Serenity flies this weekend!
EDITOR'S NOTE: IT AIN'T LIKELY TO TAKE OUR DWEEBISH MINDS OFF THE FACT THAT THERE ARE NO NEW STAR WARS MOVIES TO HOPE FOR (AND ONLY A FEW MORE HARRY POTTER EVENTS...1 MORE BOOK, 4 MORE MOVIES). BUT IF THIS "SERENITY" MOVIE IS ANYWHERE AS GOOD AS THE "FIREFLY" TV SHOW (AND SEE THE REVIEW BELOW FOR REPORTS THAT IT IS QUITE GOOD), WE'LL AT LEAST GET A LITTLE DWEEB-ON FOR THIS WEEKEND.
SERENITY Composer Discusses the Score
Today, internet music radio show ON THE SCORE will premiere their interview with SERENITY composer David Newman.
In addition, the site features a virtual jukebox of movie music, along with numerous other specialty shows featuring news and top-20 score charts. Upcoming composer guests for ON THE SCORE will include Christopher Young (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE), Rolfe Kent (JUST LIKE HEAVEN) and John Ottman (KISS KISS BANG BANG).
To check out Daniel Schweiger's interview with David Newman and even the rest of the site click here. EDITOR’S NOTE: I CONFESS I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO THE PART WHERE THEY TALKED ABOUT THE MUSIC FOR “SERENITY” BECAUSE THE INTERVIEW WAS REALLY REALLY DULL. (BUT HEY, HERE’S THE LINK! CHECK IT OUT!)
http://www.filmmusicradio.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=734c125b1cbab8ea58601e64ff4f0681&todo=
inside&header=&page=&storyid=5&storycategory=&storycategory1=
Interview : Joss Whedon
Sometimes people are forced to think outside the box – but first-time filmmaker Joss Whedon’s not complaining about his unceremonious dump from Television, in fact, he’s adorning a smile wider than a first division lottery winner. One door closes, as another door opens – and behind it, a man as talented as he is lucky.
CLINT MORRIS reports.
Best known for creating the TV series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" – originally a lacklustre 1992 feature film with a return about the equivalent of a Pre-Christmas social security cheque - Whedon put his stamp on Hollywood pretty much from the get-go.
With "Buffy" – and consequential spin-off series, "Angel" – he conceived something that was smart, unique, incredibly well written and immediately appealing to those with a penchant for humour and horror. Buffy, and ultimately, its creator, became a cultural phenomenon – and audiences just couldn’t get enough.
As quick as Television networks were to accept him though, they were even quicker to remove Whedon from their premises.
Some, it seems, just didn’t get it – not that Whedon’s “naming any names”.
"Buffy", a series that was partly responsible for bringing an audience to the then-fledgling WB network, was never fully supported, he says, and then, at the height of it’s popularity, spin-off "Angel" - still quite a few years younger than it’s predecessor - received the ill-timed death blow.
As a consequence, fans went nuts, Whedon scratched his head, and the network ultimately lived to regret their hasty pronouncement. Yet, no amount of picketing – and the fans tried everything - could see the decision overturned. Seems the chapter was forever closed on Whedon’s Vampire Chronicles.
In the midst of his attempts to keep both "Buffy" and "Angel" on-air, Whedon went to rival network Fox with an idea for another show – something possibly even more unique than his earlier efforts.
"Firefly" was a Sci-Fi Western about a group of intergalactic space smugglers harbouring a couple of young fugitives. Again, Whedon’s many fans would flock to see the result.
Seems the curse hadn’t lifted though, and Firefly was doomed before it even began.
“It was weird because Fox had taken some big chances on shows, which were very successful for them – but there was one executive in particular [there] that just didn’t ‘get me’. I will never understand [fully] what their problem with the show was as long as I live”. EDITOR’S NOTE: THEY HAD A COLLECTIVE IQ OF AN INVERTEBRATE? (JUST GUESSIN...)
