What started as a humble script-editing career in television soon brought Joss Whedon to fame with his hit Emmy-winning series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his later series Firefly, has now brought him onto both bigger and smaller things; With the highly anticipated release of what is sure to be one of next summer’s biggest blockbusters- the first instalment in The Avengers series, Whedon has also shirked the multi-million budget level for a more modest film that most people (other than hardcore fans) may miss- a low budget production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

As evidenced by his body of work, Whedon’s true passion lies in writing, so naturally there would exist a predilection for The Bard, but why shoot an adaptation on such a small scale, and why now when he’s in the middle of making such a big budget Hollywood studio film? According to Whedon in an interview with Entertainment Weekly,

“Well, it’s not a bit secret that I’ve done these [Shakespeare] readings before, and I always had a vague notion of shooting Much Ado. But I didn’t really have a take on it. And then, for some reason, I kinda sorta did. As we were finishing The Avengers in New York, my wife and I were planning our vacation for our 20th anniversary. And she said, “Let’s not take the vacation. Make a movie instead.” I was like, “I’m not even sure if I can adapt the script, cast the movie, and prep it in a month.” And she was like, “Well, that’s your vacation time, so you do it.” And so I did.

Whedon and his crew shot the film in twelve days at his home in Santa Monica. Much Ado marks the first production by Bellwether Pictures, a micro-studio founded by Whedon and his wife, Kai Cole. Not much is known about this company yet; they don’t even have a website. But according to the Much Ado press release, Bellwether is “a micro-studio for the production of small, independent narratives for all media, embracing a DIY ethos and new technologies.” The next project being produced by Bellwether is the Whedon scripted In Your Eyes, and will be directed by Brin Hill (writer, Learning to Fly).

Whedon started his career doctoring scripts and writing for the US sitcom Roseanne. His feature script for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was produced in the early 1990’s, and years later re-imagined as the popular TV series with Whedon at the creative helm, which spawned a spinoff in the form of the series Angel, as well as a few comic book series for both Buffy and Angel. Whedon later created two more series, Firefly (and the spin off feature film Serenity) and Dollhouse. During the 2007/08 Writers Guild of America strike, Whedon wrote and directed the acclaimed online miniseries Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. He also has few writing credits you probably don’t know about for movies you do: Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection, and Captain America.

For his hugely successful twenty plus year career, The Avengers marks the first truly significant foray into more mainstream directing for Whedon, so it will be interesting to see where his career goes from here. It is clear that whether a big Hollywood studio budget, or a shoestring passion project, Whedon’s main passion is good story-telling and whatever the budget, Whedon remains one of the most versatile story-tellers in the industry.