Much Ado - Whedon Style

"How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!" - Leonata

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never" - Balthasar

These two quotes are of course from my favorite Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. It has be revitalized into what will know doubt be an amazing film by Joss Whedon. How could it not be with Amy Acker as Beatrice, Alexis Denisof as Benedict (both picture above), Nathan Fillion as Dogberry, Frank Kranz as Claudio (both pictured left below), Clark Gregg (picture right below) as Leonata, and many more of the Whedon players. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with the story behind Much Ado, it is a comedy about two couples: Benedick and Beatrice (the main couple), and Claudio and Hero (the secondary couple). Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a very "merry war"; they are both very witty, sarcastic, and proclaim their disdain of love. Then there is Claudio and Hero. They are the sweet young people who fall into that stereotypical "puppy love." Hero and Claudio provide the main arc for the plot but the relationship between the bickering Benedick and Beatrice is what makes Much Ado so amazing. This is what allows it to be my favorite play; Benedick and Beatrice argue with such wit and wisdom. It is the best example (in my mind) of a journey from disdain to sincere love and affection with an amazing sense of humor along the way. I can't WAIT to see what all Joss has done with this play!

It's pretty obvious to you all (at least I would hope) that this movie is the ultimate "fan-girl" movie for me. My love for Much Ado goes farther beyond just enjoying the words of the play. In 10th grade when we read the play we spent almost an entire semester getting to the core of it. This including us breaking off into groups and filming scenes from the film. We also went to the AFI Silver Theatre in Downtown Silver Spring for a special showing of the 1993 version of it featuring Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Denzel Washington, and Keanu Reeves. That version I definitely enjoyed but something about Keanu as Don John didn't sit well with me. The Whedon version is going to be amazing though just for the fact that it was filmed in 12 days in Joss Whedon's backyard. No, that's not figuratively speaking I mean literally parts were filmed in his backyard. How can anyone not love that man??

A week from today is when the film is officially released and you can bet when it's released nationwide on the 21st I will be in line for the midnight showing! I was talking to some friends online yesterday about how excited I am for this film (perhaps a little too long about it), and I mentioned how I haven't "fan-girled" this hard about a movie in a really long time. Perhaps the last time was when the original LOTR came out (yes I totally dressed up as an elf, the whole deal).  

Images and Information found on the International Movie Datbase (IMDB): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2094064/?ref_=sr_1