699 replies to this topic

[Kendal_Ozzel]

Variety: "Whedon to head 'Avengers'"



This news just made my day year.

When word broke last week that Joss was on the shortlist of possible directors, I knew that there was no way Joss would film a Zak Penn script unless he reworked it a bit himself, and thankfully, Variety confirms that this is indeed the case.

I believe Entertainment Weekly said it best:

"Joss Whedon to direct 'The Avengers'?: Existence of God no longer in doubt"

[Wycket]

Fans of his are probably happy, by I just ask why? He doesn't have the kind of experience a director needs to handle a movie of this caliber. I liked Serenity a lot, but The Avengers is going to be huge and needs a director capable of this. This is a good one for comics fans, but as a movie fan I question the decision.

[QuestionMarkMan]

Fans of his are probably happy, by I just ask why? He doesn't have the kind of experience a director needs to handle a movie of this caliber. I liked Serenity a lot, but The Avengers is going to be huge and needs a director capable of this. This is a good one for comics fans, but as a movie fan I question the decision.

He's got experience with ensembles and his last few comics have been fantastic (Astonishing X-Men specifically). I think he's alright as a director but I'll take him over Louis Leterrier anyday, as he was also in the running.

[Charlie Brigden]

One the one hand I find it refreshing that Marvel is not just handing over to whoever makes the most money, and actually picking their directors, like with Favreau or Louis Letterier. But on the other hand, none of the directors really inspire any confidence in me to make anything more but a good movie. I know I'm pretty much in the minority regarding IRON MAN, but while fun, it was pretty pedestrian to me and seemed to try and make up for that with robot fights (which, okay, is pretty fun), and I thought the same about Letterier's HULK. Whilst I don't necessarily like his work, I can grudgingly admit Whedon has done very well with some things (namely the second and third season of Buffy and the X-Men run), however I too question his suitability for a film that really needs to be awesome. I'll keep an open mind, though.

[Morlock]

I agree with Mr. Brigden, though I'm a bit more optimistic. Whedon has a distinct sensibility, something that neither Favreau nor Letterier can be accused of.

[Wycket]

My biggest problem is done to his directing experience. Sure the man can write, but his work is almost entirely in the realm of tv, and this is supposed to be a huge blockbuster with special effects after special effects. In the end, I don't think he will be able to handle it and the directing will be no better (if not worse) than people such as Favreau or Letterier.

Seems like a mistake to me, but hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

[Alexcremers]

Variety: "Whedon to head 'Avengers'"



This news just made my day year.

When word broke last week that Joss was on the shortlist of possible directors, I knew that there was no way Joss would film a Zak Penn script unless he reworked it a bit himself, and thankfully, Variety confirms that this is indeed the case.

I believe Entertainment Weekly said it best:

"Joss Whedon to direct 'The Avengers'?: Existence of God no longer in doubt"

The only Whedon movie I know of is Serenity and it wasn't very good. OTOH, the series Firefly is very enjoyable.


Alex

[Sandor]

Fans of his are probably happy, by I just ask why? He doesn't have the kind of experience a director needs to handle a movie of this caliber.

LOL. I heard the exact same thing - word-for-word - 10 years ago when Sam Raimi was announced to direct Spiderman and Peter Jackson was going to make The Lord Of The Rings.

[Wycket]

Yes, but they had a good deal of directing experience. Whedon directed some of his tv shows (not many considering using an imdb search) and one movie. Again, if he does good than great, but I think Marvel made a lot of good decisions a few years ago and are making a number of questionable ones in the recent months. Time will tell.....

[Charlie Brigden]

With Raimi, just about all the geeks - myself included - were pulling for him. I remember seeing it announced on AICN, and while sure, there were doubters, everyone was going nuts over the announcement. I don't think Spidey was a huge bump for Raimi, especially since at that time he had already 1: had made a cult superhero movie in DARKMAN, and B: had made some acclaimed movies, like A SIMPLE PLAN, although he went someway towards screwing Spidey up. Jackson, yeah, people were a lot more apprehensive, but everyone saw HEAVENLY CREATURES and thought that was awesome, and us guys who were in love with everything from BAD TASTE to THE FRIGHTENERS were dead excited.

At the end of the day, I think it's a valid question, especially since I don't think Whedon has made anything near Raimi or Jackson's best. But here's his chance to prove me wrong. And I hope he does.

[Bryant Burnette]

Personally, I think Whedon is a great choice. He did a terrific job directing Serenity given the slender budget.

