Joss Wheedon & Cast Interviews

[Dave]

http://www.infocusmag.com/05augustse...hedonuncut.htm

lot's of trivia here: --Sound in Space in Firefly, Shepherd Book's background, thoughts on Star Wars, Toy Story, Alien Resurrection, Wonder Woman....

[Dave]

There are more interviews with cast members, and links to trailers and other stuff here:

http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/signal.php

[Dave]

From Scifi Wire

Nathan Fillion, who reprises the lead role of Capt. Malcolm Reynolds in the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that his character shows more depth than in the canceled Fox TV series Firefly, on which the movie is based. "Malcolm was allowed to be a little darker ... than the series allowed him to be," Fillion said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. "In the series we experienced a little pressure [from Fox] to make him more likable and nicer. 'Let's make him, like, funnier. Let's make him funnier. Lets make the show more action.'"

In Serenity, Fillion plays the skipper of a transport ship and its ragtag crew 400 years in the future as they try to evade the malevolent Alliance, as well as the rapacious and cannibalistic Reavers. Joss Whedon-the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly-wrote and makes his feature-film directing debut with Serenity.

For Fillion and the rest of the cast, having the failed Firefly rise again as a movie was a vindication, Fillion said. "We never stopped seeing each other, but you know what actually was good was seeing ... the characters again," he said.

Fillion added: "Joss had that plan of ... finding another home [for Firefly]. He said, 'I'll find another home.' And I said, 'That sounds great. That's a really wonderful thing to say.' [Mocks crying] 'Its really dead, isn't it?' It's dead.' I wasn't prepared to fall in love with Firefly the way I did, and I wasn't prepared for Firefly to dump me the way it did. So I was really depressed. I was pretty sad [when it ended]. ... I wasn't prepared to kind of have that hope [again] and say, 'Maybe. Maybe.' ... I didn't want to set myself up for another depression and gain 20 pounds sitting in my house, not going to work." Serenity opens Sept. 30. It is being released by Universal Pictures, which is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM

[Dave]

from SCIFI WIRE

Whedon Not Serene About Serenity

Joss Whedon, writer and director of the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that he's just starting to get nervous about the potential reception for his film, which is based on his failed Fox TV series Firefly. "How nervous am I? Uh, I'm actually pretty calm," Whedon said in a new conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. "I am being medicated right now steadily to keep me that way. I got really nervous when I realized, ultimately, I have absolutely no idea how this movie is going to do. I believe that if people see it, they will like it, and that is sort of my first job, and I feel like that was more or less accomplished. But I have no idea if they actually will see it. And if they don't see it, how can they like it?"

Serenity picks up the story of Capt. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and the crew of a transport ship 500 years in the future as they run the edge of the galaxy trying to evade the malevolent Alliance and the rapacious Reavers. Though the show was canceled in the middle of its first season, it found a loyal audience on DVD.

Whedon said that he's trying not to panic on the eve of Serenity's premiere. "I sort of realized it's out of my hands," he said. "I will do everything in my power to try and get people to see it, but there's only so much that's in my power, and if ... they don't, ... or if they—how can I put this?—hate it, then that's just ... what's going to happen. There's nothing I really can do about it. I believe in the film. I loved making it. I love what we came up with. I love everyone. I'm really proud of all my actors. So that's going to have to sustain me. You know, that's me now. Talk to me on the morning of the 30th, when I'm hiding in the bathtub with a hat on." Serenity opens Sept. 30. It's being released by Universal Pictures, which is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

[Dave]

Starting to get into Spoilers now, but only little ones in this report.

from SciFi Wire

Serenity Leaves Some Things Out

Joss Whedon, writer and director of the upcoming SF film Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that he had to leave out some things in translating his failed Fox TV show Firefly to the big screen. "Absolutely," he said in an interview. "I mean, in a series you have an indefinite amount of time to explore everything, and in a movie you have momentum to serve that does not allow you to [do that]."

