Director Joss Whedon (Buffy, Serenity) has just completed work on two new movies. Horror flick Cabin in the Woods opens April 13, while the much-anticipated Avengers opens May 4.
Whedon pondered his next move in an interview with GQ, saying, “What would be the next big thing? There are two things that I cannot resist: one is musicals and the other is a spaceship in trouble. But I am smart enough not to combine the two things.”
Whedon has shown his love for musicals before by directing several episodes of FOX’s Glee. He said, “The musicals that I love on stage are generally meant for the stage. I’m not a Les Mis fan. I have a lot of friends who just want to beat me with sticks when I tell them that but what I’m interested in are new musicals, real book musicals—not jukebox musicals. When they first told me about Smash a couple of years ago they told me they were writing something original, so if that’s the case then I would be interested. But I’m so much more interested in the genuine backstage. That’s the great thing about The West Wing: you really felt like you were in the thick of it.”
The director has also been involved with the work of Shakespeare when he wrote a film version of Much Ado About Nothing. The film, which is in post-production, is a modern retelling of the classic. When asked if Whedon collaborated with director Kenneth Branagh (who wrote and directed the 1993 version), he said, “Would I invite him to a Shakespeare reading? No—even if I could I think he’d consider it something of a busman’s holiday. Most of my friends are people who love to do it but don’t get to very often. If I could get Mark Rylance to the house I would. Looking grim there, unfortunately.”
