Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans in Avengers Assemble Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans in Avengers Assemble. Photo: Zade Rosenthal

Joss Whedon’s background as a writer/director of cult TV – Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, the short-lived Firefly – ensured a loyal following, which paid off with the rabidly successful (but only to a vocal minority) continuation of the latter series in Serenity, which marked his movie directorial debut in 2005. Since then, Whedon has pulled off the rare trick of turning niche popularity into blockbuster success, with films that appease fanboys and fangirls alike while maintaining serious box-office traction. This year, Whedon pulled off a rare one-two by delivering not just one of the year’s biggest hits – Marvel’s Avengers Assemble – but one of its best-reviewed counter-programming titles, the postmodern horror-comedy The Cabin In The Woods, which he wrote and produced. Though Avengers 2 is pencilled in for 2015, his micro-budget B&W Much Ado About Nothing adaptation, shot in his own house in eight days and starring Whedon favourites, is due first.