92 Facts About Joss Whedon

Joseph Hill Whedon is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer.

Joss Whedon co-wrote the DC Extended Universe superhero film Justice League, for which he served as director for re-shoots, replacing Zack Snyder.

Joss Whedon has worked as a composer and comic book writer, both for comic book continuations of television series he created and for established franchises, such as Astonishing X-Men.

Joss Whedon's mother, Ann Lee Stearns, originally from Kentucky, was an activist and a teacher at Riverdale Country School as Lee Whedon, in addition to being an aspiring novelist.

Joss Whedon stated that his parents expected constant creativity from their children and were often verbally demeaning and gave them the silent treatment if he and his brothers were not amusing or entertaining, or if they simply disagreed with them.

Joss Whedon stated that he was more afraid of his older brothers who constantly bullied him.

Joss Whedon attended Riverdale Country School in New York City where his mother taught history.

Joss Whedon graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987, where he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2013.

From 1989 to 1990, Joss Whedon worked as a staff writer on the sitcoms Roseanne and Parenthood.

Joss Whedon worked on an early draft of X-Men which subsequently contained at least two of his contributions to dialogue exchanges, while the final cut of Speed retained most of his dialogue.

Joss Whedon co-wrote Toy Story, which earned him a shared Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Joss Whedon became one of the highest paid screenwriters when he sold his Afterlife script to Columbia Pictures for $1.5 million.

In 1997, Joss Whedon created his first television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Joss Whedon said he wanted to subvert the idea and create someone who was a hero.

Joss Whedon usually directed episodes from his own scripts that held the most cathartic moments in Buffy's story.

All written and directed by Joss Whedon, they are considered some of the most effective and popular episodes of the series.

Since the end of the series, Joss Whedon has stated that his initial intention was to produce a "cult" television series and acknowledged a corresponding "rabid, almost insane fan base" that subsequently emerged.

Joss Whedon returned to the world of Fray during the season eight-story arc "Time of Your Life".

David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon collaborated on the pilot which was going to be developed for The WB Network.

Joss Whedon followed Angel with the space western Firefly, starring Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Ron Glass.

Firefly was written as a serious character study, encompassing what Joss Whedon called "life when it's hard".

Joss Whedon went on to elaborate that it was about "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".

Joss Whedon took to Universal Pictures as a means of achieving a continuation of the story.

In 2004, Joss Whedon created the comic book line Astonishing X-Men.

Joss Whedon finished a 24 issue run in 2008 and then handed over the reins as a writer to Warren Ellis.

In March 2016, Joss Whedon contributed a story for the 75th anniversary issue of Captain America: Sam Wilson with Astonishing X-Men collaborator John Cassaday.

Joss Whedon used two long steadicam shots for several minutes of the film's opening sequence to establish "a sense of safety in space".

The limited three-issue comic book series called Serenity: Those Left Behind, the story of which was written by Joss Whedon, was released in 2005 as a tie-in to Serenity.

Joss Whedon later co-wrote The Shepherd's Tale with his half-brother Zack.

Denoting this period, Joss Whedon has said, "I had free time, but I'm pretty sure I mean my career was on the skids".

Joss Whedon said it was a "glorious surprise" to him to discover how well they worked together.

Joss Whedon himself funded the project investing just over $200,000 and earned more from it than he did directing The Avengers.

Joss Whedon enjoyed the independence he gained from Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as it provided him the freedom to include content without the expectancy of lessening it on behalf of the runtime.

Joss Whedon was awarded Best Directing and Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series at the Streamy Awards, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and a Creative Arts Emmy Award in 2009.

In 2009, Joss Whedon created his fourth television series Dollhouse, and explored themes throughout the show that were initially present in an unproduced spec script of his called Afterlife.

In reflection of Fox's disruptive involvement, Joss Whedon lamented the loss of ideas with identity and moral culpability, saying they were dancing around them in the process which then devolved the series into a procedural show.

Joss Whedon co-wrote and produced a horror-comedy film titled The Cabin in the Woods with director Drew Goddard, finishing production in 2009 though the film wasn't released until 2011.

Joss Whedon described it as an attempt to revitalize horror, calling it a "loving hate letter" to the genre, continuing:.

Joss Whedon reiterated a sentiment that the introduction of torture porn into this genre was becoming an exercise in nihilism and misogyny as a means to promote distress and instead of trying to scare its audience.

In July 2010, it was confirmed that Joss Whedon would write and direct The Avengers, a live-action adaptation of the superhero team of the same name.

In retrospect, Joss Whedon thought the film had "imperfections", begrudging its quality in comparison to that of The Matrix and The Godfather Part II.

In March 2012, Joss Whedon stated that although television involves more compromise than film:.

Joss Whedon spoke about certain complications that factored in with making the show for Marvel, noting confusion between him and the company regarding the degree to which they wanted him to create it, citing their demand that he prioritize Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Joss Whedon returned to write and direct the sequel to The Avengers, following the deal with Marvel Studios, which expired in June 2015.

Joss Whedon served as a creative consultant on the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe leading up to Age of Ultron.

Joss Whedon rewrote some dialogue for Thor: The Dark World, directed the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and suggested that James Gunn make Guardians of the Galaxy "weirder" after reading an early draft.

Joss Whedon said it was unlikely that he would return to make another sequel, stating that he "couldn't imagine doing this again".