More importantly, he's got great comic-book sensibilities, and even more important than that...? He's a great actor's director. The thought of Whedon directing Downey, Norton, and Jackson is enough to give me a geek boner; assuming Hemsworth and Evans prove to be good in their roles, even better.

And he's really good with ensembles, which seems important to a movie like this.

Then again, I'm a Whedon fanboy, so I'm inclined to be excited by anything he's got coming up.

Next step, Mr. Whedon...? Get yourself some Giacchino. No Elfman, please; he's thoroughly washed up. (That goes for you, too, Joe Johnston.)

[Alexcremers]

I don't have a problem with Whedon but isn't his work a bit on the fluff side? I don't understand the fanboys. I mean, Whedon at his very best is fun but nothing more. He's not really original and as a director he doesn't have a powerful vision. He strikes me as a fanboy himself.



Alex

[Morlock]

I don't know, that seems to be exactly what Marvel is looking for. They're not making great movies here, certainly not ambitious ones. Whedon at least seems to have some sort of point of view. Where is the point of view in a John Favreau or Louis Letterier film? Don't rock the boat, that's about it.

[Kendal_Ozzel]

Sure the man can write, but his work is almost entirely in the realm of tv, and this is supposed to be a huge blockbuster with special effects after special effects.

Like this? Aside from a few guest directing gigs on TV, nearly every project he's touched this side of 1992 has featured SFX in at least some capacity, sometimes in a very large one. Joss is no stranger to special effects; he's just never had this many tens of millions of dollars to spend on them.

Yes, but they had a good deal of directing experience. Whedon directed some of his tv shows (not many considering using an imdb search) and one movie.

Have you seen them all? Because I have, and they're quite good. "The Body" is one of the most powerful episodes of television I've ever seen—an episode which features an Avengers comic reference, no less. But "Prophecy Girl", "Innocence", "Becoming", "Amends", "Hush", "The Gift", "Once More, with Feeling", "Chosen", "A Hole in the World", "Serenity", "Objects in Space"... all fantastic episodes he both wrote and directed.

He's produced 15 seasons of television over the last 14 years. But he's also been writing films for two decades; his own scripts aside, he worked as a script doctor on a number of films you don't see on IMDb, like Speed. (Side note: Here's a great interview where he talks about some of these, like X-Men.)

Oh, and he's written comic books. Including Marvel comic books.

I think he'll do just fine.

[Alexcremers]

I don't know, that seems to be exactly what Marvel is looking for. They're not making great movies here, certainly not ambitious ones.

That's right, I forgot. Marvel has tightened their grip on the movies. They no longer want the director's personal vision to shine through anymore. Good for Marvel fans, not good for film fans.

[crocodile]

Apparently they're trying to replicate what they were doing in the comic books. Aren't these crossovers exactly what made their comic book sales drop many times before? They will never learn. But then again these comic books were always about everything but comic books. After all they have this whole merchandise thing going on.

Karol - who's not interested

[Morlock]

I'm certain that failure will not be repeated here...The Avengers is going to do huge B.O. Although I fear that the Ken Branagh curse might continue with Thor.

[Charlie Brigden]

I'm not sure it's really fair to put this in the same boat as the crossovers that have done huge damage to the major comic publishers, as the Avengers are a bit of comic history, being one of the original team-up titles and also not forcing you to buy multiple issues to get the whole storyline, at least not originally. The concept was a far cry from what the post-silver age crossovers have done.

[publicist]

I'm not sure it's really fair to put this in the same boat as the crossovers that have done huge damage to the major comic publishers, as the Avengers are a bit of comic history, being one of the original team-up titles and also not forcing you to buy multiple issues to get the whole storyline, at least not originally. The concept was a far cry from what the post-silver age crossovers have done.

I pray to all the almighty gods on the olymp that schlocky comic-factories like Marvel just run out of characters and stories, eventually. The so-called 'story' of this sounds bloody horrendous.

[Mark Olivarez]

Marvel will never run out of characters.

We haven't even made it to Rom The Space Knight yet.

[QuestionMarkMan]

I'm certain that failure will not be repeated here...The Avengers is going to do huge B.O. Although I fear that the Ken Branagh curse might continue with Thor.

Man I hope not, from what I've heard it looks to be the most interesting Marvel movie since Ang Lee's Hulk.

[John Crichton]

I have little interest in The Avengers, but I'll go see anything Joss. I'd be much more interested if he was writing it as well, though.

[tharpdevenport]

Whether or not he can direct (and I think he'll show he can do that, like everything else he touches), but rather: can you direct someone else's vision, and their script, which may (or may not) SUCK. You can't direct crap into a rose.

