The movie Joss Whedon would have made...

[Congo Jack]

First off, I apologise if this has been brought up before, but I did a quick search and found nothing on this board. This is a quote from an interview with Joss Whedon about X-MEN: THE LAST STAND before it was released.

You turned down X3 for some chick in spangly knickers. Give me a brief rundown of your essential ingredients for a great X-Men movie. What are we missing given that your name is not on these credits?

Well, there’s probably more of me in the third than the first, since they’re using my ‘cure’ scenario as a jumping off point (to be clear, I know many people have done cure scenarios before me – X-Statix did one that came out just months before – but I didn’t know that when I wrote mine. So my wildly unoriginal idea was, in fact, mine. Avi told me they were using it (and the character of Kavita Rao) for the movie, possibly because of the more modern genetic forum, possibly because they didn’t read the other ones either. And let me also say that the long trailer looks awfully cool. BUT. Were it me, I would do sort of what I did taking over Grant’s book – pare it down. Take a few characters and really **** them up, instead of the everybody-in-the-pool monster epic they (hopefully) have pulled off. The mission statement I always ‘Why do I love every single character? What makes them worth writing about?’ I thought about the movie in the brief time I thought I might be able to work on it and of course Phoenix was central. I was playing with the idea that her out of control power was making everyone else a little nuts as well. A chance for Xavier to be Not Picard, for Logan to get feral, Scott funky, Rogue homicidal(ish). Mutants becoming an actual menace, if mostly to themselves. And there were Sentinels, ‘cause, dude. Actually I have the whole trailer in my head. I’ll tell you about it sometime.

And so there it is. Instead of throwing tons of characters and action in at the expense of character development, Whedon would have boiled it down to the main and most important (at least in terms of the X-Men movies) characters.

So instead of Logan going feral, we got Logan going Cyclops. Scott and Xavier ended up dead - and we missed out on the badassery that is Whedon's Cyclops. Rogue was all depowered instead of homicidal.

Ah... what might have been.

 

[BMM]

Yes, this was posted some time ago, but thanks. It's still an interesting read.

 

[Congo Jack]

Yes, this was posted some time ago, but thanks. It's still an interesting read.

My bad, I found nothing. You don't have any idea what that thread was called, do you? I'd love to read other people's opinions on this.

 

[BMM]

No, sorry. I don't know the name of the thread. I believe the article was originally posted before The Last Stand was even released in theaters, so it was some time ago.

 

[Congo Jack]

I found it, thanks anyway.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

Yes, this was posted some time ago, but thanks. It's still an interesting read.

Agreed - especially since many of the older threads have went into hiding.

 

[TheVileOne]

Everyone has really got it bad for Whedon but the dude can't make it in movies.

 

[Congo Jack]

I thought SERENITY was a fantastic movie. Guy needs a bit of creative freedom he can do great things.

 

[Rac]

This just saddens me more.

****ing Fox.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Sounds so much better than the mess we recieved.

 

[X-Maniac]

Well, I didn't like Serenity and I never liked Buffy, so I'd need more convincing than some of you.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Sounds so much better than the mess we recieved.

Agreed, I am 100% confident Joss would have given a fantastic movie, a movie that quite concievably could have topped Singer's excellent efforts as X-Men movies IMO. Serenity was an amazing movie, and considering the budget, has action scene's that wipe the floor with that of X3. He made Serenity, one of my favourite films of all time (though I never liked Buffy or Angel), for $39 million. And it was leaps and bounds ahead of X3 in every aspect.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Well, I didn't like Serenity and I never liked Buffy, so I'd need more convincing than some of you.

You don't think Whedon would've done a better job than Ratner?

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

You don't think Whedon would've done a better job than Ratner?

I can't speak for X-Maniac, but no, I don't think Whedon would have done better than Ratner.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I can't speak for X-Maniac, but no, I don't think Whedon would have done better than Ratner.

As a fan of Buffy and very casual fan of Firefly/Trinity, I do think his movie would have been much better. Providing he wrote and directed, of course.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Whedon is simply infinitely more talented than Ratner, I'm not a big fan of Buffy or Angel myself, but Firefly and Serenity were both sublime. Plus Whedon has a knowledge of the characters. He is first and foremost a better director also.

