Check out the new Avengers Trailer
Another day, another Avengers release, this time the new trailer. Check it out:
Tagged: Joss Whedon
The Real Avengers Mansion
Today I learned that Avengers Mansion, home to stalwarts like Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and do you really need me to rattle off the full roster, is based on a real place in New York– the Henry Clay Frick house, a city-block sized mansion at 1 East 70th St., right opposite Central Park. (The theoretical address for Avengers Mansion is 890 5th Avenue, which is in the same location.) Today the building houses the Frick Collection of art and is open to the public– so it’s quite possible Joss Whedon could shoot there.
This was brought to my attention by Gothamist (yes, I know, it should be covering DC, not Marvel) which had a brief piece showing a number of the secret rooms in the Frick that aren’t shown to the general public. Of course, even Gothamist wasn’t allowed to take photos of the Quinjet hangar.
Frick himself, incidentally, was the Lex Luthor of his day, known for strikebreaking and being at least partly responsible for the Johnstown Flood, and was dubbed one of the Worst C.E.O.s in American History by Portfolio magazine.
Related articles
- First pic from The Avengers (geeksyndicate.wordpress.com)
Angel Returns to Dark Horse in Time for New Season
Angel has been revealed to be the Big Bad in the latter issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight so it makes perfect sense for the comic book adventures of the vampire with a soul to shift from IDW back to Dark Horse.
The story leaked inadvertently yesterday and now Dark Horse has sent out a formal announcement:
August 19, 2010, MILWAUKIE, OR—Dark Horse Comics is thrilled to announce that Joss Whedon’s Angel will return to the Dark Horse stable in 2011. Dark Horse’s Angel will bring the beloved characters from Whedon’s longest-running shows under one roof, allowing for new and exciting explorations of the Buffyverse featuring favorites from the casts of both series.
“I’ve always regretted letting Angel go in the first place,” Dark Horse senior managing editor Scott Allie said. “So we’re really excited about getting him back, as well as all his supporting cast. It’s necessary for how Joss wants to handle season nine, details of which will start spilling out in the months to come. Right now, we’ve got to wrap up season eight, and IDW still has a good long run of books before season nine starts.”
IDW Publishing confirmed today that it will launch the company’s final Angel story arc in November. This closing six-issue arc will serve as a bridge to Dark Horse Comics, which will pick up the series in late 2011. Under the direction of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon, all parties are working together for as seamless a transition as possible. The companies have been coordinating story lines in both Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and IDW’s Angel, creating a greater sense of cohesion and cooperation to ensure that this transition is true to both ongoing story lines and to the faithful fans of both series.
#SDCC: ‘Avengers’ cast together for the first time
Newly-installed Avengers director Joss Whedon took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con to make the much-applauded formal announcement of who will be playing Marvel’s mightiest heroes.
Returning Iron Man 2 stars Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, and Clark Gregg, will be reprising their roles as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Agent Phil Coulson respectively, alongside Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America (in The Avengers and Captain America: The First Avenger both), Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and the newly cast Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk.
It’s certainly an accomplished cast, despite the apparent lack of the Wasp, and the star power coming off Bleeding Cool‘s photo is almost tangible.
“I’ve had a dream all my life, and it was not this good,” Whedon said at the panel. “This cast is more than I could ever dream of working with, and I am going to blow it.”
(Not pictured: Nathan Fillion as Ant-Man. It’s not happening. Get over it.)
Joss Whedon to direct the ‘Avengers’ movie?
That’s what Entertainment Weekly is hinting at.
As usual, I’ll believe it when I see much more confirmation, as I’m still old enough to remember when Joss was supposed to direct Wonder Woman.
On the other hand, I’m sure he’d pass muster with Marvel’s crew pretty quickly, and Joss is known for doing well with keeping things under budget, which is always important, particularly with Marvel Studios known tendencies towards penny pinching.
Fox Cancels ‘Dollhouse’
The mixed reviews and poor ratings have led Fox to formally cancel Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.
The second season show, starring and co-produced by Eliza Dushku, is currently on a planned hiatus, keeping it from the harsh glare of the November Sweeps ratings period.
The announced plan has the final episodes broadcast on these dates: two episodes each will air December 4, 11 and 18, from 8 pm to 10 p.m. The last three episodes will air on January 8, 15 and 22 at 9 p.m.
