The Fright Night remake is back on. Back in January, we learned that the project had been halted when they couldn't come up with a good script. Ten months later, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Marti Noxon (executive producer and writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been hired to rewrite the horror comedy, trading one set of vamps for another. While Joss Whedon is facing cancellation, Marti Noxon is going strong. The vampire slayer marked Noxon's big break in the biz, and since helping run the show, she's had her hand in a slew of series from Prison Break to Mad Men. This will be her first big cinematic gig, her lone movie credit to this point being the 1998 film Just a Little Harmless Sex. But what will it all mean for a redo of Fright Night, where a kid finds out that a vampire lives next door?
Noxon kicked off her Buffy writing penning the "What's My Line" duo, the terrible "Bad Eggs," and the sex that turned Angel evil. From there, most of her writing gigs were mainly toss-off eps, with occasional perks in episodes like "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "The Prom." In other words: I'm not so sure what to make of this, other than the fact that her strongest writing seems to be linked to big interpersonal moments, which do not make for the best vamp comedy. Thoughts?
1. Consider that her recent work has been for Mad Men, Private Practice, and Grey's Anatomy. I'm not sure, given that recent work, why she would be a top choice for this gig. As to Buffy: It eventually became clear that she and I had a fundamental philosophical disagreement. Thankfully that didn't keep me from loving the series.
Posted at 12:11PM on Nov 12th 2009 by ML