Joss Whedon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told fans at a John Kerry fund-raising event in Los Angeles Oct. 24 that he won’t be writing or directing the third X-Men movie, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. "I did promise I would say whether or not I’m going to be directing the third X-Men movie, and the answer is, I’m sorry to say, no," Whedon told fans gather for a "High Stakes 2004" event in Hollywood. "Quite frankly, I thought about it for a long time, I looked into my heart, and I realized that Fox didn’t ask me to," he added, with tongue in cheek.

Whedon was one of several Buffy-related guests who appeared at the fan event, organized to raise money for the Kerry presidential campaign, which drew more than 250 fans who paid a minimum of $50 each to attend. Whedon was joined by Buffy and Angel cast members Alyson Hannigan; her real-life husband, Alexis Denisof; Nicholas Brendon; Danny Strong; Adam Busch; Amber Benson; Amy Acker and J. August Richards and Firefly star Nathan Fillion, who also stars in Whedon’s upcoming Firefly movie, Serenity. Whedon also spoke via conference call to 41 other similarly themed fan parties across the country, from Alaska to Washington state to New York.

With regard to the X-Men projects, Whedon added, "Ultimately, the fact that I’m writing the X-Men every month in the Astonishing X-Men [Marvel comic] and that I have the best artists in comic books working with me is getting my ’X’ fix on just fine. I’m writing a screenplay of my own right now, and it’ll be nice to work on something that wasn’t created by me or anybody else many years ago."