In the midst of chatting with Bullz-Eye.com about his new Hallmark Movie Channel flick, “Goodnight for Justice,” which premieres on January 29th, Luke Perry was willing to take a moment to weigh in on the idea of a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” movie without Joss Whedon at the helm.
“No Joss, no go,” said Perry, who played the character of Oliver Pike in the 1992 film version of “Buffy. “They’d be fools to try to do it without him. They were fools to not include him as the director the first time. I hope he doesn’t feel bad about what they’re doing to his franchise, but clearly it’s not going to be the same thing without him.”
Whedon wrote the screenplay for the 1992 film. The television series based on the film premiered on The WB in 1997, then shifted to UPN in 2001, where it remained until its conclusion at the end of its seventh season.
Although the character of Pike survived the end of the film and has since reared his head in various “Buffy” comic books and novels, he never appeared in the television series. Nor – at least as far as Perry knows – was such an appearance ever considered. Perry does, however, have a theory as to why he was never invited to reprise his role.
BE: Had there ever been any talk of bringing your character, Pike, onto the series?
LP: No, I think he’s pissed at me…and I’m not sure why. But I think he’s pissed off at me.
BE: Well, hopefully, these words you’ve just said will help your cause.
LP: I hope so! I’d prefer that he not be pissed off at me.
BE: Plus, you know, he’s directing “The Avengers.” You don’t want a guy with that kind of power mad at you.
LP: Oh, I don’t give a shit about that. It’s not like he’s going to call me up and say, “Hey, Luke, you want to be one of the Avengers?”
BE: Oh, I didn’t mean that.
LP: Yeah, I just…I’d just like to think that everybody I’ve worked with had a good time. Potentially, Joss did not, and I don’t know if they treated him that well on that movie.
Check out the rest of the interview here…and don’t forget to catch “Goodnight for Justice” on January 29th!
