I love Joss Whedon's work and the cast is wonderful, but...

Nicholas Brendon doesn't really act anymore. I think I read somewhere he had some issues with drugs

Shippers get Ship done...in our heads at least

While I too would love to see Nicholas Brendon back on screen (and I also think Charisma Carpenter would have made a wonderful Beatrice), I think at least part of what Joss has done with this movie is attempt to show the Whedonverse Audience specifically, that the actors we have seen in his shows thus far are actually far more versatile than they have often been given credit for. In other words the actors *he* has seen off screen, especially at his Shakespeare readings.

Therefore he has cast actors like Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker and Nathan Fillion (Dogberry is an out and out buffoon) against type (or at least the 'type' they are viewed as within the Whedonverse), to showcase just how good they are and how far their range extends.

The glowing reviews thus far for all three (and nearly all involved) have certainly backed that up.

"die-hard conservative + Joss Whedon = cannot be done"

Joss is too smart not to know that ultra-liberal is the wrong way to go through life.

Nick Brendon hates Shakespeare.

Joss emailed/called/spoke with people he wanted in this without telling them why, but asking what they were doing. He was trying to find out if they had time in their schedule to pop over and make a movie. I'm guessing that except for Alexis and Amy (who he wanted to film as Ben and Bea since the readings at his house years ago) he got the people that were able to give him 12 days of filming.

Go to Whedonesque.com, there's all kinds of links to interviews, background info, and even posts from Joss about, well, everything he or his actors are doing.



"The pen is mightier than the sword, and is considerably easier to write with."--Marty Feldman

I don't disagree with your suggestions they would have been wonderful but Joss, as must all directors, must take who they can get at the time of the shoot.

Apparently he wanted Anthony Head to play Leonato but he had to give it a miss because it did not fit his schedule. I knew Head from an English programme called Jonathon Creek. He played in the first episode of season one as Adam Klaus (under his English stage name Anthony Stewart Head) and then disappeared although the character continued in later seasons. I cheered when he showed up as Giles in Buffy where he did a great job.

Thanks to Joss many of these actors are now in high demand and have schedules that mean they cannot work with him on projects, even if they want to. The number of Joss' works that still include them show popular he is with his actors.

Ugh no, I always found Xander to be rather irritating. In fact, although I enjoyed the show, I found most of the Buffy cast to be too childish. Angel was such a fantastic series though, and I definitely favor the actors and their characters from that show, along with Firefly. I just saw this film last night and there's no way Brendon could have pulled off the role of Benedick, but Denisof and Acker were perfect. Sean Maher was surprisingly good...I always found him to be such a whiny emo boy as Simon but he was really skeazy and a very good subtle villain in this. Given the type of Banter going on, I'm not sure I could see Baccarin or Glass really fitting into the cast, just based on the approach taken. Both of them have a bit too much elegance and class for the exaggerated style Whedon used for this film; I think they would have felt out of place.

From the way you phrased your original post it sounds like you had not yet seen the movie, may I ask how you felt after seeing it?

Particularly curious as to what you thought of Amy and Alexis' roles, especially Amy's. I can't imagine Emma doing a better job than she did personally but I do completely see what you mean about Anya and Xander's banter.

We're drawing up a plan for world domination. The key element? Coffee makers that think.