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VENUEWEEKEND

A �‘SAFE�’ FILM 9KARLEANNE MATTHEWS

Chief Copy Editor

The end of school means an infl ux of blockbuster summer fi lms, and one choice this year is Marvel’s “The Avengers”: a se-quel that will bring together characters from the recent movies “Iron Man,” “Thor” and “Captain America,” as well as other comic book heroes. With the fi lm opening in theaters this Friday, writer and director Joss Whedon got on the phone with college reporters across the nation to discuss his love of story, what he learned from his father and bringing beloved comics to life.

Q!How did you mentally prepare yourself to carry on the sto-ries of all these established super heroes with an already

fervent backing?

A!I am the fervent backing, so it wasn’t that hard to key in. I’ve done a lot of work for things that already exist. I’ve worked on the “X-Men.” …

Working as a script doctor, you come in after things have been established. Even on a TV show – even if you’re the one who established them – every time you write a script, you’re dealing with an established universe. So it’s not hard for me to fall into the cadences of these people. In fact, it’s a lot easier when you’ve already seen them being acted in the other movies.

�‘An old-fashioned movie�’Talking comics with �‘Avengers�’ writer/director Joss Whedon

See Childhood connection, page 8

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Q!Is there something from your childhood experience

with the Avengers that especial-ly resonated with you and that you’re bringing to this movie?

A!With “The Avengers” itself, the thing that I loved was that

it was, one, the comic books, it was a little bit steeped in science fi ction. … Even though the Avengers made their home in New York, they were so often out in that space and dealing with ar-tifi cial intelligence and grand beings from another world and gods and mon-sters. And I love that element. That’s defi nitely a part of the fi lm.

Q!Because Marvel is at-tempting to create an in-

terlocking fi lm universe, did you feel the need to maintain a directing style, an aesthetic, similar to the work of the other Marvel Studio directors?

A!There’s no way you could make a movie that looked like

a Jon Favreau [“Iron Man”], Kenneth Branagh [“Thor”], Joe Johnston [“Captain America”], Louis Leter-rier [“The Incredible Hulk”] mov-ie. You have to take from each of them the thing that is useful and will jive with the rest of them. I do think the DNA of the Marvel movie begins with “Iron Man,” and that’s very grounded in the reel. I tend to be a tiny bit fl orid with my camera work and my dialogue, but hope-fully in a way that feels like a realistic version of a comic-book universe.

Q!What was your process in writing the fi lm? Did

you already have a directorial vision when you were penning the screenplay?

A!Yes, I did. Half of writing a script is writing visually, is

fi guring out what you need it to look and feel like, as much what they’re gonna say. The process, therefore, was pretty organic, particularly also because we had such a tight schedule [that] they needed some things to be worked on – set pieces and action se-quences – before I’d even written the script. So I was writing visual cues and action descriptions before I had fi nished structuring the story.

Q!Both your father and grandfather were screen-

writers. In what way do they in-fl uence your work?

A!Well, they were both enor-mously funny men. … You

know, I learned a great deal about story from my dad. Sometimes just inadvertently by listening to him, or watching him, or reading what he did. Very often, he’d just throw down a little piece of advice,

and I fi nd that al-most without

exception, the things he said to me are the things

I carry the most.

Q!What advice would you give to any student with

ambitions of one day sitting in the director’s chair?

A!My advice would be [to] sit down. Now you’re in the direc-

tor’s chair. We live in an age where anybody can make a movie. If you have a phone, you can make a mov-ie. Okay, maybe not a huge movie, maybe phone-sized, but it’s there. When I came up, you wrote a script, and you hoped and hoped. Or you raised enough money to make a short fi lm. Things are different now. … There’s no excuse not to [make your own fi lm] now.

Q!College students have a lot of options with mov-

ies to see during their summer break. Why should college stu-dents have it fi rst on their list to see “The Avengers”?

A!I think “The Avengers” is the kind of movie that I grew up

wanting to make and thought they had stopped making. When I grew up, the summer movie was literally created as a concept. And all my life I wanted to do something like that, something like the fi rst “Indiana Jones”: something that was steeped in character, in love of the genre that it was portraying, had intelligence, had real acting, had a story that un-folded and wasn’t just a sort of big premise that [viewers] already knew going in, or isn’t based on Parcheesi or something just because it has a name. More and more, summer movies have felt a little cynical. … They’re not interested in a story; they’re interested in just barraging you with excitement and imagery and brand names. … This is an old-fashioned movie. It’s a little bit big-

ger than life, but it’s very human.

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,Branagh [“Thor”], Joe Johnston [“Captain America”], Louis Leter-rier [“The Incredible Hulk”] mov-ie. You have to take from each of them the thing that is useful and will jive with the rest of them. I do think the DNA of the Marvel movie begins with “Iron Man,” and that’s very grounded in the reel. I tend to be a tiny bit fl orid with my camera work and my dialogue, but hope-fully in a way that feels like a realistic version of a comic-book universe.

throw down a litittle piece of advice, and I fi nd that al-

most without exception,

the things he said to me are the things

I carry the most.

I wanted to do something like that,something like the fi rst “IndianaJones”: something that was steepedin character, in love of the genre thatit was portraying, had intelligence,had real acting, had a story that un-folded and wasn’t just a sort of bigpremise that [viewers] already knewgoing in, or isn’t based on Parcheesior something just because it hasa name. More and more, summermovies have felt a little cynical. …They’re not interested in a story;they’re interested in just barragingyou with excitement and imageryand brand names. … This is an old-fashioned movie. It’s a little bit big-

ger than life, but it’s very human.

GAGE SKIDMORE / FLICKR

Whedon has long been involved in comic-style work, and is shown here at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con.