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Here's how this post is organised: all spoilers will be marked thus
*SPOILERS* --> and then Mal found out Hedwig was the Half-Blood Prince right before Buffy stabbed him through the heart with Anduril. *SPOILERS*
To read the spoilers, highlight between the tags and the white text will come into view. Got it? Good.
At 5022 words, this report is actually LONGER than my Peter Jackson one, which was 3 hours worth of talking as opposed to Joss's 1 hour. How did I manage that?! Oh well, enjoy anyway.
I got to Sydney on the bus and got a call from a friend asking for my ETA. Then I caught a taxi to the cinema and walked to the front of the line where my friends were. Officials came to give us all Serenity folders (my third) and Serenity poster cards (my first) and a waiver because they were taping the Q&A for the DVD (so you might see me!) A couple of people came around with organised fan bits and bobs – one girl was filming people’s reactions to the TV show, and another made a Browncoats message book. My message was something horrendously corny (and heartfelt, but CORNY) about Buffy being my favourite show as a teenager and Firefly being my favourite as an adult, and how brilliant Joss is, and how I hoped his knee felt better and good luck with Wonder Woman. I suck at that sort of thing – I can never be funny on the spot, you know? My brain just freezes over. Then on my way to the bathroom I saw a friend from a previous screening (Crypto from the Bronze) and got him to come sit up the front with us, and then we went in!
*SERENITY SPOILERS* Wow, it was so brilliant in its finished form! The special effects are really great and so’s the music, beautiful stuff. Somehow I couldn’t figure out that Wash had a GREAT BIG POLE rammed through him last time, so it was good to see that. I think there were a couple of aside shots added in. Knowing about Wash’s death coming made me really cranky with people when they laughed at his “I’m a leaf on the wind” lines, but I’d somehow blocked out Mr. Universe being skewered, so that made me choke a little. I was sad about his death because I have such a crush on him now. *SPOILERS*
May I say that, from a purely ascetic standpoint, everyone going to this movie – gay, straight, male, female – will have someone to drool over in this film. There’s a scene with Mal with no shirt that I think made me breathless for a second. Simon gets topless and Inara and River are both frequently skimpily dressed. Good stuff. Meanwhile, the film itself is funny, sad, clever, shocking, violent, unflinching, sexy, moving and clever – a Joss creation through and through.
The Q&A started with a standing ovation as Joss walked in followed by a girl screaming “I love you Joss!” This was, of course, immediately followed by these cheers from the crowd:
“I love you more!”
“I want you!”
“I just sort of like you!”
Along with others that I can’t remember as I wasn’t taking notes yet. Joss said thankyou, got some presents (a brown drizabone and some other things, I can’t remember) which were then taken away to be sent to the States for him. He told a story about an actress called Leslie Miller who, on her 17th birthday, had a car rolled out for her and presented to her by Louis B. Mayer in front of all the cameras. The cameras left, the car rolled away and she never saw it again.
Then Joss got us all to sing happy birthday to a 12 year old in the audience and declared that the Q&A was starting.
The first question was about the cut scenes, things we didn’t see in the movie. Joss said he made the landmark decision to not cut the great scenes but the crappy dull scenes, which will appear on DVD in all their crappy dull glory. Then he got serious and said Inara suffered the most because she could do more with looks than all the “yak yak that I wrote wrote.” There was apparently a scene of her with another companion, as well as her and Mal on the shuttle. He wants to do a sequel so he can make it up to Morena.
Second question was about whether we’ll ever find out about Book’s security clearance *SPOILERS* -->now that he’s dead*SPOILERS.* Joss said that’ll all be in the sequel and that it was big-headed of him to keep going on about a sequel that may never happen, but if more people than were in the room saw Serenity then it will be in the sequel, if not he’ll reveal it all on the internet.
The next question referred to Todd Solondtz’s new film Palindromes about the circular nature of life and how people never really change, and asked whether Joss thought people were capable of change. Joss said he changes all the time, and made a reference to the Picture of Dorian Gray that I missed. Then he said Todd wasn’t an “upbeat fella,” but Joss thinks people can change. Certain things can change about them for the better, but changing for the worse is much easier, and change for the better is one of the most difficult and confusing concepts. He believes change is possible, maybe not for him but for portions of the room. Then he said “these people are capable of change” and pointed to one part of the room, and then “but not me.” Very funny.
The next person said that one of the most attractive things about the shows for him was the sense of family, and asked whether *SPOILERS* --> the loss of Book and Wash would threaten that sense of family in the future? Joss said it had better, what would he do without drama to work with? *SPOILERS* He also said that one of the best things in writing is to figure out what’s wrong with the family – if everyone’s happy, linking arms and dancing and singing the Marseillaise, what’s the point? He said when he was younger (and he supposes he’s always been younger than he is now) he saw Batman Returns, when Catwoman (?) said that they had to make Batman the thing he hates most. The Penguin says “Frame him!” and Joss was like “No, it means corrupt him, change him from the inside!” He said that was the difference between the internal and external that’s often confused. He said it was so cheap, and he knew the movie wouldn’t hold any interest for him after that. Then I wrote “sequel ‘yes’ so cheap,” but I don’t know what that means. Sorry.
Next question! Someone was catching up on old Buffy and Angel episodes and said there were lots of things about Serenity that were reminiscent of old Buffy and Angel episodes, for instance *SPOILERS* the hallway at the end of the fight was like the alleyway in the final of Angel *SPOILERS* and wondered whether Joss did that on purpose. Joss said no, that’s called running out of ideas. Then he said that writers obsess over things and he loves that idea of *SPOILERS* --> the last big stand, like in The Wild Bunch *SPOILERS*. He then said “I heard there’s some teenage girls with superpowers in this movie too, god Joss, get over it, but that’s because he “can’t change like these people” (at which point he pointed to the group he’d said were capable of change before.)
Then a guy asked the shortest and probably coolest question of the night:
“I’ve always been a fan of Buffy and Firefly, but I’m a Christian, and I just wanted to know: what do you have against me?”
Joss: “I just want to make this distinction clear. It’s not Christianity; it’s you.”
