Joss Whedon Interview: How NOT To Make A Comic Book Adaptation

Joss Whedon will be the go-to-guy for comic book movie adaptations once MARVEL'S AVENGERS opens to blockbuster numbers and fans hail him as the savior of comic book movies.  Joss Whedon recently called out Watchmen (2009) and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003) as past films that failed to bring the multiple superhero story successfully to the big screen. The AVENGERS' director clues us in to his secret to adapting a beloved comic into a film that has generated overwhelming positive buzz online two weeks out from opening day.

Listen to interview below.

Fans have been taking to Twitter and YouTube to express their love of Joss Whedon and THE AVENGERS after some early screenings of Marvel's movie last week. There is no doubt that the pre-release positive fan reviews will entice even more viewers to assemble on opening day and catapult THE AVENGERS into a behemoth blockbuster.  The Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator managed to pull off what few filmmakers have failed to do in the past -- he created a compelling multi-faceted storyline that smartly introduced beloved characters in a new setting without sacrificing one or another superhero.

In a recent press conference with the director in Los Angeles, he mentioned two films that failed to bring the story of the comic book to the big screen and pointed out Sam Raimi's first Spiderman movie as the one that got it right.

"For me, it's capturing the essence of the comic and being true about what's wonderful about it while remembering that it's a movie - not a comic.  I think Spiderman, the first one particularly, really captured… They figured out the formula of 'oh, tell the story that they told in the comic'.  It was compelling that's why it was iconic. But at the same time they did certain things that only a movie could do.  And that were in the vein of the comic.  I think you see things like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen where they throw out the comic or Watchmen where they do it frame by frame, and neither of them worked. You have to give the spirit of the thing and step away from that. And create something cinematic and new."

Most will agree Whedon pulled a major trick out of his hat for THE AVENGERS given the good word-of-mouth from fans. Long respected for his previous projects, there is no doubt Whedon will be the go-to-guy for superhero movies.  At the press conference, Comicbook.com even asked Whedon to offer advice to Warner Bros. for their long gestating project The Justice League. He joked that they should call him, but he also pointed out why DC characters are "enormously difficult" to bring to life at the movies than Marvels.

"DC has a harder time of it than Marvel because they're characters are from a bygone era where characters were bigger than they were. They've amended that but Marvel really cracked the code in terms of 'Oh, they are just like us!' A dose of that…  that sort of veracity that Marvel really started with Iron Man.  I think you need to use that as your base."

Now only if Whedon could solve the mystery of why Wonder Woman can't have her day on the big screen. Joss Whedon unsuccessfully tried to bring the DC superheroine to the big screen due to creative differences. Now that Whedon has proved himself on THE AVENGERS, perhaps Wonder Woman can be revisited once they figure out how to bring her into the modern age.  

THE AVENGERS is in movie theaters May 4th.

 

Joss Whedon Interview