Joss Whedon is probably best know for his work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In that he worked with a predominantly female cast and garnered praise for how well he was able to "write women". Well The Avengers will be the complete opposite, with only two female roles of note. One of them is Black Widow who will be played by Scarlett Johansson, and while describing a scene between her and Mark Ruffalo(Bruce banner), Whedon is full of praise for the young actress..
Well I have to say, I did a scene recently with Scarlett [Johansson] and Mark [Ruffalo], and Mark was amazing, he's so soulful, he's so good, I was like ‘oh this is wonderful.' We turned over to Scarlett's side and I'm like she's really bringing it and there's something I can't describe, there's something amazing about what she's doing, and I just don't know how to describe it, and I was really trying to work it out, like really trying to figure out what is the thing, the X-factor and I realized I've been filming guys for a while now.
Whedon continues, revealing that he has been accused of not being macho enough for a movie like
The Avengers..
It was my latent heterosexuality coming out. I was just like ‘girl in the movie again, Kobe's been gone for so long.' It's a little tough because there are really the two female roles that are significant and after a while I'm just like ‘you guys are great, but where's Scarlett?' But we're trying to keep a balance. I don't think it's going to feel too male in the sense of being sexist or empty, and it won't feel like too much like histrionic, like a woman's picture from the 40's. I've been accused of not being macho enough to direct the Avengers. Oh yeah, that's right. Well guess what: I happen to be very macho, so if you see me in a bar and you don't think I'm macho, don't talk to me. You walk away unless you want a cosmo all down your shirt. 'Cause I will. I will pour it.
So how did Whedon go about establishing that macho-ness in the movie?
By blowing shit up. The fact is, there is so much action in this movie, and there is a lot of testosterone just in these characters. The actors themselves are much more giving than the characters are. The cast is a much better team [in real life] than the Avengers are...
He also says that we can expect some human drama and "angst" as well as the 'splosions..
..But the fact is, at the end of the day, everybody is posturing, everybody is trying to one-up the other person, whether it's a conversation or a fight or the movie as a whole, so it's a very macho thing. Although there is a lot of angst and a lot of human drama — which are the reasons you go to the movie, but you're not supposed to talk about them in an action film, there's also a lot of expression of this human drama through hitting each other in the face and blowing up cars, so I think everybody's going to win.
There is much more too. Be sure to click the link below to check out the full interview, along with the video coverage at io9.
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