Salon.com > Joss Whedon

Lights out: 10 shows that ended too soon

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:59:00 +0000

To the dismay of Mike White and Laura Dern fans alike, HBO canceled its critically acclaimed dramedy "Enlightened" Tuesday evening. The show, which chronicled the cringe-inducing "recovery" of a business executive scrambling to put her life back together after an office meltdown, offered a searing critique of both the self-help industry and the corporate workplace. In 2012, it received a Golden Globe nomination for best television show in its category, and Laura Dern, who plays the show's lead character, Amy Jellicoe, won best actress for a musical or comedy series.

Salon's Willa Paskin described the sense of loss fans feel after losing a show like "Enlightened," writing: "Show cancellations, like show plausibility, are a very personal thing: Some gut you or make you insanely angry, while leaving others totally sanguine."

In memory of "Enlightened," here are 10 other short-lived shows that left their fans wanting more.

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Joss Whedon on “Much Ado About Nothing”: “It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever done”

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:26:00 +0000

Directly after the premiere of Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing at SXSW this weekend, Whedon and 14 members of the cast took to the stage with moderator Adam Vary of Buzzfeed to discuss the film and answer questions from the audience. Though the entire cast (including Whedon regulars Fran Kanz, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker and Tom Lenk) was charming as hell, panel pros Whedon and Nathan Fillion (who plays Dogberry in the film) were next level charismatic. They fielded a volley of “Firefly” questions and uber fan meltdowns with an equal mix of dry wit and sincere apprectiation for their rabid fanbase. Here are our spoiler-free highlights.

As Dan mentioned in his review , Whedon’s wry, modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy of sex, jealousy and skirmishes of wit was shot over two weeks and at his own home. The sprawling house, designed by Whedon’s wife Kai Cole, was the real inspiration for the film. Whedon remarked, “I regret that I didn’t have a steady cam to capture the flow of the rooms. I really feel like I let the house down.”

Watch the trailer for Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing”

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:57:00 +0000

Whedonites, rejoice: the trailer for Joss Whedon's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" has just been released. It has everything: sex, dishonesty, devotion, deception. Or, at least, that's what it says in the trailer's titles.

Set in a contemporary California residence (actually, Whedon's -- he shot the film over 12 days at his house in Santa Monica), the film tells the story of fiercely independent Beatrice (Amy Acker, "Alias") and perennial bachelor Benedick (Alexis Denisof, "Angel"), longtime verbal sparring partners who ultimately become lovers.

We don’t need another “Star Wars” movie!

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, on Dec. 4, federal antitrust regulators cleared a $4 billion deal for Disney to purchase Lucasfilm and all of its properties. Disney first announced the deal in October and said it would begin work on relaunching the "Star Wars" franchise, at one time the most beloved -- and still among the most popular -- series of movies in the history of film. But it would seem that the Disney studio heads have been so preoccupied with whether they could bring back "Star Wars" that they didn't stop to think if they should. (Actually, I'm sure they just thought about which expanded universe novelization has the most action figure potential.)

I would love to love a new "Star Wars" film, and maybe Disney will dazzle me with a truly surprising choice to take over the series. But I strongly suspect that the best we can hope for is blandly competent entertainment that rehashes the same themes of the film and looks like a cut scene from "Final Fantasy XIV." I think it goes without saying that the prequels disabused me of much of my fondness for the saga, though I suspect the last thing the Internet needs is another screed on that topic. But my lack of interest goes deeper than that.

Joss Whedon is resigned to the “Zomney” apocalypse

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:27:00 +0000

With northeasterners feeling nervous today, "The Avengers" director and fanboy superhero Joss Whedon explains why electing Mitt Romney all but ensures the dawn of the Zombie apocalypse.

He's not sure about the details, however:

Joss Whedon reimagines Shakespeare

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:18:00 +0000

TORONTO (AP) — Joss Whedon figures if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing superhero stories. Only better ones than Whedon and his colleagues are doing.

Whedon, the writer-director behind the superhero sensation "The Avengers," has unveiled a passion project at the Toronto International Film Festival — his adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."

In an interview at the festival, Whedon said that considering the fantastic worlds of ghosts, sorcerers and witches of Shakespeare's works, the playwright might feel right at home in the Marvel Comics universe of "The Avengers."

But Whedon said if Shakespeare were creating superhero adventures, his would be the best.

Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" stars some of his best friends, including Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof of "Angel" and Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher of "Firefly."

“The Avengers”: Will superhero movies never end?

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you're new around here, this is how the script goes: I damn "The Avengers" with faint praise, observing that the (supposed) culmination of the long, laborious Marvel Comics movie franchise is a competent but pointless popcorn entertainment that's being wildly overpraised simply for existing without being incoherent and terrible. Some readers sniff from behind their digital copies of the Atlantic: Why did you even bother? Others lament that, once again, a non-fan of comic-book movies was sent to review something whose true significance, as with a sacred scroll written in Tocharian B, is yielded only to a coterie of gnostics and believers. (An enormous coterie, in this case.) Someone will invoke the ghost of Pauline Kael to instruct us that movies are meant to entertain, and someone else will suggest that the editors send me back to covering films about lesbian sheepherders made in Azerbaijan.

Interview: Joss Whedon on his two big movies

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Joss Whedon already belongs on a very short list of the most beloved creators of serial television drama in the medium's history, a list that includes Gene Roddenberry and Norman Lear (two of Whedon's more obvious forebears) as well as ostensibly more serious contemporaries like David Chase and David Simon. But while the other guys on that list are widely admired and widely imitated, perhaps only Roddenberry was adored by his fans the way Whedon is. His work is rooted in a deep and sincere passion for the genre traditions of science fiction and horror -- as he said during our interview, he doesn't worry about fans because he sees himself as one of them -- but like all the best genre practitioners he sees them as a means to telling bigger stories, not as ends in themselves.

Pick of the week: Joss Whedon’s horror puzzler

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

So here's the situation with Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's mashed-up horror movie "The Cabin in the Woods": It's complicated. I'm recommending that you rush out and see it, but not altogether because I think it's so totally great and completely works. Quite a bit of it is great, and most of it works, and the stuff that clicks is outrageously entertaining and funny, sometimes with surprising depth. But I also want you to see it so we can argue about what works and what doesn't, and discuss the so-called surprise twist, which in-the-know, Whedonverse-type people will already completely have down but which I still shouldn't really talk about.

See, "Cabin in the Woods" is a self-knowing horror movie that is partly about a group of college students behaving like dumb-asses and unleashing unknown terrors at an isolated mountain retreat full of secrets, and partly about what it means to make that kind of movie and tell that kind of story. And if you're rolling your eyes right about now and saying, "Oh no, another damn movie that's too clever for its britches," well, that's OK too. Because Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly"), who produced and co-wrote the screenplay, and his longtime collaborator Goddard, who co-wrote and makes his directing debut here (after writing "Cloverfield"), have that angle covered.

Joss Whedon takes on Shakespeare

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Maybe it's atonement for "The Avengers." On Sunday night, actors Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher, along with costume designer Shawna Trpcic, cryptically tweeted a link to a Web page featuring a photo of Fillion toting a martini glass, somewhere in the middle of a lake. The image announced the completion of a new movie from Joss Whedon, the genius whose "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," "Firefly" and, to a lesser extent, "Dollhouse" are the very definition of awesome to nerds everywhere. According to the clues, the film stars a veritable who's who of Whedon alums. And it's "based on a play." A Shakespeare play. Oh God. Ohmigod. Then on Monday, Bellwether Pictures officially announced Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing." That thud you heard was everybody in America with a liberal arts degree fainting dead in excitement.