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Joss Whedon To Direct The Avengers
olyar noted that Joss Whedon has been tapped to direct The Avengers. This should make a lot of nerds very excited, and begin rampant speculation on Buffy/Firefly/Horrible universe actor cameos. Hope the script doesn't suck.
I personally don't think this movie will ever get made. The first clue that this is not a serious project is the fact that the studio is talking about Robert Downey, Jr. playing Iron Man. There is no way that a) Downey is going to agree to doing an ensemble picture as a bit player after headlining 2+ Iron Man movies, or b) That the studio is going to spring for the big money it would take to hire him, just for an ensemble role in a risky new franchise.
As far as Whedon goes, he's one of these guys that studios often bring in to write/rewrite scripts just to test the waters on early projects. His name generates some buzz, and the studio may or may not get an interesting script out of him. He also works cheap (an important consideration these days in an era of "tentpole" movies with exploding FX budgets, and multitudes of comic book franchises in the works). Though geeks think of him as an A-lister, Hollywood doesn't. If you look at the guy's financial track record, you'll see he's very small-time by Hollywood standards and has had WAY more failures than successes. At the risk of committing geek blashemy, I personally he's overrated, though he did do excellent work with the characters and dialogue in "Alien Resurrection" and "Firefly" (essentially the same set of characters, but well played with depth and wit on both counts).
I suspect the studio is just looking for a little PR. The "Robert Downey is going to play Iron Man in the Avengers" thing is probably just to get some PR for "Iron Man 2." They know that's not going to happen. Hiring Joss Whedon may be a good way to get some geek buzz, but it doesn't indicate in any way that the studio is serious about actually making this movie. Until the real money starts to flow (i.e. when they actually start filming with the A-list talent), it's just another "Superman Lives"/"Green Lantern"/"Captain America" project that could spend decades in limbo and go through many directors/writers before it actually amounts to anything (if ever).
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If we can have a Spike cameo, nothing else matters. I don't care if it makes no sense.
I used to feel the same way, and with newer things like Twilight around the entire "vampire" theme has a pretty negative image now. But Joss Whedon makes it all okay.
My Whedon experience started with Firefly, which was spectacular. I got into it because it was space cowboys, and I can't actually think of a cooler genre. Note here that Cowboy Bebop was my introduction to Anime.
Then I was tricked into watching Dr Horrible. That was good stuff. Really good. So I decided to give Buffy a chance.
And it wasn't great. It was hackneyed and corny and then my wife said: so is Star Trek. My wife rags on Star Trek and Star Wars all the time, and I say bad things about Buffy and Angel? This is a double standard we're playing on each other. So I got over it.
The writing is wonderful. The way they play with language, the way they play with humanity and inhumanity. This is what made Kirk better than Picard. The stories are mediocre, and the special effects are... well, on par with TOS. And it's really, really good stuff.
So, don't discount Whedon, and don't discount Buffy, just because you have preconceptions about what the medium should be. Seriously, let the work stand on its own merit.
Am I expecting a great classic film out of this? Well, no. I'm expecting something on par with a better Alan Moore adaptation: an enjoyable movie, but probably completely missing the point. And let's be honest, we're not starting with Alan Moore level base material here.
Now I only need to convince my wife to give Star Trek a chance...
No, you're not. I don't know when this geek law went into effect that says we must all love Firefly, but I've been breaking it all along and frankly, I'm not sorry. I watched it beginning to end, and the movie as well, and I don't think there was a single idea in it that hadn't been done better somewhere else. Ship of outlaws on the run from an overwhelmingly powerful government? Farscape. Space western? Cowboy Bebop. Telepaths/psychics trying to elude capture and subsequent scientific experimentation? Babylon 5. Badguy who will do anything to get what he wants, ethics be damned? Farscape again. Strong, capable, confident female characters? Farscape trifecta, and present in a lot of other series as well - take your pick from BSG's female cast, and there's Ivanova in B5, Caroline in ReGenesis, Scully in the X Files, the list goes on and on. Whedon hardly has a monopoly on sci-fi female empowerment, and what he does offer isn't even that good.
And yet even now, 8 years after its demise, I still hear people clamoring to have Firefly brought back. Makes no sense to me either.
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Never mind. Joss, you're pardoned.
Actually, I think Joss would have been an ideal candidate for remaking the UK Avengers. Summer Glau for the female sidekick? (More of a Purdy than a Mrs Peel, I think, but she can do a good bad English accent and beat people up, so what's not to like).
Could have been more fun than more fricking Marvel superheroes. Ho hum, I wonder if they'll deconstruct the superhero mythos (again).
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Well, to go by most of the comics I've read, you need a guy who speaks in Shakespearean English...
His artistic raison d'etre... the strong dominating female character...
Oh, like Angel? Yeah he wouldnt have got anything done without the help of strong female characters... Clearly he had help from female characters, as well as male ones. He was the boss though, and often did the most important things on his own.
Mr Whedon doesn't know how to do psychologically normal male characters. Their strengths are always offset by deep flaws. Not so much when they're female.
Oh, like River Tam? She was psychologically normal and was not offset by any deep flaws! Seriously, have you even watched anything of his? What about Buffy season 6? Hell one of the season 6 episodes left the viewer wondering if Buffy really was sane, or just a mental patient who thought she was a slayer.
of course, those things are generic *now*. They weren't when he made the original series.
I remember when Buffy was first suggested as a TV series, no-one thought "oh no, another teen girl who kicks ass" as apart from the movie there hadn't been any.