked him from that and so I liked the cat. And from there the Nickelodeon cartoon "Angry Beavers" (which is stupid but sometimes very funny and always creative) as Norbert.

hako | September 20, 03:35 CET

Eddy, according to the Hollywood Reporter the movie will be based on the Archie comic books, rather than the series, though both are from Paramount.

dreamlogic | September 20, 21:04 CET

OK, this little "news item" is so strange, I have to comment (on a number of things):

1. SMG is never going to do this movie. She's an extremely focused young woman who's been trying to position herself away from BUFFY. Backsliding is not her method of operation. It conflicts with her life schedule.

2. Repeat after me: "There is no such thing as a bad concept--only bad scripts." If, for some unfathomable reason, she did agree to do the movie, it might not be too bad. They couldn't set in high school, of course, because...well, that would just be bizarre. But if they went with the idea of Sabrina as a twentysomething witchling out on her own in the mortal world for the first time (kind of Archie Comics meets the Mary Tyler Moore show), it could work. I could see SMG pulling that off. Personally, I think she would be a better Samantha Stephens than a Sabrina Spellman, but that's JMO. Oh, and speaking of the new Bewitched movie....

3. I love everything I'm hearing about it. Nicole Kidman as a "closeted" witch who's hired by a movie studio to play a witch in a Bewitched movie-within-the-movie. (Yes, they're going "meta" on us.) Will Ferrell as the egomaniacal actor who plays Darren Stephens. Nora Ephron apparently has delivered a killer script. This could be a hoot.

4. Sabrina (the TV series) had some excellent actors. Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea as Sabrina's aunts; Martin Mull as her school principal; Robbie Benson as her dad. Melissa Joan Hart was not one of them, though. She had the same mile-a-minute delivery for every line of dialogue. She never conveyed any believable emotion. Of course, after year 1, the scripts never included any believable emotions, so maybe that wasn't entirely her fault.

5. Salem the cat was indeed cool.

cjl | September 20, 21:38 CET

Well, SMGfan.com has confirmed this tidbit to be untrue. Thank God! :)

Silent Night | September 21, 01:43 CET

Thank god indeed. I don't know why US entertainment websites get taken in by reports from British papers.

I'll amend the subject line with SMGfan.com's new info.

Simon | September 21, 01:47 CET