Joss Whedon

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Joss Whedon
File:Infringement Joss Whedon premiere.jpg
Joss Whedon in 2005, at the premiere of Serenity.
Born
Joseph Hill Whedon

(1964-06-23) June 23, 1964 (age 60)
New York City, United States
Occupation(s)writer, director, executive producer
SpouseKai Cole[1]
ChildrenArden, Squire[2]

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon[3] (Template:Pron-en[4]; born June 23, 1964 in New York City) is an Academy Award-nominated and Hugo Award winning American writer, director, executive producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the well-known television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. He has also written several film scripts and comic book series. After finishing at Winchester College in England, he went on to receive a film degree from Wesleyan University in 1987.

Career

Television work

Following a move to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne. After several years as a script doctor for films, he returned to television, where he created four TV shows. He directed the 2007 episodes of The Office entitled "Business School" and "Branch Wars".[5]

Whedon has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer.[6] He is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s.

Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer produced-- the interpretation by director Fran Rubel Kuzui having been poorly received by critics[7] and audiences[8]-- Whedon revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit. Its episode "Hush," which was written and directed by Whedon, received an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. The show ran for five seasons on The WB Network before being relocated to the UPN Network for its final two seasons, after a bidding war for the broadcast rights. Though it premiered on Mondays at 9 pm, Buffy ran from the middle of the second season on Tuesdays at 8 pm.

Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend as the title character. It was created by Whedon with Buffy writer David Greenwalt. Tim Minear also contributed at essential key junctures. Debuting in September 1999 on the WB, the show was broadcast following Buffy on Tuesday evenings. After Buffy switched networks in 2001, Angel aired in a number of different time slots, and occasionally managed to attain and surpass the ratings of its predecessor. The series finale pulled in more viewers than the Buffy finale. Joss Whedon made a cameo appearance as the character 'Numfar' near the middle of its run. The WB canceled the show in February 2004 while it was in its fifth season. While Whedon had no intention of ending Angel, the WB felt that a reality show would bring in more viewers, forcing Whedon to change the arc and ending of both the final season and the series.[citation needed] The forced cancellation triggered numerous "Save Angel" campaigns and other similar Angel support groups. Thousands rallied to send in postcards, flowers, dolls and other items to the network and media, along with raising money for advertising in support of Angel returning for another season.

In 2002, FOX canceled Firefly, which Whedon produced with Tim Minear. Only 11 of 14 episodes were aired, many out of intended order — the original two-hour pilot ("Serenity") was aired last. Firefly's treatment at the hands of Fox executives caused Whedon to state that he would not work with Fox again.[9] After the cancellation, Whedon wrote the script for a Firefly movie, titled Serenity. Excellent DVD sales ensured the movie would be produced, and in early 2004 Whedon announced that it had been greenlit by Universal Studios. Shooting started in July 2004, and the film went into wide release in the United States on September 30, 2005. In the DVD release, Whedon discusses how Serenity would not have been made if not for the dedication of Browncoats, the fans of the series.

In August 2007, Eliza Dushku with whom Whedon worked with on Buffy and Angel signed a development deal with FOX.[10] Shortly afterwards, Dushku and Whedon met over lunch to discuss possible ideas for a series for her. During the meal, he came up with an idea which excited both of them, and Whedon agreed then to write and oversee the pilot airing on FOX.[11] Whedon announced that he will be working with "a completely new bunch of people" who are "intelligent and supportive."[12] The show, Dollhouse, was announced by Fox in May 2008 to begin airing in January 2009.[13] When asked about returning to Fox, Whedon stated, "These are different people [...] they didn't do to me what was done to Firefly." Since Firefly, Fox has come under new management and former NBC executive Kevin Reilly has taken over as President of Entertainment.[14]

Whedon, revered as one of the more influential figures in sci fi and fantasy TV programming,[15] has also had a number of projects that were planned at various times for television that have become stuck in development or terminally stalled. Among these was a Buffy animated series, a set of made-for-television movies for The WB based on Angel and Buffy characters, and Ripper, a proposed BBC pilot about Rupert Giles. Ripper was announced to be in development at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007. The development process was set to begin in 2008 and Ripper to be shown that summer.[16]

Feature films

Whedon wrote or co-wrote several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection and Titan A.E.. He was nominated (along with three other writers) for an Academy Award for Toy Story's screenplay.

