By Sarah Sluis
In this age of overexposure, most movies are announced well before they enter production. But Joss Whedon, who's writing and directing next year's comic book mega-movie The Avengers, appears to have shot another film on the sly. A playfully cryptic website went up Sunday, informing Whedon's fans that the principal photography had been completed for Much Ado About Nothing, "a film by Joss Whedon based on a play." The general opinion is that Whedon adapted from the Shakespeare play of the same name and shot the movie in black-and-white in his home for twelve days (Much Ado takes place on one estate, so that fits).
Whedon is one of the few writer/directors who has actively engaged with new media, novel forms of distribution, and low-budget Internet experiments, so he's exactly the kind of person who would decide to mount an independent production. Whedon's work on projects such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Firefly," "Dollhouse" and Serenity has created a rabid fan base that responds well to direct announcements (not through a news organization) and teasing amounts of information. "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was a three-part web series distributed exclusively over the Internet, a way for Whedon to be creative during the 2007-2008 writers' strike. He created short web videos to promote Serenity, and a webcomic seemingly "just because."
Whedon is something of a rarity in that he is as much a cult figure as his shows. He's the ultimate fanboy or fangirl dream, since he's willing to create so much content that explores the geeky minutiae of a fictional universe he's developed. In the months leading up to The Avengers' release in May 2012, I'm sure Whedon will have a few such pre-release tricks up his sleeve. As for Much Ado About Nothing? There are plans to take the low-budget movie on the festival circuit.
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