“Why, what's the matter?"
“Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”
Last night had a little bit of enchantment about it.
Joss Whedon, recovering from making the Avengers, went back to movie making for fun and made a version of "Much Ado About Nothing", in black and white, filmed at his house and acted by his friends, who worked for nothing and brought their own, modern dress costumes. The three hours of the play were trimmed down to an hour and a half or so, the action relocated to the present, and played out as a story of people who drink too much and have too much sex.
Last night the movie had its UK Premiere as the closing gala of the Glasgow Film Festival. Champagne (domestic) was served, the Glasgow Film Theatre was full (except, inexplicably, for two seats next to me) and Mr Whedon was there to do an enjoyable Q&A. I really enjoyed the movie. Joss described it as "comedy noir", shot through with occasional silliness. All of the performances were spot on - someone in the audience mentioned that Claudio is a bit of an arse, and Joss said that the actor playing him came in every day, asking how he could be more of an idiot. The portrayal they settled on was of a warrior, who has just come back from winning a war, who is instinctively enthusiastic about everything and who believes every new notion his superiors adopt.
Every role, from servant to Don, gets the same attention. And the whole thing looks very stylish indeed.
After the Q&A there was an after show party at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, just round the corner. I took my very young date along, despite the fact that this meant she would miss her train back to Edinburgh, and we did some power-mingling. She's a drama student, thinking about a masters in writing screenplays, and was torn between pointing out the famous (for a given value of famous) guests, and decrying the sheer artiness of the whole thing. I smiled, drank the free Isle of Jura, and contrived to stand closer to Muriel Grey than was strictly speaking necessary (it would be a lie to say that she grabbed my bum at one point. Ok, it would be an exaggeration. Ok, it's true, but I'm sure it was an accident. Mostly. I was wearing a VERY good suit).
Joss came along for about half an hour or so, then slipped away (presumably to watch the Oscars). We stayed to watch the surf/Buddy Holly/hipster band, then got back to the flat about 1. I tucked her up with the American blu-ray of The Avengers, and texted her mum to let her know she was ok.
Five hours sleep, my Masters, is just not enough for me these days...
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”
Last night had a little bit of enchantment about it.
Joss Whedon, recovering from making the Avengers, went back to movie making for fun and made a version of "Much Ado About Nothing", in black and white, filmed at his house and acted by his friends, who worked for nothing and brought their own, modern dress costumes. The three hours of the play were trimmed down to an hour and a half or so, the action relocated to the present, and played out as a story of people who drink too much and have too much sex.
Last night the movie had its UK Premiere as the closing gala of the Glasgow Film Festival. Champagne (domestic) was served, the Glasgow Film Theatre was full (except, inexplicably, for two seats next to me) and Mr Whedon was there to do an enjoyable Q&A. I really enjoyed the movie. Joss described it as "comedy noir", shot through with occasional silliness. All of the performances were spot on - someone in the audience mentioned that Claudio is a bit of an arse, and Joss said that the actor playing him came in every day, asking how he could be more of an idiot. The portrayal they settled on was of a warrior, who has just come back from winning a war, who is instinctively enthusiastic about everything and who believes every new notion his superiors adopt.
Every role, from servant to Don, gets the same attention. And the whole thing looks very stylish indeed.
After the Q&A there was an after show party at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, just round the corner. I took my very young date along, despite the fact that this meant she would miss her train back to Edinburgh, and we did some power-mingling. She's a drama student, thinking about a masters in writing screenplays, and was torn between pointing out the famous (for a given value of famous) guests, and decrying the sheer artiness of the whole thing. I smiled, drank the free Isle of Jura, and contrived to stand closer to Muriel Grey than was strictly speaking necessary (it would be a lie to say that she grabbed my bum at one point. Ok, it would be an exaggeration. Ok, it's true, but I'm sure it was an accident. Mostly. I was wearing a VERY good suit).
Joss came along for about half an hour or so, then slipped away (presumably to watch the Oscars). We stayed to watch the surf/Buddy Holly/hipster band, then got back to the flat about 1. I tucked her up with the American blu-ray of The Avengers, and texted her mum to let her know she was ok.
Five hours sleep, my Masters, is just not enough for me these days...
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Of course, you'll need to wait until JUNE to see all of this, since I was at THE UK PREMIERE!!!
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