Whedon has been given sufficient notice so the final episodes will wrap up the existing storylines. Summer Glau was recently added to the cast and will play a pivotal role with her knowledge of someone’s past life.
A second season DVD set is expected but no date has been announced.
This marks the second failed series Whedon has produced for Fox, after Firefly. He has yet to issue a formal statement but no doubt it will be heartfelt and entertaining. Meantime, Whedon is also prepping to direct at least one episode of the network’s hit series Glee.
Joss Whedon is OK With Friday Nights
Joss Whedon told the Los Angeles Times that if he were running Fox, he would also have scheduled his new series, Dollhouse, on Friday nights. It will debut on February 13, paired with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
"It’s not a slam dunk, ‘We love everything you’re doing’ slot. Everybody knows that," he said. “The executives I’m dealing with are canny guys."
The current executives at the network are not the same ones who played games with his last series, Firefly, and then summarily dumped it when the show was slow to find its audience. The new execs have shown a willingness to let the series be sampled. “They’re bringing down expectations regarding how big of an audience they think it will bring in the beginning, and then as the show progresses. They need to do that."
"If I were an executive, I would have put it on Friday too, honestly,” Whedon added. “And not as a dig. The people who want this will find it, and hopefully more will as well. Fox is aware that TV just doesn’t exist the same way. People watch it online, on DVD, on their TiVos. It’s not the end of the world, but of course everyone’s been predicting the end of the world for Dollhouse‘since it was announced."
Whedon also noted that while Fox executives will likely have to wait patiently for building returns on the show, he hopes fans will be just as patient with the story line. "We’re trying to create something that’s more than the sum of its parts. And not just in an ‘Oooh, we’re heavy with mythology’ way. Dare I say we’re reaching for something more philosophical? Am I allowed to say philosophical? Or does that just mean my show will fail?"
A Qualified Positive Notice for ‘Dollhouse’
Time magazine’s television critic, James Poniewozik, has posted the first review for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, which will not air until February 13.
He wrote, “It was both better and worse than I expected, in different ways. One of my concerns about it was that — given Joss Whedon’s talent for making absorbing serials — the case-of-the-week nature of the show would make it harder to grow attached to. (I’m assuming that anyone who cares at this point knows the premise already, but in case I’m wrong: Eliza Dushku plays Echo, an "Active," which is a person who has agreed to let a secretive organization erase his or her original memories and personality and implant new ones in them for "assignments" involving rich clients.)
“Yes, this is certainly Joss Whedon trying to do What People Think Works on Broadcast TV Today—the legendary serial-procedural hybrid. But the first episode—in which Echo is imprinted with a kidnapping-negotiator’s personality to secure the return of a rich man’s abducted daughter—is well enough written to be absorbing. Writing a crime hour doesn’t seem like Whedon’s thing, but the episode is tight, suspenseful, with intriguing psychological twists and flashes of Whedonesque humor.”
He is concerned that the show “is less a series concept than an actress’ showcase, a sort of extreme version of an Alias undercover premise.”
Still, he’s optimistic about the series and its future, concluding, “But for me, the main draw now is not seeing Dushku become a different person every week, but getting to see Joss Whedon become a different writer every week.”
‘Dollhouse’ Delayed for 2 Weeks
Zap2it is reporting that production has been shut down on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse for two weeks. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Fox just did the same thing on 24 and for the same reason: a chance to tighten the scripts.
Whedon apparently had been so involved in directing two episodes, he was neglecting the writers’ room and the scripts weren’t ready. He approached Fox and asked for the time off and they were happy to grant it since the midseason replacement wasn’t needed until after the holidays. Whedon had directed two of the three episodes shot to date. The series order is for eight episodes meaning a good sized proportion of the series is now in the can.
A Fox rep told the website, "We have every confidence that [the extra time] will allow Joss to make the show the best it can possibly be. It’s very rare that you have a head writer who is also directing two episodes in a row. But we are happy that Joss is directing, because this is his vision."
ComicMix Radio: Storm Clouds Build Over Watchmen
According to the media, lawyers are gearing up for a "frenzied fight" over the screen rights to the biggest graphic novel of all time, plus:
- Barack sells out at Image
- It’s now a world without Don LaFontaine
- Robert Englund tells us about the rebirth of V
And on Saturday, catch ComicMix Radio as we are joined by Joss Whedon, taking us through the future of his work in comics and Serenity. Then, just like now, all you need to do is Press the Button!
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