He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed, Waterworld, Twister and X-Men—although, with the exception of Speed, little of Whedon's work remained in the final drafts of any of these screenplays.[citation needed] In interviews, Whedon disowned the latter three films. He claimed that he had a good script for Alien: Resurrection, which he felt was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.[citation needed] His Waterworld script was thrown out, and only two of his lines were kept in the final script of X-Men.[17] Even the Buffy movie bore little resemblance to his original screenplay.[18] According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed, Whedon wrote most of its dialogue (see examples of credit conflicts in the WGA credit system).

He wrote and directed 2005's Serenity, based on his television series Firefly. Serenity won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Beginning in January 2006, fans (with Universal's blessing) began organizing worldwide charity screenings of Serenity[19] to benefit Equality Now, a human rights organization supported by Joss Whedon. Over $160,000 Raised For Equality Now Since 2006. 2008's goal is to raise $150,000 with 55 cities participating.[20]

Whedon had been signed to write and direct Warner Bros.' adaptation of Wonder Woman but on February 3, 2007, Whedon announced that he would no longer be involved with the project. "We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time."[21]

For a number of years, he has been working on Goners, a supernatural thriller which has gone through several script rewrites. The movie has not currently been greenlit for production by Universal Pictures, which bought the script from Whedon around the time Serenity came out. In late June 2007, Whedon told a New Zealand radio station that "It's a supernatural thriller that I'm trying to get the studio to make. I'm rewriting it again. And it's a slow process, and after working in TV for a while, slow processes are a little frustrating."[citation needed]

One aspect of the storyline of the film X-Men: The Last Stand bears a strong similarity to a plotline in Whedon's comic book Astonishing X-Men: the notion of a cure for mutation. The scientist who discovers the cure in the movie is named Dr. Kavita Rao, as is the scientist in the comic book storyline, though the characters are quite different. Whedon's story in turn bears a striking resemblance to a 1993 episode of the X-Men animated series, entitled "The Cure", written by Mark Edward Edens.[22] In both Whedon's and Edens' stories, the scientist who claims to have discovered the cure is secretly working with a superpowered enemy of the team (Apocalypse on the TV show, Ord in the comic book), a plot device that doesn't occur in the film script. According to Simon Kinberg, a studio executive who had read Whedon's comics asked him and Zak Penn to incorporate some version of the mutant cure idea into their script.[23]

In a 2005 interview with Empire Online, Whedon expressed an interest in directing a Harry Potter movie, being a fan of the book series.[24] He has written several Harry Potter-related jokes in his stories.

Joss Whedon wrote a horror film entitled Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard which has been greenlighted by MGM for production, with Goddard set to direct. He called it "The horror movie to end all horror movies... literally."[25]

Comic books

Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, is the author of the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Fray which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse. Although the miniseries took years to finish, it was a great success.[citation needed] Whedon returned to the world of Fray during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight arc, "Time of Your Life".[26]

Like many other authors from the Buffy TV show, he also contributed to the show's comic book version: he wrote three stories in the anthology Tales of the Slayers (including one featuring Melaka Fray from Fray) and also the main storyline of the five-issue miniseries Tales of the Vampires.

The three-issue miniseries Serenity: Those Left Behind, based on the Firefly series and leading up to the film Serenity, was released June through August 2005. Co-written with Brett Matthews and pencilled by Will Conrad, the first issue featured covers drawn by John Cassaday, J.G. Jones, and Bryan Hitch, as well as other artists for the second and third issues. The first two issues went to a second printing. The trade paperback featured a new cover by acclaimed painter Adam Hughes.

A second three-issue Serenity miniseries Serenity: Better Days, was released in March, April, and May 2008. "Better Days" reunites Whedon, Matthews, Conrad, and Adam Hughes, who will provide all three covers. The three covers form a larger panorama of the ship's crew. "Better Days" is set before "Those Left Behind", and features the full crew of Serenity. A trade paperback featuring a cover by Jo Chen is scheduled for release in October.

Whedon has mentioned that more Serenity comics are planned for the near future, and will be based in the Firefly continuation of the series, including one about Shepherd Book.[citation needed] Likewise, Whedon and other former Buffy writers have released a new ongoing Buffy which takes place after the series finale "Chosen", which he officially recognizes as the canonical "Season 8". The first issue was released on March 14, 2007 by Dark Horse Comics. Following the success of issue one of Buffy season eight, IDW Publishing approached Whedon about similarly producing a canonical Angel Season 6.[27] Angel: After the Fall has 13 issues published as of October 22, 2008 with 4 more to come following the adventures of Angel and his team after the TV series ended, where the title of the series will then change to Angel: Aftermath. [28] Although Whedon has not had the time to write the series he has served as executive producer with Brian Lynch writing the season 6 story.[29] On December 2008, Whedon would pen a three issues mini-series Angel: Smile Time, a sequel one of the fifth season's episodes "Smile Time."[30]