 

[X-Maniac]

I bought Serenity after people on here raved about it. Didn't like it at all so I sold the DVD straight away.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

I was never a Firefly fan. While I did like Buffy sometimes, I was more into Angel since it was more of a serious, darker, and emotional show than Buffy was. Do I think Whedon could've done a better job than Ratner? I believe so. I've read his Astonishing X-Men run and I like it a lot.

In all honesty I was really looking forward to see what he would've done with Wonder Woman.

Whedon wouldn't have been my first choice though. I think those who bash him need to watch Angel. That was the show where in my opinion Whedon was at his absolute best.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

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Here are a compilation of clips from the Angel episode titled "A Hole in the World".

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The second video is the series finale of Angel titled "Not Fade Away".

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This third video is the ending from the episode titled "I Will Remember You". An emotional episode written by Joss Whedon that has Angel become a mortal and Buffy hoping to live in love forever. I remember watching this and started choking up.

It's a very emotional episode and I believe Joss wrote and directed this episode. I ask all of you watch this one before you bash the work he's done.

 

[danoyse]

I can't speak for X-Maniac, but no, I don't think Whedon would have done better than Ratner.

I think Whedon would have done better than Ratner because I think he understands how to structure a story better, but his dialogue can sometimes be too silly to be taken seriously (I felt the same way about Serenity that X-Maniac did). But I liked his cure story in the comics much better than how it was used in the actual movie, so I think he would have made a better movie than the one we got.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Here are a compilation of clips from the Angel episode titled "A Hole in the World".



The second video is the series finale of Angel titled "Not Fade Away".



This third video is the ending from the episode titled "I Will Remember You". An emotional episode written by Joss Whedon that has Angel become a mortal and Buffy hoping to live in love forever. I remember watching this and started choking up.

It's a very emotional episode and I believe Joss wrote and directed this episode. I ask all of you watch this one before you bash the work he's done.

Yeah, I actually became a bigger fan of Angel than Buffy. How could I forget.

 

[Phoenix_Flare]

well since Whedon wrote the cute storyline its only fitting that you go to the source and have them do it...he wrote the characters, action, and story, so he would know to flesh it out better than what we got in Ratners X3...

I knw some of you think Whedon is a joke, but the man knows ow to write an emotional scene, just imagine that Angel/Buffy scene will Jean/Cyclops!!! The whole theatre would be in tears...

 

[X-Maniac]

well since Whedon wrote the cute storyline its only fitting that you go to the source and have them do it...he wrote the characters, action, and story, so he would know to flesh it out better than what we got in Ratners X3...

I knw some of you think Whedon is a joke, but the man knows ow to write an emotional scene, just imagine that Angel/Buffy scene will Jean/Cyclops!!! The whole theatre would be in tears...

I don't think anyone thinks Whedon is 'a joke' but his film credits are not extensive enough to make a proper judgement. I have nothing against Whedon, I just didn't like Serenity at all and am not a fan of Buffy - which makes me have some doubts about whether I would have enjoyed his take on X3.

His own original version of the cure story was full of elements that would never translate to the big screen - like it being derived from a dead Colossus by an alien called Ord.

I also think he would have faced the same studio constraints and demands as any other director, so what he wanted is not necessarily what we would have got.

 

[X-Maniac]

You don't think Whedon would've done a better job than Ratner?

It's quite possible that he would have done a better job in some areas. Equally, he might not, or some other parts of the movie might have been weak. Could he have handled a $150million movie and all the characters and handled the dealings with the studio?

This is all unproven theorising and fantasising. Ultimatately, what is the point of the argument? It's not as if X3 is still to be made and he is a possibility for the job.

You're shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted!

 

[X-Maniac]

I think Whedon would have done better than Ratner because I think he understands how to structure a story better, but his dialogue can sometimes be too silly to be taken seriously (I felt the same way about Serenity that X-Maniac did). But I liked his cure story in the comics much better than how it was used in the actual movie, so I think he would have made a better movie than the one we got.

Obviously, some elements of the cure story in the comics would not have worked at all, as I mentioned in reply just above this one.

But I agree his storytelling would more than likely have been better, and he has more experience with the X-Men characters (so he probably would have argued fiercely against the curing of Rogue and the death of Cyclops).

But this is, of course, all supposition. I have nothing against him but it's very hard to imagine an entire Whedon version of X3 from thin air; it's not as if we have an alternative version of the film by Whedon to compare the Ratner version against.