Whedon says "Firefly" was essentially murdered – the network decided to show episodes out of order (because the first episode, the pilot, didn’t have enough action in it), they didn’t bother with pre-empting it, and “had it in a timeslot that was essentially known in the industry as - the death slot”, he says. “Their advertisement in TV Guide? ‘Meet the Most Spaced Out Crew in Space’. I read that and thought ‘something is horribly wrong – [uh-oh] we’re going to get cancelled’. It was a bad match, and I take full responsibility for not paying attention to that. It was clearly a bad match from the beginning – they [simply] wanted Bumpy the Werewolf Slayer”.
On Thursday December 12th 2002, with only twelve episodes in the can, "Firefly" was cancelled.
It was depressing, says Whedon, but he was determined not to give up on this one. He immediately made a promise to his cast that one day he “would tell this story”. He explains, “I’m not in the business of writing stories to amuse myself”, and was indomitable that he would tie up the events of the series – one day.
The day came in mid-2004 when Universal Pictures agreed to acquire the rights to Firefly from 20th Century Fox Television.
Whedon had convinced the studio to take a chance on a big-screen version of his short-lived space serial.
Sitting here talking about the film – which also marks his directorial debut – Whedon says it’s quite surreal. “Part of me is like ‘I’ll let you know when it hit’s me’, the other part is like ‘It feels really, really good!’” confesses Whedon. “When you fight so hard for something it’s not so much a gift as it is a victory – though Universal was pretty much like Santa Claus”.
Still, Whedon had his work cut out for him. He had to come up with something far bigger, far more exciting, and far more appealing than any offering for the box.
“It’s restrictive because I’m working with characters I had planned so much for [on TV] and you only have a certain amount of [screen] time for each one of them – yet you want every one of them to shine”, he says. “So, if someone has two lines – you have to make sure that those two lines tell you fifty percent of what you’re going to learn about them. “Also, it’s a different kind of storytelling, it’s one that I love, but it’s different. This is very goal-oriented – get to the climax, take them on a ride and don’t let them go, as opposed to TV which is more ‘let’s examine this from this side, now this side, now from up here’”.
Another tough task was trying to structure the movie in a way that it would appeal to not only fans – and there’s squillions of those, calling themselves Browncoats,EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE…THIS IS WHERE WE START TO GET FUNNY LOOKS FROM NON-DWEEBS. MUST WE ALWAYS HAVE ODD, IN-JOKE NAMES FOR OUR LITTLE GROUPS? CAN’T WE JUST BE DWEEBS? FANS? SIGH….. just take a look on the Internet - but for people that have never seen Firefly.
“You’re making it for people who don’t know you from Adam, don’t know your sensibilities and don’t know how much you like to play with genre. It’s such a tightrope act. Too much humour? Not enough humour? Too much violence? Not enough violence? It was so difficult and exhausting to make it for non-fans”.
Whedon says he thinks he cracked it though. He basically took the best elements of the series – the imperfect characters, their relationships, their back stories - and meshed it with a yarn that would make audiences feel “the same way they felt when they saw Star Wars the first time. ‘We got the Death Star’! – It’s really about concentrating on distilling the core and squeezing it until it’s a diamond”.
Though none of the cast are A-list superstars - and Whedon was adamant that the stars from the series return and not be replaced by bigger names - he still believes they’ve all got the potential to be a big break-out movie stars after this, especially newcomer Summer Glau.
“Summer is my secret weapon”, smiles Whedon, who discovered the ballerina come actress when she won a small part on his series Angel. “There was no second choice, but that same executive [in charge of the TV series at the time] was like ‘Oh, I dunno’, and I was like ‘Buddy, and you never will’. But she was amazing. She’s something money can’t buy – an action star who can act, and she can do action not like [adopts mocking Austrian accent] ‘I say the lines, and then we cut to the stunt man’. This girl can do her own stunts and act her pants off, and shooting those legs was some of the most fun I’ve ever had”.
