Tag Archives: Joss Whedon

TV

ABC Orders Up Marvel & Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. Pilot

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Hey, remember my one article on how Joss Whedon decided to be awesome and got signed to oversee Marvel Studio’s ‘Phase Two’ of movies, capped off with how he was going to produce a show in the Marvel Universe? Also, how I predicted in said article that it had to be a show based off of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Boom. I just gave myself a pat on the back. According to Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, and SuperHeroHype, ABC has officially ordered the pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D. It will be written by Joss Whedon, as well as his brother Jed Whedon and his wife, Maurissa Tanchareon. Joss is also scheduled to direct the pilot, as long as his extremely busy schedule permits.

Of course, we have to start thinking that this had to be in the works for awhile so the big question is who’s the central character tying this all together? Obviously, one would think that Nick Fury has to show up and while Samuel L. Jackson is slated to be in every movie that contains a vowel in its title, I can’t imagine he’d give it all up for a regular TV series gig other than to show up the obligatory appearance on the pilot. How about Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill character? Well, they haven’t found the mother yet on her show so I doubt CBS would let her go to a rival network before that whole thing is resolved. Regardless, I assume it’s still in the early writing stage so I’m sure something will get resolved and we’ll have more details for everyone out there when they announce them. Let’s face the main fact: Joss Whedon is coming back to TV and that’s reason enough to celebrate. How about we get Felicia Day in on some Marvel/Joss Whedon TV action so everyone can gush about it more?

Speaking of Cobie Smulders, Yahoo! movies also released a new featurette from The Avengers Blu-Ray that shows an alternate opening to the movie. It’s a lot more Debbie Downer actually so I’ll let you view it before I make snarky comments below. This is the link because the stupid Yahoo! site’s embed code is busted it so it’ll have to do until they get it fixed. Let me know when you watched it, I’ll be waiting for you in the next paragraph.

Soooo yeah, that would’ve killed the whole mood of the movie. It’s interesting though because it shows direct conflict between Maria Hill and Nick Fury, which never really showed itself in the final movie. Hell, it kinda shows that the Avengers…failed? I mean, who’s to say what really happened after a quick peek into this alternate opening but crap man, if we saw this open the movie, I would’ve just looked in the movie for the moment where they all screwed the pooch and been distracted the whole time so I guess good on trashing that opening scene.

Since this whole thing ends on a weird note, I just threw in a Debbie Downer sketch after this paragraph to bring your spirits back up. Unless you don’t live in North America. Then you can’t watch it. Or if you hate ads. Because there’s one in the beginning. So yeah, it might infuriate you more. My bad.

Movie News & Opinions

Does Justice League Have a Director? Hint: He Was the Bomb in Phantoms, Yo.

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According to Variety via Fandango, it looks like Warner Bros. has approached Ben Affleck to direct the Justice League movie. Affleck is a hot property in the directing pool due to his critical and commercial successes with Gone Baby Gone and The Town. Argo is also shaping up to be a film to be reckoned with considering the early buzz, and since he has made Warner Bros. some money with his films, they have sent him the Will Beale (Gangster Squad) script to see if he’d be willing to guide DC’s finest to the promised land achieved by The Avengers, aka, a vault full of cash.

The movie is scheduled to be launched at the earliest around 2015 so that would put it into direct competition with The Avengers 2 movie, which just announced Joss Whedon returning as director and writer. Ben Affleck apparently makes it known that he wants to act in the films that he directs so you might also see him don a costume if this comes true. He has been circling another project called Replay, which is also being developed by Warner as well, but they have been working on that for the last decade so this might be his next project. Only thing that might get in the way would be his long-term commitment because 2015 is a long ways away and he would be tied up until then most likely developing the story and filming. I don’t know how he can get the time off from Fashionable Male during this time.

He’s come a long way from the back of a Volkswagon

I can understand the misgivings of Ben Affleck as the director of this movie. First off, he’s not Christopher Nolan, let’s get that out of the way. Second, it’s Ben freakin’ Affleck. He was the dominatrix Daredevil and that might ruin any street cred with the comic book crowd. The reputation might not be there for him to tackle this movie with that awkward fight scene with Elektra (Jennifer Garner) on people’s minds. Third, this would only be his fourth movie and unlike Joss Whedon, he does not appear to have a deep understanding of fanboys and the comic book universe. Can he handle the massive size of this project when he is considered a neophyte to the directing game? He is basically one of the more random choices out there to grab on to. However, I liked Gone Baby Gone and I loved The Town (partially because the Boston accent is fun to imitate) and I feel that he can definitely handle the characters and the scope of this movie based off of those flicks. Now, I absolutely do NOT want him to act in it but not because I think he is a bad actor (quite the opposite actually), but he should concentrate on delivering on all the characters and not just his own. I think he would be a great choice but I honestly don’t think he’ll do it. 3 years is a long time for someone to dedicate for the movie. Granted, I don’t know who else would at this point but just for discussion purposes, maybe Looper director Rian Johnson? He has about the same experience as Affleck behind the camera and handled Bruce Willis and potential DC staple Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper. Granted, as I wrote that, he also did Brick, which I loved and also with JGL so maybe he should revive that detective feel and go with Batman. Boom. Discuss.

