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.

Joss Whedon ... working ... on movies?

There was tons of great news out of Comic Con, which I of course did not attend, but I tend to focus in on only the things I get singularly obsessed with. And Joss Whedon very often tops that list.

Lately, of course, he's been putting out those great (so far) Buffy Season 8 comic books, but now comes word that he may (finally!) be getting back into movies, with help from a very talented friend.

Again, remember that I have to get this all second-hand, but it seems that he let slip at Comic Con that he has just finished writing "Cabin in the Woods," "the horror film to end all horror films -- literally" with "Buffy" and "Angel" vet Drew Goddard. Mr. Goddard, of course, is also the scribe behind that mysterious JJ Abrams-produced "Cloverfield"/"1/18/08" monster flick, so just call him the man of the moment.

Whedon working on a horror movie? Or any movie at all? That news alone would be good enough, but of course there's more.

It seems like I've been hearing rumors about a "Ripper" TV series/TV movie starring Anthony Stewart Head (a k a Giles) ever since "Buffy" went off the air, but now it seems it may really come to life. Whedon let loose at Comic Con that our British friends (lucky bastards!) will be getting "Ripper" as a 90-minute BBC movie in 2008. Here's hoping it gets a quick turnaround to DVD, and then maybe morphs into a series here in the U.S.A. Hey, one can dream, right?

And, just in case that wasn't enough, there's also a free Joss Whedon-penned comic that has cropped up on the Dark Horse Comics Myspace site. It's called "Sugarshock" and it's about ... well, it's really hard to tell, but it's well worth a few minutes of your time to click here and read the first issue.

And, for a much more well-rounded Comic Con report (yes, there were just a few other things going on out there), you can read Crystal Green's fine reportage here.

Johnny Depp's back on the rum

I'd have to count that "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" with Mr. Depp and Benicio del Toro as one of the most criminally underappreciated movies of all time, so this new tidbit can only come as good news.

Almost 10 years after Terry Gilliam brought that Hunter S. Thompson work to the big screen comes word that Depp will be starring in another Thompson flick, this time "The Rum Diary." And, though Terry Gilliam isn't back this time, they've got a more than worthy subsitute in "Withnail and I" director Bruce Robinson, who will also be writing the script (if you somehow haven't seen the maginificent "Withnail and I," and can somehow still get your hands on a copy, watch it immediately!)

Now, I have to admit I haven't read "The Rum Diary," but as best as I can tell it's an early, autobiographical Thompson novel about his work for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico. Depp will play Thompson's character, who in the book was named Paul Kemp.

Now, that alone would probably be cool enough, but I'll leave you today with a little extra. I'm cautiously optimistic that Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" won't just suck hard. Coming for Christmas, it's set to star Mr. Depp, Borat, Bellatrix Lestrange and, apparently, Rupert Giles. And, here below (click on it to see a much larger image), is the fairly sinister-looking poster. Enjoy, and have an entirely suckfree Monday. Peace out.