by Damon Martin

The decision Hollywood made a few months ago to remake Buffy the Vampire Slayer without series creator Joss Whedon was met with more than just a little venom from the fans that followed and supported the series for seven seasons and a continuing run into the comic book world.

It appears that some of those voices were heard after first time writer Whit Anderson was hired to write a script, and upon further review, the producers behind the project were thoroughly unimpressed with what he came up with; The Los Angeles Times reports the script was “was rejected completely.”

The project is now on hold awaiting a new writer, but it may end up getting shelved all together after the fans of the Buffy-verse revolted against the idea of a movie remake without its creator’s involvement.

Some of the actors who made up a big part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series for seven years were also soundly against the idea of a movie remake sans Whedon. Especially considering most of them are still young enough to reprise roles in some kind of movie, if Whedon ever decided to make a go of it.

“Without Joss’s participation it is likely to be almost as good as the original film,” said James Marsters, who portrayed Spike during the hit series’ run when speaking to SuicideGirls. “Cause at least Joss wrote that one.”

The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film –– which starred Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, and Paul ‘Pee-Wee Herman’ Reubens –– was released in 1992 and was a critical disaster. However, it became a bit of a cult hit among science fiction fans.

Whedon wrote the original film and created all the characters, but the Hollywood machine twisted, turned, and trounced on his ideas throughout the making of it, and the result is what ended up being released.

The film’s ultimate failure is what put Whedon back into creative mode to bring Buffy and her cohorts back, this time to the small screen. The show ran for seven years and has continued to be one of the most popular and talked about shows in the science fiction fan realm, and even hit syndication.

“I don’t think it’s Buffy without Joss Whedon,” said Mark Metcalf, who portrayed ‘The Master’ throughout the first season and several other appearances during the show’s seven season run. “He was the source of it, originally, even before the movie. It was his idea and the series came about because he wasn’t happy with what they did with the movie.”

Marsters and Metcalf are just two of the players from the Buffy TV universe that didn’t seem to be on board for a remade movie, and despite their best efforts Hollywood seems to have come to that realization as well.

Metcalf may have summed it up best when speaking about the potential project, if it ever does get completed.

“I won’t go see it,” Metcalf stated.

Buffy or no Buffy, Whedon has obviously kept busy. He wrote and directed the big budget superhero film The Avengers which hits theaters this summer and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest films.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Few filmmakers can make a movie about two cowboys falling in love in 1963, like Brokeback Mountain, and have it be considered Academy Award material. But certainly Ang Lee is in a class by himself.

He first gained notice in America with his “Father Knows Best” trilogy of The Wedding Banquet, Pushing Hands, and Eat Drink Man Woman. Later he gained monstrous international acclaim with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won four. After that he ventured into big budget studio films with The Hulk.

After that film didn’’t do as well as anticipated, Lee went back to lower budgeted filmmaking with Brokeback Mountain. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger (see SG interview) as two ranchhands who have a passionate love affair over 20 years to the detriment of their families.

Read our exclusive interview with Ang Lee on SuicideGirls.com.

by A.J. Focht

Last summer, X-Men: First Class all but made up for the failures of the previous two movies in the franchise. The prequel was shockingly good, and now the sequel to the prequel is in the works. In an interview with Simon Kinberg, screenwriter of both films, it was revealed that this sequel will focus heavily on Magneto’s storyline and Magneto’s growth as a character into a villain.

The pilot for Arrow is coming along, and thanks to Stephen Amell, who was cast as Green Arrow, we have some insight into the process. Amell keeps a video blog on his Facebook where he answers fan questions. In the last video, he revealed several of the changes he has had to make in training for the part. He also said there is one more major character left to be cast that he knows of.

Last week, I reported about a comic documentary focusing on female super heroes that was seeking funding. Now, the first trailer for that film, WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, is available. The film will make its debut at SXSW.

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Geoff Johns announced DC is working on a Suicide Squad video game. Amongst all of DC’s game projects, John’s is particularly excited about this game because it will present a new conundrum where lead characters can be killed off for real, and it’s not a gimmick. For those not familiar with the Suicide Squad comic, it features prominent DC villains working on government espionage missions, and it is common to see main characters die off each issue.

Doctor Who season seven has begun filming. The first stills from the set have hit the internet. Two more actors have also signed on for the run, Mark Williams (Inspector Lestrade in Sherlock) and David Bradley (Argus Filch from Harry Potter).

Fear not Community fans. Show creator, Dan Harmon, tweeted the show will be returning on March 15th. Community will be back on Thursday nights at 8 PM. Let’s just hope it doesn’t go off air again, it’s was starting to feel like another Arrested Development scenario for a moment.

Amongst vampire and werewolf killing presidents, another historical fiction story has been optioned by Hollywood. I Killed Adolf Hitler has been picked up by Studio Eight. The Eisner Award winning graphic novel follows the adventures of a hitman and his complications with travelling back in time to kill Hitler.

Netflix has pulled another one over on cable and premium television. The Weinstein Company announced a deal that will make its movie releases exclusive to Netflix members. The studio has become well known for its production of Oscar award winning movies. Those same movies will be joining the internet revolution.