Co-stars Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin are also likely to go onto bigger and better things because of their work here, says Whedon. “Nathan is a movie star. He has that, and if other people don’t recognize that I’ll be shocked. He’s every inch a hero, except the inches that he is a comic foil”, he laughs, “And people are also saying ‘Isn’t it great to take someone like Summer and give her her breakthrough role?’ and I’m like ‘yeah, but also taking someone like Adam Baldwin (who has been acting in B-movies and slumming in small parts in bigger films like "Independence Day" and "Predator 2" for years) and give him his!’”.
One of the most memorable characters from the series, Shepherd Book, played by Ron Glass, has a surprisingly small role in the film. It was purely for story reasons, nothing else, says Whedon.
“On the first draft, he was onboard the ship and it was this other person whose town got massacred. But there wasn’t enough for Ron to do. His character was very much something of the series. His purpose isn’t the same as theirs”.
Glass, as well as another prominent original star that one would presume we’ve seen the last of, will definitely be back for a sequel – should there be one.
“If this thing goes large and I do get to make another one – you will definitely see both those guys again”. EDITOR’S NOTE: OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!??? (AND WHAT IS THIS TEASE THEY ARE THROWING IN? DOES SOMEONE APPEAR TO DIE IN THE MOVIE?)
Two notable new faces to the world of Serenity are actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and David Krumholtz, as the villainous Operative and the amiable Mr Universe, respectively.
Though both fantastic, says Whedon, they were obviously outsiders, not being a part of the original TV troupe. “He [Chiwetel] and Nathan got on great, but fact of the matter is – he was a bit on the outside as to what was going on, [and] David Krumholtz spent two days by himself with only a love-bot”, he laughs.
The experience of making his first feature, on the whole, has been a very pleasant one. Though sometimes difficult, it’s nowhere near as testing as the day-to-day grind of doing a weekly TV series, says Whedon. “I miss some things about them ["Buffy" and "Angel"], but I don’t miss the grind”, he says. “With Buffy, I really felt like seven seasons were it – we were all feeling the wear and tear, and it wasn’t like the actors weren’t bringing it, it was just the time.
"Angel", he says, didn’t deserve to be axed when it did. Though going on five seasons, Whedon feels it still had some more oil in the engine – and could’ve gone for a while longer. Still, it’s another series that might have another life, hints Whedon.
“I mostly miss all the people [there], but if things go the way I hope they do – I might not miss them as much”, he says, raising an all-telling eyebrow.
It’s rumoured that Whedon’s looking to bring the character of Spike (played by James Marsters on Buffy and Angel) back for a telemovie, and he’s happy to validate that.
“I’m talking in reference to that…..and possibly more”, he smiles. “I can only teasingly hint unfortunately until it’s got backing and we’ve got a schedule and a contract. I have been talking to some of the actors, writers, and some executives and are trying to put something together - - but it’s not happening fast. [But no] I haven’t left the Buffyverse behind”.
Meantime, Whedon is writing and directing a feature film version of "Wonder Woman", which might shoot in Australia.
“We’re looking for Paradise Cove somewhere other than L.A”, he says. “Still, I have to write it first – and then they have to decide whether they like it enough to make it.”
Whedon says he was a little reluctant to sign onto "Wonder Woman" at first, but quickly realised the character was essentially “The Grandma of every character I’ve ever written”.
SERENITY Opens September 29th
EDITOR'S NOTE: AND HERE'S A QUICK REVIEW. (NO SPOILERS TO SPEAK OF )
Serenity
Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Morena Baccarin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson
When something’s badly wounded, it usually dies and…. stays dead.
But in the case of "Firefly", a short-lived TV series that aired (out of sequence, mind you) for twelve short weeks in 2002, a knock on heaven’s door was met with no retort.
The Sci-Fi Western was merely greeted by a ‘Closed – Come Back Later’ sign stuck on the pearly gates, and so, it promptly slid back down the white lights – and back to life for a second chance, or, lengthened existence.