Whedon wrote Astonishing X-Men in Marvel Comics' popular line of comics about the X-Men but finished his 25 issue run in 2008 and handed over the writing reins to Warren Ellis. The title, recreated specifically for Whedon, has been one of Marvel's best-selling comics as of 2006 and was nominated for several Eisner Awards including Best Serialized Story, Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer, winning the Best Continuing Series award in 2006. One storyline from this comic, the notion of a cure for mutation being found, was also an element in the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Whedon also introduced several new characters into the Marvel Universe such as the villainous Ord, new Xavier's Institute students Ruth "Blindfold" Aldine and Hisako "Armor" Ichiki , and Special Agent Abigail Brand, along with S.W.O.R.D., the organization she commands.

Whedon is the second writer of the critically acclaimed and fan-favorite Marvel comic Runaways, taking over after series creator Brian K. Vaughan completed his run.[31] Whedon had been a fan of the series for some time, and had a letter published in the first volume, which was included in the Volume 1 hardcover.

Whedon's other comic-related work includes writing the introduction to Identity Crisis trade paperback and a contribution to the "jam issue" Superman/Batman #26 (to date his only published work for DC Comics), writing short pieces for Marvel's Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man and Giant-Size X-Men #3 and also being the subject of an issue of Marvel Spotlight (alongside artist Michael Lark).

Online media

In 2005 Whedon released a series of online shorts titled the R. Tam sessions, starring himself and Summer Glau. They acted as a form of viral marketing for Serenity.

In 2007, Whedon launched a free webcomic, titled Sugarshock! hosted on Dark Horse comic's Myspace page.[32]

In March 2008, Whedon teamed up with his brothers Zack Whedon and Jed Whedon, along with Jed's fiance Maurissa Tancharoen to produce the musical superhero spoof, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The musical stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. Whedon conceived of Dr. Horrible during the Writers Guild strike. The project was freely available online from July 15 until July 20. It is currently viewable for free (USA only and with brief commercials), on Hulu. It is also available on iTunes, with a DVD in development[33]

In August 2008, Whedon released a new Serenity/Firefly comic free online Serenity: The Other Half[34]

In September 2008, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Soundtrack makes top 40 Album list despite being a digital exclusive only available on iTunes.[35] His successful venture with the online project helped him become one of the top Web video creators.[36]

Common themes and motifs in Whedon's works

Feminism

Whedon identifies himself as a feminist, and feminist themes are common in his work. For his part, Whedon credits his mother, Lee Stearns, as the inspiration for his feminist worldview. When Roseanne Barr asked him how he could write so well for women, he replied, "If you met my mom, you wouldn't ask."[37]

The character Kitty Pryde from the X-Men comics was an early model for Whedon's strong teenage girl characters: "If there's a bigger influence on Buffy than Kitty, I don’t know what it was. She was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it."[38]

Whedon was honored at an Equality Now benefit in 2006: "Honoring Men on the Front Lines",[39] and his fans raised a considerable amount of money in support of the organization.[40]

Dialogue

The dialogue in Joss Whedon's shows and movies usually involves pop culture references both notable and obscure, and the turning of nouns into adjectives by adding a "y" at the end of the word ("listy"). According to one of the Buffy writers, "It's just the way that Joss actually talks."[41]

Whedon also heavily favors the suffix -age (Linkage, Lurkage, Poofage, Postage, Scrollage, Slayage).[42] Also, phrasal verbs usually ending with "out" are changed into direct verbs, for example "freak" rather than "freak out", "bail" rather than "bail out", or "hang" rather than "hang out". Whedon also tends to change adjectives into nouns such as "happy" (positive thing), "bad" (mistake), "funny" (joke). So many of Whedon's altered usages, new words, and heavily popularized words have entered the common usage that PBS in their article series "Do You Speak American" included an entire section on "Slayer Slang".[43]

Spiritual and philosophical beliefs

Whedon has identified himself as an atheist on multiple occasions. When interviewed by The AV Club on October 9, 2002, Whedon answered the question "Is there a God?" with one word: "No." The interviewer followed up with: "That's it, end of story, no?" Whedon answered: "Absolutely not. That's a very important and necessary thing to learn."[44] In one of the Buffy DVD commentaries, Whedon comments that "I don't believe in the 'sky bully'", referring to God.[45] In addition, during a question and answer session found on the Serenity DVD with fans of the Firefly series at Fox Studios in Sydney, he identifies himself as an atheist and absurdist.

