As such, staring directly into his face was problematic.
Angels battle between good and evil?
Professional and urbane then.
Did I manage it?
But I did achieve something ultimately more rewarding.
Reader, I hugged him…
I can do both of those things because I am both of those things.
First question: when are you bringing backFirefly?
[Laughs] When the studio calls.
How are you resurrecting Coulson forMarvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D?
Umm, tune in and find out.
Who dies inThe Avengers 2?
And oddly enough, the Justice League.
Are you on board forThe Avengers 3?
That is the most terrifying thought I can imagine, but I used to say that aboutAvengers 2.
Finally then, when are you bringing backFirefly?
Er, a week Wednesday.
Thank you very much.
So now thats all out of the way, we can get down toMuch Ado.
That intimacy was part of the treat for me.
What do you think is the films treat for audiences unfamiliar with your cast and work?
I mean its a production ofMuch Ado, theres nevernoreason to see a production ofMuch Ado.
But with a Napoleon complex…
And hes not even short, its weird.
Your cast withMuch Adoincluded some experienced Shakespearian actors and others for whom it was a new challenge.
Ill never get tired of telling this: Nathan Fillion tried to get out of it.
I just told him, Ill trim stuff, Ill work the schedule, but youre goingnowhere.
This should have been one of my quick-fire questions: whens Nathan Fillions Dogberry spin-off coming out?
Dogberry and Verges: the great love story of the film!
Those two are… yeah, they didnt make it more sombre.
Did any of the cast require a bit of coaching with the text?
Were they like [mimes reading] hang my bugle in an invisiblewhat now?
Well, certainly not that.
Im still not even sure what that means [laughs].
He studied and not just as an actor for years and years.
Afterwards, Im like [speaking deliberately slowly and stupidly] She should besad.
So people would find things and say, What is it thats going on here?
but in general, theyd look it up, theyd do the work.
Theyre not stupid people, your actors.
That should be a DVD extra, Shakespeare lessons with Alexis…
Oh it should.
And Reed Diamond doing his fop impression, which is timeless and beautiful.
Your backyard Shakespeare readings have fallen into Whedon legend amongst your fans.
Can you give us a rundown of who youve had reading what in the past?
Have you ever heard James Marsters Hamlet, or Alyson Hannigans Rosalind?
Aly doesnt like to do it as much.
James was obsessed withMacbeth, so that was going to be the first thing for him.
Did he do a Scottish accent?
Every now and then somebody would put on an accent.
Every now and then I would too.
I was like, Im from theItalianpart of Norway.
Do you still have ambitions to filmHamlet?
Yes, yes I still do.
And you have a Hamlet in mind?
I dont, thats the problem.
So Im guessing your plan isnt now to work through the remaining 35-odd plays…
No.
Can we talk about the slight changes that you made to the text.
Thats exactly what theyre for.
So your approach to changing the text was to sort out potential problems for a modern audience then?
We realised that the play works with that interpretation.
Its sexier that way too.
Sexier is always good.
It gets a little rawer.
When Alexis was calling her a harpy, he was worried.
and shes just putting you down in front of everybody, I think its going to play.
Yes, thats it.
Yeah, I mean, they send Hero off and then she disappears from the narrative entirely.
Did you think much about changing things to fit the social mores of the different contexts?
You know, hes a soldier?
Well, hes a jock.
Kind of a frat boy.
He believes everything he hears and it always makes him angry.
I mean, hes the guy who defeated Don John, theres something in there thats a little powerful.
Thats just what its like.
And that was exactly what I was about to say to her.
You could see the similarities between Don John in custody declaring Im a villain!
I think I know where Igotthat…
When Buffy says shes been Single White Femaled, thats Shakespearean.
[laughs]
And theBuffywriters said they got all that from you.
They imitated the way you speak.
So my question is, how come you speak like that?
[Laughs] You mean, whatswrongwith you?
For me, language is this sort of sacred thing.
Of course Shakespeare was making up words.
I read that he made up about a tenth of the words he used.
Can you tell us the lines?
They say theres a neurological explanation for our enjoyment of that kind of playing with language.
I dont know if youve heard of The Shakespeared Brain research?
I have not heard about that.
I probably shouldnt waste our remaining minutes talking about it with you…
No, do.
Im excited about that.
[Laughs]
Sorry.
Im becoming less and less articulate.
We aim to Ping.
Umm, How did I get here?
I had a lot of adolescent heroes, and Ive spent time with the people who created them.
Finally, my editor is forcing me to ask this do you have a favourite Jason Statham film?
Favourite Jason Statham film… Ive seen a few, I like him.
Im trying to think, I cant think of a favourite film.
Joss Whedon, thank you very much!
Much Ado About Nothing comes out in the UK on Friday the 14th of June.
See the first trailer, here.
