Joss Whedon visits 'The Colbert Report'

In case you missed it,  Joss Whedon (outfitted in his now staple skinny jeans) visited The Colbert Report on Thursday to promote his film Much Ado About Nothing. He also chatted with Stephen Colbert about why he's "Joss" and not "Josh" or even "Joey" and of course a little Avengers 2 discussion (Spoiler: Tony Stark has an atomic ass - tell us something we don't know!) Fun stuff! Check out the clip below:

Much Ado About SXSW: Nathan Fillion Peed A lot!

So "Much Ado About Nothing" made it's US premiere yesterday at the SXSW Festival to much praise and critical acclaim! Apparently fans had been lined up since 1am for the screening. Not surprisingly, the amazing Much Ado bus was found to be Harlem Shaking and of course there was was live tweeting before the event.

After the screening there was a Q&A (which you can read in full here.) Besides confirming Agent Coulson's fate in the S.H.I.E.L.D series, here are some highlights:

A week after The Avengers wrapped, you decided to make Much Ado About Nothing at your own house instead of going on vacation to Italy. When you got the call to make a movie at Joss’s house, how did you respond? 

Amy Acker: It was fun. And weird. 

Joss: There were rooms [in the house] we didn’t use, and I regret every single one.

How do you prepare yourself for a quick turnaround like this? 

Alexis Denisof: When Joss asks, you say yes! Says it was a labor of love, but also a lot of labor. That was part of the fun about it. It was a constant hive of activity. 

Nathan, I heard you were hesitant. You haven’t done Shakespeare before. 

Nathan Fillion: I was intimidated, terrified, frightening… I peed a little. I might have peed a lot.

Actually, I signed on right away and tried to chicken out afterward. Joss talked him off the ledge… “I don’t have a replacement so you have to do it.” 

Nathan – I love Castle, I only watch it because of you. And I’ve loved Dr. Horrible and Firefly. So my question is, how did you get to be so awesome? 

Nathan: That’s a good question. First of all, you sir have excellent taste. I have made a career of riding coattails. The secret to being awesome is picking the right coattails. I enjoy acting and I love telling stories, but until I met Joss I wasn’t good at it.

So if you're at the fest or in the Austin area, there will be additional screenings today and Wednesday. Everyone else, you'll have to wait to see the film which features almost the entire inside of Joss Whedon's house and our favorite actors on June 7th!

Much Ado about 'Much Ado'!

The internetz is ablaze today with all things Much Ado About Nothing! First up, the official trailer hit (below). It's of course full of our favorite actors and was filmed in a jif at Whedon's house in Santa Monica last year. Check out Fred/Wes back in effect!

Next, hell hath frozen over as Joss Whedon himself joined twitter for the first time ever using the handle @MuchAdoFilm. So if you're not already follwing Joss, get going. I have a feeling it's going to be a temporary thing...unless he feels the power of the twitter verse and finally decides to kick off that fake @JossWhedon by getting an official one of his own! Anyway, to prove it was really him, he tweeted this pic from the Party Bus (more on that below):

Finally, Joss commented over on Whedonesque about the Tour Bus Party he's currently throwing en route to Austin to show the film at SXSW. Fun! If you have the time and resources, go hunt that Tour Bus down and report back to us, god knows the debauchery taking place. If Tom Lenk is present, you know shit is cray up in there. See Joss's comment below:

"Oh My God! Or, the acronym of Oh My God! It looks so good! Let's all go see all the parts that weren't in the trailer when they come out in the movie! And show our friends! And destroy our enemies! And burn their villages, except for their multiplexes, where we will watch the movie parts once more!

Okay. I'm okay. Got a little excited there. Sorry. Let's not burn stuff. It's just that it's a big day for me. The trailer is up. I tweeted a tweet (more on that). But most of all, tonight we ride. We ride to Austin.
We ride the Arty Bus.

Me and a bunch of cast members are taking the scenic route to the SXSW fest. 24 hours on the road, from L.A. to Austin. The bus sleeps twelve (as if we'll sleep). It can be easily distinguished by the words MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING on the outside. We will trundle into it full of hope, comradery and excitement, and emerge a day later glassy-eyed with guilt and terror, and missing one cast-member.

On the way we'll laugh, sing old songs, resort to cannibalism WAY too early, and abuse social media. Yes, I will be tweeting. It'll be @MuchAdoFilm, since I'm still too lazy/confused to get my own account, but it won't just be me trying to drum up business for the film (In theaters this June!) -- I promise at least a couple of appalling pix of Fran and Ashley resorting to cannibalism (#waytooearly).

The route should take us through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Actual Mexico, Florida... Um, Pennsylvlorida, the Middle ages, the Mist, the Mason-Dixon line, The Donner Pass (Fran and Ashley SWEAR it's on the way, for some reason), The Place Where We Buried The Thing, and maybe your town too! If you see us, wave! Or honk! Or bleat! We 're excited to be joining SXSW the way the pioneers of old attended film festivals. And we're excited to show the movie to a new audience. Those of us that make it. Hope I'm one!

Wish us luck, enjoy the trailer, and get ready for 140 characters of PURE ADRENALINE. I'll see you in Hell. (I might not. There's a lot of people there. Maybe text me and let me know where you're damned, and I can try to get there.) Kiss Noise!

Joss "Shut up, it's art if it's in black and white" Whedon."