LMAO! Joss went on to say that he has nothing against anybody unless their belief precludes others. He’s noticed that people with religious faith don’t seem to think others have faith in anything. He’s been an atheist for a very long time, and he thinks that the meaning of what you do with your life is the most important thing. He’s interested in the concept of faith, and thinks faith’ extraordinary (I would like to point out at this point that Joss says “extraordinary” far too often and it’s a hard word to write out when you’re trying to take notes.) Joss wishes he had faith in a religion but he doesn’t, and so in Serenity *SPOILERISH* --> Mal is his voice in terms of belief *SPOILERS.* He also said that Book was a wise and decent man *SPOILERS* --> then corrected himself to say “a wise and decent corpse.” This got a loud chorus of that noise that signified he’d gone too far (I thought that quote was hilarious, though) and he said “So, when did you lose the audience? Well, that’s a funny story, actually…” *SPOILERS.*
Joss went on to talk about Angel in season 2 episode 16 (yes, he actually said the season and episode number, which I think made every nerdy fan in the audience who’d ever asked an episode-specific question feel far less stupid) when Angel had gone all dark but was getting better, as Angel’s wont to do, and Angel says that all that matters is what we do – morality is in how we treat each other as people. Then whoever he was talking to (Kate, maybe?) said he broke into her apartment without invitation (which vampires aren’t supposed to be able to do, Joss noted.) So Joss put his philosophy on life into Angel and then contradicted himself right away, to prove how complicated things are.
In summary: Joss has nothing against you unless you have something against him. “Except Buddhists. I just hates Buddhists. Just kidding.”
Next question is pretty much just Serenity-specific, so:
*SPOILERS* --> Joss was asked about Blue Sun and the blue hand guys, whether they were a big corporation that essentially ran the alliance, and whether we’d see more of them in any sequels that may or may not arise. Joss said he had a hundred different things to take care of in the movie, too many different elements to all bring it together, but Blue Sun was essentially the massive MacDonalds/Microsoft/whatever else conglomerate company in his universe. *SPOILERS*
Then (I think the same person) asked if Joss would want to make Toy Story 3, maybe about disgruntled tamagotchis. Joss replied that he wouldn’t want to go that dark, nobody could go that dark, and is anyone ever gruntled?
Next question: did Joss have to change significant things from the show Firefly to make them work in a movie format? Joss said things weren’t so much changed as jettisoned because, as he said, he had too many ideas and too much to do with his characters. *SPOILERS* --> He said that if the series was still going there would be 2 more people alive, but he wanted to tell the story the best he could with what he had, so he felt he had no choice but to be mean. *SPOILERS*
The next girl’s question was great, she said in Buffy and Angel whenever a couple got together and were happy something bad would happen, so she and her friends had taken to saying they’d been Joss’d when something bad happened to end their relationships. *SPOILERS* --> She asked if now that Zoe and Wash have been well and truly Joss’d, is there any hope for Simon and Kaylee? Joss said, they’re young, they’re in love, they’re happy, they’re doomed. “Doesn’t look good, does it?” He said it’s possible they might be happy, everything will go well, no problems, but said it in a very doubtful tone.*SPOILERS*
Ready for more genius? This is somewhat spoilery, but if you really, really want a laugh and don't mind a small spoiler, then highlight this bit anyway. *SPOILERS* Joss was asked what River’s safe word meant, because the people from the Serenity OZ board had tried all different languages and hadn’t figured it out. Joss said that in Russian it meant “This is absurd.” It was something he’d learnt from his Russian teacher in school, and the translation is literally:
“This is laughter for chickens.”
He said that has a kid he thought that would be the name of his autobiography if he ever wrote one. Because that’s what he thought about as a kid – the name of his autobiography, his epitaph, things like that. *SPOILERS*
Sorry, another big spoilery question! *SPOILERS* --> The next person asked what Joss had changed in Serenity from the original show? Joss said “Alan kept saying “My script ends at page 105” and I was like, yeah, you land the ship and everything’s fine!” On the show Mal pretty much took Simon in by the end of the pilot, but in the movie there’s now conflict – he said that could be explained though, because now there’s more danger and River’s been with them longer, so she’s more involved than before. He said the characters didn’t change much except for Book’s cornrows. He had to simplify some things and others had to be taken for granted – for instance Inara and Kaylee, who “love each other dearly,” had absolutely no dialogue with each other. They did in the first draft, but that was 200 pages long and unfilmable. *SPOILERS*
Finally, a non-spoilery question! The next person loved Joss’s theme of constructed families, and after watching documentaries of the cast talking about each other he noticed they were very emotional about the show and seemed very close. He said they often cried (and Joss said that Summer will always cry.) The guy asked how much was the cast like a real family?
Joss said it sounded like bullshit whenever he talked about it (then went off on a tangent to say he was cussing like a sailor and this was the first time the Q&A was being filmed, and then said “Hey kids, now we’re learning a new word! Say it with me.) He said the way the cast stayed together and with him was extraordinary. He asked who in the audience had seen the show, then taking in the entire audience with their hands up, said ”Oh, okay, only the people with hands have seen the show.” He talked about Out of Gas when Book pointed out the big red button and called it the miracle button, and if Mal pushed it they’d all come running. Well, Alan works the most out of the cast, and as soon as he was done on Firefly he went off to the next project (I, Robot.) Joss and Tim were trying to find a home for the show somewhere, and Joss asked Tim “At what point does this stop being CPR and become necrophilia?” He said that wouldn’t phase Tim, who was just like “What’s wrong with that?” LOL.
Anyway, one day Alan came by Joss’s place when Joss wasn’t around and left the big red button (which he’d stolen from the TV set) on Joss’s desk with a note saying:
“When your miracle comes, press this and we’ll all come running.”
At which point I think I squeed.
Joss then said that part of the deal of making the movie was that the actors were basically not getting paid in order to put every cent into getting the movie made properly and onto the screen. The whole deal making process was very complicated, but the cast were always “having barbeques and hiking, you know, they’d pal around,” and during the deal making they all called Nathan. Nathan called Joss, saying he wouldn’t settle the deal until everyone else was happy and taken care of. Some of the lawyers etc. were furious, saying the cast were getting together to talk about script, it was collusion. Joss said no, that’s a crew and a captain, because when they were together Nathan led them – he didn’t boss them around, just made sure everyone was taken care of. Then he called the cast “the most extraordinary bunch I’ve ever put together,” and said he couldn’t take any credit for it. Well, maybe a little.
