Q&A with Joss Whedon, writer, producer and director
THE NEW SEASON / 'DOLLHOUSE'
The idea for the new 'Dollhouse' series was inspired by actress Eliza Dushku, who'll star in the Fox TV drama that begins airing midseason.
Joss Whedon, the scribe who birthed "Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel(TV_series)" and swore off the small screen after “Firefly” was canceled, is part of the Fox family again.
Whedon's "Dollhouse" will be unveiled today as part of Fox's lineup at a presentation in Manhattan. The drama is about an illegal house of men and women whose memories and personalities have been wiped out so that they can be hired to be anyone and do anything. It stars Eliza Dushku (Faith from "Buffy"), who unintentionally served as the inspiration. It will air in midseason.
Describing their initial meetings with Whedon, Fox President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly and Gary Newman, chairman of 20th Century Fox Television, used terms not often heard from powerful executives regarding pitches.
"He had me at 'hello,' " Reilly said, admitting that the first time Whedon visited the network, "I was kinda drunk with the surprise of it all. He laid out the whole concept, but I think it was one of those things where I heard every other word of it."
"I don't quite know what to liken it to," Newman said. "He pitches as if he's thinking of it for the first time. There's an extemporaneous nature to it, which keeps you kind of riveted. You have to listen really carefully because the wicked and clever asides are nonstop."
Listen for yourself:
Is it true that this idea came to you over lunch with Eliza Dushku?
Eliza had made the deal at Fox and we got together to talk about her ambition, her management, her opportunities, because I've always felt that she's a huge star. Plus, she's a friend.
But I was trying to get a movie off the ground, "Goners." "Wonder Woman" had already crashed and burned. "Goners" they had already lost control of the instruments, but who knows? So things were not that auspicious, but I was working it. Not shunning television but not intending to come back. But as we discussed Eliza's predicament, I started giving her some ideas about what I thought she would need: a genre show so she could be political without being partisan; an ensemble show so she didn't have to be in every scene. And I thought about it for a bit and then literally went, oh, curse word, I just came up with the show and the title. And it was the title that I knew I was doomed. Because if you have the title, you know it's right. And that's just bad.
