Exercice de cinema-fiction paru dans le spécial #51 du magazine britannique Starburst. Spoilers saisons 5 à 8. ^^; (plus sérieusement, légers spoilers S5-6).
Le numéro courant du mensuel est le 283 et les pages présentées dans ce spécial sont censées provenir du # 349. Le tout aussi fictif numéro 316 annonce Alexis Denisof dans une possible mini-série TV James Bond... Et la couv du # 322 (juin 2005) le confirme : "Bond!... is back in a new TV series!" -> Alexis Denisof avec, apparement, Jennifer Garner (Felicity, Alias) ^^;
Expected in cinemas 07/08
AnticiCounter at w5.vismag.BTM
Words Jim Smith
Pictures (c) Coca-Cola Corp
Shooting on Joss Whedon's new Buffy theatrical release is now well underway, and our staff here are about as hungry as it's possible to be for any news about our first glimpse of the Slayer in two years.
* * * * * * * *
Imagine our delight then when Starburst was offered a free tour around the sets by the man himself - writer/director/creator oss Whedon. "It wasn't until I did Iron Man and that was a success that I felt I could do the Buffy feature," says Joss, coffee in hand, "I wasn't going to even try to bring my dearest baby back to the big screen until I was 100% confident. And then some."
The main cast have been at Leavesden for two months now, following their initial period of shooting around London, Oxford and (briefly) Stonehenge. "That was a rough weekend," comments Joss. "It was may, I wasn't expecting snow. Even in Wiltshire.
Letters to this publication have worried that the film's UK setting would result in a movie that's aesthetically little like the TV series that spawned it. According to Joss, this is the whole idea: "It's essentiel. We knew we couldn't make it exactly like the series, I mean it's nearly three years since we wrapped the show, so I thought why bother trying? Why not go all out and make it completely different to look at? In a sense that's why we've come to England, although it gives us great story and technical possibilities too."
Whilst Joss fields a phone call ("Marti Noxon, " he explains, "wanting to know when she can have David back. ") he hands us a pile of design sketches to flip through. One features a sequence where back-to-back, Spike and Buffy fight hordes of vampires on the roof of the British Museum, and another shows Dawn doing telekinetic tricks with Cleopatra's Needle.
Once he's finished on the phone, Joss sits and chats for a few more minutes [see full interview next issue, or excerpts on VidFon(TM)] before remembering that he has to go do some directing. He agrees to let us watch provided that we promise to be very good. So we do.
As Joss suggested earlier, today is one of the few days that David Boreanaz is working on the picture. Joss wanted him to appear in the film, even if briefly, but between shootingAngel back in LA and his commitments to Batman: Cataclysm, he can only spare a few days in the whole of this year.
We watch Joss talk Boreanaz and James Marsters through a big character scene; it's only Spike and Angel's second meeting since the first season of Angel - an amazing eight years ago now - and their first since the former William the Bloody's marriage to the Slayer. It's a funny and clever scene, which touches on everything from Angel's failure to save LA from Cain to the price of a pint of guiness. Both actors get round of applause after the final take. Later Boreanaz does some some reaction shots for a scene with Buffy, who is not here. Both Gellar and Tony Head have been given the day off after a particularly intense week of night filming. It really gives you an appreciation of Boreanaz to see him acting against a mannequin with a sticker on it saying 'Sarah' . "We'll drop her in later using the computer, Joss explains. "It's easy enough to do, so why not?"
Whilst the actors are having coffee, and no one is looking, we flip through James Marsters' script. Our favourite bit? Spike's over-protective refusal to believe that trainee watcher Gideon (Danny Radcliffe, the first Harry Potter) could be of any romantic interest to Dawn ("I'm nineteen" she reminds him severely "and you are not my Dad").
Later we want to watch Giles's big fight with Sir Ian McKellen's Alfa, but Joss has decided that the scene is too plot-relevant for spoiler hounds like ourselves, and so we chat to Nick Brendon instead. Brendon is glad to be in London, particularly as at one point he thought that his commitments to the Wachowski Brothers' The Six Billion Dollar Man might prevent anything more than a cameo from Congressman Harris. Fortunately, a compromise was worked out due to Coca-Cola Corp keenness to have Brendon in both pictures. "It means three months without a day off," he grins, "and with lots of transatlantic flights, but I had to do Buffy - it's like coming home."
Brendon won't be drawn on Alyson Hannigan's refusal to participate in the film, but insists that all the TV series' former regulars get on well. "For her, it's a character thing. She's a serious actress." Indeed Hannigan recently told Starburst that she wouldn't come back as Willow simply because, "Dead is dead. Even someone like Willow couldn't come back from a final scene like that!" - referring to the apocalyptic end of Grievances.
Before we go, we ask Joss to sum up the new film for us, "It dabbles in familiar Buffy themes" he claims, "such as how parents regard their children's failings and vice versa. The paternal bond between Buffy and Giles is restated here as a kind of mantra, something I wanted to do after the messy end of season eight."
For those fans disappointed with the conclusion of the TV series, it looks like Buffy: The First Vampire might be something of a re-statement of faith.
L to R:
Mrs Williams prepares to kick vampire butt, Giles acts his age, and
Congressman Harris wears the beard of evil
Opposite:
Thanks God for de-ageing tech! David Boreanaz can still play Angelus'
flashbacks without seeming aged!
Below:
A rare example of shooting on the actual location as the CG backlash
gathers pace.