‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ movie looking for new writer

Back in November last year, you may remember this:

Back in her high school days in a Delaware small town, Whit Anderson’s days were jammed with activity — academics and athletics were all-consuming and there was little time for empty entertainment. ”I didn’t really watch much television at all, but I always watched ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ that was the one show I would watch when I got home. I just loved this character. I was the same age as Buffy and it was so rare to have a female lead character on TV in those days who was strong and capable and smart but also allowed to be feminine.”

During its seven-season run, the beloved ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series put some fang into high-school melodrama long before “Twilight” made the undead all sparkly, and one big reason was the ability of the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, to put himself in the head of his female fans. Now we’ll find out if that rapport works in the other direction as the 29-year-old Anderson works on the script for a Warner Bros. feature-film “Buffy” reboot that is moving forward without Whedon.

Anderson, with a chuckle, said she is ”fighting through” the script right now, but her concept has already engerized some key supporters. Charles Roven, one of the producers of “Batman Begins,” said his Atlas Entertainment signed on after he saw something special in Anderson’s tone and story.

“Generally, I wouldn’t have said ‘Let’s revive this,’ but Whit’s take is pretty compelling and a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see all of this re-imagined. This is a completely new reboot. Tone is extremely important and you want the audience to realize what is at stake and the peril is real, but at the same time what’s going on should be fun and inviting and keep everyone engaged. It needs to be relevant to today, too, and that is what Whit has found a way to do.”

Well, evidently not compelling enough. From Geoff Boucher at the always excellent Hero Complex [LAT] site:

That big-screen revamp of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” has been dealt a setback — it looks as though the movie’s first-time screenwriter bit off more than she could chew.

Two sources close to the project say that the script submitted this past summer by writer Whit Anderson fell far short of expectations and, in the end, was rejected completely.

There’s that old line: Why does a dog lick its genitals? Because it can. Just because a studio owns the copyright to a revered TV and movie title like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” doesn’t mean it ought to do a series reboot… especially without its creator Joss Whedon.

Hopefully this is one reboot that will remain unbooted.

For more of the Hero Complex article, go here.