Joss Whedon remarked that not having created his own fictional universe in over five years felt wrong and intended to use the proceeds made from Avengers: Age of Ultron for such ventures.

In January 2016, Joss Whedon announced that he will no longer work with Marvel.

Joss Whedon filmed it in black-and-white on digital video over a period of 12 days at his residence in Santa Monica, California.

The film was scripted, produced, directed, edited and composed by Joss Whedon, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name.

Joss Whedon wrote and executive produced the paranormal romance film In Your Eyes, the second feature by Bellwether Pictures.

Joss Whedon's script marked a theme of human connection as the metaphor for the couple's mysterious link.

Joss Whedon conceived the idea in the early 1990s, and had written drafts of the screenplay since then.

In summer 2014, Joss Whedon encountered artist Shawnee Kilgore on Kickstarter.

Joss Whedon funded her album and when Kilgore contacted him about his fulfillment reward, he suggested they make a song together.

Joss Whedon agreed, and the collaboration was later repurposed into producing an EP.

At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, Joss Whedon announced Twist, which was described as a comic book about "a Victorian female Batman".

In 2017, Joss Whedon directed Unlocked, a short film in support of Planned Parenthood.

In May 2017, Joss Whedon took over post-production duties for Justice League, including writing and directing additional photography for the film.

Joss Whedon received a co-writing credit for his contributions to the film, which was released in November 2017.

On July 13,2018, HBO announced that the network had obtained the rights to The Nevers, an "epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world", on which Joss Whedon was going to serve as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner.

On November 25,2020, HBO announced that Joss Whedon had exited the project.

In July 2020, Justice League actor Ray Fisher accused Joss Whedon of showing "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior toward the cast and crew of the film, going so far as to invite Joss Whedon to sue him for slander if he believed the allegations were untrue.

Fisher claimed that Joss Whedon's exit from the HBO Max series The Nevers was a result of HBO parent company WarnerMedia's inquiry.

Nonetheless, in what Bloys acknowledged was an unusual step, Joss Whedon's name has not been used in marketing for the series, though he remained credited in the series itself.

Gal Gadot told the Los Angeles Times in December 2020 that her experience with Joss Whedon had not been "the best" but that she had taken it "to the higher-ups and they took care of it".

Joss Whedon actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting.

In January 2022, Joss Whedon claimed Gadot "misunderstood" him due to English not being her first language and called Fisher a "bad actor in both senses".

Joss Whedon said he had never worked with "a ruder group of people" than the rest of the Justice League cast.

Early in his career, Joss Whedon sold two spec scripts that were not produced, Suspension and Afterlife.

Joss Whedon sold Suspension for $750,000, with an additional $250,000 if production had commenced.

Joss Whedon had a number of planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoffs that became stuck in development or terminally stalled.

Joss Whedon was hired to write and direct a Warner Bros.

However, in February 2007, Joss Whedon announced that he would no longer be involved with the project.

Joss Whedon pitched a screenplay to adapt Batman for the same company as development started on what would eventually become Batman Begins.

In March 2017, Joss Whedon was in negotiations to direct, write, and produce Batgirl set in the DC Extended Universe.

Joss Whedon withdrew from the project in February 2018, saying he didn't have a story for the movie.

In 2009, Joss Whedon remarked upon the possibility of presenting it in the form of another miniseries or a feature film.

Joss Whedon expressed an interest in making a Star Wars movie after seeing the trailer of Rogue One.

Articulating his approach to screenwriting, Joss Whedon has noted outlining and act structure as the hardest parts of storytelling, but emphasizes that he feels they are "completely essential".

Joss Whedon has cited Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, Rod Serling, William Shakespeare, Stephen Sondheim, Steven Spielberg, Charles Dickens, Stan Lee, Robert Klein, Jerome Robbins, Frank Borzage, Steve Gerber, Steven Bochco, Frances Hodgson Burnett and John Williams as influences.

Joss Whedon was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it.

In late 2013, Joss Whedon spoke at an Equality Now event, where he issued a pointed dissection of the word "feminist".

Joss Whedon exemplified The Hunger Games film series as an argument for female-led franchises, and hoped Marvel Studios would pursue production of more such franchises.

In 1995, Joss Whedon married Kai Cole, an architect, producer and co-founder of Bellwether Pictures.

In 2017, Cole claimed that Joss Whedon had repeatedly been unfaithful to her and that he "does not practice what he preaches" in regard to feminism.

Joss Whedon has spoken about existentialism, explaining in detail how it, and more specifically Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea, was used as a basis for the Firefly episode "Objects in Space".

Joss Whedon called it "the most important book" he ever read, and said it was given to him right after he saw Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, whose impact, he recalls, had made him an existentialist.

In July 2012, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, in response to one woman who noted the anti-corporate themes in many of his films and asked him to give his economic philosophy in 30 seconds or less, Joss Whedon spoke out against capitalism, saying that America is "turning into Tsarist Russia".

In 2015, Joss Whedon signed a petition as part of a political campaign calling for Elizabeth Warren to run for President of the United States.

In January 2017, after actress Nicole Kidman publicly suggested that America should accept that Donald Trump is president, Joss Whedon tweeted a photograph of plastic puppet Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward alongside an image of Kidman, an action some interpreted as mocking and objectifying Kidman's physical appearance.