Bless those angelic fans. Created by celebrated "Buffy" alumni Joss Whedon, "Firefly" was an episodical part sci-fi, part Western show that told of a small space freighter whose crew are willing to take whatever types of jobs come their way in order to preserve a way of life outside of the regimented Alliance.
Similar to what happened with the similar-themed "Star Trek" some thirty years before, Firefly garnered a huge following in such a short amount of time, and with sales of it’s DVD Box-Set going through the roof – it seemed only natural to give it a second chance - on a bigger canvas.
Less refined than George Lucas’s drastically more expensive sci-fi saga, and dirtier in both look and manner than GR’s Enterprise adventures, Whedon’s series, and now movie, is quite a unique experience.
Everything you loved about the series is back on the big screen too - with $50 million worth of extras.
Back is the excellent writing, the humour, the adventure, the distinct characters, the plight, the battles, the sexual tension, and the imaginatively designed starships – still as dirty as ever, and as wonky as a rusted bike.
There are a couple of surprises in tow too. Cocky space-smuggler Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew – engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite), his second in command and most trusted ally, Zoe (Gina Torres), her husband, the pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk), and the muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin) - are still harbouring fugitives, the telepathic River Tam (Summer Glau) and her doctor brother, Simon (Sean Maher) on-board their rust-bucket space ship.
The alliance’s hunt for the fugitives – especially River, who harbours some secrets and then some – is cranked up a notch when The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is assigned to find them. He’ll do anything – quite a nasty character he is – to get to River, and it poses quite a challenge for the crew of Serenity.
"Serenity" feels like a gobsmackingly-good two-hour season ender for the series.
But that’s good. That’s what fans want. Who wants to revisit the beloved characters only to discover that they’re changed, or that the story’s drifted away from the one we were tuning in week-after-week for? EDITOR’S NOTE: YES, BUT NOW THAT I’VE SEEN IT ON DVD (THANKS AGAIN, ANDREW) AND SEEN HOW GOOD IT IS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH GOD-AND-COUSIN-JOSS INTENDED, I DON’T WANT A SERIES-ENDER. I WANT THE SERIES BACK!
At the same time, Whedon’s – making his feature-film directorial debut here - need to please the fans might also have hurt his film a little. Those that are new to the world might soon catch on – you get a quick introduction – but they’re unlikely to be as emotionally invested in the characters as the fans are, and let’s admit it, it’s the characters that we keep coming back for.
Some of the film’s surprises are unlikely to affect newcomers, as they will the regular browncoats. EDITOR’S NOTE: RENT THE DVDS, RENT THE DVDS!!! (YOUR QOTD HAS SPOKEN)
Still, everyone likes a good movie – and this is definitely an A-grade experience.
The writing is impeccable, the chemistry among the cast is fantastic, the performances are great, and the action is non-stop. The film’s skirmishes really kick in towards the tail end of the movie, and it’s everyone’s party then.
Summer Glau is inevitably the film’s standout as the puzzling Escapee River giving a multi-faceted performance and predominantly, kicking some royal bootie in action stakes, but series scene-stealers Nathan Fillion, as Mal, and Adam Baldwin, as Jayne, are still as amusing and boastful as ever.
There’s a couple of equally talented newcomers to the Whedonverse too – Chiwetel Ejiofor as the ominous villain, and the always-dependable David Krumholtz as the amusing techno-head ‘Mr Universe’.
There are some slow spots - exposition does need to be slotted somewhere, I guess? - and it’s disappointing to see a couple of the show’s most popular characters sitting on the bench, but all-in-all, "Firefly" fans are going to be extremely happy with the feature-length treat Sir Whedon has rewarded them with here. EDITOR’S NOTE: ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ON-GOING (PLEASE BRING IT BACK….HEY, SCIFI CHANNEL!, HEY USA NET!) SERIES VS. A MOVIE; YOU CAN TAKE TURNS HIGHLIGHTING CHARACTERS AND THEY GROW OVER MANY EPISODES. THERE ISN’T THAT LUXURY IN A 2-HR MOVIE.
