Joss Whedon

In March 2005, when Warner Bros. Pictures announced Joss Whedon was going to write and direct a live-action Wonder Woman movie, fans went into a tizzy. The Internet lit up with casting rumors as everyone from Charisma Carpenter to Kate Beckinsale to Sophia Bush was linked to play the Amazon heroine. Whedon-who had already cemented his geek cred by creating the TV shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly” and for writing the hit Marvel comics, Astonishing X-Men and now, Runaways-was deified practically overnight.

But then a year passed. Eighteen months. Why hadn’t production started? In early February 2007, nearly two years since he was first announced on the project, Whedon proclaimed he was stepping down due to creative differences. It was a devastating setback not only for him, but also for those who were looking forward to seeing his interpretation of Wonder Woman on the big screen.

So aside from his comics work (which includes a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series for Dark Horse, which is essentially the show’s eighth season in comic book form), what’s next for Whedon in the world of TV and movies? Wizard sat down with the 42-year-old creative genius to talk about his next film, what the outlook for his return to TV is and to address a pesky rumor about a certain band of merry mutants.

WIZARD: There’s a rumor swirling that you’re going to write and direct an “X-Men 4” movie. Care to comment?

WHEDON: I haven’t heard the rumor, but there is no rumor that is not swirling. I don’t even know, are they even going to have an “X4”? I had been talking with [Marvel Studios] about “X3,” but the dates didn’t line up. So I took on “Wonder Woman,” and that worked out great! Oh, no wait, I remember now, not so much.

Yeah, I haven’t heard anything about “X4.” You know, the problem with the big superhero movies is there are so many hands [involved], but I really respect [Marvel Studios President of Production] Kevin Feige if they make something like that. You know they’re actually going to make it as opposed to something that’s in limbo. And you know I do love the characters. I wouldn’t say never. But right now, I’m interested in doing “Goners,” which is my own thing, as opposed to somebody else’s. I find that doing someone else’s thing is not working out so well for me-anywhere but in the word of actual comics.

With “Wonder Woman,” was it hard because Warner Bros. interfered with your vision?

Nobody interfered with my vision because literally, nobody ever said, “No, no. We want it this way.” I told them what was I going to do, they said do it, I did it, they said no. I said okay.

How’d you react?

I could feel the end for a long while. I could tell they weren’t enthused and you know our conversations were never about what the movie was about, the very few that we had. And so I just felt like, if they know what I’m going for, they don’t like it, and they may not even know, and they’ve told me they don’t even know what they are going for, just that I’m not giving it to them, so it wasn’t like they were interfering. They gave me all the freedom in the world, all the rope in the world in which to build my noose.

So, are you going to be able to see the movie when it’s been written and directed by someone else?

I have absolutely no idea, you know? I mean, it’s hard for me. I’ll tell you the honest truth, it’s just as hard for me with Batman. I never wrote any Batman [comics], but I did go in to pitch [the movie]. I still stay up late at night thinking how cool my Batman movie could have been, and I liked “Batman Begins” a lot. I thought it had some awesome stuff I would never have come up with, but I still think about what I could have done. That’s the problem when you throw your heart into those things; it just stays there. And so, it would be hard for me to see, but if it’s a good movie, made by someone I respect, my own ego isn’t keeping me away from it.

Okay, so with the announcement that David Goyer has stepped down from writing and directing “The Flash” movie...

Yeah, I know, on the same day.

Do you know why?

I don’t know what David was doing [with “The Flash”], why [Warner Bros.] didn’t like what David was doing [and I] still don’t know why they didn’t like what I was doing [with “Wonder Woman”].

Why do you think development of DC films doesn’t flow as smoothly as development of Marvel movies?

Marvel has hit their stride. They’ve had some success. And they built the first printing press-they made the template. They made “Spider-Man,” which is truly the first, great comic book adaptation and taught everybody else how they should be doing it. Oh, stay true to the comics? That’s interesting.

Marvel Comics right now is a company with the X-Men and Spider-Man, so they’ve got juice. And they’re in a rhythm. But also, the characters were made as a reaction to the DC characters.

