Last night Twitter was abuzz with news of a new Joss Whedon film when his frequent collaborator (and star of Firefly) Nathan Fillion tweeted a link to this humble webpage. A screen grab of the page can be seen above and declares that principal photography has been completed on “Much Ado About Nothing A New Film By Joss Whedon Based on a Play.”
It’s a safe bet that this play is William Shakespeare’s because 1) that should seem obvious, and 2) Whedon’s been known for gathering together his band of friends/actors to perform Shakespeare aloud at home. For fun.
Fun fact: It was during one of these Shakespearean soirees that he discovered several members of the Buffy cast could sing, and so “Once More With Feeling” was born! That’s right. You and your friends get drunk and play videogames. Josh and his friends gather and read Shakespeare, then make pop culture. You’re welcome.
Anyhow, the cast has a number of noteworthy actors and actresses, including several returning Whedon players like Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Tom Lenk from the Buffy-verse, Firefly‘s Sean Maher and Dollhouse’s Fran Kranz, who also tweeted the page to fans. Other luminaries include Riki Lindhome, the blonde half of the comedy troubadours Garfunkel and Oates, and Clark Gregg, a solid supporting actor who will reprise his role as the smirking SHIELD operative Agent Phil Coulson in Whedon’s much-anticipated Avengers, which will hit theaters May 4, 2012.
But when will we see Much Ado? That remains to be seen. All we know now is the cast and that it’s in the can. One can assume from the posted image, the classic play will be set in modern day. And, from the way the cast is posted, I think it’s safe to assume Acker and Denisof will play the lead roles of Beatrice and Benedict respectively, as their names top the list in a pronounced manner. As to who will play the rest, it’s hard to say, but please do speculate in comments.
Who do you want to play who in Much Ado?