Many, I’m guessing, might want to pick up some cough mixture on their way home from the theatre too – with all the screaming, laughing, yahooing and shouting, they’ll be doing, they’re inexorably going to lose their voice.
Thanks Joss. This is a superb directorial debut - and one sensational bit of cinema.
SERENITY Composer Discusses the Score
Today, internet music radio show ON THE SCORE will premiere their interview with SERENITY composer David Newman.
In addition, the site features a virtual jukebox of movie music, along with numerous other specialty shows featuring news and top-20 score charts. Upcoming composer guests for ON THE SCORE will include Christopher Young (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE), Rolfe Kent (JUST LIKE HEAVEN) and John Ottman (KISS KISS BANG BANG).
To check out Daniel Schweiger's interview with David Newman and even the rest of the site click here. EDITOR’S NOTE: I CONFESS I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO THE PART WHERE THEY TALKED ABOUT THE MUSIC FOR “SERENITY” BECAUSE THE INTERVIEW WAS REALLY REALLY DULL. (BUT HEY, HERE’S THE LINK! CHECK IT OUT!)
http://www.filmmusicradio.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=734c125b1cbab8ea58601e64ff4f0681&todo=
inside&header=&page=&storyid=5&storycategory=&storycategory1=
Interview : Joss Whedon
Sometimes people are forced to think outside the box – but first-time filmmaker Joss Whedon’s not complaining about his unceremonious dump from Television, in fact, he’s adorning a smile wider than a first division lottery winner. One door closes, as another door opens – and behind it, a man as talented as he is lucky.
CLINT MORRIS reports.
Best known for creating the TV series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" – originally a lacklustre 1992 feature film with a return about the equivalent of a Pre-Christmas social security cheque - Whedon put his stamp on Hollywood pretty much from the get-go.
With "Buffy" – and consequential spin-off series, "Angel" – he conceived something that was smart, unique, incredibly well written and immediately appealing to those with a penchant for humour and horror. Buffy, and ultimately, its creator, became a cultural phenomenon – and audiences just couldn’t get enough.
As quick as Television networks were to accept him though, they were even quicker to remove Whedon from their premises.
Some, it seems, just didn’t get it – not that Whedon’s “naming any names”.
"Buffy", a series that was partly responsible for bringing an audience to the then-fledgling WB network, was never fully supported, he says, and then, at the height of it’s popularity, spin-off "Angel" - still quite a few years younger than it’s predecessor - received the ill-timed death blow.
As a consequence, fans went nuts, Whedon scratched his head, and the network ultimately lived to regret their hasty pronouncement. Yet, no amount of picketing – and the fans tried everything - could see the decision overturned. Seems the chapter was forever closed on Whedon’s Vampire Chronicles.
In the midst of his attempts to keep both "Buffy" and "Angel" on-air, Whedon went to rival network Fox with an idea for another show – something possibly even more unique than his earlier efforts.
"Firefly" was a Sci-Fi Western about a group of intergalactic space smugglers harbouring a couple of young fugitives. Again, Whedon’s many fans would flock to see the result.
Seems the curse hadn’t lifted though, and Firefly was doomed before it even began.
“It was weird because Fox had taken some big chances on shows, which were very successful for them – but there was one executive in particular [there] that just didn’t ‘get me’. I will never understand [fully] what their problem with the show was as long as I live”. EDITOR’S NOTE: THEY HAD A COLLECTIVE IQ OF AN INVERTEBRATE? (JUST GUESSIN...)
Whedon says "Firefly" was essentially murdered – the network decided to show episodes out of order (because the first episode, the pilot, didn’t have enough action in it), they didn’t bother with pre-empting it, and “had it in a timeslot that was essentially known in the industry as - the death slot”, he says. “Their advertisement in TV Guide? ‘Meet the Most Spaced Out Crew in Space’. I read that and thought ‘something is horribly wrong – [uh-oh] we’re going to get cancelled’. It was a bad match, and I take full responsibility for not paying attention to that. It was clearly a bad match from the beginning – they [simply] wanted Bumpy the Werewolf Slayer”.
