I am – Hercules!!
Thursday afternoon brought Jeff Jensen’s Entertainment Weekly panel with nerd titansJoss Whedon and J.J. Abrams.
Notes:
• Whedon finally confirmed he is directing Marvel's “The Avengers.”
• Abrams did not reveal who’s directing the next “Star Trek,” but did mention he starts directing “Super 8,” his collaboration with Steven Spielberg, in September. (Actor Bruce Greenwood recently indicated the plan was to start shooting the next “Star Trek” in January.)
• Abrams said “Super 8” will not be in 3D.
• Whedon sounded uncertain as to whether “Cabin In The Woods” would be released in 3D and seemed to suggest 3D might not be a good fit for “Cabin."
• Whedon says he’s still outlining the script for “Avengers.” What must Zak Penn (“Electra,” “Fantastic Four,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Incredible Hulk”), who already wrote an “Avengers” script, make of this?
• Whedon sounded undaunted by the task of melding “seven different tones” into “The Avengers.” He cited his history as a big-screen script doctor, which is all about “blending in.”
• Abrams endorsed the ending of “Lost” but noted most of what he and Damon Lindelof wrote for the series bible never got used.
• Whedon says he was secretly working on a “Dr. Horrible”-type Internet project with funnybook writer Warren Ellis (“Red,” “Global Frequency”) titled “Wastelanders,” but it was put on hold when Whedon got the “Avengers” job.
• Whedon says it's counterintuitive to have all the Avengers in the same room, let alone the same team. 'And that to me is the definition of family.'
• Whedon says he loved George Perez' run on The Avengers, and name-checked Squadron Supreme.
• Abrams told a story about how he and his “Felicity”-“Cloverfield” collaborator, Matt Reeves, were hired by Kathleen Kennedy to fix the splices on Spielberg’s old super-8 movies. When Abrams suggested they steal one frame from each film, Reeves protested: “No, no, they’ll know!”
• Abrams recalled stumbling across Frday the 13th 3D on TV – but it had no 3D, no sex and no violence.
• Whedon revealed he owned an Alien egg 'but had to bury the franchise to get it.'
• Someone asked if magic nerds or comic nerds were more pathetic. Responded Abrams: “Neither is really pathetic, but I would say magic nerds.”
• Whedon says he got into comics as a preteen because his dad brought home Spider-Man comics. The elder Whedon wrote for “The Electric Company,” which featured Spidey.
• Abrams was left in charge of a comic shop when he was 15 and says he regrets not stealing some of the early Spider-Man issues.
• Whedon says “Dr. Horrible” made money for everybody involved, but especially for Whedon, who acted as the project’s “studio.” He says he’s proud to have pioneered the business model even if not a lot of others are yet utilizing it.
• Whedon on the “Horrible” sequel: “We know what the movie is” but other jobs keep getting in the way.
• Whedon thought he might detect scolding when Jensen asked him about “Dollhouse.” Whedon restated the question: “Are you proud of what you did? Maybe you should sit in a corner and think about it for a while.”
• Whedon calls “Dollhouse” a round peg in a square hole. 'I didn't see Janet Jackson's nipple and didn't know how much trouble it caused,' he said. “I didn't quite think that one through.”
• Abrams seemed to suggest that NBC’s secret-agent action dramedy “Undercovers” would feature more standalone episodes than his other projects, but would still feature multiepisode storylines.
• Whedon says “networks never ask for serialized.”
• Whedon says he falls into panics because he loved Abrams’ “Star Trek” so much; he calls it “the gold standard” among recent big-screen releases.
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