USA Today Whitney Matheson interviews Joss Whedon
POSTED BY: yanksno1
UPDATED: Sunday, December 25, 2005 23:36
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http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2005/12/a_qa_with_joss_.html
USA Today Pop Candy columnist Whitney Matheson interviews Joss Whedon:
Joss Whedon is known for handling multiple projects at once, but 2005 was an especially busy year for the writer/director. Along with releasing Serenity, a film based on his cancelled Fox series, Firefly, the creator of cult hits Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel was tapped to write and direct a big-screen version of Wonder Woman, due in 2007. Amidst all the moviemaking, Whedon even had time to guest star on UPN's Veronica Mars, a series he has famously dubbed the "Best. Show. Ever."
Whedon and I recently chatted about Serenity -- particularly its disappointing intake in theaters -- Wonder Woman, Buffy and other hot topics. He lands at No. 13 on my list of the 100 people of the year.
WM: Looking back at Serenity's performance at the box office, do you think there's anything more that the fans, or you, could've done to get the word out about the movie?
JW: Honestly? Physically? No. I know there's nothing more I could've done, because I collapsed from exhaustion at the end of the publicity tour. And I know there's nothing more the fans could've done, because they were crazy all over themselves. Obviously, Universal could've spent more money on advertising, but I think that's the Catch-22: If you keep spending more, will you necessarily bring out more people?
Ultimately, what didn't happen is that we didn't really manage to get a sense of the movie out to people. But that's a hard thing to do; it's a weird movie. And, you know, it crosses a lot of genres, and it's not an easy sell. ... Who knows? Ultimately, you can't really point the finger -- I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of people who are pointing plenty of fingers in every direction -- but it's just a crapshoot.
WM: But the movie is coming out on DVD very quickly, and right before Christmas. Did you have something to do with that?
JW: No. They had always anticipated a fairly fast release. I think that's kind of the pattern that doesn't necessarily represent failure: The 40 Year Old Virgin came out after us, the DVD came out before. In that sense, they were riding the crest of its success. In our case, they had always been (set) on this date before the film came out. Had it done spectacularly well and was still thriving in theaters, they probably would've pushed it back. It's gonna eat into the box office a little bit because that's what DVD is doing, no matter what. I see most of my movies that way, though, occasionally, I drag my very sad, unshapely butt out to an actual film.
WM: What's the best-case scenario for the future of the Firefly/Serenity franchise?
JW: The best-case scenario is that the DVD is such a spectacular, monster hit that we get to make another movie. Then, we get to make another movie. After three movies, we're all very tired. After Serenity: Revolutions, we feel like we've played it out. And then we make another series.
But, you know, we'll never make Firefly again, because that was a thing that existed and is now gone. And Serenity isn't Firefly, and whatever comes next won't be, either. But I would love to tell more stories of this universe and to hang out with these people on and off for the rest of my career.
WM: Aside from your own, what was the best film you saw this year?
Well, that's easy, because I only saw about four movies in theaters. ... Obviously, Batman Begins struck a big chord with me. I think they did a really sweet job with that. But I'm gonna give a little shout-out to Sky High. I just thought it was really, really charming -- it reminded me of The Specials, the great classic. So I'm not gonna say it's the best, but it was one of the purest, most enjoyable experiences I had. So there.
WM: Would you ever return to series television, or is it just Whedon movies from here on out?
JW: I'm all up in series TV -- I love series TV. The problem with returning to series TV is you have to have someone who wants you to return to series TV. And by "somebody," I
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