Movies - TV
One Spike Scene In Buffy Was So Cringey, Joss Whedon Rewrote It From Scratch
By JENNA BUSCH
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" still strikes a chord with the fans who grew up with the TV show and waited each week to see Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) destroy evil while attempting to have a normal life. However, even such a successful franchise had a scene — involving the vampire Spike (James Marsters) — so cringe-worthy that series creator Joss Whedon had to rework it.
In an interview with AV Club, Marsters revealed, "There was a scene between Buffy and me in a church, and I think I ended up draping myself over a cross. I was very, very sad. [It was] a very dramatic scene." When Whedon, who hadn't directed the scene, later saw the footage, he told Marsters, "You kind of overacted. [...] it's just so on the nose, and it's just cringe-worthy."
Whedon continued, "I'm going to rewrite it, I'm going to direct it, I'm going to save this." Marsters was moved by Whedon's willingness to put in extra hours to make the scene work, as they were already filming other shows. The actor added, "[...] to go back and wholesale throw away an entire day's work and begin from scratch [...] was just a huge, huge thing to do."