By: Steve Ramos
Why Joss Whedon followed up one of the biggest blockbusters ever, The Avengers, with a low budget Shakespeare film, and what you can learn from that act of creative recharging.
The Whedonverse faithful–a mob more diverse than you might expect–pull themselves away from Queen Street West’s comic book shops and fill Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre to the rafters. Even from the back aisle of the theater’s top balcony, they proudly flash their fandom for writer/director Joss Whedon via Firefly T-shirts and Buffy the Vampire Slayer souvenir magazines.
The Whedonverse faithful are also screamers, easily surpassing Bollywood fans as the loudest crowds at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. They’re here on a warm Saturday afternoon because the fantasy mastermind, Joss Whedon himself, the creator of cult TV shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, and Firefly, a longtime comic book scribe and the filmmaker behind the most successful superhero movie to date, the Marvel Studios adventure The Avengers, is on stage talking about his latest and perhaps most unusual, project.
Whedon stands before them to introduce the world premiere of his new movie–a movie far removed from superheroes, spaceship crews, or teen vampire hunters. Much Ado About Nothing is a low-budget, black-and-white version of William Shakespeare’s comedy, set in present day and shot over 12 days in Whedon’s Santa Monica home.
Joss Whedon
“Boy, I hope you feel this way two hours from now,” Whedon says with a nervous smile. “I was in this theater last night watching Anna Karenina and now I don’t want to show my movie.”
In Much Ado, Whedon puts a contemporary spin on the Shakespeare comedy. He worked with his wife, the producer and designer Kai Cole, on the film, which was shot last fall during his brief break between principal photography on The Avengers and his long stint in post-production.