{"id":52129,"date":"2015-04-28T06:31:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T13:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/?p=52129"},"modified":"2015-09-02T00:35:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T07:35:14","slug":"avengers-ultron-interview-joss-whedon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/avengers-ultron-interview-joss-whedon\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Avengers Age of Ultron Interview w\/ Joss Whedon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I could not believe Joss Whedon actually gave us some of his time during the busy press junket event. With all this accolades, this man doesn’t need much of an introduction except that he’s one of the main reasons the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the huge success that it is today. Here’s Joss’s take on the new movie, Avengers Age of Ultron.<\/p>\n

Joss Whedon Interview \u2013 Avengers Age of Ultron<\/h3>\n

Q: So, you have that iconic shot of the Avengers jumping in slow motion which, I think all the fan boys and girls have like gone wild over. Can you talk about how that came to be\u00a0or\u00a0whose idea it?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: I wanted to create some frames that were just unabashedly comic book frames that would speak to our love of the thing. It was important to me to have that right away, like first up in the movie. Not to say, and now we\u2019ve got to get everybody back together. Let\u2019s go find them \u2013 now we find Captain America and he\u2019s digging in a trench and now we find . . .. Instead just go, \u201cBOOM! We\u2019re back. This is what you love. Are you having fun? Good. Now we\u2019re going to tear it apart.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo credits: Jana Seitzer \/ MerlotMommy.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Q: You\u2019ve done so much to influence pop culture but in doing so, who do you look to or who inspires you to reach further and to reach higher to make this entire universe and fulfilled vision the way you see it? (I asked this \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n

WHEDON: I have a weird relationship with pop culture. I\u2019ve never really been a part of it until I suddenly was so most of my influences are a little left of center and\/or very old. The directors that I look at when I\u2019m thinking about a movie usually are people like Vincent Minnelli or Sam Fuller, or Frank Barseghian and not just artists. It\u2019s just the people in my own life that I see working four times as hard as I ever can and trying to do things they can\u2019t. Those are the people that make me sit down and go, \u201cOh wait a minute, I can do better\u201d because ultimately, the only person who\u2019s ever really going to inspire me to go further and do better is me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you who\u2019s inspired me of late is Lin-Manuel Miranda because seeing Hamilton at the Public Theatre was just such a breathtaking experience. The amount of work that he did for six years to put that together, I just thought, oh, gotta bring up my game. There it is. The bar is higher again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joss Whedon Interview \u2013\u00a0Filming<\/h3>\n

Q: In the movie, we saw the introduction of the Hulkbuster and one of the most epic Avenger versus Avenger battles, I think we\u2019ve ever seen. Was there any difficulties filming that?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: There is some slight enormous difficulties in the fact that neither of those people exist. We had the thing mapped out very carefully so it was, in a way. . . Then the hard work comes up at ILM where they\u2019re dialing in this action you\u2019ve described.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Q: Question about, you filmed in numerous countries, South Africa being one of them, um, what was that like?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: Um, fun. I got to a lot of countries I\u2019ve never been to and see these beautiful cities and these places and eat really good food. I don\u2019t get to take vacations so location scouting is definitely the next best thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo credits: Jana Seitzer \/ MerlotMommy.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Q: So we just met with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson and they said that they didn\u2019t have to audition for their roles. What was it about them that made them perfect for the roles that they got?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: I didn\u2019t want anybody else. I just wanted them. Aaron is too pretty to live, but I\u2019ve dealt with the Hemsworth problem so I can forgive. . . He\u2019s an old school movie star. He\u2019s that commanding and beautiful but he also looks like he could be kind of an arrogant *bleep*. He\u2019s not. He\u2019s the sweetest puppy I know but he\u2019s great at playing that sort of like, \u201cI got this\u201d and that\u2019s Quicksilver to a tee. Quicksilver is always hotheaded, he\u2019s always being a pain for everyone, but is essential and very cool.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d just seen Martha Marcy May Marlene and you spend two minutes with Lizzie and, you not only don\u2019t want anybody else for the role, you think maybe she should play all of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joss Whedon Interview \u2013\u00a0Tough Scenes<\/h3>\n

Q: What was the hardest scene to shoot? Do you have one that sticks out?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: I would say probably after the first attack by Ultron. Everybody\u2019s in the lab, kind of trying to figure out what\u2019s going on. We referred to that as the WTF scene and it was just very difficult for me to put together. It\u2019s hard to explain why. There\u2019s something about the way the light in the room, I just could not find the focus of where everybody should be and how they should move. And Robert had to do something really difficult which was start laughing in the middle of this scene, very sincerely and become a little unhinged. Getting there and sort of making that work, that was one that I struggled with.<\/p>\n

I struggled very much with the party scene. Actually, we shut down during shooting early one day because I started shooting it and I hated everything I was doing. I was like, \u201cWhat should I do? What\u2019s wrong?\u201d Then I realized, wait a minute, didn\u2019t I just make an entire movie where people sit around and drink? Wasn\u2019t that Much Ado About Nothing? Ohhh, and then I called. I was like give me some, I need cards, I need beers. Anyway, I get all these things and we\u2019ll do it all handheld and we\u2019ll just let them go. As soon as I remembered how to shoot a party, it became a party.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo credits: Jana Seitzer \/ MerlotMommy.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Q: On that note, that party scene is actually my favorite scene in the movie and so I\u2019m curious to that, if it was all scripted or were the actors ad libbing at all, or?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: There\u2019s a little, they\u2019re throwing stuff out. With Robert in a situation like that, I\u2019ll usually give him five or six options just to see what tickles his fancy and he\u2019ll sort of run through them. Most of it is scripted but I like to leave a little room for those guys.<\/p>\n

First of all, they\u2019re all funny, articulate people who really know their characters. Second of all, it sort of helps the flow. Particularly in something like that you want to feel camera moves and dialogue. You just want to feel like you stayed at the party.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Q: We hear Ultron say, \u201cUpon this rock, I shall build my church,\u201d and we also hear the Vision say, \u201cI am.\u201d Was there any type of significance to having these forms of artificial intelligence speak those Biblical terms?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: Our response to them contains some element of understanding of ourselves and our history. It\u2019s a Frankenstein story as much as its anything else and the Frankenstein story is Who made me? Why am I here?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo credits: Jana Seitzer \/ MerlotMommy.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Joss Whedon Interview\u00a0\u2013 You’d Like to Pee? Tough \ud83d\ude1b<\/h3>\n

Q: Did you plan something at the beginning of production that you didn\u2019t get to do in the movie?<\/p>\n

WHEDON: Um, is there something we didn\u2019t do in the movie? There’s so much movie! There\u2019s always stuff you either give up or realize is ridiculous but I can\u2019t really think of something we didn\u2019t do. There\u2019s stuff we cut out. The first cut of the movie was an hour longer than the one that\u2019s in theaters. It’s the length I think it should be, I’m very happy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s, in fact, a minute shorter than the first one which is a point of personal pride because as much as I wanted this to be bigger, I didn\u2019t want it to be bloated. I didn\u2019t want us to seem like we were full of ourselves like, \u201cOh, you love us. Here\u2019s three hours. You\u2019d like to pee? Tough.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our interview with Kevin Feige will be coming\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON<\/strong> will be in theaters May 1st, 2015!<\/h3>\n