Whedon's "Goners" a goner, so what now?

If you like reading about movies, which I do way too much, the MTV movies blog is - rather surprisingly - a must-read. They may not do the the hardest-hitting interviews but, being MTV, they can and do talk with anyone they choose.

This week, the subject was Joss Whedon, who is about to get back in the news in a big way with - finally! - a new show called "Dollhouse" with Eliza Dushku coming to Fox this fall. As a little aside on that, I saw a report from Horizon Media stating that three sci-fi shows - Fox’s “Fringe,” CBS’ “11th Hour” and ABC’s “Life On Mars” - should be the biggest frosh hits this fall, which totally discounts both "Dollhouse" and "Battlestar Galactica" brain Ronald Moore's "Virtuality." (UPDATE: According to MTV, "Dollhouse" has been pushed back to January, new but bad news to me!) Even so, throw "Heroes" back into the mix and it sure is going to be a fun time to watch TV (unless, of course, all the actors go on strike before any of it gets rolling.)

But the more interesting portion of MTV's piece, all of which you can read here, focused on Whedon's movie career or - recently, at least - the complete lack of one. Universal has for years now been kicking around a script he wrote for something called "Goners" which - shockingly enough - would have been about a young woman who gains some powers (well, I guess you should stick with what you know.)

With that going nowhere, however, he does seem to think there will be some real action on another script he wrote with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum and "Cloverfield" scribe Drew Goddard called "Cabin in the Woods" (if you haven't seen "Cloverfield," by the way, I found it to be surprisingly fun and can recommend it as well worth a rental.) Assuming this moves forward as quickly as he's hoping, Whedon would also be a producer and, perhaps, the director too. Here's how a rather unmodest Mr. Goddard described it to MTV:

“It’s genius, it’s funny, It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time.”

“There’s a reason the title is so straightforward. It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”

Sounds cool enough to me if Whedon can manage to keep focused on it long enough to follow through, which doesn't exactly seem to be his strong suit. And, just in case you just can't get enough Whedon, he's also doing something really silly with Doogie Howser and Captain Mal Reynolds called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." As far as I can tell, this is some kind of upcoming Web-only silliness that Whedon and his brothers cooked up during the writer's strike (airing July 15, 17 and 19, but I'm not sure exactly where .. more to come on that.)

A three-part musical, it stars Doogie as a supervillian trying to get into the "Evil League of Evil," Captain Mal as his archnemesis, and Felicia Day (a former "potential" on "Buffy") as the girl of his dreams. Goofy? Surely, but hopefully pretty fun too.

That certainly seems like a whole lot for a man who hasn't seemed to actually finish much of anything lately (except for the still-great "Buffy" comic books), but here's hoping he's able to concentrate long enough to deliver both "Dollhouse" in winter and "Cabin in the Woods" as something great for next summer.

A new dose of "Blindness"

After a surprisingly strong summer for movies, this fall should be even more fun, with Spike Lee, David Fincher and the Coens all getting back into the game. Add to that mix Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, who's about to come back with his third flick, a take on the novel "Blindness" by Jose Saramago (which is on my to-read-very-soon list.) It promises to be a rather bleak affair, and I'm not sure I care much for the deliberately bleached out look you find in the trailer, but with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alica Braga and Gael Garcia Bernal all on board I'm betting it will be pretty fantastic. Enjoy the newest trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant Tuesday. Peace out.