18 Facts You Might Not Know about BtVS

[Lyri]

1. Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia, was Whedon's original pick for the role of Buffy. Sarah Michelle Gellar was slated to play Cordelia. Gellar had to lobby Whedon heavily before he would allow her to read for the lead role.

2. When she was five, Sarah Michelle Gellar starred in a Burger King commercial that disparaged McDonald's burgers. She was promptly named in a lawsuit by McDonald's and had to give a deposition in the case.

3. If you were watching US television during the early 1990s, you may have spotted Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) in a series of 13 commercials for Taster's Choice coffee which imagined Head as the wooing paramour of a new divorcee. The role somewhat typecasted him, so Head came to Los Angeles during "pilot season" in order to find a very different sort of role.

4. The name "Giles" came from Barbara Giles, Whedon's housematron when he attended a private high school in the UK.

5. Nicholas Brendon (Xander) has a stutter.

6. James Marsters' (Spike) first role was in a fourth-grade production of Winnie the Pooh. He played the role of Eeyore and fell in love with acting. His professional debut came years later in a stage production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. He had a nude scene in that play and has been comfortable performing unclad ever since. Marsters later broke into television as a bellhop on Northern Exposure. He returned the next season to play the role of a priest.

7. Can you imagine Spike with a deep Southern accent? Because that was Whedon's original plan before casting Marsters.

8. Sunnydale's ZIP code would place the town in Morgan Hill, California.

9. Sarah Michelle Gellar has a pronounced fear of cemeteries.

10. Whedon was inspired for The Gentlemen in the episode "Hush" from, in part, Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. This episode, a fan favorite, received two Emmy nominations for writing and cinematography.

11. The Sunnydale weatherman in the episodes "Amends" and "Hush" is a real-life weatherman "” Mark Kriski of KTLA in Los Angeles.

12. Buffy occasionally made favorable references to Xena: Warrior Princess. The writers of Xena returned the favor by mentioning a play called "Buffus the Bacchae Slayer" in their episode "The Play's the Thing."

13. The show was the central metaphor that terrorism expert Anthony Cordesman used in a major 2002 treatise called "Biological Warfare and the Buffy Paradigm." Cordesman explained that Buffy was "about a teenage vampire slayer who lives in a world of unpredictable threats where each series of crises only becomes predictable when it is over."

14. The Simpsons was a leading inspiration for Whedon's work in Buffy. Whedon wrote "If I could write for any show, it would be The Simpsons and Twin Peaks"¦As much as you could say that Buffy is a cross between 90210 and The X-Files, you could say it's a cross between The Simpsons and Twin Peaks."

15. The episode "I Was Made for You" has Warren building a robotic girlfriend who goes crazy and becomes destructive. The role was written with Britney Spears in mind, but she turned it down.

16. "Graduation Day" was delayed and rewritten due to the Columbine school shooting. The story involves the destruction of Sunnydale High School with explosives by the show's heroes. That central element was kept, although certain statements by them were removed.

17. The musical episode "Once More, With Feeling", lasted 68 minutes during its first run. It was edited down for subsequent rebroadcasts. Much of the episode is sung. Even the mutant in the Mutant Enemy trademark at the very end of the credits sings. That name, by the way, comes from a line in the song "And You, And I" by Yes.

18. Vera Wang designed Buffy's wedding dress in "The Prom", as well as the dress that Sarah Michelle Gellar wore to her own wedding.

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/02/25/18-facts-you-might-not-know-about-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/

 

[sisterofmercy]

Interesting. Just think how different it would have been had Charisma been Buffy and Sarah been Cordelia.

 

[Willow My Love]

I knew that about Cordelia and Buffy.

I can SO see April being Britney Spears! I wish she had done it!

 

[BuffyElevated]

I wonder if Charisma harbored ill feelings toward SMG for getting kicked out of the role of Buffy?? Hmmmm....

I had heard most of these facts before, and I am old enough to remember ASH's coffee commercials here. LOL

 

[GrrArghx]

I knew most of these, but still an interesting read!

 

[caitaintdead]

Okay, so I have a question that I've always wondered about the Charisma/Sarah switch. Would Charisma gone blonde for the role? I'm trying to picture Charisma with the blonde blonde hair, but really can't picture it. I mean I know she went kind of blonde in Angel, but it's a different type of blonde, and short. I want to know if she would have been more like Sarah with hair colour/cuts/styles.

I can picture Sarah EASILY playing Cordelia. After seeing her in Cruel Intentions it's hard not to picture her as a bitch with dark hair anyway!