We'll leave you with a pic of the bus. Oh to be a fly on the wall of that thing! Click to Enlarge:

Buffyfest's Top Ten Moments of 2011!

Major Buffyverse spoilers for Season 8 & 9 if you're not completely caught up...

Another year is gone. And listen, we were definitely confused about compiling this year's Top Ten list. Did Giles get killed this year or end of last? Did Buffy and Angel conceive a baby universe this year? When did she even have random lesbian sex? Well the answer to all of that is: Not in 2011! Oh no, 2011 was all about restructure and transition in the Whedonverse. The Buffy and Angel stories are all back under one roof, living at Dark Horse, and Joss Whedon was off creating new and wonderful projects for us to feast our eyes on in 2012. Helping us with what will be the Top Ten moments of 2012, assuming the world doesn't end before that.

So now that we have that all figured out, here's a look back at our Top Ten Whedonverse Moments of this year. And a very Happy New Year, readers and friends!

#1 - Photobombed!
This was one of the most embarrassingly huge things that ever happened to us as Buffyfest, so it was definitely landing the top spot this year. Joss Whedon officially became our White Whale. While doing an interview at SDCC, Andrew Chambliss is actually saying the words "Joss is busy with The Avengers" and dude, Michelle, Joss is right behind you. Doesn't get sillier than this!

#2 - The End of All Magic
2011 marked the fallout of Angel and Buffy's universe-creating space sex, which ultimately ended in Giles' death and Buffy needing to break the seed, thus ending the flow of magic on earth. What a long, strange trip it's been.

#3 - Buffyfest 2011
This year we had a fancy brunch featuring Funny Shaped Pancakes, Mr. Gordo Bacon, Oh Hey! Juice!, and coffee from the Espresso Pump, along with all the morning fare one could dream up for a Buffy Breakfast event. Michelle even made a fanvid using the Wham! classic "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go." Good times.

#4 - Dark Horse Goes Digital
With Dark Horse taking over the Angel license, 2011 not only marked the year that Buffy and Angel were back under one roof, but the company finally digitized their full range of Whedonverse titles old and new. Which brings us to....

#5 - Angel & Faith
We're not sure if anyone was prepared for the fabulosity that the Angel & Faith series has become. Angel is arguably one of the most hated characters in the entire Whedonverse at this point (after basically killing Buffy's dad), but man smashing these 2 anti-heroes together has created a seriously compelling story to watch unfold.

#6 - Much Ado About Nothing
Joss writes, directs and produces a whole movie entirely in secret. He may have an evil clone.

#7 - Buffyfest at Comic Cons
Buffyfest once again made the pilgrimage to Geek Mecca SDCC 2011 and it's little cousin NYCC 2011.

#8 - Buffy's Birthday Bash
Buffy had a big birthday on Januray 19th this year, coinciding with Season 8's grand finale...and there were bashes all over the country to celebrate! Our spot? Forbidden Planet in NYC.

#9 - Joss Whedon's Favorite Shirt
Joss wore that two-toned henley to death, from Comic Cons (it's in the photobomb!) to parties to film sets. 'Twas funny.

#10 - Buffy Movie Reboot: DOA
Funny thing is, last year's #10 spot of this here list had the news of the Whedonless Reboot along with the line "It's possible that by this time next year, the reboot release will be a rumor of the past". And now it looks like it is. Life's cute like that sometimes.

The Internetz Explode Over Joss Whedon's Just Announced Secret Project, 'Much Ado About Nothing'

I woke up to some chaos today! Joss Whedon has managed to take a bunch of Whedonverse alum and film a whole entire movie under the world's nose, all while The Avengers and Buffy Season 9 are underway! The film? Shakespeare's (or Shakespeare inspired?) Much Ado About Nothing - "A film by Joss Whedon based on a play", as the website states. And how we all slept through this, I'll never know. Upon rising, my reader was going nuts, people were emailing (thanks Chris!) and it's all over the press!

It all started with Nathon Fillion, the kook, tweeting something about having to speak Shakespearean some weeks ago. He and Fran Kranz then tweeted again yesterday, pretty much confirming everything and linking to the film's website...currently a placeholder with photo and list of cast. Oh and Buffyfest fave and she of the lack of last name vowels, Shawna Trpcic, is doing costuming! The Whedonverse alum listed are as follows:

Amy Acker (Fred/Illyiria, Angel)
Alexis Denisof (Wesley, Buffy/Angel)
Tom Lenk (Andrew, Buffy/Angel)
Nathan Fillion (Mal, Firefly - Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog)
Sean Maher (Simon, Firefly)
Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson, The Avengers)
Reed Diamond (Laurence Dominic, Dollhouse)
Ashley Johnson (Caroline/Hayden Leeds/Wendy, Dollhouse)
Fran Kranz (Topher, Dollhouse)
Riki Lindhome (Cheryl, Buffy/Angel)

Trent from Pink Is The New Blog actually got to participate in the film. His friends were in a few scenes and he played an extra. Must have been awesome for him as he is a big-time Buffy and Whedonverse fan himself.

We can only assume that this all stemmed from Whedon and the Shakespeare readings/parties he has at his home. This is how the character of Illyria came about and probably other ideas over the years as well. It looks like Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker play the lead characters in this project (shocked that there is an absence of Summer Glau here). Shakespeare's original version of Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy about two pairs of lovers: Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. Claudio and Hero, on the other hand, are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another.

Exciting! Now how long before Joss goes all purple on Whedonesque and gives us some more info?