[Red Rabbit]

I'm not a big Whedon fan, but I think this has a lot of potential. It's a gigantic project though, and very risky. I hope the man's up for the job.

[Stefancos]

Gigantic project?

It's just the next Marvel film? Don't they have 2 or 2 movies every year?

[Red Rabbit]

It's more than that, it's the culmination of everything they're doing now. They're working on films for these individuals characters like Iron Man, Hulk, and soon Captain America and Thor, all the while setting up the connections between them. They've done this before by putting Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Iron Man and Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk. This will all lead to the Avengers project, which will combine all the characters and stories into one. So it's a big deal, unprecedented really.

[Wojo]

It's also the reason the Justice League movie was canned. Now DC will make a bunch of solo movies of its characters, and then bring the League together.

[Stefancos]

an exciting prospect, for anyone under the age of 11.

I can't be bothered!

[Red Rabbit]

It's also the reason the Justice League movie was canned. Now DC will make a bunch of solo movies of its characters, and then bring the League together.

That's the idea, but I don't think Chris Nolan, Warner's golden boy at the moment, is compliant with mixing his Batman with Superman and others. He's made it clear that he's keeping them separate.

[Wojo]

Right. That presents at least three options.

1) Postpone a Justice League movie until Bale and Routh are too old to continue the roles (which would actually lead into a Batman Beyond film franchise, but we won't go there).
2) Pay them inflated sums for their ensemble roles in a JL movie.
3) Recast the parts to cheaper actors for JL. Yes, two Batmans and two Supermans in the same camp. Unheard of!

[Hedji]

Marvel will never run out of characters.

We haven't even made it to Rom The Space Knight yet.

Hey! ROM was awesome!

[John Crichton]

Apparently Joss is going to take a pass at the script, too. Works for me.

[Red Rabbit]

3) Recast the parts to cheaper actors for JL. Yes, two Batmans and two Supermans in the same camp. Unheard of!

I'm guessing that's mostly likely what is going to happen. Well, I'm not sure Routh is going to play Superman again period, the guy they get for Justice League may be the same guy they get for the solo film.

[Wojo]

I want to see the Death and Life of Superman cycle turned into a movie.

Or, barring that, I'd like to see a different film made where Superman dies and returns a different way. An "immortal" character can only carry so much dramatic weight if you know he's going to beat the deathtrap in the movie. I wasn't a big fan of Bosworth's Lois in Superman Returns, so her death wouldn't have phased me, and she's the most interesting of Superman's friends presented in the Donner-Singer film series.

[crocodile]

I'm certain that failure will not be repeated here...The Avengers is going to do huge B.O. Although I fear that the Ken Branagh curse might continue with Thor.

I'm not worried about the box office. It's just... this parallel development of many movies at once feels like... McDonalds syndrome. They will probably all look and feel the same. Why should I be excited about that? I prefer Nolan's approach, in a sense that every film of this kind has its own internal logic and world. What Marvel is doing won't be any good, I'm afraid.

Karol

[QuestionMarkMan]

Or, barring that, I'd like to see a different film made where Superman dies and returns a different way.

You should read Grant Morrison's All Star Superman. Superman gets radiation poisoning from the sun and is slowly dying. One of the best stories I've read.

[Wojo]

I'll look into it. I bought Roger Stern's novel because I remember loving it, but that was over 16 years ago.

[Richard]

I would love to see John Steed in head-to-toe Spandex. Oops, wrong "Avengers". Sorry!

[Quint]

Ageing British intitution that it is (I used to watch it as a child), I couldn't care less about this reboot.

[Kendal_Ozzel]

Well, it only took 3+ months. When asked tonight at Comic-Con, in a panel with J.J. Abrams, Joss was asked about The Avengers:

"That is not an official thing. But I'm making that an official thing: I'm directing the Avengers."

Some other quotes:

"I am still writing an outline. I'm still in that stage of reworking and reworking. The thing that made me excited is that these people should not be in the same room, and that is the very definition of family." -- Joss

...

He said that he did have a moment of "sheer fucking panic" because [J.J.'s] Star Trek is so good. "This is the gold standard for a summer movie, for a team movie, for any movie that has come out," he enthused. "And it makes me throw up in fear."

...


Whedon talked about his dialogue, which is a signature of his work [...] "That's just people talking. I don't write second drafts really. I don't put anything down until it's right."

"You don't do second drafts," said Abrams. "Bastard."

Check out CBR's rundown for the whole shebang.