I would like to point out that at this point I am not quite halfway through my notes. Go, take a break, have a drink or a pee. Don’t hold it in. You can get…peritonitis?
*SPOILERS* --> So, how did Joss decide which cast members to kill? He used his Dungeon Master’s 20-sided dice. *insert raucous laughter and cheers from D&D players in audience – ie. most of audience.) At first he wasn’t going to kill anyone, but then he thought no, he had to make the movie as real as possible, and if nobody got hurt the last 40 minutes would pretty much just be a lot of noise. He said he had restrictions on who he could kill and who he couldn’t in order for the ending to be considered happy, so he went through a list of scenarios. He didn’t really think “I don’t need Wash or Book,” he just worried about making the movie as compelling as possible. Wash’s death also gave Zoe an interesting motivation in that last fight. *SPOILERS*
Okay, the next question was asked by my friend Crypto from the Bronze. And I don’t remember it at all because I was taking pictures of Joss while he asked it. *headdesk* Something about the how much of Joss’s own life did he put into his own work and *SPOILERS* --> was (the incredibly sexy) Mr. Universe a metaphor for Universal, while the Alliance was Fox?
Joss replied that he hadn’t heard that one – he’d heard of Mr. Universe representing the Browncoats (fans), but he’d never intended the characters to be read that way. They were always general, he just wanted characters to connect with the audience so that we go through what they’re going through – Zoe’s shock at poor Wash’s death, saying “No, come on honey, we have to go,” then ripping into the Reavers. *SPOILERS*
Joss said his own life and priorities always bleed into his work – not specifically there to be parallels, but it’s something all writers deal with. They certainly felt that in the flashback scene in The Message, which he wrote while Tim was filming. He wrote a version where he and Tim were waiting as different studio executives passed them by saying “we love the show but, erm, gotta go!” Of course, he was planning to win the war, not lose it.
*SPOILERS* --> He said of Mr. Universe etc. that he buried those emotions so deep that he’s not surprised they fell out all over the script, if his therapy ever starts working then he’ll have to stop working. *SPOILERS*
After the terribly deep and probing questions that preceded her, the next person sais she was going to “bring down the deepness to Jayne.” She thought family was important to him, and she wondered what Joss’s vision for Jayne and the crew was, since she didn’t think Jayne considered the crew family. Joss said that he actually had no grand plan for Jayne, or at least if he did then Adam Baldwin blew it – we weren’t supposed to fall in love with Jayne. He was supposed to be untrustworthy and unlikeable, but Adam made him untrustworthy and adorable. He also had this idea that Jayne, who was a big bad mercenary, came from a really well-adjusted family, who he said he wished we could’ve met one day. He said he’d like to cast Tommy Lee Jones as Jayne’s dad, because he couldn’t see anyone else putting the beat down on Adam Baldwin.
The next person had honestly the most stupid question of the evening for anyone who’s a fan of the shows – she asked if Joss was apprehensive about casting Nathan, Gina and Adam on Firefly after fans new them so well from their roles on Buffy and Angel. While I was sputtering at the lack of knowledge, Joss calmly explained that he’d had this question before and that no, in fact, they were cast on Firefly first. He might have said something else here, but I was still indignant and I think I missed it. Then he wondered whether it would be too incestuous to cast them on Buffy and Angel, but he loved them and they were good at their jobs – and when you’re casting a goddess, who else are you going to call but Gina? To which I was all “amen” and Crypto said “Morena” and then I said that Gina has something extra and then I realised that, hello, Joss Whedon was talking and this was not the time to be arguing over whether Gina or Morena was more goddess-like. Joss said he wanted to add Morena to Angel but she was doing a guest thing on another show and, hello irony, Fox wouldn’t let her.
Next person asked Joss if he liked beating up Nathan, because it seemed to happen quite a lot, but then launched into another question before Joss could answer – she said that she didn’t loathe any of the female characters because they were all so complex and…something, and wondered if they were based on women in Joss’s life. Joss said there were none specifically, but it wasn’t coincidence that they were all such strong women either – he is married to a strong woman and, even though he had a good father, he was raised by a strong woman as well. He said he always identified with females as heroes. Then he said “Finally, someone likes Kennedy!” to which we all laughed incredulously and he rolled his eyes at us and said something about the Kennedy likers hiding. He went on to say that his wife is his personal hero and that he sometimes incorporated stories from her life into the shows, but nothing specific so she wouldn’t sue.
Then someone asked whether Joss had any ideas for different directions after Serenity – a sequel to the movie or Firefly series 2? Joss replied that Firefly is just gone – it would be possible to do a spin off with the same characters in the same verse or downsizing the show, but it wouldn’t be the same chemistry as original, so he wouldn’t want to try it. He asked the audience whether we wanted a movie over a show – no cheers – or a show over a movie – most people cheered. He said he thought that would be the case. If the movie’s a hit he’ll do a sequel, both ideas appeal to him but also sound exhausting. I would like to put in that yes, we all want Firefly back, but hell, if he’s doing more movies we’ll watch those too – right?!
Next question was what was more important to Hollywood and the TV networks, an original idea or an idea that sells? Joss said he’d never had the original kind, they’re overrated. Then he said that an “idea that sells” wasn’t a phrase he really understood – if someone’s had an idea only to sell then they’ve missed the point. He said that what’s true is important, if there’s no humanity behind it then please don’t bother. He’s seen a lot of movies and shows that were ingenious but dead inside, they make money but they don’t affect him.
The next question was….something about the “gruntled” thing being a P.G. Woodhouse joke, and then something about another author, and public school in England (at this point someone in the audience fake-snored), and somehow the point of the question was about Joss’s aid in evolving the English language, and whether or not he had an outsider’s view of the English language having grown up…in England. Which is a question I had several problems with – not that it was boring, but that it took up a LOT of time, Joss didn’t know what he was on about at the beginning which is usually a sign to cut the question short, and that most of it wasn’t so much a question as a lecture. Also? People speak English in England. Bah.
