Joss Whedon Does Shakespeare in 'Much Ado About Nothing'
by Shannon Keirnan
Joss Whedon is a busy, busy man. What does he do with his precious free time? Makes a full-length Shakespeare adaptation 12 days, that’s what. Just for kicks.
“Much Ado About Nothing,” which premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival this weekend, is Whedon’s modern-day take on the classic tale. Whedon threw it together in 2011 when finding he had a bit of spare time on his hands after wrapping "The Avengers…" big fans of the Bard, he and wife Kai Cole created their own production company and shot the film at their Santa Monica home.
Whedon fans will recognize a few familiar faces.
"I had thought about it practically and Amy (Acker, who plays Beatrice) and Alexis (Denisof, who plays Benedick) had read it and I was dying to put them on film," Whedon said of the casting. "Sometimes the most obvious things are right in front of you. I looked at it and went, 'Oh, this isn't about nothing. This is about everything.' This is about us and about love and ritual and romance and pain and lies and a lot of very dark stuff and a lot of very beautiful stuff. Suddenly it wasn't just 'Let's film a play.' This was the next film."
A little hesitant to subject yourself to even more Shakespeare (high school literature class is over, Whedon!), don’t worry.
"It's very approachable," said Denisof. “My guess is that most people, after the most couple minutes, will forget that they are hearing Shakespeare.They will just be in the world and the characters and the relationships. I think (Whedon) achieved an ease with this movie that will make it appealing."
The movie also stars Whedon staple Nathan Fillian, and it will hit theaters June 7th. Check out the trailer below!