Batman will always have a huge resonance. With Wonder Woman, you have to create [the resonance], and quite frankly, with Superman, you kind of have to create it, too. Superman’s not a young guy, and no matter who you cast, he is not a young person. That’s not who he is, so it’s a different story and it’s harder to get juiced [more ] than this patented angst at Marvel, which basically gets a response [more than] the stodgier, grown-up DC world. I think that has to do with it. Marvel’s characters really do lend themselves to adolescent identification in a way the DC characters have to reach for.

So will your version of Wonder Woman ever appear in a comic book?

No. That’s owned by the movie division and it’s a movie. Comics and movies are different and I’m not interested in adapting a story I wrote for something else unless there is a very good reason to enter a new medium. If I had never tried my hand at a Wonder Woman movie, I might have tried my hand at a Wonder Woman comic, but I think the Amazon and I are still going to see other people.

And now you’re writing and directing a new movie called “Goners” for Universal, right? What’s that project?

“Goners” is a supernatural thriller I wrote after “Serenity” and is being produced by Mary Parent.

What’s the status of it?

I’m doing a rewrite [of the script], which for a long time eluded me mostly because I was working on “Wonder Woman,” but perhaps not coincidentally, as things began to go south with “Wonder Woman,” corners began to unfold and what I needed to do became very clear, so I’m working on that right now. [So I’m working] on a draft I feel will be ready to give to the studio for, hopefully, a light of greenishness.

What about TV? You recently guest directed an episode of NBC’s “The Office.” Would you like to go back to television?

I love TV, I absolutely want to go back to TV. You know, if I have a series I believe in and I have the people to make it and a place to put it, yes. I adore television but a lot of things have to come together and while I have these other obligations, I can’t really pursue those things. I also just don’t want to get trampled on. So I’m a little skittish... What do you mean, “trampled on”?

“Trampled on” as in having someone cancelling out from under you two things in one year. When a story doesn’t get finished being told, or you’re the victim of wrong-headed business decisions that nobody even seems to be losing sleep over, you really don’t want to walk in that world anymore. So, I’m not interested in telling stories that nobody is going to see. I don’t feel like making a pilot and seeing if it goes. I feel like if I make something, it has to have a venue. Whether that is a low-budget movie, a DVD or TV with commitment to DVD, whatever it is, I can’t tell the stories nobody hears anymore. I’ve done that in my life.

So do you have any ideas for a new TV show now?

I have ideas all the time.

Care to share?

I never tell anyone my ideas.

Let’s switch gears. Do you watch the new “Battlestar Galactica” series on the SCI FI Channel?

I love it.

Would you like to direct an episode?

You know, yes and no. In a way, I would like to see behind the curtain. I adore the way they tell stories, and I just soak it up. My favorite thing to do is sit with my wife and watch “Battlestar,” but I directed “The Office” and that turned out to be so much fun. You know, to be a director for hire and to walk in someone else’s house is not an easy thing to do.

What do you mean?

Everybody knows what they’re doing, and who are you to tell them how to do it? If they don’t want to be collaborative then you’re just sitting around. In “The Office,” they couldn’t be more nicer or collaborative or more interested in working hard and getting it done, and to a man, it was a great experience, but that’s not always the case. And even then, I’m basically servicing [executive producer] Greg Daniels’ vision, which is fun to do, but it’s not actually part of my career. That’s really me just taking a vacation, a really tiring vacation.

Who do you think is the hottest actress on “Battlestar”?

Ouch! The hottest? I don’t even think I could...whoever is on screen is my answer. Starbuck [Katee Sackhoff] is so fascinating, Sharon [Grace Park] is so beautiful and tortured, but I think I’m going to have to give it up for President Roslin [Mary McDonnell]. She holds the screen with the iron grip. I find her absolutely fascinating.

So Roslin is your favorite...

Ah, you know, what day is it? She might be. If you put a gun to my head and I had to choose, she just might be. But my God, that’s a tough one.