On Thursday December 12th 2002, with only twelve episodes in the can, "Firefly" was cancelled.
It was depressing, says Whedon, but he was determined not to give up on this one. He immediately made a promise to his cast that one day he “would tell this story”. He explains, “I’m not in the business of writing stories to amuse myself”, and was indomitable that he would tie up the events of the series – one day.
The day came in mid-2004 when Universal Pictures agreed to acquire the rights to Firefly from 20th Century Fox Television.
Whedon had convinced the studio to take a chance on a big-screen version of his short-lived space serial.
Sitting here talking about the film – which also marks his directorial debut – Whedon says it’s quite surreal. “Part of me is like ‘I’ll let you know when it hit’s me’, the other part is like ‘It feels really, really good!’” confesses Whedon. “When you fight so hard for something it’s not so much a gift as it is a victory – though Universal was pretty much like Santa Claus”.
Still, Whedon had his work cut out for him. He had to come up with something far bigger, far more exciting, and far more appealing than any offering for the box.
“It’s restrictive because I’m working with characters I had planned so much for [on TV] and you only have a certain amount of [screen] time for each one of them – yet you want every one of them to shine”, he says. “So, if someone has two lines – you have to make sure that those two lines tell you fifty percent of what you’re going to learn about them. “Also, it’s a different kind of storytelling, it’s one that I love, but it’s different. This is very goal-oriented – get to the climax, take them on a ride and don’t let them go, as opposed to TV which is more ‘let’s examine this from this side, now this side, now from up here’”.
Another tough task was trying to structure the movie in a way that it would appeal to not only fans – and there’s squillions of those, calling themselves Browncoats,EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE…THIS IS WHERE WE START TO GET FUNNY LOOKS FROM NON-DWEEBS. MUST WE ALWAYS HAVE ODD, IN-JOKE NAMES FOR OUR LITTLE GROUPS? CAN’T WE JUST BE DWEEBS? FANS? SIGH….. just take a look on the Internet - but for people that have never seen Firefly.
“You’re making it for people who don’t know you from Adam, don’t know your sensibilities and don’t know how much you like to play with genre. It’s such a tightrope act. Too much humour? Not enough humour? Too much violence? Not enough violence? It was so difficult and exhausting to make it for non-fans”.
Whedon says he thinks he cracked it though. He basically took the best elements of the series – the imperfect characters, their relationships, their back stories - and meshed it with a yarn that would make audiences feel “the same way they felt when they saw Star Wars the first time. ‘We got the Death Star’! – It’s really about concentrating on distilling the core and squeezing it until it’s a diamond”.
Though none of the cast are A-list superstars - and Whedon was adamant that the stars from the series return and not be replaced by bigger names - he still believes they’ve all got the potential to be a big break-out movie stars after this, especially newcomer Summer Glau.
“Summer is my secret weapon”, smiles Whedon, who discovered the ballerina come actress when she won a small part on his series Angel. “There was no second choice, but that same executive [in charge of the TV series at the time] was like ‘Oh, I dunno’, and I was like ‘Buddy, and you never will’. But she was amazing. She’s something money can’t buy – an action star who can act, and she can do action not like [adopts mocking Austrian accent] ‘I say the lines, and then we cut to the stunt man’. This girl can do her own stunts and act her pants off, and shooting those legs was some of the most fun I’ve ever had”.
Co-stars Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin are also likely to go onto bigger and better things because of their work here, says Whedon. “Nathan is a movie star. He has that, and if other people don’t recognize that I’ll be shocked. He’s every inch a hero, except the inches that he is a comic foil”, he laughs, “And people are also saying ‘Isn’t it great to take someone like Summer and give her her breakthrough role?’ and I’m like ‘yeah, but also taking someone like Adam Baldwin (who has been acting in B-movies and slumming in small parts in bigger films like "Independence Day" and "Predator 2" for years) and give him his!’”.
