Taking full advantage of another chance to moon over a Joss Whedon film, Jess and Kendyl rehash Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and reel at the depth of understanding the film presented, from the line delivery to the filming to the background action.
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For more Whedon-chat, check out our episode on Avengers Assemble. Or if you’re looking for classic lit adaptations, we have an episode on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and one on The Great Gatsby.
SHOW NOTES:
Music: Sigh No More performed by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon from the Much Ado About Nothing soundtrack
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-July 31 (US and UK)
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Main Discussion
Much Ado About Nothing
-By William Shakespeare
-Written in 1598/99
-Performed during the celebration of Princess Elizabeth’s impending marriage
-Other adaptations: 1984 BBC version, 1993 Kenneth Branagh, 2005 modernized BBC version with Billie Piper, 2 operas
Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
-Adapted and Directed by: Joss Whedon
-Starring: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz and Tom Lenk
-Filmed in 2011 at Whedon’s house in 12 days
-Black and white
-Whedon: ‘I fixated on this notion that our ideas of romantic love are created for us by the society around us, and then escape from that is grown-up love, is marriage, is mature love, to escape the ideals of love that we’re supposed to follow.’
-Idea came from having Shakespeare readings at his house with friends
-Joss Whedon composed the soundtrack and wrote music to the two songs in the play itself ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘Heavily’ (his first time scoring)
-Plot/themes: Hero’s disgracing; cuckholding, women specifically; Beatrice’s request of Benedick
Adaptation Podcast 
I have heard it said by Joss that his reason for shooting in black & white was because it made it much easier to shoot quickly without having to worry so much about lighting etc.
Loved this movie. Amy Acker NEEDS to be in more things!! Why is she not a huge star?
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Oh, thanks for the info! That makes sense considering the time constraints.
Completely agree about Amy. I listened to this interview Joss did at the Apple store, and he was saying that at the Shakespeare readings he used to have, the only time he saw her not be charming in a role was when she played Lady Capulet, and that’s when he decided to kill Fred and give her something different to do.
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