Joss Whedon and RDJ Talk AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Script

If you have seen or heard anything about the highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron, you might have thought, "Good hell, that movie has a lot going on." Here is a non-exhaustive list of things we knew were in the movie before we saw it: the creation of Ultron, the creation of the Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, 100 villains (slight exaggeration), the early set up for Civil War, a romance, and a Hulk/Hulkbuster fight, plus the large regular Avengers crew. That’s a lot, and it’s a big challenge to work so many elements into a cohesive story, and writer-director Joss Whedon admitted as much at a press conference this weekend. Asked about the biggest challenge in creating the sequel, Whedon replied,

There’s like 47 of these people. I really didn’t think that through. I regret very much doing this at all. It’s just making sure that everyone’s got their moment, that everyone’s got their throughline, and that it’s connected to the movie. I have all these people. I love all these people; they’re extraordinary, but making sure that they’re not just all being served but they’re all within the same narrative structure, that they’re in the same movie, that it’s all connected to the main theme. 

So how did he even begin to approach the project?

With the smallest thing I could think of. The thing that drew me back to the movie was: what little moments are there between these characters that I haven’t gotten to do yet? What conversations have they not had? How can I... What haven’t I shown? It’s never the big picture stuff, it’s never, And we can have an army of robots! Although that’s cool too… It’s always just, where do they live? How can I get inside their hearts? What’s funny about them? Those are the moments I write just reams and reams of paper just thinking about the tiniest part. That’s really the heart of it. 

Did he rise to the challenge? We aren’t allowed to tell you yet, but this is what star Robert Downey Jr. said about reading the script.

I read Joss’s script, I said, I think this is great. Now, ask Kevin [Feige], didn’t I say that? I said that. I said, I think this is great. Kevin said, You never say that, you can’t mean that. I said, yeah, I think it’s great, let’s go shoot it. I really thought it was a Swiss watch to begin with, and Joss really created some great new situations for Tony to be in, and so, rather than digging my heels and try to rewrite every scene - to make them even better, if possible - I just, I showed up, and it turned out great.

“A Swiss watch to begin with” is pretty high praise. You decide for yourself when the movie opens on May 1st.