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 Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was raised in New York and was educated at Riverdale Country School, where his mother also taught. He also attended Winchester College in England for two years, before graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan University.After relocating to Los Angeles, Whedon landed his first TV writing job on "Roseanne", and moved on to script a season of "Parenthood". He then developed a film script which went on to become Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Whedon was very unhappy with the final film - his original script was extensively re-written and made lighter in tone. After this he earned screenwriting credits on such high profile productions as Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Toy Story (1995), for which he was Oscar nominated. He also worked as a 'script doctor' on various features, notably Speed (1994). In 1997, Whedon had the opportunity to resurrect his character Buffy in a television series on The WB Network. This time, as showrunner and executive producer, he retained full artistic control. The series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a popular and critical hit, which ran for several seasons, the last two on UPN. Whedon also produced a spin-off series, "Angel", which was also successful. A foray in to sci-fi television followed with "Firefly", which developed a cult following, but did not stay on air long. It did find an audience on DVD and through re-runs, and a spin-off feature film Serenity (2005) was released in 2005.Other projects have included comic book writing, the sci-fi drama "Dollhouse" and the screenplay for Marvel blockbuster The Avengers (2012).
Bio:
Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was raised in New York and was educated at Riverdale Country School, where his mother also taught. He also attended Winchester College in England for two years, before graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan University.After relocating to Los Angeles, Whedon landed his first TV writing job on "Roseanne", and moved on to script a season of "Parenthood". He then developed a film script which went on to become Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Whedon was very unhappy with the final film - his original script was extensively re-written and made lighter in tone. After this he earned screenwriting credits on such high profile productions as Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Toy Story (1995), for which he was Oscar nominated. He also worked as a 'script doctor' on various features, notably Speed (1994). In 1997, Whedon had the opportunity to resurrect his character Buffy in a television series on The WB Network. This time, as showrunner and executive producer, he retained full artistic control. The series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a popular and critical hit, which ran for several seasons, the last two on UPN. Whedon also produced a spin-off series, "Angel", which was also successful. A foray in to sci-fi television followed with "Firefly", which developed a cult following, but did not stay on air long. It did find an audience on DVD and through re-runs, and a spin-off feature film Serenity (2005) was released in 2005.Other projects have included comic book writing, the sci-fi drama "Dollhouse" and the screenplay for Marvel blockbuster The Avengers (2012).
Tivia:
Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) episode "Hush" was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. "Hush" featured 28 minutes without dialogue, as a group of fairy-tale demons called the Gentlemen arrived in Sunnydale to steal voices, and then hearts (literally).Was asked to revise the script for X-Men (2000) and reportedly decided the whole script needed to be totally rewritten. When he handed the studio this draft, they apparently threw it out; they only really wanted him to add a couple jokes here and there.Has claimed that his script for Firefly episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" is his personal favorite thing he has ever written.Is responsible for making Thanos the overall villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.His ex-wife Kai Cole published an essay about their 16-year-marriage: "There were times in our relationship that I was uncomfortable with the attention Joss paid other women. He always had a lot of female friends, but he told me it was because his mother raised him as a feminist, so he just liked women better. He said he admired and respected females, he didn't lust after them. I believed him and trusted him. On the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Joss decided to have his first secret affair. Fifteen years later, when he was done with our marriage and finally ready to tell the truth, he wrote me, "When I was running 'Buffy,' I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth. Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can't touch it." But he did touch it. He said he understood, "I would have to lie - or conceal some part of the truth - for the rest of my life," but he did it anyway, hoping that first affair, "would be ENOUGH, that THEN we could move on and outlast it." Joss admitted that for the next decade and a half, he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends, while he stayed married to me. (...) Despite understanding, on some level, that what he was doing was wrong, he never conceded the hypocrisy of being out in the world preaching feminist ideals, while at the same time, taking away my right to make choices for my life and my body based on the truth. He deceived me for 15 years, so he could have everything he wanted. I believed, everyone believed, that he was one of the good guys, committed to fighting for women's rights, committed to our marriage, and to the women he worked with. But I now see how he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist. [The Wrap, Aug. 20, 2017].Directed the post-credits scene of Thor (2011) to set up The Avengers (2012) and the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) to set up Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).After the cancellation of Firefly, Whedon cast nearly all of the main cast members as villains in his other projects. Nathan Fillion appeared in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Caleb. Gina Torres appeared in the fourth season of Angel as Jasmine. Adam Baldwin also appeared in Angel, in the fifth season as Marcus Hamilton. Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk appeared in Dollhouse as Bennett Halverson and Alpha, respectively. Sean Maher played Don John in Whedon's movie of Much Ado About Nothing.Rewrote the script for Speed (1994) uncredited.His favorite movie is The Matrix (1999).Whedon's children have his wife's last name, not his.He is a huge "X-Men" fan and based his most famous character, Buffy Summers, partly on Kitty Pryde.Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof are the godparents of his son Arden.Wrote the plot to the comic book Serenity, which bridged the gap between the Firefly T.V. series and the film. Fellow Firefly writer Brett Matthews scripted it.His influences include Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, Rod Serling, William Shakespeare, Stephen Sondheim, and Steven Spielberg.His work often contains twinning, doubles, or doppelg?ngers. He has twice cast the non-acting identical twin brother of one of his series regulars as a supernatural double or doppelg?nger of the regular character. In the season 5 Buffy episode "The Replacement," Kelly Donovan, the twin brother of Buffy regular Nicholas Brendon (Xander) plays a part of Xander's personality that has become mystically separated from the original Xander. In the season 2 Dollhouse episode "The Attic," Demir Gjokaj, the twin brother of Dollhouse regular Enver Gjokaj (Victor/Anthony) plays an alternate version of Victor/Anthony who fights the original character while he is trapped in his own nightmares.Is a very big fan of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and cast 'Tahmoh Pennikett' as one of the leads in ''Dollhouse'' based on his work in it. He also cast Jamie Bamber, Michael Hogan and Mark Sheppard in guest parts.Considers The Road Warrior (1981) to be a perfect movie.He was signed to write the "Wonder Woman" film. No actress officially stepped into that role until December 4, 2013 for the production of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", a sequel to the Superman reboot "Man of Steel".Reportedly made more money off Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) than the third-highest-grossing film The Avengers (2012).Writing is clearly in his blood, since he could arguably be the world's first third-generation television writer. His grandfather was a successful sitcom writer in the 1950s and '60s on The Donna Reed Show (1958) and Leave It to Beaver (1957), and his father wrote for the likes of The Dick Cavett Show (1968), Alice (1976) and Benson (1979).Appeared on-screen in the Jossverse for the first-time in the Angel (1999) episode "Through the Looking Glass" as "Numfar" of the Deathwok Clan. A relative of the Host, he is routinely ordered by Lorne's mother to dance.Has said that he created Buffy (of the vampire slaying fame) to be an "alternative feminist icon".An active supporter of gay rights.Whedon, who has made his support of feminist causes well known and who has built much of his career writing films and TV shows about empowered teenage girls or young women, was a subscriber to Sassy, an American feminist magazine for teenage girls. Sassy was published between 1988-1994, which means that Whedon (who was born in 1964) would have been far into his late 20s or early 30s while receiving the publication.Is a huge fan of the "Terminator" series.After receiving a degree in film studies from Wesleyan University, Whedon moved to Los Angeles and landed his first writing job on the staff of Roseanne (1988), working as a story editor and writing several episodes of the top-rated series. He later pulled double duty on the NBC series Parenthood (1990), co-producing and writing a number of episodes.Related to Jed Whedon, video game music composer.One of the many screenwriters to submit a draft for the film Freddy vs. Jason (2003).The August 21, 1995, draft of the screenplay for Twister (1996) credits Joss Whedon and Jeff Nathanson as writers. Neither writer is credited in the final film.Lived in the UK for three years, from 1980-2, attending Winchester College in Hampshire, where he took his A levels. The character of Rupert Giles is mistakenly thought to be based on a history teacher there, Dr. Peter Cramer. Dr. Cramer's arrival at the College post-dates Whedon's departure. The character was named in tribute to his House Matron: Barbara Giles.Took him two years to finish writing Buffy comic book spin-off mini-series "Fray" with artist Karl Moline, due to his schedule with his three shows (Buffy/Angel/ Firefly) and the artist's new job at CrossGen Comics.Graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987.In X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), the idea of a cure developed by Dr. Kavita Rao, Beast's interest in it, and the prominent roles played by Kitty Pryde and Colossus, were inspired by Joss Whedon's story "Gifted" which took place in the first six issues of "Astonishing X-Men".He completed his first draft script for "Wonder Woman" (2007), but that film ended up being written by Allan Heinberg and was not theatrically released until 2017.Is one of several