 

[msfantastico87]

I already heard most of these. I didn't know about wanting to cast Britney Spears. She's crazy for not taking the role! I think it would have made her whole career significantly better 😀 and I agree with HisMrs about how Charisma felt when Sarah got the role of Buffy

 

[BuffyElevated]

It's hard for me to picture Charisma as the Buffy character. I didn't think she looked good at all with blonde hair, so I don't know if I would have liked the character as well if Charisma had played her.

 

[Lyri]

I suppose there's no way to know if Charisma would have gone blonde for the role. Joss was trying to distance himself from the movie, and his main character was supposed to be this tiny, cute LA girl who could kick major ass. Just because Kristy Swanson was blonde, does that mean that that's what Joss was specifically looking for?

Many other actors on the show tried out for the title character and got other roles instead. Julie Benz, Elizabeth Anne Allen, Mercedes McNab. And I think Bianca Lawson was offered the role of Cordelia, but she turned it down for Saved by the Bell

Nathan Fillion tried out for Angel.

Ryan Reynolds was up for Xander.

Christian Kane auditioned for Riley and was offered Lindsey.

There are SO many ways that the show could have changed if someone else was cast. Makes you wonder.

 

[caitaintdead]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - an actor like Ryan Reynolds would have changed a lot of my feelings towards Xander. It would have been heaps better.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I suppose there's no way to know if Charisma would have gone blonde for the role. Joss was trying to distance himself from the movie, and his main character was supposed to be this tiny, cute LA girl who could kick major ass. Just because Kristy Swanson was blonde, does that mean that that's what Joss was specifically looking for?

Many other actors on the show tried out for the title character and got other roles instead. Julie Benz, Elizabeth Anne Allen, Mercedes McNab. And I think Bianca Lawson was offered the role of Cordelia, but she turned it down for Saved by the Bell

Nathan Fillion tried out for Angel.

Ryan Reynolds was up for Xander.

Christian Kane auditioned for Riley and was offered Lindsey.

There are SO many ways that the show could have changed if someone else was cast. Makes you wonder.

Very good points, Lyri... And you're right, there's no way we can know if Charisma would have gone blonde for the role. All I know is that I bet there are a bunch of those actresses who sometimes sit around thinking "what if?" LOL

I think Ryan Reynolds would have been a good Xander, but I'm glad Nick got it. 🙂

 

[brinkster130]

I actually didn't know most of these 😱 They are all pretty interesting though, I'm glad SMG ended up playing Buffy. I wonder if BTVS would have had the same success if other actors/actress played different roles.

 

[zobothehobo]

I can't picture Charisma as Buffy. I just can't. I can sorta picture Sarah as Cordelia... But not Charisma as Buffy. I knew that fact but just throwing that one out there...

I want to live in that town just so I can say I live in Sunnydale. I would say I lived in Sunnydale... not whatever that town is called.

I wish Britney played April. She would have been an AMAZING April. God... I so see it.

 

[Taake]

Ah, I remember ASH's Taster's Choice commercials 🙂 I don't know why I do but for some reason I do. I think Lifetime used to show them between movies, I'd see them at my gran's place. She thought he was dreamy.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I knew most of it, except things related to Anthony and James.

 

[sosa lola]

Five if more of the cast appeared in Boy Meets World in S3: Cordelia and Gunn appeared in the subway episode, Darla appeared as Eric's date, Jonathan appeared as an arrogant level A student, and Jesse appeared as a jock.

 

[TaylorSwift]

I knew most of this stuff even if I knew Charisma only auditioned to be Buffy but was rejected by Joss...anyway, yes..Sarah had more than 10 auditions to get the Buffy role. LOL. Thanks for posting..it's fun to read this stuff again. 🙂

 

[This Year's Girl]

Well, I DIDN'T know most of these, so thanks for posting! Interesting read! I would have loved to see Britney as April!

About Charisma playing Buffy. I would probably still love the show, but one of the things I really like about it is that Sarah is so tiny and still kicks serious butt. Wouldn't have been the same if Charisma had the part, she's more tall and strong.

 

[Firefly]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpOBFELO0Qc[/ame]

 

[Kean]

I don't think the Charisma one is totally true. The way I have heard in interviews from both SMG and CC is that everyone audition for the role of Buffy (including Julie Benz and Mercedes McNabe). SMG was cast as Cordelia but Buffy had yet to be cast, so SMG lobbied to be allowed to audition for Buffy.

The only rumour I have ever heard of Buffy actually being cast was that Katie Holmes was offered the role but turned it down to finish high school.