Anyway, Joss responded that anyone who speaks the language as bad as him had to have an outsider’s perspective, and told the snorer off because he loves that kind of question – language is his life, his drug, he loves it more than anything else. In Buffy he said he was trying to create a ‘teenspeak’ that wouldn’t get old or sound dodgy later – he tried to find a new rhythm and come at language in a lateral way so that it always sounded fresh even if the idea was something we’d heard before. Firefly needed a whole new language/poetry to it because he was creating a future universe where they wouldn’t speak like we do today, and he said you always need to do that for scifi. He said the key to making a scifi language is to make it sound correct even if it’s words that we don’t use now. He uses speech patterns than aren’t used anymore in Serenity, such as “I conjure…” (he quoted this line perfectly and I can’t even remember it now, which makes me feel like a bad fan. I am really tired, though.) He said he used a lot of…erm, was it American civil war speech? Things like that. He said he had “no particular style” but the way he creates languages comes from his English boarding school upbringing.
Okay, next, far less irritating question: How are you doing? Joss said they love me! Except these people (at which point he pointed to a section of the crowd again, and glared, then laughed.) Continuing the question, this person said that what differentiated the cast of Firefly from other shows was the willingness to be interactive with the fans – for instance Nathan’s comic book thing, and Joss coming online to post about Veronica Mars. She asked whether this bolstering of the fan base helped promote the film. Joss said it wasn’t a deliberate stratagem – Nathan was really pissed about that comic book thing, and he loves getting online and going to conventions, that all the cast really love it and have a blast doing it. As for Veronica Mars, he was just losing his shit, he was so excited about it and just had to get online and talk about it (WHY AREN’T THEY SHOWING THIS HERE?!) He said that they’re all geeks, really, but that the cast are extraordinarily good-looking geeks, and he was going to have to check their geek I.Ds.
Next question was from a little girl who asked if he had a favourite toy as a child, what was its name and did he still have it? Joss said he had a doll…its name was Spiderman…then he said he was going to tell us a story and then probably regret it immediately afterwards. When he was about 12 he was given a teddy by a girl, but he couldn’t think of a name for it. To put this in perspective, he said that in college he had a set of knives and the all had names and cool superhero characters – he had this team of knives with personalities, and then once while he was killing drifters… The point was he could name a set of knives but not a teddy. Then he said that, “as *insert name of whoever he quoted here* likes to say, ‘there are not enough couches in Vienna for the type of analysis I clearly need.’”
*insert generic convention question of: if you could take 5 people on a desert island, who would it be?*
Joss asked if they had to be living people. Then he said there was no necrophilia involved. Then the questioner asked whether he could do the dance of joy and everybody cheered loudly. Joss said he was sorry to interrupt our applause with such hatred, but that it wasn’t possible to do the Dance of Joy. And by that he meant not possible, as he’d recently had knee surgery (I said I hoped his knee was okay in my letter, yay me) and that if he hadn’t had knee surgery…he still wouldn’t have done it. “See this tiny thread here? That’s my dignity.” He said he was in makeup and in the back of the screen and it was easy before, not in front of hundreds of people.
Back to the 5-person island, the questioner asked if he’d take any cast, and he said he can’t choose the cast because the others will hear about it anyway. Besides, they’d all be girls and that would be unseemly. Firstly he would take Jane Austen, because he wanted to be her so much when he was younger. Next he chose Caligula because you gotta wonder, and it’s an island so you’d need someone to be master of ceremonies. The next person was Emma Thompson, he couldn’t help it, he thought she was so funny and…some completely illegible word. Fourth person would be himself, of course, and the fifth, George Bush “because we’ll need something to eat.” Which, of course, caused thunderous applause. He said that it was cheap but heartfelt. I love Joss.
FINAL QUESTION! Not so much a question but an offer – she’d promised the boards there’d be singing but since Joss was tired we were to sing the Ballad of Serenity for him. Which he did. He replied by saying that as lovely as the rendition was, it was just as embarrassing sitting there listening to it as singing it, and he might as well have joined in.
Joss concluded by saying that we, the fans, proved that they really can’t take the sky from him, and if they do he’ll just take it back. And that it had been fun. YAY!
Then we all sat around for a while to chat while they called people up row by row to get autographs. I wrote my name on the back of my waiver, which the woman at the desk then TORE UP. It’s totally null and void now, right? ;) Anyway, Joss signed my Serenity poster thing, and I said “It’s so lovely to meet you” and he said “It’s nice to meet you too” and smiled at me. Not the most exciting story ever, but I didn’t embarrass myself or embarrass Joss, and he was tired so I didn’t want to push him. He was lovely.
One thing I definitely discovered last night is just how much Joss & I have in common. I wouldn't presume to compare my intelligence with his, but both of us have a mad love of language, name EVERYTHING, find pretty much exactly the same things funny. We're both somewhat awkward with other people and fairly blunt - I actually really loved that he simultaneously loves and supports us as fans and smacks us down when we get too big for our boots. I just love him, and consider myself one of the luckiest girls alive to have been able to meet my heroes within the space of a year.
Oh, just so I have this somewhere - Joss on Rove tonight was hilarious as usual. And...I totally forgot what I was going to write down. I'm sooooo tired.
And that, ladies and not-so-ladies, is the report of my night of Whedon-style fun. Well, except for the dramas that I will write about in a very friends-locked post later on. Enjoy, link to friends, and whatever you do
GO SEE SERENITY ON SEPTEMBER 29th!!!
I guarantee you, you won't regret it - it's worth EVERY CENT. (Also, I love that my mood icon is Peter Jackson and my user icon is Joss Whedon. Perfection much?)
You can't take the sky from me
Green Queen
*SPOILERS* --> and then Mal found out Hedwig was the Half-Blood Prince right before Buffy stabbed him through the heart with Anduril. *SPOILERS*
To read the spoilers, highlight between the tags and the white text will come into view. Got it? Good.
At 5022 words, this report is actually LONGER than my Peter Jackson one, which was 3 hours worth of talking as opposed to Joss's 1 hour. How did I manage that?! Oh well, enjoy anyway.