By Daniel Robert Epstein

The Matador is one of the funniest pictures of the year and it will definitely make my top five. It just doesn’’t get better than a hitman [Pierce Brosnan] who has a nervous breakdown during his latest gig and hightails it to Denver to hook up with a salesman [Greg Kinnear] he met in Mexico City.

Pierce Brosnan is just as charming, playful and fun in person as he is in his films. He came into the room with Colonel Sanders like facial hair and invited us all to make fun of him. But I figured “How can a white guy from Long Island, like me, possibly make fun of James Bond? It just doesn’’t compute.

Read our exclusive interview with Pierce Brosnan on SuicideGirls.com.

By Daniel Robert Epstein

At the young age of 23, Seth Rogen has had a comedy career equal to a Tim Kazurinsky or Charles Rocket. He’’s improvised with the some of the best comedic actors in the world in films like Anchorman and the television show Undeclared.

Both those projects were connected with Judd Apatow, who first discovered Rogen and cast him in the cult classic TV series Freaks and Geeks [created by Paul Feig]. But Rogen has been waiting to star in an R-rated movie like The 40-Year-Old Virgin for many years because now he can curse his face off.

I got a chance to talk with Rogen about the unrated DVD of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, his improv skills, and the upcoming feature he will be starring in.

Read our exclusive interview with Seth Rogen on SuicideGirls.com.

by A.J. Focht

The New York Toy Fair 2012 is wrapping up today, but this year’s collection makes me envy the kids who will be getting these toys for Christmas next year. Nerdy toys galore were shown off, including but not limited to: Ghost Busters statues, Portal 2 toys (including portal gun), The Dark Knight Rises action figures, Marvel and DC superhero collectibles, and so much more. The Toy Fair ends on a high note, hosting the largest toy bank of the year.

While we’re talking about toys, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying releases February 28. This new Marvel game means that role-players everywhere can stop converting to D20 Modern or other systems just to play a Marvel themed campaign. The game promises to be better than the previous half-assed Marvel RPGs that have been released. It uses the Cortex Plus rules set made famous in the Leverage and Smallville RPGs. The basic game releases at the end of the month, but several expansions such as Civil War are planned as early as March 2012.

We’ve heard many rumors of a Smallville continuation. Everything from another season of the television show to a novel has been alleged. Last Thursday, DC comics gave us the official scoop, announcing the official Smallville Season 11 comic series. The comics pick up where the show left off, and we can expect to see several of our favorites return including Green Arrow and Chloe Sullivan-Queen.

Marvel has given us a teaser of the first showdown from Avengers VS X-Men. The second comic’s cover features Gambit going head-to-head with Captain America and Spider-Man fighting Colossus. It looks like Marvel is determined to give us showdowns never seen before.

All of the comic news from the big boys is great, but it pales in comparison to the awesomeness announced by IDW comics. In possibly the most epic crossover ever, Dr. Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation will come together in a new comic. The Dr. and his gang will join the crew of the Enterprise for what’s bound to be a great adventure. We should know more when it is officially announced this week at the Gallifrey One convention in the UK.

Do you want to see a comic documentary with a focus on the rise of women in comics? If so, a Kickstarter account has been opened to fund such a film. The documentary, Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines is seeking the funding to debut at South by Southwest this March. If you are sick of all the male-centric comic documentaries focusing on Superman and Captain America, this is your chance to help get this movie off the ground.

Moving out of comics and into the movie world, the first preview for the Tim Burton produced Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has arrived. The movie drops into theaters on June 22.

There is a new live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the works, and it looks like they’ve found a director – Jonathan Liebesman, who helmed Battle: Los Angeles and the upcoming Wrath of the Titans.

We’ve known about the inevitable Transformers 4, but I don’t think anyone was expecting Michael Bay would use it to reboot the series. It’s official now since the producers are tossing around the word reboot, but I don’t know if they’re using it correctly. Producer Lorenzo di Bonavantura tried to correlate Transformers 4 to Amazing Spider-Man, but really only ended up saying they weren’t doing a full reboot. I’m not sure what their definition of the term is – it could be anything. A new storyline? A new cast? New Transformers? It’s all up in the air, but the fourth movie is aiming to release June 29, 2014.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance releases in a few days, and now co-director Brain Taylor is onto his next project. He just happens to be writing and directing a live action movie based on the totally rockin’ Playstation demolition derby Twisted Metal game. That’s right Sweet Tooth and other favorites such as Doll Face will be appearing on the silver screen.

By Daniel Robert Epstein

Hugo Weaving had a difficult task when he reteamed with the Wachowski brothers and their director James McTeigue on their adaptation of the Alan Moore and David Lloyd graphic novel V for Vendetta. James Purefoy had already filmed some scenes as V then was let go, giving Weaving only a few days to prepare before coming to set to replace him. But Weaving relished the challenge and rose up and according to reports from the first screening of V for Vendetta; they’’ve pulled off an amazing film.

Read our exclusive interview with Hugo Weaving on SuicideGirls.com.