Friday, September 23, 2005

From the land of awesomeness...

This sounds great!

Click here for the Variety article

Whedon's a 'Goner' for U
Universal pacts with 'Buffy' man for spec script

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Universal Pictures has paid seven figures for Goners, a fantasy thriller spec script Joss Whedon wrote and will direct.

Film will be produced by [former Universal production execs] Mary Parent and Scott Stuber (producers of Serenity). The studio premiered Whedon's directorial debut, Serenity on Thursday night at Universal City Walk. Pic opens Sept. 30.

Whedon was cryptic in describing the project, but the title conveys that it will tread on supernatural turf comparable to his series creations Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the bloodsucker spinoff Angel.

"It's the story of a young woman's journey that involves a great deal of horror and some heroics," he said. "It's certainly darker than Serenity,' and there are a lot of left turns along the way. It is something I had in mind for a while, and it just poured out of me when I finished my film."

Timing isn't clear, since Whedon is writing to direct Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros. film based on the DC Comics. That may take some time, as Whedon started his script from scratch.

"I was given license to purely make it my own and yet she is already an iconic Amazon princess," Whedon said. " Goners has some similarities, but the heroines could not be more different, and the story is a bit more intimate and less complicated than Wonder Woman. "

Whedon, who began his career writing features Speed and Toy Story shuttered his TV operation this year to focus on features. He will continue to spend the majority of his time with bigscreen fare but acknowledged he has been toying with a TV project that would continue the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, focusing on Spike, the punk-haired vampire played by James Marsters.

Whedon's challenge is to figure a way to do it and be able to keep directing movies.

"Directing a film was as exciting and daunting as it was supposed to be," said the CAA-repped Whedon. "I learned a lot on Serenity and hope I hid that from the audience."

Is there ANYTHING this man can't do? I'll bet he makes tasty omelettes too!

No comments: