Movie Maybe, But Can't Cartoon

TV Guide's Ask Ausiello has an interview with the "Man of the Moment", Joss Whedon about possible Buffy projects:

Question: Buffy, Angel, Spike — anything?!? — Tammy

Ausiello: How 'bout all of the above, and then some? I just hung up with Sir Joss Whedon, and the chatty Cathy dished on all of your favourite things in the galaxy, from the Buffyverse to Veronica Mars (his new obsession) and back. Ready for takeoff? Read on for some highlights from our Q&A session (that's quips and anecdotes for you newbies).

Serenity is opening in two days. How does it feel?
It feels good. I like the movie. It's a good time.

Did Universal tell you how much this one needs to gross for there to be a sequel?
More than it cost. I don't think [we'll know] right away whether or not there'll be a second one because, obviously, DVD is the new box office. And I also think of this as a slow-growth movie. It's not about shock and awe first weekend; it's about word of mouth. It's about whether the film has legs.

How'd your Veronica Mars cameo go?
Well, I don't want to say [I'm] the new Brando, but I do want to say I'm the new Franklin Pangborn…. It was nice, because I had it with Kristen Bell, who's really good and helped me get through my inability to act on film. Apart from that, it was somewhat unremarkable to anybody who wasn't me.

Did you ever think your endorsement of a TV show would carry as much weight as your rave review of Mars did?
I really didn't. I just got on the Internet because I was feelin' it. I was just feelin' it. I loved that show. I was like, "I gotta get on the Internet and tell peeps about this." [Executive producer] Joel Silver called me and said, "Why didn't you tell us you were going to do that?!" I said, "Here's the point: I didn't know I was going to do that." After the last six episodes [from Season 1], which we watched in a day, I was just on fire. I haven't been a fanboy like that since the days of old.

Any chance you might write or direct an episode?
To direct would be fun, if I had time. To write, quite frankly, I'd be intimidated. Their stuff is tight. I would be nervous as hell, and it would take me a really long time. I would love to do one, but I don't have time and [Rob Thomas] doesn't need me so, ultimately, I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

You spoke to Tim Minear about writing and directing the Spike movie. Where do things stand?
Things stand that all of the art guys — the people who would be involved artistically — have been trading phone calls going, "Wouldn't this be cool? Wouldn't this be cool?" We don't have a paradigm set up yet. We don't have anything solid to announce. I'm just making sure that the creative people I need are in place before I set up a whole deal and then James Marsters goes, "Gosh, you know? That's kind of behind me now." Or [if] I don't have a writer I can trust, because I don't have time to do it all myself; I need one of my peeps. And there's no greater peep for something like this than Mr. Minear. I'm optimistic that I will actually have something to say in the near future, but at this point it's still me and my buddies going, "Wouldn't it be cool?"

Have you spoken to David Janollari at WB yet?
I'm not going to go into the deal-making stuff at all.

Can you tell us if you've spoken to anyone aside from James about appearing in the movie?
Yes, I have.

Amy Acker?
Yes, I have. Well, you know, I see Amy a lot, I see Alyson [Hannigan] a lot and Alexis [Denisof]. I've spoken to a couple of people just because we're making conversation, and they don't hate the idea. The worst thing that could happen is that somebody would be too busy because, as we know, all of my alumni are taking over the world.

Do you see Alyson/Willow being a part of it?
You know, if I get a chance to use Alyson, I'll use Alyson. That's a given. There's no maybe about that. The maybe is, does she have time? And if she does have time, shouldn't she be busy doing Veronica Mars, where we need to know more about her character?

Have you finished writing Wonder Woman?
No. No. God, no.

What stage are you in? Have you started?
The writing stage is just one big stage, and I'm in it. Yes I have [started], but I'm still putting the pieces in place.

Is there a production start date?
No. That was one of the stipulations, that we would let the thing happen organically. Because, ultimately, a lot of work needs to be done. It has to be just right or it's going to be bad, and I'm not looking for that.

Have you given any more thought to casting?
No, I sure haven't.

One last thing: Should I assume the Buffy animated series is dead?
That's a good word for it. I think dead and possibly buried. Or even cremated.

Veronica Mars is still yet to surface here in Oz, and I'm hoping it will appear over the Summer.

I am sad that the animated Buffy is dead and buried, I think it would have been an interesting retrospective.

It seems that some sort of movie is likely, and that Spike will be central. I still think Spike and Andrew's Excellent Adventure sounds like a hit.

Although, with this news (also from TV Guide):

GOING, GOING, GONER: Buffyverse ruler Joss Whedon — whose Firefly flick Serenity hits theatres one week from today — has inked a seven-figure deal with Universal to write and direct the fantasy thriller Goner. "It's the story of a young woman's journey that involves a great deal of horror and some heroics," he tells Variety. "It's certainly darker than Serenity, and there are a lot of left turns along the way. It is something I had in mind for a while, and it just poured out of me when I finished my film." Of course, Goner will have to wait until Whedon finishes Warner Bros.' big-screen Wonder Woman flick and (hopefully) gets the ball rolling on that long-rumoured Spike TV movie (hint hint, nudge nudge, slap slap).

It may be even longer before something Buffy related gets off the ground. Although, I wouldn't be unhappy if Joss handed the reins over to Tim Minear so that he could still be making movies.