Joss Whedon does not think "The Avengers" is perfect.
The always helpful Joss Whedon talked to Vulture about “The Avengers,” amongst other things (those other things would be his deal with Marvel to do a S.H.I.E.L.D. centered series). So what did he have to say?
Well, you know that deleted Maria Hill opening sequence that was circulating this week? Here’s why they cut it:
Two factors. One: The movie was three hours long. Two: Audiences didn’t respond to it as well in the movie as I think they would as a DVD extra. Most of them didn’t know who this character was or what the context was, and they were like, Uhhh, I don’t know why I’m supposed to be personally involved in this character I don’t know.The rollout to the Avengers getting to Loki was so gradual that people were getting restless. I thought Cobie nailed it, and the reason I thought it was necessary is because I was trying to make a war movie and I wanted to give context that something bad had happened in the past. In a war movie, you don’t know who’s going to live or die, but you do know that this war happened and that [the characters] are going to be in a dire circumstance, and I wanted to create that atmosphere.
I was able to get what I needed without doing that. It was tough. I hated cutting it. I hated cutting the Captain America stuff with the waitress. At least I was able to call Ashley Johnson [who plays the waitress] and tell her that all her stuff was still in Much Ado About Nothing, since she had been cut out of Dollhouse, she had been cut out of The Avengers: “I swear you’re still in the Shakespeare movie!” You know, those bits had seemed very personal to me, and part of doing Much Ado was that I could go back to The Avengers and say, “Oh, it’s not about me. Even though its my film, it’s about the Avengers. I am less important than the needs of the film.”
Big applause for reason number one–very, very few movies need to be three hours long.
And how about this quote from Whedon?
I don’t think it’s a perfect movie. I don’t even think it’s a great movie. I think it’s a great time, and I’m proud of it, but for me, what was exciting is that people don’t go to see a movie that many times unless it’s pulling on something from within, unless there’s a need there. That’s very gratifying.
I think that’s an accurate assessment. There’s nothing wrong with being a movie that people just enjoy, with no greater meaning than that. But it’s kind of deflating for anyone who was ready to swear the movie was one of the all-time greats.
Read the rest of the interview here.
