A Video Showing How The Monster Cube Scene Was Created For Cabin In The Woods

Along with footage of unused monsters.

What's Next For Joss Whedon

io9. writes about what Joss Whedon’s likely next project will be (not including the already completed Much Ado About Nothing).

The Genre Bending Qualities Shared By Cabin in the Woods and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

My friend and co-host of the podcast I guest on, Andy Daglas, discusses how Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods is similar to Lauren Faust’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Joss Whedon Talks To The A.V. Club

Joss Whedon talks about his style of writing, Cabin in the Woods, and The Avengers.

Drew Goddard Talks About Some of the Stuff You May Have Missed in Cabin in the Woods

Drew Goddard talks about some of the freeze-frame bonuses, behind-the-scenes trivia, and the reasons for some of his and Whedon’s choices.  It includes

Strong Advance Reviews for Cabin in the Woods

I stopped reading after the spoiler warning, but it sounds like this movie is going to rock.

The Age of Big Screen Fan Fiction: Retellings and Mary Sues

HitFix reports on the idea of “the age of fan fiction” in American movie-making by examining The Muppets and The Avengers.  The idea is based upon the fact that so many films (and TV series) made now are reboots, remakes, reimaginings, and retellings.  The author contrasts Indiana Jones and Star Wars, which were original ideas based upon scenes a faire from old serials, with modern movies and series, including the animated Clone Wars series.  The author states that the makers of the Clone Wars series are living the “Star Wars fan dream,” in that they get to write new adventures for characters from their favorite movies.  (Although, seeing as how they have to work with Anakin but not Han, it may not be the pinnacle of the Star Wars fan dream.)

The article is well-written and presents an analysis well worth reading.  However, I will admit that I thought the article was going to go in a much different direction, especially when the author began by referencing the new film The Muppets.  The author began by relating an anecdote about how fellow HitFix writer and all-around great TV reviewer Alan Sepinwall called The Muppets “the greatest work of fan fiction [he’s] ever seen.”  From there, the author wrote about how fans of works are now using the characters and settings they love movies/shows they are writing.  I thought, however, that the article was going to focus on how many adaptations play fast and loose with established characters, engage in “human focused adaptations,” or introduce new characters.

I enjoyed The Muppets a lot.  Not as much as some people, but it was a funny movie that earned (most of) its emotional beats.  But I had two problems with it.  The minor one was Chris Cooper rapping.  More importantly, I did not like Walter.  At all.  Unfortunately, the character is very much a Mary Sue/Poochie.  He is a brand new… I hesitate to say “character” because he doesn’t have much of one.  Everyone in the movie takes an instant liking to him, and Kermit places a lot of faith in his ability to perform in a telethon crucial to the Muppets’ continued existence, despite having no reason to do so.  And of course, he succeeds in being awesome after spending most of the movie doing nothing but being a helpless fanboy.  To me, The Muppets can be seen as a fan fiction film because of the insertion of this kind of character; not quite an author avatar for Jason Segel, but Segel’s creation did get to step in and help (almost) save the day.

Joss Whedon Is A Filmmaking Machine

According to The A.V. Club, Joss Whedon already has another movie lined up.  This from a man who is still working on post-production for The Avengers and Much Ado About Nothing, and has another film, Cabin in the Woods, (nearly?) read for release.

The new film, In Your Eyes, will be written by Whedon and produced by his new production company, Bellwether Pictures.*  The news of this new production company has been announced previously with the stories about Much Ado About Nothing, but I wasn’t sure whether it was simply formed to produce that film quickly and secretly, or if he intended to use it for more films.  Fortunately, it looks like the latter is true.  And while I was hoping he might take on another Shakespeare play next, especially after the Stratford-on-Hellmouth night, any new story from Whedon is cause for celebration.

*Is Mutant Enemy still around?

What Shakespeare play would you like to see Joss tackle next?

Much Ado About Whedon

Remember how last night, I posted a link to a site stating that Joss Whedon had completed principal photography on an adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing?  An adaptation starring Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Tom Lenk, Fran Kranz, Riki Lindhome, Reed Diamond, and Sean Maher?  I thought it may have been a prank on the part of Fillion, who broke the news by tweeting the link?  Well, I guess other people felt the same.  Fortunately, this is a very real thing.  This article contains the casting information, showing that Denisof will be playing Benedick and Acker will be Beatrice (if I were directing, I’d follow the Funke method and have Denisof play Beatrice and Acker as Benedick).  So now that this is all cleared up, all that’s left to do is geek out about this and wait for Cabin in the Woods to be released.