Whedon, Joss 1964–

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Whedon, Joss 1964–

PERSONAL: Born Joseph Whedon, June 23, 1964, in New York, NY; son of Tom Whedon (a television screenwriter and producer) and Lee Stearns (a high school teacher); married Kai Cole (a designer); children: Arden. Education: Attended Winchester College, Hampshire, England; Wesleyan University, graduated 1987.

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—c/o United Talent Agency, 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER: Screenwriter, producer, director, creator of television series. Worked variously as a screenwriter for films and as a script doctor; Roseanne, Los Angeles, CA, staff writer, 1989–90. Producer and writer for television series, including Parenthood, 1990; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997–2003; Angel: The Series, Los Angeles, CA, 1999–2004; and Firefly, Los Angeles, CA, 2002.

AWARDS, HONORS: Saturn Award for best network television series, 2001, for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

WRITINGS:

SCREENPLAYS

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992.

(Uncredited; with others) Speed, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1994.

(Uncredited; with others) Waterworld, Universal, 1995.

Toy Story, Buena Vista, 1995.

(Uncredited) Twister, Universal, 1996.

Alien: Resurrection, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1997.

Titan A.E., Twentieth Century-Fox, 2000.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (treatment), Walt Disney Company, 2001.

Serenity, Universal, 2005.

TELEVISION SERIES; WITH OTHERS

Roseanne, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., 1989–90.

Parenthood (multiple episodes), National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1990.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (multiple episodes), The WB, 1997–98.

Angel: The Series, The WB, 1999.

Firefly, Fox Broadcasting Company, 2002.

Creator and writer of comic-book series for Dark Horse Comics, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Fray; author of Tales of the Slayer, 2002. Lyricist for "Once More with Feeling" Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and "My Lullaby" The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Creator of series of tie-in books based on his television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Wonder Woman, a screenplay for Universal.

SIDELIGHTS: Screenwriter Joss Whedon was born in 1964, in New York City, to television screenwriter and producer Tom Whedon and high school teacher Lee Stearns. Tom Whedon had worked on such television shows as The Golden Girls and Benson, and his father—Joss's grandfather—was a playwright who also worked in television, writing for such early programs as The Donna Reed Show. Lee Stearns also had a literary bend, writing novels during her summers off that were never published. Though neither of his parents encouraged him to pursue a career as a writer, Whedon credits his mother's influence on his choice of vocation even more than that of his father.

Whedon attended the Riverdale Country School in Riverdale, New York, until his senior year, at which point he transferred to Winchester College in England to finish his primary schooling. He then returned to the United States and attended Wesleyan College in Connecticut, where he earned a degree in film studies. Within two years of graduating, he was working in the television industry, starting out as a staff writer for the situation comedy, Roseanne. He continued writing for television while also working on screenplays for film and as a script doctor on other writers' efforts.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Whedon's first screenplay to be produced. The film takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the stereotypical horror movie and turns it on end by transforming the supposedly vapid, shallow, blonde cheerleader type—typically the first to die in most works of the genre—into a feisty, strong heroine who can achieve great feats of courage when she puts her mind to the task. Whedon meant for the film to have a dark feel, but director Frank Kuzui's interpretation was lighter and more campy than Whedon intended. Critics found that the end result fell flat. Ralph Novak, in a review for People, wrote: "Don't let Twentieth Century-Fox, or anyone else, convince you that this movie is a spoof. It is a straightforward vampire movie, with lots of neck biting, blood gushing and stakes through the heart."

Whedon continued writing for the big screen, though most of his efforts were as a cowriter or script doctor. In 1997, however, he had the opportunity to revisit the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe in the form of a television series for the then-fledgling television network, The WB. The original film became something of a cult classic once released on video, and its popularity spawned the network's interest. Promised a greater degree of control over his finished product, Whedon signed on as creator, writer, and director of the new series. The ongoing story allowed him to further develop his universe, where the presiding metaphor is that high school is hell. T. L. Stanley, writing for Mediaweek, observed that the show is "an amalgam of teen angst and giant horned monsters. To Whedon, being horrified and being a high school student are inextricably intertwined." When asked by A. J. Jacobs in Entertainment Weekly why he chose to turn from a lucrative film-writing career to the smaller screen, Whedon responded that "the movies I write—if they get made—take several thousand years…. With TV, it's like I get to make an independent movie every week." He also had the chance to remake his heroine according to his original vision. In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Whedon said of Buffy: The idea was, let's have a feminist role model for kids. What's interesting is you end up subverting that. If she's just an ironclad hero—'I am woman, hear me constantly roar'—it gets dull. Finding the weakness and the vanity and the foibles makes it fun."

Buffy the Vampire eventually led to the spin-off program, Angel: The Series. The show took the title vampire character out of the fictional California town of Sunnydale, where Buffy lives, and sent him to Los Angeles, freeing Buffy to move on to a more plausible love interest while dooming Angel himself to exist without his true love while trying to determine his purpose on the planet. The scenario makes for a broody vampire turned private detective with a specialty in cases that deal with demons and other creatures of the night. In a review for Variety, Laura Fries remarked that "Whedon has a gift for blending action and comedy without resorting to the 'make my day' kind of mentality prevalent in shows of the same ilk. Angel, rarely a source for humor on Buffy, gets to lighten up a bit here."

Whedon has continued to write for film as well as for television. The short-lived 2002 series, Firefly, a futuristic Western set in space, led to a feature film, Serenity, in which the entire cast of the series returns for further adventures. Prompted in large part by the success of Firefly, on DVD, Serenity allows Whedon closure much in the way that the Buffy series enabled him to redeem his original film.