I got to Sydney on the bus and got a call from a friend asking for my ETA. Then I caught a taxi to the cinema and walked to the front of the line where my friends were. Officials came to give us all Serenity folders (my third) and Serenity poster cards (my first) and a waiver because they were taping the Q&A for the DVD (so you might see me!) A couple of people came around with organised fan bits and bobs – one girl was filming people’s reactions to the TV show, and another made a Browncoats message book. My message was something horrendously corny (and heartfelt, but CORNY) about Buffy being my favourite show as a teenager and Firefly being my favourite as an adult, and how brilliant Joss is, and how I hoped his knee felt better and good luck with Wonder Woman. I suck at that sort of thing – I can never be funny on the spot, you know? My brain just freezes over. Then on my way to the bathroom I saw a friend from a previous screening (Crypto from the Bronze) and got him to come sit up the front with us, and then we went in!
*SERENITY SPOILERS* Wow, it was so brilliant in its finished form! The special effects are really great and so’s the music, beautiful stuff. Somehow I couldn’t figure out that Wash had a GREAT BIG POLE rammed through him last time, so it was good to see that. I think there were a couple of aside shots added in. Knowing about Wash’s death coming made me really cranky with people when they laughed at his “I’m a leaf on the wind” lines, but I’d somehow blocked out Mr. Universe being skewered, so that made me choke a little. I was sad about his death because I have such a crush on him now. *SPOILERS*
May I say that, from a purely ascetic standpoint, everyone going to this movie – gay, straight, male, female – will have someone to drool over in this film. There’s a scene with Mal with no shirt that I think made me breathless for a second. Simon gets topless and Inara and River are both frequently skimpily dressed. Good stuff. Meanwhile, the film itself is funny, sad, clever, shocking, violent, unflinching, sexy, moving and clever – a Joss creation through and through.
The Q&A started with a standing ovation as Joss walked in followed by a girl screaming “I love you Joss!” This was, of course, immediately followed by these cheers from the crowd:
“I love you more!”
“I want you!”
“I just sort of like you!”
Along with others that I can’t remember as I wasn’t taking notes yet. Joss said thankyou, got some presents (a brown drizabone and some other things, I can’t remember) which were then taken away to be sent to the States for him. He told a story about an actress called Leslie Miller who, on her 17th birthday, had a car rolled out for her and presented to her by Louis B. Mayer in front of all the cameras. The cameras left, the car rolled away and she never saw it again.
Then Joss got us all to sing happy birthday to a 12 year old in the audience and declared that the Q&A was starting.
The first question was about the cut scenes, things we didn’t see in the movie. Joss said he made the landmark decision to not cut the great scenes but the crappy dull scenes, which will appear on DVD in all their crappy dull glory. Then he got serious and said Inara suffered the most because she could do more with looks than all the “yak yak that I wrote wrote.” There was apparently a scene of her with another companion, as well as her and Mal on the shuttle. He wants to do a sequel so he can make it up to Morena.
Second question was about whether we’ll ever find out about Book’s security clearance *SPOILERS* -->now that he’s dead*SPOILERS.* Joss said that’ll all be in the sequel and that it was big-headed of him to keep going on about a sequel that may never happen, but if more people than were in the room saw Serenity then it will be in the sequel, if not he’ll reveal it all on the internet.
The next question referred to Todd Solondtz’s new film Palindromes about the circular nature of life and how people never really change, and asked whether Joss thought people were capable of change. Joss said he changes all the time, and made a reference to the Picture of Dorian Gray that I missed. Then he said Todd wasn’t an “upbeat fella,” but Joss thinks people can change. Certain things can change about them for the better, but changing for the worse is much easier, and change for the better is one of the most difficult and confusing concepts. He believes change is possible, maybe not for him but for portions of the room. Then he said “these people are capable of change” and pointed to one part of the room, and then “but not me.” Very funny.
The next person said that one of the most attractive things about the shows for him was the sense of family, and asked whether *SPOILERS* --> the loss of Book and Wash would threaten that sense of family in the future? Joss said it had better, what would he do without drama to work with? *SPOILERS* He also said that one of the best things in writing is to figure out what’s wrong with the family – if everyone’s happy, linking arms and dancing and singing the Marseillaise, what’s the point? He said when he was younger (and he supposes he’s always been younger than he is now) he saw Batman Returns, when Catwoman (?) said that they had to make Batman the thing he hates most. The Penguin says “Frame him!” and Joss was like “No, it means corrupt him, change him from the inside!” He said that was the difference between the internal and external that’s often confused. He said it was so cheap, and he knew the movie wouldn’t hold any interest for him after that. Then I wrote “sequel ‘yes’ so cheap,” but I don’t know what that means. Sorry.
Next question! Someone was catching up on old Buffy and Angel episodes and said there were lots of things about Serenity that were reminiscent of old Buffy and Angel episodes, for instance *SPOILERS* the hallway at the end of the fight was like the alleyway in the final of Angel *SPOILERS* and wondered whether Joss did that on purpose. Joss said no, that’s called running out of ideas. Then he said that writers obsess over things and he loves that idea of *SPOILERS* --> the last big stand, like in The Wild Bunch *SPOILERS*. He then said “I heard there’s some teenage girls with superpowers in this movie too, god Joss, get over it, but that’s because he “can’t change like these people” (at which point he pointed to the group he’d said were capable of change before.)
Then a guy asked the shortest and probably coolest question of the night:
“I’ve always been a fan of Buffy and Firefly, but I’m a Christian, and I just wanted to know: what do you have against me?”
Joss: “I just want to make this distinction clear. It’s not Christianity; it’s you.”
LMAO! Joss went on to say that he has nothing against anybody unless their belief precludes others. He’s noticed that people with religious faith don’t seem to think others have faith in anything. He’s been an atheist for a very long time, and he thinks that the meaning of what you do with your life is the most important thing. He’s interested in the concept of faith, and thinks faith’ extraordinary (I would like to point out at this point that Joss says “extraordinary” far too often and it’s a hard word to write out when you’re trying to take notes.) Joss wishes he had faith in a religion but he doesn’t, and so in Serenity *SPOILERISH* --> Mal is his voice in terms of belief *SPOILERS.* He also said that Book was a wise and decent man *SPOILERS* --> then corrected himself to say “a wise and decent corpse.” This got a loud chorus of that noise that signified he’d gone too far (I thought that quote was hilarious, though) and he said “So, when did you lose the audience? Well, that’s a funny story, actually…” *SPOILERS.*
Joss went on to talk about Angel in season 2 episode 16 (yes, he actually said the season and episode number, which I think made every nerdy fan in the audience who’d ever asked an episode-specific question feel far less stupid) when Angel had gone all dark but was getting better, as Angel’s wont to do, and Angel says that all that matters is what we do – morality is in how we treat each other as people. Then whoever he was talking to (Kate, maybe?) said he broke into her apartment without invitation (which vampires aren’t supposed to be able to do, Joss noted.) So Joss put his philosophy on life into Angel and then contradicted himself right away, to prove how complicated things are.
