Joss Whedon

I caught up with mega-producer Joel Silver to do an interview for his Dark Castle production HOUSE OF WAX today (more on that in the next week or so), and had a chance to ask him about two upcoming projects that he is producing: the adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel V FOR VENDETTA (along with MATRIX creators Andy and Larry Wachowski), and the Joss Whedon scripted WONDER WOMAN. Here’s what he had to say about those projects.

What is the appeal of WONDER WOMAN for you?

When I made the first MATRIX, I came out of the very first test screening for it, and the numbers for Trinity were so much higher than anything else in the movie, people just loved that character. And I came out of there, and I said to the studio, this is interesting. And I said to the boys (the Wachowski Brothers) maybe we should make a Trinity movie, and they said “No, no, no, we have this plan, we’re not making a Trinity movie. So I said to the studio, look maybe we should take, this was 1999, ...take WONDER WOMAN and try to see what I can do with it, and they said fine. I never really felt I got it until now.

Why do think other female oriented action films have never taken off?

They’ve been terrible movies. That’s my opinion. This is a big construction this picture. It’s the intellectual property of Warner Bros., Time Warner, that character is the real deal. I think if we do it right, and Joss has a fantastic take on the story, and I think if it works the way it’s going to work, it’s going to be fantastic, fantastic.

Any news on V FOR VENDETTA?

They’re shooting right now, the boys are shooting a unit right now as we speak in Germany. It’s a really exciting picture. It isn’t MATRIX-like, but it is a future society, and it is a weird, kinda dark story, and it’s an interesting guy who wears a mask the entire movie, unlike our movie (HOUSE OF WAX), where he takes his mask off, he never does. It’s really something that is fresh, and they’re really making an incredible movie out of it.

What do you think director James McTeigue will bring to it?

He’s a very talented guy. He’s doing the bidding of them (the Wachowski Brothers). They are designing the movie, they’re shooting second unit themselves, and he’s doing what they want him to do. They didn’t wanna commit to every second of their lives to this, and he’s doing what they want, but they have structured the whole movie themselves.