In addition to his screen and television writing, Whedon is the creator and author of a number of comic books for Dark Horse Comics, including books based on both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel programs, and Fray.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Golden, Christopher, and Nancy Holder, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher's Guide, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

Kaveny, Roze, editor, Reading the Vampire Slayer: An Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel, Tauris Parke, 2002.

Maltin, Leonard, Movie and Video Guide, Signet (New York, NY), 1995, p. 175.

Wilcox, Rhonda V., and David Lavery, Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer?, Rowman and Littlefield (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, July 11, 2004, Meor Shariman, "Another Joss Whedon Masterpiece."

Booklist, January 1, 2005, Francisca Goldsmith, review of Tales of the Vampires (comic), p. 847; March 15, 2005, Gordon Flagg, review of Gifted (comic), p. 1280.

Daily Variety, March 17, 2005, Dana Harris, "Whedon Visits 'Wonder' Land," p. 1.

Entertainment Weekly, April 25, 1997, A. J. Jacobs, "Interview with a Vampire Chronicler," pp. 23-24; December 5, 1997, Lisa Schwarzbaum, review of Alien Resurrection, pp. 47-49; May 21, 1999, Dan Snierson, "City of Angel," p. 40; October 1, 1999, "The Boo! Crew," p. 44; December 3, 1999, Ken Tucker, "'Angel' Baby," p. 79; June 14, 2002, Jeff Jensen, "Let 'Em Eat Stake," p. 75; June 21, 2002, Lynette Rice, "On the Air," p. 64; September 13, 2002, Jeff Jensen, "Galaxy Quest," p. 96; October 4, 2002, Ken Tucker, "Flights of Fantasy," p. 135; March 12, 2004, Lynette Rice, "'Serenity' Now! Joss Whedon's—and Firefly Fans'—Wishes Come True," p. 24; April 23, 2004, Ken Tucker, "Fallen 'Angel': Though the Canceled Drama Has Identity Issues, Ken Tucker Thinks It Deserves More Time to Find its Soul," p. 68; May 14, 2004, Jeff Jensen, "A Sweet Hit of 'X': Buffy Mastermind Joss Whedon Gives Everyone's Favorite Mutants a Shot in the Arm," p. L2T26; May 21, 2004, Jeff Jensen, "The X Factor," p. 46; March 25, 2005, Missy Schwartz, "The Deal Report," p. 14.

Journal of Popular Film and Television, summer, 1999, Rhonda V. Wilcox, "There Will Never Be a 'Very Special' Buffy," pp. 16-23.

Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1992, Kenneth Turan, "'Buffy's' Gnarly Date with Destiny," p. 1; November 22, 1995, Kenneth Turan, "The Secret Life of Toys," p. 1; August 10, 2002, Richard Harrington, "Will Spike Emerge from the Shadows?," p. F18

Mediaweek, February 17, 1997, T. L. Stanley, "'Buffy' to Slay Small Screen," pp. 9-10.

Mercury News (San Jose, CA), August 14, 2004, Charlie McCollum, "'Buffy' Writer Joss Whedon May Be TV's Finest."

Ms., August-September, 1999, Heather Olsen, "He Gives Us the Creeps," pp. 79-80.

New Statesman, March 29, 1996, Lizzie Francke, review of Toy Story, p. 28.

New York, December 1, 1997, David Denby, review of Alien Resurrection, p. 121.

New York Post, May 31, 2001, "New Buffy Spin-Off," p. 74; December 20, 2001, "'Buffy' Creator Blasts Off," p. 83; June 21, 2002, "Buffy's Not Too Cool for School," p. 122.

New York Times, March 31, 1997, p. C11; October 1, 2000, Steve Vineberg, "Yes She's a Vampire Slayer. No, Her Show Isn't Kid Stuff," p. AR42; May 28, 2001, Jim Rutenberg, "Hold the Tears in Vampire Slayer's Death," p. C7; September 23, 2001, Joyce Millman, "Lessons in Being Human," p. AR21; September 20, 2002, Caryn James, "Fantasy of Future and Here and Now," p. E26.

New York Times Magazine, September 22, 2002, Emily Nussbaum, "Must-See Metaphysics," p. 56.

People, August 17, 1992, Ralph Novak, review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie), p. 13.

Publishers Weekly, January 3, 2005, review of Tales of the Vampires (comic), p. 38.

Rain Taxi, summer, 2002, Steven Moore, "Layers of Slayage: Buffy as Text," pp. 24-25.

Rolling Stone, September 3, 1992, Peter Travers, review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie), p. 75; December 11, 1997, Peter Travers, review of Alien Resurrection, pp. 83-84.

School Library Journal, May, 2004, Susan Salpini, review of Fray: Future Slayer (comic), p. 179.

Teacher Librarian, February, 2005, Michele Gorman, review of Fray (comic), p. 58.

Time, December 1, 1997, Richard Schickel, review of Alien Resurrection, p. 84; September 23, 2002, James Poniewozick, review of Firefly, p. 78.

UPI News Track, March 17, 2005, "Joss Whedon to Take On 'Wonder Woman.'"

US Weekly, November 12, 2001, Tom Conroy, review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (television series), p. 59.

Variety, August 3, 1992, Todd McCarthy, review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie), p. 40; November 18, 1997, Derek Elley, review of Alien Resurrection, pp. 63-64; October 4, 1999, Laura Fries, review of Angel, p. 52; March 22, 2004, Gabriel Snyder, "'Firefly' Feature Alights: Whedon Project Jumps from Fox TV to Bigscreen," p. 14.

Washington Post, December 15, 1998, Lisa de Moraes, "Spellbound: Witches Charm Young Viewers," p. C1.