Charisma Carpenter, starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel 1990s

    by No_Explorer721

    22 Comments

    1. The_Dark_Vampire on

      I remember she was older than her character I think she was in her late 20s for Buffy and about 30 when Angel started

    2. I remember that Joss Whedon treated her like s**t near the end of *Angel*, as she was mysteriously cut out of the final couple of seasons, mysteriously after having become a major focal plot point (and love interest of the titular character) in the prior season. She felt like Whedon got pissed that she got pregnant “without consulting him” (from what we know of Joss now, I find this easy to believe that he actually said that …. at the time in the early 2000s, I remember being sad to read it and not being sure what to think) … and punished her by ruining her character by writing her into oblivion in the last season she appeared in.

      So, Whedon was upset that they had to work around Carpenter’s growing baby bump and even FURTHER pissed that his grand plans for his own ideas were ‘ruined’ by apparently having to factor in a pregnancy for the Cordelia character. Carpenter was quoted in an interview about a week before she learned that they weren’t going to renew her contract that she was excited for the “next season to start shooting” and how she was looking forward to it.

      From the way she described it, the prior season’s shooting had been a boss-from-hell tormenting her for 14, 16-hour-a-day (not uncommon in Hollywood, but still) grueling work sessions … and he was 24/7 hostile with her during this time in a way that she had never experienced before. He openly expressed how angry he was at her for not planning her own married and family life around HIS career plans.

      Even after all of that, she was still the consummate professional when being interviewed — it was a shock to her to learn that she wouldn’t be in that upcoming season after all, much as she had been steeling herself to live through it and hopefully bury hatchets. Apparently, the man and boss she didn’t really know when she thought she knew him liked to hold grudges and that wasn’t going to happen.

      I don’t even remember what Whedon said about the situation (he was definitely asked), if he even commented … I don’t care enough about him anymore to look it up, though — he can advocate for his f***ing himself. I recall feeling like he was extremely dismissive and almost arrogant with his answer, though.

      I felt so badly for her. She’d invested so many years into that character, and for a young actress, those are prime years in which she could have been making a face and name for herself elsewhere with more recognizability and not so much of a niche fan community … but, she gave it to Cordelia instead. At the end, though, he was sure to remove the audience’s sympathy for her character, tried to poison the well against the human being (the actor) in both the industry (so I heard – she was encouraged by her agent to do a playboy spread in a desperate bid to get work after he started laying his shit-talk around town) and the fan base, and did whatever he could to pretend that he had never worked with her and she never contributed anything to the Buffy mythos.

      He even made it harder for her to try to find some recognition for years and years afteward at Comic Cons and the like, which is important for passive income for a LOT of lesser known actors that are hard up for work after being typecast as a single character in an iconic TV show. Wherever there’d be anyone who wanted to see Buffy/Angel characters, there was likely going to be OTHER people there with history from those productions …. and, well, depending on who that person is and their current status with Whedon, it’s potentially quite awkward. :-/

      I find it difficult some days to separate art from the artist, but learning about the kind of man that Joss Whedon really was (probably still is) still makes it impossible for me to watch any old Buffy/Angel episodes to this very day. 🙁

    3. SashaDabinsky on

      I hardly watch TV or movies, but I always thought she was one of the most beautiful actresses ever.

    4. Odd-Gazelle8139 on

      She is extremely beautiful with an incredible figure. Always caught my attention in her shows and shoots.

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