The Avengers Second-Unit Director to help Whedon's Avengers

[JeanVitchier]

Now that Whedon is directing the Avengers, there are concerns that he doesn't have enough experience in directing movies. This guy directed a few small scale TV shows, he is mainly a writer, but does he have director/photographer eyes behind high-tech cameras?

He'll need a really good top-notch second unit director. I'd go with Phil Neilson, he was second unit director for Iron Man, A-Team, Tropic of Thunder.

Another is Jonathan Taylor, he was second unit director for Iron Man 2 and director of pincipal photography for the Die Hard, Spider-Man, X-Men movies.

My two cents.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

You sort of make a point.

 

[alexlachiusa]

Jonathan Taylor seems like a great choice!

 

[kendo]

Weird topic. Never seen anything like it when other directors were announced or rumored.

 

[bullets]

Both of those choices sound good .

 

[kedrell]

Weird topic. Never seen anything like it when other directors were announced or rumored.

Well most other directors aren't coming in with such little film directing experience.

 

[DocHoliday]

Ditto! if we can get someone to parlay the action scenes into something memorable then we might have ourselves a great film.

I just can't wait to see Black Widow teasing Thor for his outfit which Whedon will certainly do. The only way for him to humanize his characters are to wink at the audience and say "this is silly stuff that doesn't matter, but hey Spike tried to rape Buffy". Like I said as long as someone is reeling him in on the bad ideas, it'll be fine on the story front.

 

[GhostPoet]

I think Serenity proves he has the talent to direct well. And we already know he's a master at controlling a group of characters at once.

 

[KangConquers]

Ditto! if we can get someone to parlay the action scenes into something memorable then we might have ourselves a great film.

I just can't wait to see Black Widow teasing Thor for his outfit which Whedon will certainly do. The only way for him to humanize his characters are to wink at the audience and say "this is silly stuff that doesn't matter, but hey Spike tried to rape Buffy". Like I said as long as someone is reeling him in on the bad ideas, it'll be fine on the story front.

Ugh...that's an awful idea. I want this movie to have some gravitas, not be a running joke.

 

[kendo]

Well most other directors aren't coming in with such little film directing experience.

Jon Favreau had directed how many films prior to Iron Man? What were they again?

 

[TheVileOne]

Jon Favreau had directed how many films prior to Iron Man? What were they again?

Made
ELF
Zathura

Which is 2 more than Whedon before taking the Avengers gig.

 

[kendo]

Made
ELF
Zathura

Which is 2 more than Whedon before taking the Avengers gig.

3 films. Not exactly a filmography that dwarfs whedon's is it?

Plus Serenity is a much better film than those.

Not that I think Joss is the best choice, but there are worse options.

 

[knowsbleed]

Well most other directors aren't coming in with such little film directing experience.

A little known filmmaker by the name of J.J. Abrams proves that it can be done.

 

[kedrell]

Serenity is dog crap compared to all of those. Hated that movie.

 

[kedrell]

A little known filmmaker by the name of J.J. Abrams proves that it can be done.

How is MI:3 and the Avengers even remotely comparable. It's like comparing LOTR to Willow.

 

[Chewy]

MI3 was Abrams' first film. Star Trek was his second film. Much like Avengers will be Whedon's second film.

 

[knowsbleed]

How is MI:3 and the Avengers even remotely comparable. It's like comparing LOTR to Willow.

Umm... MI:3 was Abrams first directed movie.

His next one was Star Wars... an ensemble cast.

Much like The Avengers.

 

[kedrell]

Oh, ok. My mistake. still, Star Trek is a far smaller film(or should be) than the Avengers.

 

[Chewy]

Marvel should stick with Jonathan Taylor or Vic Armstrong.

 

[mclay18]

Loni Peristere and Shaun O'Dell did a fine job with second-unit on Serenity. If Whedon likes them and Marvel likes them too, then why not?

If you want someone to supervise the action scenes, hire a fight choreographer to work with the second-unit director.

 

[TheVileOne]

3 films. Not exactly a filmography that dwarfs whedon's is it?

Plus Serenity is a much better film than those.

Not that I think Joss is the best choice, but there are worse options.

Well he's now got 2 Iron Man movies added to his resume. So that's still 3 more than Whedon has currently done.

 

[kendo]

Well he's now got 2 Iron Man movies added to his resume. So that's still 3 more than Whedon has currently done.

Yes, I understand that. I was talking about when other directors were rumored or announced for Marvel's films that lead up to The Avengers there were no threads asking who will "help" them, even directors with relatively small filmographies (like Faverau when he was announced as the director of Iron Man). I thought it was a strange topic and implied that Whedon was not up to the task, then you made the point about his one film so I noted that at the time of announcement Faverau was also relatively new to directing, particularly something in this genre.

 

[DACrowe]

What did Favreau direct before Iron Man? How many fight scenes or action sequences did he do?

How many movies did Abrams direct before Star Trek?

How many action movies--or movies period--did Singer do before X-Men?


Ugh, you guys are a broken record. Here is several fight sequences he has done. Don't like 'em? Well consider them his first try, which is more than Favreau, Singer or Nolan had before they jumped into superhero movies and Whedon's first try looks better than Singer's as well.

The first was all practical, no wires, no CGI and the actress in it did all her stunts save for a flip near the end.




(not original audio but probably the most visually slick sequence in the movie)




Enjoy.

 

[kedrell]

Not really feeling those. Of course I already knew that since I had to suffer thru Serenity once already. Look, if action was all we were going on then LL would've been the guy for the job, not Whedon. But IMO this film needs to be 1/3 story, 1/3 character and 1/3 spectacle in a great balance to be done right. And when LL was talking about this film, all he kept gushing over was how cool all the character stuff would be to do, not how awesome the action would be.

 

[Retroman]

Another is Jonathan Taylor, he was second unit director for Iron Man 2 and director of pincipal photography for the Die Hard, Spider-Man, X-Men movies.

My two cents.

He is also going to work on Captain America so there's a reasonable chance he will do Avengers too.

I hope Whedon will be surrounded with an experienced crew with people like Taylor.