Doyle: Bad luck of the Irish

When our favorite vampire and vampire slayer returned to our screens recently, they certainly made a big impression on the WB viewers, scoring a best-ever rating for the age ranges associated with the show.

But don’t get too used to the format Buffers and Buffettes for things are about to get shaken up a bunch. In a surprise move, the character of Doyle (played excellently by Glenn Quinn) has been taken out of the Angel mix, a mere nine episodes into the series. Fans immediately wanted an answer to this shocking revelation, and of course creator Joss Whedon was only too happy to oblige. “Well, our big surprise has been ruined,” Whedon told Eon magazine. “We had a thing going where we were gonna take away [Angel’s] mentor figure – shake up his life a little bit. Then, of course, it got out as it always does. But, yes, this was our idea from the beginning.”

Joss Whedon talks at length about Angel in a four-page feature in this issue. Plus the first four episodes of the new seasons of Buffy and Angel are reviewed: first crossover pair here

Must be an Angel

In the lead up to production of Drew Barrymore’s imminent adaptation of the ’70s babefest Charlie’s Angels, the not-so-angelic names of Gwyneth Paltrow, Thandie Newton and Ashley Judd came and went in the blink of an eye over the period of the ever-crisper month of October.

Up until the first week in November, names came and went like visitors to the Xposé editor’s house on a Wednesday night (don’t ask me, I never attend these dark masses!), however at last it seems we might have a winner, and what a fine one at that.

Ally McBeal’s Lucy Liu has been announced as the final femme fatale who will complete the tantalizing trio, a decision that has all of us here at Xposé headquarters bouncing around with joy. The actress was apparently chosen because of her dominatrix skills, as witnessed in Mel Gibson’s Payback where she more than proved her ass-kicking worth. Of course, by the time you read this she’ll probably be out of the picture for some daft reason or other – but let’s hope not, eh?

6 is the magic number

The director of this fall’s major hit The Sixth Sense, M Night Shyamalan, has put paid to all talk of a sequel, at least in the traditional sense. “If I did a sequel, anywhere down the line, it would probably be the same subject matter, but different characters. Just a separate movie, if I had something to say,” Shyamalan told the IGN movies website.

Fear not though, for even if there is no direct sequel, the superb writer-director has a great treat in store for us – another spooky collaboration with Bruce Willis called Unbreakable. The script, which follows an everyday man who comes away from an accident with special powers, was reported as being sold to Disney for a record-breaking $5 million, with as much again going to M Night when he directs. The project will also be the third get-together of Willis with Pulp Fiction and Die Hard With a Vengeance co-star Samuel L Jackson.

Images © Grant Kempster/Visual Imagination, Paramount Pictures
Feature © Visual Imagination Ltd 1999. Not for reproduction.