I'd love to see a Venn diagram of the intersection of two subsets: moviegoers who saw The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, and those who plan to see his interpretation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if there was no intersection at all, just one big circle (The Avengers) and one little circle (Much Ado) sitting next to each other, but I give Whedon credit for taking time out of his blockbuster career — 12 days, to be exact — to make this labor of love and present the Bard in a contemporary setting.
And yet, based on a handful of viewings of this trailer, Much Ado looks self-conscious and pretentious. Shot in black-and-white and — at least on this trailer — adorned with a jazzy soundtrack, the movie looks like Whedon's interpretation of a Woody Allen film. And a lot of the actors do their scenes with a look in their eyes that says, I'm doin' Shakespeare, bitches!
The cast includes The Cabin In The Woods star Amy Acker as Beatrice, Alexis Denisof as Benedick, late S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson, Clark Gregg, playing Leonato, Nathan Fillion, of Serenity, in the role of Dogberry, and Sean Maher as Don John.
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