I'm told Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer series architect Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios' The Avengers. That's the fast-tracked film that would amount to an all-star team of Marvel superheros, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Other signature superheros will likely be involved, but I've listed the actors in active superhero duty. Whedon has been rumored for this job for awhile, and is high on the fanboy wish-list. He's an interesting choice: despite his writing/producing TV series resume, his lone feature directing effort, Serenity, was not a hit. After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon has written installments of the latter, so he knows how to make those superheros fly. Marvel has considered all of the individual superhero movies to be an intro to The Avengers, so the wanna-see on this one will be huge. The film will be released in the first weekend of May, 2012.
Last edited by SYM on Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Serenity the movie was actually REALLY good, but the Television following was not big enough to call for a feature film... I'm actually happy about this!
Serenity the movie was actually REALLY good, but the Television following was not big enough to call for a feature film... I'm actually happy about this!
Cinema Blend wrote:How Iron Man 2 Ruined Jon Favreau's Relationship With Marvel
When word came down that Marvel was planning an Avengers movie which would bring all of their superhero franchises together in one place, a lot of people assumed Jon Favreau would be the top contender for the filmגs directing job. After all, he started the modern Marvel craze with Iron Man and Favreau has sort of become the godfather of everything that happens in the Marvel movie universe. But somehow, he was never even considered and it wasnגt long before Favs moved on to Cowboys & Aliens. We never really knew why Favs wasnגt a contender for the Avengers job, at least until now.
According to one of our most reliable sources (this is the same source which first broke the news that Black Widow would be in Iron Man 2 and has given us numerous other confirmed scoops over the years) Favreau really wanted to direct The Avengers but Marvel didnגt want to pay for him. Their negotiations with Favreau to secure him as the director of Iron Man 2 were difficult and Favreau worked out a deal that got him paid more money. Marvel wasnגt willing to pay that kind of money again when it came time for The Avengers, and so even though Favs wanted to direct their superhero team-up movie, they didnגt want him. Instead Marvel has made it a point to seek out cheaper talent to direct all of their subsequent movies. Joss Whedon was hired to direct The Avengers and while heגs a mega-talented director heגs also a much cheaper hire than someone like Favreau.
It makes sense. If youגre making a movie like The Avengers, then to do it right youגll end up spending a ton of money on special effects and talent. You have to cut costs somewhere and if you can do it while at the same time hiring incredibly talented people (like Whedon) then so much the better. But that doesnגt explain what happened to Iron Man 2.
If youגve seen Iron Man 2 then you noticed that it wasnגt quite the movie weגd all hoped for. Actually it wasnגt very good. Part of the problem was the movie seemed wrapped around an odd, Avengers-focused, subplot which never really fit into the story. Jon Favreau may not have liked it any more than you or I do.
Our source says Iron Man 2 wasnגt the movie Jon Favreau wanted to make. Marvel interfered heavily with his work on the movie and turned the project into an infomercial for The Avengers. Favreau felt the movie was rushed into production (and if you followed the development process you know it was) and they pushed him into making it without a fully realized script. Iron Man 2 wasnגt the movie he wanted to make and because of that, if thereגs an Iron Man 3, thereגs every reason to think he wonגt be back. Marvel doesnגt want to pay him and Favreau may not want to deal with more Marvel interference.
Favreau wasnגt the only one unhappy with Iron Man 2. Robert Downey Jr. saw those same problems and according to our source, גWhile he's locked for Iron Man 3, chances are, that will be his last movie.ג In the meantime, Downey will get (and probably deserves) top billing in The Avengers.
While our source here is a proven commodity, as always with anything reported on the internet without official sanction, consider the above all rumor. Besides, thereגs still plenty of time for Favreau and Marvel repair their relationship. Hopefully, before they start planning Iron Man 3, Marvel will have gotten around to playing kiss and make up with its Iron Man team.
On Wednesday, it was reported that someone had stolen Samuel L. Jackson's shooting script for The Avengers, and that they were trying to sell it to various movie websites and bloggers for a profit (none of which took the bait}.
Word from those close to the Albuquerque, New Mexico set have confirmed today that this script leak has caused the huge production to temporarily shut down while the script pages, many of which showed up in photos on the internet, are rewritten. There are other reasons for this indefinite halt in production, but those particular reasons weren't offered at this time.
The pages that made it onto the Internet detailed a scene where Hulk transforms in front of Black Widow while Iron Man and Captain America run around a large boiler room. These scenes will now be altered.
The theft of Samuel L. Jackson's shooting script did not occur in Albuquerque, but it was instead swiped while the actor was last in Burbank, California. There is no word yet on when filming of The Avengers will resume.
The Avengers comes to theaters May 4th, 2012 and stars Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston. The film is directed by Joss Whedon.
On Wednesday, it was reported that someone had stolen Samuel L. Jackson's shooting script for The Avengers, and that they were trying to sell it to various movie websites and bloggers for a profit (none of which took the bait}.
Word from those close to the Albuquerque, New Mexico set have confirmed today that this script leak has caused the huge production to temporarily shut down while the script pages, many of which showed up in photos on the internet, are rewritten. There are other reasons for this indefinite halt in production, but those particular reasons weren't offered at this time.
The pages that made it onto the Internet detailed a scene where Hulk transforms in front of Black Widow while Iron Man and Captain America run around a large boiler room. These scenes will now be altered.
The theft of Samuel L. Jackson's shooting script did not occur in Albuquerque, but it was instead swiped while the actor was last in Burbank, California. There is no word yet on when filming of The Avengers will resume.
The Avengers comes to theaters May 4th, 2012 and stars Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston. The film is directed by Joss Whedon.
at the title change.