In summary: Joss has nothing against you unless you have something against him. “Except Buddhists. I just hates Buddhists. Just kidding.”
Next question is pretty much just Serenity-specific, so:
*SPOILERS* --> Joss was asked about Blue Sun and the blue hand guys, whether they were a big corporation that essentially ran the alliance, and whether we’d see more of them in any sequels that may or may not arise. Joss said he had a hundred different things to take care of in the movie, too many different elements to all bring it together, but Blue Sun was essentially the massive MacDonalds/Microsoft/whatever else conglomerate company in his universe. *SPOILERS*
Then (I think the same person) asked if Joss would want to make Toy Story 3, maybe about disgruntled tamagotchis. Joss replied that he wouldn’t want to go that dark, nobody could go that dark, and is anyone ever gruntled?
Next question: did Joss have to change significant things from the show Firefly to make them work in a movie format? Joss said things weren’t so much changed as jettisoned because, as he said, he had too many ideas and too much to do with his characters. *SPOILERS* --> He said that if the series was still going there would be 2 more people alive, but he wanted to tell the story the best he could with what he had, so he felt he had no choice but to be mean. *SPOILERS*
The next girl’s question was great, she said in Buffy and Angel whenever a couple got together and were happy something bad would happen, so she and her friends had taken to saying they’d been Joss’d when something bad happened to end their relationships. *SPOILERS* --> She asked if now that Zoe and Wash have been well and truly Joss’d, is there any hope for Simon and Kaylee? Joss said, they’re young, they’re in love, they’re happy, they’re doomed. “Doesn’t look good, does it?” He said it’s possible they might be happy, everything will go well, no problems, but said it in a very doubtful tone.*SPOILERS*
Ready for more genius? This is somewhat spoilery, but if you really, really want a laugh and don't mind a small spoiler, then highlight this bit anyway. *SPOILERS* Joss was asked what River’s safe word meant, because the people from the Serenity OZ board had tried all different languages and hadn’t figured it out. Joss said that in Russian it meant “This is absurd.” It was something he’d learnt from his Russian teacher in school, and the translation is literally:
“This is laughter for chickens.”
He said that has a kid he thought that would be the name of his autobiography if he ever wrote one. Because that’s what he thought about as a kid – the name of his autobiography, his epitaph, things like that. *SPOILERS*
Sorry, another big spoilery question! *SPOILERS* --> The next person asked what Joss had changed in Serenity from the original show? Joss said “Alan kept saying “My script ends at page 105” and I was like, yeah, you land the ship and everything’s fine!” On the show Mal pretty much took Simon in by the end of the pilot, but in the movie there’s now conflict – he said that could be explained though, because now there’s more danger and River’s been with them longer, so she’s more involved than before. He said the characters didn’t change much except for Book’s cornrows. He had to simplify some things and others had to be taken for granted – for instance Inara and Kaylee, who “love each other dearly,” had absolutely no dialogue with each other. They did in the first draft, but that was 200 pages long and unfilmable. *SPOILERS*
Finally, a non-spoilery question! The next person loved Joss’s theme of constructed families, and after watching documentaries of the cast talking about each other he noticed they were very emotional about the show and seemed very close. He said they often cried (and Joss said that Summer will always cry.) The guy asked how much was the cast like a real family?
Joss said it sounded like bullshit whenever he talked about it (then went off on a tangent to say he was cussing like a sailor and this was the first time the Q&A was being filmed, and then said “Hey kids, now we’re learning a new word! Say it with me.) He said the way the cast stayed together and with him was extraordinary. He asked who in the audience had seen the show, then taking in the entire audience with their hands up, said ”Oh, okay, only the people with hands have seen the show.” He talked about Out of Gas when Book pointed out the big red button and called it the miracle button, and if Mal pushed it they’d all come running. Well, Alan works the most out of the cast, and as soon as he was done on Firefly he went off to the next project (I, Robot.) Joss and Tim were trying to find a home for the show somewhere, and Joss asked Tim “At what point does this stop being CPR and become necrophilia?” He said that wouldn’t phase Tim, who was just like “What’s wrong with that?” LOL.
Anyway, one day Alan came by Joss’s place when Joss wasn’t around and left the big red button (which he’d stolen from the TV set) on Joss’s desk with a note saying:
“When your miracle comes, press this and we’ll all come running.”
At which point I think I squeed.
Joss then said that part of the deal of making the movie was that the actors were basically not getting paid in order to put every cent into getting the movie made properly and onto the screen. The whole deal making process was very complicated, but the cast were always “having barbeques and hiking, you know, they’d pal around,” and during the deal making they all called Nathan. Nathan called Joss, saying he wouldn’t settle the deal until everyone else was happy and taken care of. Some of the lawyers etc. were furious, saying the cast were getting together to talk about script, it was collusion. Joss said no, that’s a crew and a captain, because when they were together Nathan led them – he didn’t boss them around, just made sure everyone was taken care of. Then he called the cast “the most extraordinary bunch I’ve ever put together,” and said he couldn’t take any credit for it. Well, maybe a little.
I would like to point out that at this point I am not quite halfway through my notes. Go, take a break, have a drink or a pee. Don’t hold it in. You can get…peritonitis?
