Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

There are five things you need to know about DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG.

1) It’s a musical, written by Joss Whedon, his brothers Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen.
2) It stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.
3) It will air on the Internet for free in three acts on the drhorrible.com website. Act One goes up Tuesday July 15, Act Two goes up Thursday July 17 and Act Three goes up Saturday July 19. The acts all stay up until midnight July 20, then go away.
4) It’s everything you’d expect from Joss Whedon (okay, it’s everything I’d expect from Joss Whedon – I don’t know what you expect), including awesome.
5) You’re not getting any more details, because Whedon asked people who’d seen an early screening last night (which included not to reveal specifics. However, he, Jed Whedon, Tancharoen, Harris, Fillion and Day stuck around after the show to answer non-spoiler questions.

Did you want Neil Patrick Harris to be in this because he kind of looks like you, or did he start to look like you once he started doing it?

NATHAN FILLION: Ouch.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: We both have big foreheads.

JOSS WHEDON: I chose Neil Patrick Harris, because – have you heard him sing?

How did you – Joss, Zack and Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen – work on this?

JOSS WHEDON: We broke it down into every act, every scene and every song, and then what every song was about.

MAURISSA TANCHAROEN: We liked his songs better.

What’s the ballpark budget?

JOSS WHEDON: The low six figures is a good ballpark.

What did the actors think of the songs?

HARRIS: I think the songs are just great, and once I knew we could sing them … there was a unique purity to [the project].

JOSS WHEDON: There will be a soundtrack. It revolves around music-meister Jed [who did the score and orchestrations].

Could this possibly air on network TV?

WHEDON: I’m not against anything. It wasn’t meant as a big finger in the face – we had help from people at networks [to make it].

Would you ever allow midnight sin-galong screenings?

JOSS WHEDON: Never. I forbid it on penalty of awesomeness. Yeah! It would be great have people singing along and dressing up as the characters.

Was there a guerilla filmmaking vibe here?

JOSS WHEDON: [citing an example] I asked [cinematographer] Ryan [Green], "Neil’s not in total darkness, is he?" "Oh, yeah." "Um, can we do something about that? Can we get a light that travels with him?" One of the grips said, "I’ve got a light that travels." [Whedon mimes holding a flashlight.]

Why did the actors agree to do this for very little money?

FILLION: Any time Joss calls you, it’s going to be something cool.

When was this shot?

JOSS WHEDON: Right after the [writers’] strike.

What happens if this actually shows a profit?

JOSS WHEDON: There will be profit-sharing [among the creators and the actors].

Any plans to keep the server from crashing during the free airings?

JOSS WHEDON: As long as two people aren’t watching at the same time, it’s fine. No, we have two servers with crazy [capacity].

Will there be a DR. HORRIBLE event at Comic-Con?

JOSS WHEDON: We’re going to have a midnight screening, we’re going to have a panel and we’re going to have T-shirts.

Ms. Day, you wrote and star in an award-winning Internet comedy series, THE GUILD. Will that have a Comic-Con presence?

FELICIA DAY: We’ll be at the Browncoats booth for two hours every day with DVDs.

Will there be more Dr. Horrible comic books?

JOSS WHEDON: Yes, I see more comic books. Zack [Whedon, who writes them – the first one is online at drhorrible.com] is having too much fun with them.

What’s the difference between DR. HORRIBLE and the BUFFY musical?

JOSS WHEDON: The freedom [with DR. HORRIBLE] was that we could tell a story completely from scratch [as opposed to making it fit into the preceding and following episode arc].

TANCHAROEN: We didn’t have anyone to answer to.

Might you do something with this business model again?

JOSS WHEDON: We’re still waiting to find out if this is [a business model], but [the answer is] yes, even if it’s not. I’ve never had more fun.

How did this work with the various unions who have jurisdiction over your cast and crew?

JOSS WHEDON: Everything was done above-board with the unions. You don’t make a statement about what we have to do as a community by screwing people over.