One of the most memorable characters from the series, Shepherd Book, played by Ron Glass, has a surprisingly small role in the film. It was purely for story reasons, nothing else, says Whedon.
“On the first draft, he was onboard the ship and it was this other person whose town got massacred. But there wasn’t enough for Ron to do. His character was very much something of the series. His purpose isn’t the same as theirs”.
Glass, as well as another prominent original star that one would presume we’ve seen the last of, will definitely be back for a sequel – should there be one.
“If this thing goes large and I do get to make another one – you will definitely see both those guys again”. EDITOR’S NOTE: OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!??? (AND WHAT IS THIS TEASE THEY ARE THROWING IN? DOES SOMEONE APPEAR TO DIE IN THE MOVIE?)
Two notable new faces to the world of Serenity are actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and David Krumholtz, as the villainous Operative and the amiable Mr Universe, respectively.
Though both fantastic, says Whedon, they were obviously outsiders, not being a part of the original TV troupe. “He [Chiwetel] and Nathan got on great, but fact of the matter is – he was a bit on the outside as to what was going on, [and] David Krumholtz spent two days by himself with only a love-bot”, he laughs.
The experience of making his first feature, on the whole, has been a very pleasant one. Though sometimes difficult, it’s nowhere near as testing as the day-to-day grind of doing a weekly TV series, says Whedon. “I miss some things about them ["Buffy" and "Angel"], but I don’t miss the grind”, he says. “With Buffy, I really felt like seven seasons were it – we were all feeling the wear and tear, and it wasn’t like the actors weren’t bringing it, it was just the time.
"Angel", he says, didn’t deserve to be axed when it did. Though going on five seasons, Whedon feels it still had some more oil in the engine – and could’ve gone for a while longer. Still, it’s another series that might have another life, hints Whedon.
“I mostly miss all the people [there], but if things go the way I hope they do – I might not miss them as much”, he says, raising an all-telling eyebrow.
It’s rumoured that Whedon’s looking to bring the character of Spike (played by James Marsters on Buffy and Angel) back for a telemovie, and he’s happy to validate that.
“I’m talking in reference to that…..and possibly more”, he smiles. “I can only teasingly hint unfortunately until it’s got backing and we’ve got a schedule and a contract. I have been talking to some of the actors, writers, and some executives and are trying to put something together - - but it’s not happening fast. [But no] I haven’t left the Buffyverse behind”.
Meantime, Whedon is writing and directing a feature film version of "Wonder Woman", which might shoot in Australia.
“We’re looking for Paradise Cove somewhere other than L.A”, he says. “Still, I have to write it first – and then they have to decide whether they like it enough to make it.”
Whedon says he was a little reluctant to sign onto "Wonder Woman" at first, but quickly realised the character was essentially “The Grandma of every character I’ve ever written”.
SERENITY Opens September 29th
EDITOR'S NOTE: AND HERE'S A QUICK REVIEW. (NO SPOILERS TO SPEAK OF )
Serenity
Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Morena Baccarin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson
When something’s badly wounded, it usually dies and…. stays dead.
But in the case of "Firefly", a short-lived TV series that aired (out of sequence, mind you) for twelve short weeks in 2002, a knock on heaven’s door was met with no retort.
The Sci-Fi Western was merely greeted by a ‘Closed – Come Back Later’ sign stuck on the pearly gates, and so, it promptly slid back down the white lights – and back to life for a second chance, or, lengthened existence.
Bless those angelic fans. Created by celebrated "Buffy" alumni Joss Whedon, "Firefly" was an episodical part sci-fi, part Western show that told of a small space freighter whose crew are willing to take whatever types of jobs come their way in order to preserve a way of life outside of the regimented Alliance.
Similar to what happened with the similar-themed "Star Trek" some thirty years before, Firefly garnered a huge following in such a short amount of time, and with sales of it’s DVD Box-Set going through the roof – it seemed only natural to give it a second chance - on a bigger canvas.
