There’s much ado about Whedon

This announcement took people by surprise to say the least. How did this all come together?
JOSS WHEDON: Well, it’s not a bit secret that I’ve done these [Shakespeare] readings before, and I always had a vague notion of shooting Much Ado. But I didn’t really have a take on it. And then, for some reason, I kinda sorta did. As we were finishing The Avengers in New York, my wife and I were planning our vacation for our 20th anniversary. And she said, “Let’s not take the vacation. Make a movie instead.” I was like, “I’m not even sure if I can adapt the script, cast the movie, and prep it in a month.” And she was like, “Well, that’s your vacation time, so you do it.” And so I did.

What about it was so challenging?
SEAN MAHER: That it was Shakespeare! Shakespeare, to do it right, is not easy at all. I think in this instance, because we were shooting it in such a short period of time, we all had to come to work completely prepared, know all of our words, know the ins and outs of the play. There wasn’t a lot of time for multiple takes. There wasn’t a lot of time for many set-ups, in terms of camera angles. He was sort of getting in there and filming a live performance, which was exhilarating and scary at the same time. I mean, it was incredibly challenging, yet it didn’t feel like work, as well.

How did Joss explain keeping this a secret?
AMY ACKER: Well, he basically just said, “We’re not going to tell anyone until we finish.” Luckily since everyone was scrambling to learn their lines and figure out what the heck they were doing, no one really had time. I think it was mostly making sure Nathan didn’t tweet about it. That’s how all news in the world seems to spread. [Laughs]

Read more from the interview with Joss Whedon, Sean Maher and Amy Acker.