Joss Whedon Says That Directing AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Broke Him
Avengers: Age of Ultron may have ended up being a harder movie to make than director Joss Whedon thought it would be. It sounds like he started out with an idea that he loved, but over the course of the film production things didn't work out as smoothly as he had hoped. In a recent interview with Hero Complex, Whedon admits that the film broke him, and he explained why when asked what the most taxing element on the movie was.
"The weight of the thing. The weight of the last thing, of this not just being the next thing that happens — I wanted this film to be its own movie. I wanted it to be better, if possible, than the first one. Not that the first one was the best movie ever made, but I wanted to do better, just be better at shooting. I wanted to work harder on the script. I wanted to spend more time just really working every aspect of it, because why go again if you’re not doing something new?"
I personally thought that he accomplished that. I like this movie more than I liked the first Avengers film. I know not everyone feels the same way, though. He goes on to talk about how in the middle of production a fear of failure hit him:
"I heard that voice in my head every time, ‘But is this a great idea?’ And suddenly I had doubt that I don’t usually suffer from. And meanwhile, the studio’s gonna have some too, because everything’s riding on this all of a sudden. And it became a problem in a way that nothing else has. And it was a hard movie to make on top of that. So being paralyzed by either indecision or the weight of responsibility? Not useful, don’t have time for your paralysis, son, snap out of it. This was the hardest work I’ve ever done… it a little bit broke me."
No wonder he didn't want to take on the task of directing Avengers: Infinity War! We'll have to wish the Russo Bros. the best of luck when they start work on that epic story. Hopefully it doesn't break them.
After hearing what it was like to direct this movie, I'm pretty sure they next thing he does is going to be on a much smaller scale. Not a project like Star Wars that was previously rumored. The next film he makes is going to be something that helps him find his happy place.