It’s been over a year since Joss Whedon delivered “Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” a movie he has a complicated relationship with, and in the time since, he’s been putting his head down and writing a new script, described as “historical fiction,” which has shades of Eli Roth‘s “Aftershock.” But would Whedon ever go back to blockbuster land, a world where he had to deal with such intensive fanboys trolling, he quit Twitter? The short answer is yes, and there’s one franchise in particular that has his eye on.
“It’s a fun thing to do, to put yourself in the service of something if you think you can add an interpretation. It’s no different than any other storytelling. There are some times when you get micro-managed to death but with Marvel, they let me make two movies that were very much mine. So do I want to make James Bond movie? Yeah. Anne Hathaway does Catwoman again? Sure, I’m in,” he told Complex. “Do I want to make a ‘Star Wars‘ movie? Yeah. I was like, ‘I don’t want to make a Star Wars movie. Like, god dammit, why?’ But I saw the trailer for ‘Rogue [One]‘ awhile ago and I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ To make a ‘Star Wars’ movie and not be wed to the bigger picture.”
Whedon’s lure to the spinoff isn’t exactly new, as he’s also said he’d direct a Black Widow movie, but stepping into the world of “Star Wars” makes a lot of sense, especially for the guy behind “Firefly.” And while we’ll have to wait and see if he gets the call from Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm, Whedon is left to observe how Marvel has continued post-‘Age Of Ultron,’ particularly with the rise of DC Films, and he thinks that the brand is doing just fine, even with the new competition.
“I did not see ‘Suicide Squad.’ I saw ‘Batman vs. Superman.’ Everybody’s got their own method. I think Marvel has been more successful systematically. DC has been more cinematic — their stuff looks amazing— but I feel like Kevin [Feige, President of Marvel Studios] is a really good storyteller. He really cares about coherence, and I feel like style never defeats substance at Marvel, but a little style creeps in,” Whedon said. ” ‘Ant-Man’ had some, ‘Doctor Strange’ might be funky, and they are doing very fun things on TV. The Marvel-Netflix thing is working really well. DC’s decision to have their shows on TV with different actors playing the same characters at the same time as their movies, is a little interesting.”
We’re sure those comments will spark fresh debate in the corners of the web that still cares about Marvel vs. DC. At any rate, Whedon is staying focused on his new script, which sounds even more intriguing each time he reveals more about it.
“It’s definitely a departure from the things that I’m known for. It’s as dark as anything I’ve ever written … It’s a historical fiction slash horror movie about a time when the world was going insane, World War II. I got to tell you: I was in Germany and Poland doing research for this movie and I was seeing so many parallels [to the U.S.]. And I know it’s a shopworn thing to compare the orange guy to the little guy with the mustache, but you see things, indelible things in terms of propaganda, the state of the country, and the parallels are eerie as fuck,” Whedon shared.
It’s all very exciting stuff, and wherever Whedon goes next, it looks like he’s ready to do something bold and different than what we’ve seen from him before.