Less refined than George Lucas’s drastically more expensive sci-fi saga, and dirtier in both look and manner than GR’s Enterprise adventures, Whedon’s series, and now movie, is quite a unique experience.
Everything you loved about the series is back on the big screen too - with $50 million worth of extras.
Back is the excellent writing, the humour, the adventure, the distinct characters, the plight, the battles, the sexual tension, and the imaginatively designed starships – still as dirty as ever, and as wonky as a rusted bike.
There are a couple of surprises in tow too. Cocky space-smuggler Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew – engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite), his second in command and most trusted ally, Zoe (Gina Torres), her husband, the pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk), and the muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin) - are still harbouring fugitives, the telepathic River Tam (Summer Glau) and her doctor brother, Simon (Sean Maher) on-board their rust-bucket space ship.
The alliance’s hunt for the fugitives – especially River, who harbours some secrets and then some – is cranked up a notch when The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is assigned to find them. He’ll do anything – quite a nasty character he is – to get to River, and it poses quite a challenge for the crew of Serenity.
"Serenity" feels like a gobsmackingly-good two-hour season ender for the series.
But that’s good. That’s what fans want. Who wants to revisit the beloved characters only to discover that they’re changed, or that the story’s drifted away from the one we were tuning in week-after-week for? EDITOR’S NOTE: YES, BUT NOW THAT I’VE SEEN IT ON DVD (THANKS AGAIN, ANDREW) AND SEEN HOW GOOD IT IS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH GOD-AND-COUSIN-JOSS INTENDED, I DON’T WANT A SERIES-ENDER. I WANT THE SERIES BACK!
At the same time, Whedon’s – making his feature-film directorial debut here - need to please the fans might also have hurt his film a little. Those that are new to the world might soon catch on – you get a quick introduction – but they’re unlikely to be as emotionally invested in the characters as the fans are, and let’s admit it, it’s the characters that we keep coming back for.
Some of the film’s surprises are unlikely to affect newcomers, as they will the regular browncoats. EDITOR’S NOTE: RENT THE DVDS, RENT THE DVDS!!! (YOUR QOTD HAS SPOKEN)
Still, everyone likes a good movie – and this is definitely an A-grade experience.
The writing is impeccable, the chemistry among the cast is fantastic, the performances are great, and the action is non-stop. The film’s skirmishes really kick in towards the tail end of the movie, and it’s everyone’s party then.
Summer Glau is inevitably the film’s standout as the puzzling Escapee River giving a multi-faceted performance and predominantly, kicking some royal bootie in action stakes, but series scene-stealers Nathan Fillion, as Mal, and Adam Baldwin, as Jayne, are still as amusing and boastful as ever.
There’s a couple of equally talented newcomers to the Whedonverse too – Chiwetel Ejiofor as the ominous villain, and the always-dependable David Krumholtz as the amusing techno-head ‘Mr Universe’.
There are some slow spots - exposition does need to be slotted somewhere, I guess? - and it’s disappointing to see a couple of the show’s most popular characters sitting on the bench, but all-in-all, "Firefly" fans are going to be extremely happy with the feature-length treat Sir Whedon has rewarded them with here. EDITOR’S NOTE: ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ON-GOING (PLEASE BRING IT BACK….HEY, SCIFI CHANNEL!, HEY USA NET!) SERIES VS. A MOVIE; YOU CAN TAKE TURNS HIGHLIGHTING CHARACTERS AND THEY GROW OVER MANY EPISODES. THERE ISN’T THAT LUXURY IN A 2-HR MOVIE.
Many, I’m guessing, might want to pick up some cough mixture on their way home from the theatre too – with all the screaming, laughing, yahooing and shouting, they’ll be doing, they’re inexorably going to lose their voice.
Thanks Joss. This is a superb directorial debut - and one sensational bit of cinema.
posted by QOTD (the Queen of the Dweebs) at 3:07 PM
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