We were a little shocked when it was announced that Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) was going to help out with the new Hulu sequel series revival of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (coming after she was said to be developing a futuristic sci-fi Western vampire flick) but, then again, she dabbled had already in the world of cosmic superheroes with the Marvel Studios flick “The Eternals” and helmed a live-action launch trailer for the hellish fantasy video game “Diablo IV.” But it sounds like when it comes to “Buffy,” she is coming from the place of being a fan back in her college days and being able to court Sarah Michelle Gellar back to fold.
Speaking with Vanity Fair to promote her upcoming William Shakespeare family drama “Hamnet,” Zhao briefly touched upon the horror comedy revival and being able to get a reluctant Gellar, essentially the face of the original show, on board after multiple attempts in the past by others to get her involved with more “Buffy” after the star had expressed concerns about return to that world and what ultimately their goals would be telling more stories with her back in the role.
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“No one knows ‘Buffy’ better than Sarah Michelle Gellar…and that’s why I couldn’t do it unless she felt like we should,” Zhao says. “The way the fans commune around her, that’s the energy we’re trying to bring out onto a small screen again…we thought it may be time for a new wave of monsters and vampires and demons that we get to learn about our humanity through.”
In the same piece, Gellar added her thoughts on Zhao’s vision after reiterating the Oscar-winner getting involved was a key reason for her return to Buffy Summers after an extended hiatus, “That is all credit to the visionary Chloé is…an international eye which broadens the scope of what we can achieve…This version is coming from the true fan that is desperate to revisit the world, not reinvent.”
Many will remember that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” didn’t originally start as a TV series. The Joss Whedon creation was first a 1992 feature film (less serious than the small screen iteration) released by 20th Century Fox and directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui with quite an interesting collection of actors among the cast such as Kristy Swanson as the titular slayer, Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry, David Arquette, Hillary Swank, Seth Green (who would end up playing a new werewolf cohort in the TV show version) Paul Rubens, Ruger Hauer, and a young Ben Affleck (who recently admitted he had his line redubbed by someone else because his unremarkable preformance).
“Hamnet,” starring Irish actors Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is set to be released in select theaters on November 27 before going wide on December 12. And you can read The Playlist’s review of the film from our Telluride Film Festival coverage right here.
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