Movie News & Opinions

Your Writer/Director for The Avengers 2 is…

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Joss Whedon, come on down! You’ve just been chosen to continue on the path of greatness and while adding to your god-like status amongst the human population! According to several news sources, ranging from the Hollywood Reporter, EW.com, Newsrama etc., Joss Whedon is back in the saddle as your writer and director for Marvel’s The Avengers 2.

In the deal, Mr. Joss “I Own The World, Bow Before My Awesomeness” Whedon, signs a deal with Marvel Studios that keeps in the fold through the end of June 2015. In that, he will cover his duties as director and writer for The Avengers 2, as well as helping develop a live action series for ABC and, according to the Marvel Studios’ press release, “will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.” Basically, as I have read it, he will take the Jon Favreau role in making sure that the universe that Marvel Studios has cultivated will be ushered into the next set of movies, culminating in The Avengers 2 movie. You can bet that the TV show will deal in the Avengers universe and it is safe to say that it is NOT the Guillermo del Toro Hulk series being developed for ABC apparently. Excited much? Yessir. Let us face it, Joss Whedon knows his characters and his television. While not successful all the time in terms of nielsen ratings, his television shows always are great and at least will cater to the cult crowds and die hard geeks his drops his wisdom on. Plus if it’s set in the Marvel Universe, umm, insta-hit?

A live feed from the Whedon household after the deal

From a Hollywood perspective, this should be zero surprise of course. The Avengers has made 1.5 BILLION worldwide. A large part is because not only the commercial acclaim of putting together the most brilliant way to market your movie (uhh, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger? Yeah, those were basically marketing teasers for that movie, profitable ones too at the very least), but the critical acclaim that got people coming back for more. The onus on Whedon and Marvel was making sure the characters were enjoyable to watch and developed to where they both electrified the screen individually AND as a team. Whedon solidified the Marvel Studio’s universe in this movie because he made sure this ambitious project did not implode like a dying star. With egos and sheer enormous size of this project, this could have been an unmitigated disaster with everything that was going on but instead, Mr. Firefly himself controlled the movie and its stars (and the future of this universe) and made sure the next several movies are events flicks that people of all walks and sizes will need to see.

So let’s recap, this will be Joss Whedon’s universe for the next three years and with Iron Man 3 for May 3rd, 2013; Thor: The Dark World in November 8th, 2013; Captain America: The Winter Soldier for April 4th, 2013; Guardians of the Galaxy launching on August 1st, 2014; with possibly Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man figuring into the equation too, this will probably confirm Avengers 2 hitting theaters in 2015, right when the contract ends. Not too mention the TV show that, crossing my fingers and just a hypothetical guess, will probably be S.H.I.E.L.D. related? Excited? You know it baby. So much that this ScarJo pic will be used to match the badassness of this news.

Movie News & Opinions

Joss Whedon Delivers ‘Much Ado’ and Good Deeds; World Swoons

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Oh.  My.  Word.

As if Joss Whedon wasn’t fantastic enough, he decided to go and make an interpretation of a Shakespeare classic.  Still seeking distribution and ready for festivals, Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing was filmed entirely on his own property and brings back long-time collaborators and acting talent of Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Fran Kranz, Jillian Morgese, Sean Maher, Clark Gregg, Tom Lenk, and Reed Diamond.  The official press release says it’s going to be in black-and-white and that the original Shakespearean dialogue is “as fresh and as intoxicating as any being written.”

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TV

CCI 2012: Firefly Reunion Panel & Fillion at Nerd HQ!

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On Friday at CCI, the Firefly Reunion Panel took place with Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau all in attendance. This is one panel I was very excited to read about after the fact. You can check out CinemaBlend.com for the as-it-happened play by play of the event. OR… if you are extra American and don’t like to read… you may watch the panel as it happened, courtesy of Geektyrant.com OR:

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The Return of GEEK Magazine!

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June 19th will mark the long-awaited return of Geek Magazine to print, available on newsstands nationwide (along with a digital edition on tablets). The magazine, which produced over 30 issues in its initial run from 2006-2010, has been resurrected in the wake of the former publisher (Fusion) closing their doors after having purchased the magazine from CFQ Media several years earlier. Got it? Good. Now under the umbrella of the much bigger Source Interlink, Geek will attempt to break back into the print business with comprehensive look at geek culture from music and video games, to television and movies, to technological advancements and interviews.Among the many featured articles in the 100+ page first issue is a Spider-Man cover and an interview with its director Mark Webb.

The creative staff includes a wide array of writers from several backgrounds ranging from comedy to music to movies and television, but most importantly, I will be a regular contributor to the magazine to ensure that it keeps its ‘Geek’ cred. Booyah. Grizzly Bombed.