Joss Whedon On Conceiving And Directing Age Of Ultron

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Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon has helmed two of the most successful flicks in the recent history of comic book movies: The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron are cinematic feats unlikely to be soon outclassed.

As writer and director of the two Marvel hits, Joss Whedon has directly shaped up the stories and his print is all over the two installments.

Remember when he said Age of Ultron was "hardest juggling act I have ever, ever tried to pull off", calling the sequel a "nightmare?

Now that it's out in the open and that it will likely register the largest success - box-office wise, and not only, I might add - ever, Joss Whedon spilled the beans and revealed some of the secrets of his triumph with Age of Ultron.

The characters: essential to Age of Ultron

Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Joss Whedon, Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)

Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Joss Whedon, Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)

Joss Whedon sat with Comic Book and revealed a lot about the creative process behind Age of Ultron.

I guess anyone who saw the installment noticed this is not a character piece. But, according to Joss Whedon, the characters meant a lot. In his words, it goes like this:

"It was a huge deal for me, very important, to do something that we had never done, in the MCU, and take a trip inside and see what makes these guys tick and what makes them – well, fail to tick".

And he adds: "You know, in every case it really has to do with fear of impotence and isolation and helplessness. These are very lonely people".

And Joss Whedon goes into detail: "That's the thing they all share on one level or another. I mean, Tony Stark could do anything, and he built himself a suit of armour. Thor's on the wrong planet, Cap's in the wrong decade, Natasha was designed never to get close to anyone and Bruce has a problem".

Plus, "Hawkeye has a dark secret that makes him removed from the rest of the group. Finding out what that is is the fulcrum of the movie. It says “Here's the thing about humanity. You have to be a part of it, you can't just save other people".

Joss Whedon style - always newer than before

Joss Whedon directing

Joss Whedon directing

Director's take on the characters was, of course, complemented by certain style tricks. Hear the man speak:

"I shot this film very differently than I ever have before, except maybe on Much Ado. We ran three cameras most of the time, and Ben encouraged it and was able to light for it.

And he continues: "While the first one was very deliberate, and my usual camera style is very deliberate - a shot exists for this reason and goes to here, and then we pick up this other one - this time I wanted to do something that felt a little more, as I joked, like a documentary about The Avengers.

Plus: "It’s a little more lived in, and rather than looking at them, we’re looking over their shoulders, and so I ran a bunch of cameras. At the same time, I’d get in the editing room and thought "I remember when I used to make decisions." I couldn’t tell if I’d made artistically a step forward or a giant step back.

Yeah, perhaps that sort of doubts made Whedon burst out and call the movie a nightmare before time!

As to editing, Joss Whedon confesses he only counted on his feel!!! In his words:

"I would feel it. You can’t really describe this, I think. Some people can, but for me, I just go in and kind of just know what I want".

And he continues:

"Running all of these cameras I’d get what I want and then the ‘strange’ version of it as well. There are certain things I love, and I like to frame things oddly, but the hardest thing about this film was, because some of the characters were CG, there wasn’t a chance to say "Let’s take the framing vernacular we actually used on the people who were there on the day and apply that to these CG characters." It gets a little staid sometimes when you’re on them".

And there's more:

"I worked with the visual development guys, who are brilliant, on everything. Marvel likes to change things up even more than I do".

Plus: "I could say "That works" and they’ll say "No! It has to be different, it’s a new movie!" so we’re always adding an element to the designs, reaching into every department. At the same time, it’s nice to have a lot of decisions already made so you can work on things like, you know, the story".

So, what do you think guys? Was this helpful to you? Is Joss Whedon's statement clarifying enough? Have your say below! And stay tuned, we'll keep you posted on all things Marvel!

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