*SPOILERS* --> So, how did Joss decide which cast members to kill? He used his Dungeon Master’s 20-sided dice. *insert raucous laughter and cheers from D&D players in audience – ie. most of audience.) At first he wasn’t going to kill anyone, but then he thought no, he had to make the movie as real as possible, and if nobody got hurt the last 40 minutes would pretty much just be a lot of noise. He said he had restrictions on who he could kill and who he couldn’t in order for the ending to be considered happy, so he went through a list of scenarios. He didn’t really think “I don’t need Wash or Book,” he just worried about making the movie as compelling as possible. Wash’s death also gave Zoe an interesting motivation in that last fight. *SPOILERS*
Okay, the next question was asked by my friend Crypto from the Bronze. And I don’t remember it at all because I was taking pictures of Joss while he asked it. *headdesk* Something about the how much of Joss’s own life did he put into his own work and *SPOILERS* --> was (the incredibly sexy) Mr. Universe a metaphor for Universal, while the Alliance was Fox?
Joss replied that he hadn’t heard that one – he’d heard of Mr. Universe representing the Browncoats (fans), but he’d never intended the characters to be read that way. They were always general, he just wanted characters to connect with the audience so that we go through what they’re going through – Zoe’s shock at poor Wash’s death, saying “No, come on honey, we have to go,” then ripping into the Reavers. *SPOILERS*
Joss said his own life and priorities always bleed into his work – not specifically there to be parallels, but it’s something all writers deal with. They certainly felt that in the flashback scene in The Message, which he wrote while Tim was filming. He wrote a version where he and Tim were waiting as different studio executives passed them by saying “we love the show but, erm, gotta go!” Of course, he was planning to win the war, not lose it.
*SPOILERS* --> He said of Mr. Universe etc. that he buried those emotions so deep that he’s not surprised they fell out all over the script, if his therapy ever starts working then he’ll have to stop working. *SPOILERS*
After the terribly deep and probing questions that preceded her, the next person sais she was going to “bring down the deepness to Jayne.” She thought family was important to him, and she wondered what Joss’s vision for Jayne and the crew was, since she didn’t think Jayne considered the crew family. Joss said that he actually had no grand plan for Jayne, or at least if he did then Adam Baldwin blew it – we weren’t supposed to fall in love with Jayne. He was supposed to be untrustworthy and unlikeable, but Adam made him untrustworthy and adorable. He also had this idea that Jayne, who was a big bad mercenary, came from a really well-adjusted family, who he said he wished we could’ve met one day. He said he’d like to cast Tommy Lee Jones as Jayne’s dad, because he couldn’t see anyone else putting the beat down on Adam Baldwin.
The next person had honestly the most stupid question of the evening for anyone who’s a fan of the shows – she asked if Joss was apprehensive about casting Nathan, Gina and Adam on Firefly after fans new them so well from their roles on Buffy and Angel. While I was sputtering at the lack of knowledge, Joss calmly explained that he’d had this question before and that no, in fact, they were cast on Firefly first. He might have said something else here, but I was still indignant and I think I missed it. Then he wondered whether it would be too incestuous to cast them on Buffy and Angel, but he loved them and they were good at their jobs – and when you’re casting a goddess, who else are you going to call but Gina? To which I was all “amen” and Crypto said “Morena” and then I said that Gina has something extra and then I realised that, hello, Joss Whedon was talking and this was not the time to be arguing over whether Gina or Morena was more goddess-like. Joss said he wanted to add Morena to Angel but she was doing a guest thing on another show and, hello irony, Fox wouldn’t let her.
Next person asked Joss if he liked beating up Nathan, because it seemed to happen quite a lot, but then launched into another question before Joss could answer – she said that she didn’t loathe any of the female characters because they were all so complex and…something, and wondered if they were based on women in Joss’s life. Joss said there were none specifically, but it wasn’t coincidence that they were all such strong women either – he is married to a strong woman and, even though he had a good father, he was raised by a strong woman as well. He said he always identified with females as heroes. Then he said “Finally, someone likes Kennedy!” to which we all laughed incredulously and he rolled his eyes at us and said something about the Kennedy likers hiding. He went on to say that his wife is his personal hero and that he sometimes incorporated stories from her life into the shows, but nothing specific so she wouldn’t sue.
Then someone asked whether Joss had any ideas for different directions after Serenity – a sequel to the movie or Firefly series 2? Joss replied that Firefly is just gone – it would be possible to do a spin off with the same characters in the same verse or downsizing the show, but it wouldn’t be the same chemistry as original, so he wouldn’t want to try it. He asked the audience whether we wanted a movie over a show – no cheers – or a show over a movie – most people cheered. He said he thought that would be the case. If the movie’s a hit he’ll do a sequel, both ideas appeal to him but also sound exhausting. I would like to put in that yes, we all want Firefly back, but hell, if he’s doing more movies we’ll watch those too – right?!
Next question was what was more important to Hollywood and the TV networks, an original idea or an idea that sells? Joss said he’d never had the original kind, they’re overrated. Then he said that an “idea that sells” wasn’t a phrase he really understood – if someone’s had an idea only to sell then they’ve missed the point. He said that what’s true is important, if there’s no humanity behind it then please don’t bother. He’s seen a lot of movies and shows that were ingenious but dead inside, they make money but they don’t affect him.
The next question was….something about the “gruntled” thing being a P.G. Woodhouse joke, and then something about another author, and public school in England (at this point someone in the audience fake-snored), and somehow the point of the question was about Joss’s aid in evolving the English language, and whether or not he had an outsider’s view of the English language having grown up…in England. Which is a question I had several problems with – not that it was boring, but that it took up a LOT of time, Joss didn’t know what he was on about at the beginning which is usually a sign to cut the question short, and that most of it wasn’t so much a question as a lecture. Also? People speak English in England. Bah.
Anyway, Joss responded that anyone who speaks the language as bad as him had to have an outsider’s perspective, and told the snorer off because he loves that kind of question – language is his life, his drug, he loves it more than anything else. In Buffy he said he was trying to create a ‘teenspeak’ that wouldn’t get old or sound dodgy later – he tried to find a new rhythm and come at language in a lateral way so that it always sounded fresh even if the idea was something we’d heard before. Firefly needed a whole new language/poetry to it because he was creating a future universe where they wouldn’t speak like we do today, and he said you always need to do that for scifi. He said the key to making a scifi language is to make it sound correct even if it’s words that we don’t use now. He uses speech patterns than aren’t used anymore in Serenity, such as “I conjure…” (he quoted this line perfectly and I can’t even remember it now, which makes me feel like a bad fan. I am really tired, though.) He said he used a lot of…erm, was it American civil war speech? Things like that. He said he had “no particular style” but the way he creates languages comes from his English boarding school upbringing.
