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Joss Whedon and his modest exit from 'The Avengers'
AFPJoss Whedon is low-key when he talks about his follow-up to The Avengers â a film that grossed more than US$1
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AFP
Joss Whedon is low-key when he talks about his follow-up to The Avengers ' a film that grossed more than US$1.5 billion globally.
'I cannot offer them a movie that is a sure-fire hit,' says Whedon, who scripted and directed the sequel. 'I can only offer them a film that should be.'
He's made it clear, however, that The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be the last time he helms this particular franchise.
'I don't know whether I will be continuing to work for Marvel in some other capacity or make another Marvel film,' Whedon said when talking about the sequel with reporters in Seoul. 'I will obviously still be part of the family.'
While he previously said that doing nothing ' or at least not making more blockbusters where super-hero ensembles save the world ' might be on the agenda, it's clear that comics and the Avengers are still in Whedon's heart.
'I love these guys. I love these stories. I've been reading them since I was a kid, so there's no way I'm not going to have a lot of opinions,' he says. 'I'll probably just show up now and again and tell everyone what to do. They may not listen to me, but it's a habit with me.'
Whedon said that there were no on-set horror stories when managing his A-list cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, for Ultron.
'I get 10 or 11 actors. They come to the set and there's no ego. They just want to help each other. They just want to make the scene work,' he says. 'Ego doesn't really exist ' except for mine ' on set.'
There was, instead, simply a lot of good humor, according to 'Captain America' Chris Evans, who was also at a roundtable interview with Whedon.
''Who instigates it?'' Evans says, repeating a question asked about on-set hijinks.
'God, who doesn't?' Whedon replies, with mock exasperation.
As director, however, Whedon was the one to shut things down, Evans says. 'You really feel like he is that nice, cool teacher whose kind of just had enough and is like, 'Alright now, we have to do the scene. We have a lot to do today and not enough time to do it.''
Whedon is no stranger to Hollywood: his father and grandfather also wrote for television.
He first came to fame as the showrunner for the teen drama-horror-comedy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ' a reboot of a less-than-noteworthy film of the same name.
It was with Buffy, which ran from 1997 to 2003 in the US, that Whedon developed his signature storytelling style: strong women characters, witty dialogue amid the action ' and heroes who stumble sometimes while saving the world.
This penchant for existentialist protagonists is at the core of Whedon's script for Ultron, where Cap and Tony Stark debate the balance of freedom against security after Stark's peace-keeping robot decides to wipe out humanity.
'More than anything else, it's about power,' Whedon says. 'The Avengers are now ' in their only little way ' a world power. It's about how much power can you wield before you become separate from the people you're wielding it over. When does it stop being about the people you're trying to protect?'
Similarly, the film's high-octane super-hero showdowns can't exist in a vacuum, says Whedon, who has also written comics, such as The Astonishing X-Men. 'I've seen a lot of movies where a city gets destroyed and they're like 'We won!' ' and I'm not entirely sure.
'We want to give people the spectacle they want to see, but at the same time we want to say 'This comes with a price tag, guys.' It's not always OK ' and that's very much what the film is about: how much is too much?' Whedon says.
It's not only super-heroes who wrestle with right and wrong in an uncaring universe. Whedon gives an impression that he faces similar doubts.
'I am only worried that the movie is terrible and that I've failed. Everybody is telling me that's not the case ' but they like me,' Whedon says, with self-depreciating humor.
He continues. 'My biggest fear would be only that people came away from it going 'Well, that was nice' ' because I never want to make something that people like. I only want to make things that they love.'
'Did people laugh? Did they jump out of their seats? Maybe cry? Did they care?' Whedon asks. 'If I fall short of that, I'll be sad,' Whedon says. 'So I've got to get it right.'
In a post-interview rush for selfies, one journalist told Whedon 'Firefly lives!' ' a reference to his third television series, which spawned a follow-up movie when fans rallied after its demise.
He broke into a small, apparently relieved smile, saying, 'Thank you.'
It shows that for Whedon, telling ' and enjoying ' stories is still important.
'I grew up reading these comics and wanting to put them on screen,' he says, 'Having the opportunity is a privilege ' and when I get together with a fan, we're just two fans.'