Serenity picks up the story of the crew of a transport ship 500 years in the future. In a spoiler for the movie, Whedon offers an example: He wasn't able to delve as deeply into the past of Shepherd Book, played by Ron Glass. "With Book, it was almost a gag when [Capt. Mal Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion,] says, 'You gotta tell me about that sometime.' ... That was everybody's moment of, 'OK, [now we'll get the story].' And then [Book] said, 'No, I don't.' It's a joke, but it's a joke very much based in character. Book is somebody who ... sets his rules, and he's very firm about them, and one [rule] is that '[the past is] something I've left behind that clearly is unpleasant and clearly has given me insider knowledge of the workings of a corrupt government, and that's really all you need to know.'"

There's a hint that perhaps Book may have been an Operative for the Alliance, much like Chiwetel Ejiofor's character, but that is not pursued. "Exactly," Whedon said. "And that's exactly how I wanted to leave it. However, when people ask, 'Have you had ideas about the sequel?' Don't think that's not part of it. But for the purposes of the [first] movie, it wasn't necessary. ... Because what was necessary was: 'Here's somebody Mal looks up to and will actually listen to.' That was what we needed to know about Book."

In another spoiler for the movie, Whedon admitted that he didn't pursue the relationship between Fillion's Reynolds and Morena Baccarin's courtesan character, Inara. "In terms of Mal and Inara, I think there was much more resolved than we would have had for a very long time in any way in the show, which is very simply that they do actually admit that they like each other," Whedon said. "Which for them is a huge step. Doesn't mean that they still won't have the same problems they had before they admitted it. In fact, they might have a few more. It might be problems that involve smooching, and that's what the audience needs."

Serenity is being released by Universal Pictures on Sept. 30. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

from SCIFI WIRE

Serenity Stars Shot Guns!

Cast members of Joss Whedon's upcoming SF movie Serenity told SCI FI Wire that they all had to undergo weapons training for a climactic battle scene.

"Yeah. I had to do archery," Morena Baccarin said about her courtesan character, Inara. "I really took to it, actually. I remember when we were shooting ... that scene came where I'm supposed to shoot one of the Reavers with an arrow, and the whole set is like, 'All right, let's clear the set. Only the people that need to be here have to be here. Everybody put on goggles.' All the camera guys have these hard hats on, and everybody is freaking out. And they gave me an 'X' to hit. Every time, I hit that 'X.' They were like, 'Ooh, OK!'"

Serenity centers on the ragtag crew of a transport ship 500 years in the future as they contend with both the soldiers of an oppressive government called the Alliance and cannibalistic savages called Reavers.

Jewel Staite, who plays the mechanic Kaylee, said that she had to train on all kinds of guns. "Yeah," she said. "They make me shoot everything, from this big [indicates a small weapon] to this big [a large one], and this one gun was so incredibly heavy. ... I looked like the biggest geek in the world. I was leaning back, it was so heavy. And I thought I would be cute that day and wear shorts and a tank top, and every time I would shoot the gun, it would sort of ricochet, and I would get little burns all over my legs. And it wasn't super fun. But it was ... crazy. Everybody else thought it was fun but me. I was scared."

Adam Baldwin, who plays the mercenary Jayne, had the opposite feeling. "I thought it was fun. ... I've been comfortable with weapons for years."

Even cast members who wouldn't normally carry guns got training, such as Sean Maher, who plays the refined doctor Simon Tam. "We weren't sure who exactly was shooting what, so they just had us ... get familiar with everything that could possibly find its way into the script somehow," Maher said. " So there was a lot of firing to be done."

Summer Glau, who plays Simon's mysterious sister, River, had to undergo martial-arts and stunt training for a climactic fight scene in which she contends with dozens of opponents. "It's all me," she said. "There were two dangerous stunts that they wouldn't let me do. ... One, falling down the stairs. That was just too risky. And one other flip that my stunt double ended up getting hurt doing, and I felt terrible. But everything else, I mean, those swords and ... all the blade work, I did myself. All the guns I did myself, the daggers. Joss wanted it to look real. And I felt it. Every punch, every kick. " Serenity opens Sept. 30.

[Loner]

I know it's been a long time but its never too late for more Firefly.

Here is a link to a really great Serenity podcast with Joss Whedon in September 2005
http://www.rrr.org.au/archive/audio/josswhedon.ram