Okay, next, far less irritating question: How are you doing? Joss said they love me! Except these people (at which point he pointed to a section of the crowd again, and glared, then laughed.) Continuing the question, this person said that what differentiated the cast of Firefly from other shows was the willingness to be interactive with the fans – for instance Nathan’s comic book thing, and Joss coming online to post about Veronica Mars. She asked whether this bolstering of the fan base helped promote the film. Joss said it wasn’t a deliberate stratagem – Nathan was really pissed about that comic book thing, and he loves getting online and going to conventions, that all the cast really love it and have a blast doing it. As for Veronica Mars, he was just losing his shit, he was so excited about it and just had to get online and talk about it (WHY AREN’T THEY SHOWING THIS HERE?!) He said that they’re all geeks, really, but that the cast are extraordinarily good-looking geeks, and he was going to have to check their geek I.Ds.
Next question was from a little girl who asked if he had a favourite toy as a child, what was its name and did he still have it? Joss said he had a doll…its name was Spiderman…then he said he was going to tell us a story and then probably regret it immediately afterwards. When he was about 12 he was given a teddy by a girl, but he couldn’t think of a name for it. To put this in perspective, he said that in college he had a set of knives and the all had names and cool superhero characters – he had this team of knives with personalities, and then once while he was killing drifters… The point was he could name a set of knives but not a teddy. Then he said that, “as *insert name of whoever he quoted here* likes to say, ‘there are not enough couches in Vienna for the type of analysis I clearly need.’”
*insert generic convention question of: if you could take 5 people on a desert island, who would it be?*
Joss asked if they had to be living people. Then he said there was no necrophilia involved. Then the questioner asked whether he could do the dance of joy and everybody cheered loudly. Joss said he was sorry to interrupt our applause with such hatred, but that it wasn’t possible to do the Dance of Joy. And by that he meant not possible, as he’d recently had knee surgery (I said I hoped his knee was okay in my letter, yay me) and that if he hadn’t had knee surgery…he still wouldn’t have done it. “See this tiny thread here? That’s my dignity.” He said he was in makeup and in the back of the screen and it was easy before, not in front of hundreds of people.
Back to the 5-person island, the questioner asked if he’d take any cast, and he said he can’t choose the cast because the others will hear about it anyway. Besides, they’d all be girls and that would be unseemly. Firstly he would take Jane Austen, because he wanted to be her so much when he was younger. Next he chose Caligula because you gotta wonder, and it’s an island so you’d need someone to be master of ceremonies. The next person was Emma Thompson, he couldn’t help it, he thought she was so funny and…some completely illegible word. Fourth person would be himself, of course, and the fifth, George Bush “because we’ll need something to eat.” Which, of course, caused thunderous applause. He said that it was cheap but heartfelt. I love Joss.
FINAL QUESTION! Not so much a question but an offer – she’d promised the boards there’d be singing but since Joss was tired we were to sing the Ballad of Serenity for him. Which he did. He replied by saying that as lovely as the rendition was, it was just as embarrassing sitting there listening to it as singing it, and he might as well have joined in.
Joss concluded by saying that we, the fans, proved that they really can’t take the sky from him, and if they do he’ll just take it back. And that it had been fun. YAY!
Then we all sat around for a while to chat while they called people up row by row to get autographs. I wrote my name on the back of my waiver, which the woman at the desk then TORE UP. It’s totally null and void now, right? ;) Anyway, Joss signed my Serenity poster thing, and I said “It’s so lovely to meet you” and he said “It’s nice to meet you too” and smiled at me. Not the most exciting story ever, but I didn’t embarrass myself or embarrass Joss, and he was tired so I didn’t want to push him. He was lovely.
One thing I definitely discovered last night is just how much Joss & I have in common. I wouldn't presume to compare my intelligence with his, but both of us have a mad love of language, name EVERYTHING, find pretty much exactly the same things funny. We're both somewhat awkward with other people and fairly blunt - I actually really loved that he simultaneously loves and supports us as fans and smacks us down when we get too big for our boots. I just love him, and consider myself one of the luckiest girls alive to have been able to meet my heroes within the space of a year.
Oh, just so I have this somewhere - Joss on Rove tonight was hilarious as usual. And...I totally forgot what I was going to write down. I'm sooooo tired.
And that, ladies and not-so-ladies, is the report of my night of Whedon-style fun. Well, except for the dramas that I will write about in a very friends-locked post later on. Enjoy, link to friends, and whatever you do
GO SEE SERENITY ON SEPTEMBER 29th!!!
I guarantee you, you won't regret it - it's worth EVERY CENT. (Also, I love that my mood icon is Peter Jackson and my user icon is Joss Whedon. Perfection much?)
You can't take the sky from me
Green Queen
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I really need to go to bed. Lost cast Katrina benefit icons, then bed. *is exhausted*
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thanks for the review dear :)
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I thought Joss was awesome on Rove and I thought the interview was actually great. Rove actually asked some fannish questions which I didn't expect at all.
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Rove's such a geek though, so it didn't surprise me. I wish I could remember what they talked about!
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**SQUEEEEEE!**
Thanks so much for typing this up!
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Not to mention the fact that it reminded me of my brief meeting with Joss Whedon, which was itself all kinds of awesomeness, fluttery & fangirly though I may have been.
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I saw the film in Edinburgh where it was billed as the "World Premiere" but did not get to the Joss-session there.
I almost wish I hadn't seen Serenity, especially in light of the red-button factor, if you can understand my torment. I want the series back.
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Well, not seeing Serenity wouldn't bring back Firefly. I loved Serenity, and hope Joss has a chance to make more movies if that's what he wants to do.
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It wouldn't? Curses! :-)
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Ulp, late for class. *dashes off*
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I love the pic in your icon.
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;)
"Then a guy asked the shortest and probably *coolest* question of the night:
“I’ve always been a fan of Buffy and Firefly, but I’m a Christian, and I just wanted to know: what do you have against me?”"
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Yes, I am the villain--and I'm glad I did it! Glad, see?
(... and I live in Canberra.)