successful current filmmakers who are graduates of Wesleyan University, including Michael Bay, Ruben Fleischer and Benh Zeitlin.In 2007, started writing the comic-book Runaways after Brian K. Vaughan left it.Whedon and Cole can be heard doing a demo track for the wildly popular episode "Once More With Feeling" on the episode soundtrack. It was recorded in the front hall of their home.In the 2002-2003 television season, Whedon had three television series, each running on a different network: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) on UPN, Angel (1999) on the WB and Firefly (2002) on Fox. Angel (1999) was the only one of the three to still be on the air in the 2003-2004 season as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) had ended its seven season run while Firefly (2002) was cancelled after 14 episodes.Brother of Zack Whedon (assistant to Mr. David Milch) and Jed Whedon.His wife, Kai Cole, gave birth to their son Arden on December 18, 2002.Wrote an introduction for Jim Krugeer and Alex Ross's Marvel Comics's award- winning graphic novel "Earth X."Son of Tom Whedon.Grandson of John Whedon.Daughter, Squire, born late 2004/early 2005.Has stated that the name choice "Twilight" for the masked super villain of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) "Season Eight" comics was a coincidence, rather than a reference or shout out to Twilight (2008). "Twilight" also named the last arc of Season Eight. |
| Name: |
Joss Whedon |
Type: |
Writer,Producer,Director (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Writer,Producer,Director |
| Products for sale: |
Writer,Producer,Director |
| Model rank: |
631 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 04:50:09 |
| Height: |
5' 10' (1.78 m) |
| Biography: |
Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss\' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and s |
| Trivia: |
Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) episode "Hush" was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. "Hush" featured 28 minutes without dialogue, as a group of fairy-tale demons called the Gentlemen arrived in Sunnydale to steal voices, and then hearts (literally).Was asked to revise the script for X-Men (2000) and reportedly decided the whole script needed to be totally rewritten. When he handed the studio this draft, they apparently threw it out; they only really wanted him to add a couple jokes here and there.Has claimed that his script for Firefly episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" is his personal favorite thing he has ever written.Is responsible for making Thanos the overall villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.His ex-wife Kai Cole published an essay about their 16-year-marriage: "There were times in our relationship that I was uncomfortable with the attention Joss paid other women. He always had a lot of female friends, but he told me it was because his mother raised him as a feminist, so he just liked women better. He said he admired and respected females, he didn't lust after them. I believed him and trusted him. On the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Joss decided to have his first secret affair. Fifteen years later, when he was done with our marriage and finally ready to tell the truth, he wrote me, "When I was running 'Buffy,' I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth. Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can't touch it." But he did touch it. He said he understood, "I would have to lie - or conceal some part of the truth - for the rest of my life," but he did it anyway, hoping that first affair, "would be ENOUGH, that THEN we could move on and outlast it." Joss admitted that for the next decade and a half, he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends, while he stayed married to me. (...) Despite understanding, on some level, that what he was doing was wrong, he never conceded the hypocrisy of being out in the world preaching feminist ideals, while at the same time, taking away my right to make choices for my life and my body based on the truth. He deceived me for 15 years, so he could have everything he wanted. I believed, everyone believed, that he was one of the good guys, committed to fighting for women's rights, committed to our marriage, and to the women he worked with. But I now see how he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist. [The Wrap, Aug. 20, 2017].Directed the post-credits scene of Thor (2011) to set up The Avengers (2012) and the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) to set up Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).After the cancellation of Firefly, Whedon cast nearly all of the main cast members as villains in his other projects. Nathan Fillion appeared in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Caleb. Gina Torres appeared in the fourth season of Angel as Jasmine. Adam Baldwin also appeared in Angel, in the fifth season as Marcus Hamilton. Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk appeared in Dollhouse as Bennett Halverson and Alpha, respectively. Sean Maher played Don John in Whedon's movie of Much Ado About Nothing.Rewrote the script for Speed (1994) uncredited.His favorite movie is The Matrix (1999).Whedon's children have his wife's last name, not his.He is a huge "X-Men" fan and based his most famous character, Buffy Summers, partly on Kitty Pryde.Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof are the godparents of his son Arden.Wrote the plot to the comic book Serenity, which bridged the gap between the Firefly T.V. series and the film. Fellow Firefly writer Brett Matthews scripted it.His influences include Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, Rod Serling, William Shakespeare, Stephen Sondheim, and Steven Spielberg.His work often contains twinning, doubles, or doppelg?ngers. He has twice cast the non-acting identical twin brother of one of his series regulars as a supernatural double or doppelg?nger of the regular character. In the season 5 Buffy episode "The Replacement," Kelly Donovan, the twin brother of Buffy regular Nicholas Brendon (Xander) plays a part of Xander's personality that has become mystically separated from the original Xander. In the season 2 Dollhouse episode "The Attic," Demir Gjokaj, the twin brother of Dollhouse regular Enver Gjokaj (Victor/Anthony) plays an alternate version of Victor/Anthony who fights the original character while he is trapped in his own nightmares.Is a very big fan of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and cast 'Tahmoh Pennikett' as one of the leads in ''Dollhouse'' based on his work in it. He also cast Jamie Bamber, Michael Hogan and Mark Sheppard in guest parts.Considers The Road Warrior (1981) to be a perfect movie.He was signed to write the "Wonder Woman" film. No actress officially stepped into that role until December 4, 2013 for the production of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", a sequel to the Superman reboot "Man of Steel".Reportedly made more money off Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) than the third-highest-grossing film The Avengers (2012).Writing is clearly in his blood, since he could arguably be the world's first third-generation television writer. His grandfather was a successful sitcom writer in the 1950s and '60s on The Donna Reed Show (1958) and Leave It to Beaver (1957), and his father wrote for the likes of The Dick Cavett Show (1968), Alice (1976) and Benson (1979).Appeared on-screen in the Jossverse for the first-time in the Angel (1999) episode "Through the Looking Glass" as "Numfar" of the Deathwok Clan. A relative of the Host, he is routinely ordered by Lorne's mother to dance.Has said that he created Buffy (of the vampire slaying fame) to be an "alternative feminist icon".An active supporter of gay rights.Whedon, who has made his support of feminist causes well known and who has built much of his career writing films and TV shows about empowered teenage girls or young women, was a subscriber to Sassy, an American feminist magazine for teenage girls. Sassy was published between 1988-1994, which means that Whedon (who was born in 1964) would have been far into his late 20s or early 30s while receiving the publication.Is a huge fan of the "Terminator" series.After receiving a degree in film studies from Wesleyan University, Whedon moved to Los Angeles and landed his first writing job on the staff of Roseanne (1988), working as a story editor and writing several episodes of the top-rated series. He later pulled double duty on the NBC series Parenthood (1990), co-producing and writing a number of episodes.Related to Jed Whedon, video game music composer.One of the many screenwriters to submit a draft for the film Freddy vs. Jason (2003).The August 21, 1995, draft of the screenplay for Twister (1996) credits Joss Whedon and Jeff Nathanson as writers. Neither writer is credited in the final film.Lived in the UK for three years, from 1980-2, attending Winchester College in Hampshire, where he took his A levels. The character of Rupert Giles is mistakenly thought to be based on a history teacher there, Dr. Peter Cramer. Dr. Cramer's arrival at the College post-dates Whedon's departure. The character was named in tribute to his House Matron: Barbara Giles.Took him two years to finish writing Buffy comic book spin-off mini-series "Fray" with artist Karl Moline, due to his schedule with his three shows (Buffy/Angel/ Firefly) and the artist's new job at CrossGen Comics.Graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987.In X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), the idea of a cure developed by Dr. Kavita Rao, Beast's interest in it, and the prominent roles played by Kitty Pryde and Colossus, were inspired by Joss Whedon's story "Gifted" which took place in the first six issues of "Astonishing X-Men".He completed his first draft script for "Wonder Woman" (2007), but that film ended up being written by Allan Heinberg and was not theatrically released until 2017.Is one of several successful current filmmakers who are graduates of Wesleyan University, including Michael Bay, Ruben Fleischer and Benh Zeitlin.In 2007, started writing the comic-book Runaways after Brian K. Vaughan left it.Whedon and Cole can be heard doing a demo track for the wildly popular episode "Once More With Feeling" on the episode soundtrack. It was recorded in the front hall of their home.In the 2002-2003 television season, Whedon had three television series, each running on a different network: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) on UPN, Angel (1999) on the WB and Firefly (2002) on Fox. Angel (1999) was the only one of the three to still be on the air in the 2003-2004 season as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) had ended its seven season run while Firefly (2002) was cancelled after 14 episodes.Brother of Zack Whedon (assistant to Mr. David Milch) and Jed Whedon.His wife, Kai Cole, gave birth to their son Arden on December 18, 2002.Wrote an introduction for Jim Krugeer and Alex Ross's Marvel Comics's award- winning graphic novel "Earth X."Son of Tom Whedon.Grandson of John Whedon.Daughter, Squire, born late 2004/early 2005.Has stated that the name choice "Twilight" for the masked super villain of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) "Season Eight" comics was a coincidence, rather than a reference or shout out to Twilight (2008). "Twilight" also named the last arc of Season Eight. |
| Trademarks: |
Plans storylines far in advance for all his television series, allowing for remarkable long-term continuity.