Whedon has also spoken about existentialism. On the Firefly DVD set, Whedon explains in detail how existentialism, and more specifically the book Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre, was used as a basis for the episode Objects in Space.[46] On this commentary he claimed interest in existential ideas and described the impact of Nausea on his early life.

Awards

Awards

Nebula Awards:

Hugo Awards:

Eisner Awards:

Prometheus Award

Awards Nominated

Academy Awards:

Emmy Awards:

Nebula Awards:

Saturn Awards:

  • Best Writing - Toy Story (1996)

References

  1. ^ "Musical CD Details". BBC. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  2. ^ "Hang on in there". Timesonline. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
  3. ^ *"Joss Whedon: A to Z". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ YouTube — Joss Whedon Serenity Intro
  5. ^ *"Joss Whedon to Direct Another Episode of The Office". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Joss Whedon - Biography". IMDB. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  7. ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)". Rotten Tomatoes. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  9. ^ "Completely completed SERENITY screens at Comic-Con! And..." Ain't It Cool News. 2005-07-25. Retrieved 2006-06-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ Michael Schneider (2007-08-26). "Fox, Dushku stake project". Variety. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
  11. ^ Maria Elena Fernandez (2008-05-15). "Q & A with Joss Whedon, writer, producer and director". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  12. ^ "James Hibberd - Joss Whedon Returns to Fox With New Series 'Dollhouse' - TVWeek - Blogs". TV Week. 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-11-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ Gary Levin (2008-05-15). "Fox's fall schedule sets up for '24' and 'Idol'". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  14. ^ Lee, Patrick (2008-07-15). "Dollhouse's Whedon OK with Fox". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved 2008-08-18. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Master of Sci-Fi: Joss Whedon
  16. ^ IGN Staff. "IGN: SDCC 07: Whedon Says Buffy Spinoff Ripper Still Planned". Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  17. ^ "In Focus | August/September 2005 | Serenity Now! Uncut". Natoonline.org. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  18. ^ "Joss Whedon - Web Exclusive | The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  19. ^ "Can't Stop The Serenity".
  20. ^ "Can't Stop the Serenity". Cantstoptheserenity.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  21. ^ "Whedonesque : Comments on 12385 : SATIN TIGHTS NO LONGER". Whedonesque.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  22. ^ "X-Men: The Cure Recap - TV.com". Tv.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  23. ^ "IFMagazine". Ifmagazine.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  24. ^ Posted by: Melissa. "Joss Whedon on Directing Harry Potter - The Leaky Cauldron". The-leaky-cauldron.org. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  25. ^ Travis Fickett. "IGN: SDCC 07: Joss Whedon Heads To The ''Cabin in the Woods''". Movies.ign.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  26. ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: #16 Time of your Life". Retrieved 2008-08-22.}
  27. ^ DiLullo, Tara, "Pieces of Eight", from The Official Buffy & Angel Magazine #93 (UK, April/May 2007), page 23-24.
  28. ^ Kelley Armstrong - "Angel : Aftermath" Comic Book - Q&A
  29. ^ "SDCC '07: BRIAN LYNCH ON ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  30. ^ "Comics Continuum: IDW Publishing for December". Comicscontinuum.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  31. ^ "Joss Whedon To Take Over Runaways". Marvel.com. 9-12-2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ "MySpace.com - MySpace Dark Horse Presents Free Online Comics & Comic Books on MySpace". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  33. ^ "And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD..."
  34. ^ http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents?issuenum=13&storynum=1 Serenity: The Other Half on Dark Horse comic's Myspace page
  35. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Albums Billboard 200 chart Issue Date: 2008-09-20
  36. ^ Poised to Leap: 10 Web Video Creators
  37. ^ "The ladies' man - TV & Radio - Entertainment - theage.com.au". Theage.com.au. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  38. ^ "Joss Whedon Goes Back To The Drawing Board". Whedon.info. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  39. ^ [1][dead link]
  40. ^ "Serenity". Equalitynow.org. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  41. ^ Buffy Season 4 DVD Commentary, Season 3 DVD featurette.
  42. ^ "Whedonage.com".
  43. ^ "Do You Speak American . Words That Shouldn't Be? . Sez Who? . Buffy | PBS". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  44. ^ Is There A God?
  45. ^ Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD series, episode 5.16 (The Body), commentary by Whedon.
  46. ^ Firefly DVD series, episode 14 (Objects in Space), commentary by Whedon.
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Preceded by
none
 Astonishing X-Men writer
2004– 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
None
 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight writer
2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight writer
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight writer
2008– 		Succeeded by
TBA
Preceded by Runaways writer
2007– 		Succeeded by


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