Joss Whedon premiered his new Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing at SXSW this weekend and answered a few questions after the screening. One Austin resident asked the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly and writer of The Avengers if he's ever seen Lost, produced by his creative rival J.J. Abrams.
"I've never seen it. I missed out on a lot of culture: you either make TV or you watch it. So yeah, I've never seen it," he said. "I hear it's really good and then it gets confusing." Well, true.
He also obviously discussed Much Ado About Nothing, which was shot in and around his own house in just 12 days. It started out as simple reading with his friends, may of whom are among his favorite actors to use. "I have this amazing ensemble. But I never wanted to make the movie. I just talked about it idly, until I looked at the text again, and thought, 'Oh. This is about the way that we’re alone and in pain and manipulated. The way that society expects certain things from us.'"
"It’s a deconstruction of the romantic comedy that it is inventing. Which is to me staggering," he said. "I think all of the romantic comedies owe something to Much Ado, and Shakespeare is critiquing Much Ado as he’s writing it."
The film, which is in black and white, stars Whedon regulars Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, and Clark Gregg. It opens in limited release June 7.
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[via HuffPo]
[via THR]