Frequent use of nouns as adjectives, by adding the suffix "-y"
Features tough, strong female characters
Kills off characters who are among his most popular, to keep his audiences surprised.
Supernatural and science fiction themes |
| Quotes: |
[in April 2003, asked how he designed each unstoppable season villain to be unique and threatening] We got into a problem with that. We kept saying, "This monster can't be killed. It's like, "Well, have you used violence? It was never about the unstoppableness. It was never about the monster. It was about the emotion. The monster came from that. We didn't always make them unique. We tried as much as possible, but what was important was how they related to the characters and that's what made them unique.
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But nowadays I'm really cranky about comics. Because most of them are just really, really poorly written soft-core. And I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Super powers. Why is it now that everybody's like "I can reverse the polarity of your ions!" Like in one big flash everybody's Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don't understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it's true.
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<hr>
[on "NPR Fresh Air", 11/8/02] It's fascinating to me, the shows that I've always loved the best, Hill Street Blues (1981), Wiseguy (1987), Twin Peaks (1990), have always been shows that did have accumulative knowledge. One of the reasons why The X-Files (1993) started to leave me cold was that after five years, I just started yelling at Scully, "You're an idiot. It's a monster", and I couldn't take it anymore. I need people to grow, I need them to change, I need them to learn and explore, you know, and die and do all of the things that people do in real life. And so [on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] we're very, very strict about making sure that things track, that they're presented in the right way. Because, ultimately--and this is one of the things that I did find out after we had aired--the soap opera, the characters, the interaction between them is really what people respond to more than anything else. And although we came out of it as a sort of monster-of-the-week format, it was clear that the interaction was the thing that people were latching onto. So we were happy to sort of go with that and really play it up and really see where these characters were going to go.
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<hr>
[New York Post interview, 5/20/03, about filming the last day of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] "The last scene that I filmed [involved] a one-day player with no lines, which is great. I actually said, 'I want the last scene to be a one-day player with no lines, so I don't lose it."
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<hr>
[interview, The Vancouver Sun, 2/3/04] The times are chaotic. For me, I would hope that people look at [Angel (1999)] and gain strength by it. With everything that I do, I hope that they see people struggling to live decent, moral lives in a completely chaotic world. They see how hard it is, how often they fail, and how they get up and keep trying. That, to me, is the most important message I'm ever going to tell. |
| Job title: |
Writer,Producer,Director |
| Others works: |
wrote an unused draft of X-Men (2000)
Writer and creator of the comic book "Fray", published by Dark Horse comics.
Wrote the song "Last Time" for Anthony Head's album "Music for Elevators" (2002)
Wrote the song " |
| Spouse: |
Kai Cole (June 24, 1995 - July 1, 2016) (divorced, 2 children) |
| Children: |
ArdenSquire |
| Parents: |
Tom Whedon
Lee Stearns |
| Relatives: |
John Whedon (Grandparent)
Jed Whedon (Sibling)
Zack Whedon (Sibling)
Sibling (Sibling)
Sibling (Sibling) |
|
