Joss Whedon Saved ‘Thor: The Dark World’ By Rewriting Scenes
By eelyajekiM
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Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 at 4:30 pm
As director and creative consultant for Marvel Studios, Joss Whedon has a lot of pull. He oversees the operations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as such will be the go-to person when a director needs help with the vision of a film.
When Alan Taylor called for a couple of reshoots for Thor: The Dark World, some worried that there was trouble on the set. But it wasn’t that at all, in fact it was Taylor having some minor trouble with grasping the vision of the script. So the filmmaker called none other than Whedon to help with that vision.
SFX Magazine (via Comic Book Movie) confirms that Whedon was asked to help with some of the issues in the script. In fact, Taylor says Whedon did this on more than one occasion.
Here’s the full quote:
Joss came in to save our lives a couple of times. We had a major scene that was not working on the page at all in London, and he basically got airlifted in, like a SWAT team or something. He came down, rewrote the scene, and before he got back to his plane I sort of grabbed him and said, “˜And this scene and this scene?’ And he rewrote two other scenes that I thought had problems. Then finally we let go of him, he took off again, and we shot the scenes; and they were just much better and much lighter on their feet. Much more fun, much more surprising than what we had been trying to do. I can relate to guys who come out of the TV world, since that’s where I come from. And being able to land and work and solve a problem quickly”¦ I really was grateful.
It honestly sounds like those rumors of on-set troubles were greatly exaggerated. Sure it may look like they were cutting it close, but reshoots are a part of any film production, and based on what we have seen at D23, Thor: The Dark World looks great. It should be interesting to see what kind of changes were made and if they are blatantly obvious.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins, Thor: The Dark World opens in theaters on November 8.
You don’t consider Joss a great screenwriter? They have one of the best. There’s only so many guys of that quality to go around.
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 7:17 pm
I think one could safely say that “great” screenwriters today are a rare commodity. Also I don’t think most studios really care about great screenplays.
You got to remember, at one time (not so long ago), Josh was getting jerked around like many good creative talents out there and being second guessed and overruled.*
*So were Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg when they started out. Don’t know about Kubrick — I think he was just always great.
Comment by jsmith0552 — September 18, 2013 @ 8:00 pm
Joss is going to be around for a long, long time still, he’s one of the best to come along in a while. He can’t write every single scene for every movie, though.
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
Also, failing to mention David Lynch. I wonder if anyone has ever told him what to do with a film, and if so where their chewed up remains are?
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
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Can you imagine a Kubrick or Scorsese calling in for help? Thor wshould not need saving if Marvel would hire great screenwriters…
Comment by Guest — September 18, 2013 @ 4:57 pm
You don’t consider Joss a great screenwriter? They have one of the best. There’s only so many guys of that quality to go around.
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 7:17 pm
I think one could safely say that “great” screenwriters today are a rare commodity. Also I don’t think most studios really care about great screenplays.
You got to remember, at one time (not so long ago), Josh was getting jerked around like many good creative talents out there and being second guessed and overruled.*
*So were Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg when they started out. Don’t know about Kubrick — I think he was just always great.
Comment by jsmith0552 — September 18, 2013 @ 8:00 pm
Joss is going to be around for a long, long time still, he’s one of the best to come along in a while. He can’t write every single scene for every movie, though.
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
Also, failing to mention David Lynch. I wonder if anyone has ever told him what to do with a film, and if so where their chewed up remains are?
Comment by Jason Storey — September 18, 2013 @ 8:13 pm