EXCLUSIVE: “Buffy” Remake Back On, Heather Morris to Star

Editor’s notes: Want to contribute a guest blog post? Contact us. See our prior and following news on the new “Buffy” movie.

By Samuel Scott

Buffy Summers has been resurrected — again.

Although the plans to remake the original “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” 1992 film had been placed on hold after writer Whit Anderson’s script had been rejected, the movie, like the Slayer twice herself, has come back to life with a planned release during the holidays late this year. “Glee” actress Heather Morris will play the lead role.

In an exclusive joint-interview with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online, Anderson and Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. (the owner of the movie rights), explained their plans.

“We had private meetings with Anderson, and we agreed on certain changes to the initial script that we all believe “Buffy” fans will appreciate,” Meyer said in the telephone interview. “We would never want to produce a ‘Buffy’ film that would not be perfect.”

In the same telephone conversation, Anderson said, “We will remain faithful to the original script, but we will also include some of the themes that were addressed later in the television series. It will be a prequel, of course — and we are sure it will satisfy ‘Buffy’ fans just as the ‘Star Wars’ prequels were well-received by fans of that franchise. The successes of remakes including the new ‘Red Dawn’ and ‘Footloose’ show that it can be done well.”

Some of the described changes include:

• Changing Luke Perry’s character (Buffy’s love interest) into a mysterious, brooding, older man who harbors a dark secret
• Having a blond, British, sarcastic, foreign-exchange student come to the school
• Buffy’s first watcher will not meet the same fate as in the original — instead, he will leave to train potential slayers (some of whom will be revealed to be Buffy’s fellow students)
• Two of Buffy’s cheerleader friends will, respectively, experiment with her sexuality and start to explore witchcraft
• In an effort both to attract “Twilight” fans and satisfy “Buffy” fans, Robert Pattinson will play one of the evil vampires — and he will be staked by Buffy at an undetermined point in the film
• The indie, 1990s music of the television series will be replaced by pop hits from Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and other artists favored by the target demographic (teenage girls today)
• It will be hinted that one of Buffy’s teachers will be an incarnation of The First, the originator of evil who was the “Big Bad” of the seventh and final season of “Buffy.” The First will be seen to observe the new slayer for future planning

Anderson and Meyer also revealed in the interview that Morris, also a singer and dancer, will play the famous vampire slayer. The rest of the cast is still undetermined. Through a spokesperson, Morris told Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online: “Buffy in the remake will also be a member of the high-school chorus. I’m looking forward to having her sing and dance in a way that will foreshadow the famous musical episode.”

In a one-sentence statement released through a spokesperson, Joss Whedon, the initial creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” said, “This is a crazier plan than to attack the mayor with hummus.”

Representatives for Sarah Michelle Gellar and the other major cast members of the television series did not return requests for comment before press time.

Samuel Scott is the founder and publisher of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online. You can follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Twitter as well as on his personal website.

Like this post? Submit it to Whedonesque!