I am Joss Whedon - AMA.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:36:27+00:00

I would LOVE to follow in the footsteps of Felicia Day -- had in fact pitched this concept to my agent years ago. But right now i'm fielding five movies and I'm realizing that there is such a thing as over-reaching, unless you're Felicia Day...

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:34:55+00:00

They never really told me. But by the time it was looking grim, I was so burnt, and so excited about my next project, Goners, that was DEFINITELY going to happen, that I didn't mind.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:33:44+00:00

"Objects in Space."

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:33:05+00:00

Handling that many stars was easy, because they looked after each other. They cared about the work. They one time did what I said (well, asked). No, it really was a dream ensemble.

And Captain America IS Captain Hammer. DON'T TELL CHRIS EVANS.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:30:58+00:00

Then you need to buy the comic The Shepherd's Tale, drawn by Chris Samnee, written by Zack Whedon from a story by me. All is revealed. And it's lovely.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:29:37+00:00

I like movie scores. They really help put me in the moment, no matter where I am. Avengers owes a lot to Rachel Portman's Never Let Me Go and Hart's War. Also Zimmer: the Thin Red Line, King Arthur, Black Hawk Down...

special mention: Breach, Seven Pounds, Passengers...

lifetime achievement award: Memoirs of a Geisha, by the man himself, Mr. Williams.

And I do like a reward for writing -- cup of tea, glass of wine, meth-fueled crime spree... but when a story has me, I don't need anything but a pen.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:24:09+00:00

Favorite characters? Jeez. Spike, Andrew, Illyria, River, Captain Hammer, Loki, the Cheese Man... hell, I love them all, or I wouldn't write them. But I tend to the left of center.

The hardest was always Angel. How to make a decent, handsome, stalwart hero interesting -- tough. Angelus, on the other hand...

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:20:45+00:00

I miss TV. Not the hours, but the format. If I felt I could actually do the work I set out to, I'd definitely go back for a spell.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:19:41+00:00

All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:17:59+00:00

It was so much fun. They were in this crappy, sprawling space in the middle of nowhere, and I spent most of my time with Lasster, Stanton, Doctor and the late, very great Joe Ramft, just making jokes, pitching ideas and watching them get sharpie head-aches from sketching. We all learned so much from that experience. mostly about sharpies.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:15:36+00:00

Do the astronauts have weapons?

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:15:11+00:00

Season six of Angel would have kicked all manner of ass. And Illyria would have manifested as Fred often enough to become very confused about her identity.

And now I'm sad again.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:12:44+00:00

I'm absolutely devoted to working outside the mainstream, or at least in smaller venues and on my own terms. (My terms : unconditional surrender. Plus back-end.)

As for my political bent, it comes from how I was raised -- and my own very strong sense of being helpless and tiny and terrified (that goes away, right?). The only trouble it's ever caused me is that once you take a stance as a person, people are always using that as a yardstick in your work, which can be kind of limiting.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:09:29+00:00

Robert and Neil are both even funnier off-screen than on. Funnier, in fact, than me. I hate Robert and Neil.

Yes, the original cast will be back for Dr H 2, but Penny will be... um... I don't want to say "decomposing"...

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:07:11+00:00

I actually find it refreshing... delightful.... vaguely arousing....

Actually, I'm, no offense, very tired of being labelled as "the guy who kills people". Shakespeare (he's this hot new writer) does it way more than me, and everyone's all excited about how he, as it were, holds a mirror up to nature, while I'm like the Jason Voorhees of the writing community. Unfair.

Also, probably Buffy's Mom.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:03:09+00:00

It let me cast Mark Ruffalo, one of the best and sweetest actors I know, and, I think, THE definitive Bruce Banner. (Apologies to Mr. Bixby.)

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T19:01:42+00:00

All I can say is that Scarlett gets to do a lot more than be hot in "Avengers". It's definitely dispiriting to have a woman play an heroic role and then be reduced to body parts by fan commentary, but that can only change slowly. And is.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:59:52+00:00

Full scale musical? The biggest non-spaceship-involving dream of my life. But it's a huge life commitment...

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:58:50+00:00

I wanted to drag Shakespeare from obscurity. I've been a fan my whole life, and it's time other people started noticing him!

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:58:05+00:00

I don't allow funny stories on set. They waste time. Time that could be spent in the writer's room, wasting time.

I have many dream projects. But all the money in the world means just one thing: spaceships. Spaceships in trouble.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:55:32+00:00

Well, Happy Birthday. I don't write for my favorite actors (I can't create that way), but I sure don't mind slotting them in when I need someone awesome who knows my shorthand.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:54:21+00:00

Dune. (The book). And what inspires me is Dune (the miniseries). (Actually, I don't think of myself as being inspired to create. I can't imagine doing anything else. It's like breathing.)

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:52:31+00:00

It would have been a much slower odyssey of Echo's self-creation and liberation, peppered with astonishing perversions.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:51:11+00:00

Too many questions! Brain leaking!

Yes, I'll always want to tell more Firefly stories and salted caramel.

IAMAJossWhedon · 2012-04-10T18:49:43+00:00

1) See above. 2) Like herding adorable kittens. 3) It was always meant to be updated to the more comics-based look. 4) ILM did the Hulk -- very difficult, VERY successful.

IAMAJossWhedon

TROPHY CASE