For real?
At first I thought this was a big practical joke and/or a fannish prank, but apparantly it is for real: Joss Whedon used his spare time (?) between Avengers directing to film Much Ado About Nothing at his house with various of his favourite actors from pretty much every show he ever was involved with. *blinks* I remember first hearing about the Shakespeare readings with the actors chez Whedon in the later Buffy and Angel days; for example, according to interviews he got the idea for Illyria through them since the Shakespeare revealed Amy Acker's range.
Cast thoughts: I remember how mainly but not only disgruntled Wes/Lilah shippers bashed not only Fred the character but Amy the actress through much of s4 and s5, getting sometimes really vicious and personal about everything from her legs to her voice... until Illyria showed up, at which point the Amy bashing stopped. Along with the cries of "no chemistry", because while Wesley and Fred might not have had, Wesley and llyria did. Then Amy Acker enjoyed herself as a villain in Alias' fifth season, which impressed people further, and while Dollhouse had a mixed reception for very good reasons, everyone seemed to agree she was outstanding there as well (one of many problems of the show being that everyone proved to be more versatile than the lead, but AA in one of the supporting roles was very good indeed). So I have no doubt she'll do justice to Beatrice. As for Alexis Denisof, it remains as big a mystery to me as to everyone else why his career didn't take off after his outstanding performance through Angel's run, and I am utterly unsurprised that Joss gave him the leading part for this one. I always found the guards scenes the only parts of Much Ado I don't enjoy, but Nathan Fillion might make Dogberry not just bearable but genuinenly amusing to me. And I'm looking forward to Sean Maher as Don John. Am very amused to learn that after ASH had to drop out (he was supposed to play Leonato), Joss stole Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson to you, if you've watched the Iron Man films and Thor) from the Avengers set and gave him the part. And Andrew Tom Lenk! I can see Reed Diamond as Don Pedro, and am amused the other Dollhouse alumnus, Fran Kranz, who on that show played possibly the most twisted form of that Whedon archetype, the babbling gleeful fanboy, gets to play everyone's most disliked lover (aka Claudio - at least I never met anyone who likes Claudio, though I hasten to add there might be Claudio fans out there... somewhere).
In other news, I won't write a proper review of the latest Three Musketeers (it, err, is what it is), but as it was filmed partially in my hometown and surrounding areas, I shall include a few remarks on what location ended up being what. Not least it causes much amusement and cheers every time the film is shown in a Bamberg cinema.
I knew there would be one scene set in Venice since Count Schönborn, at whose estate the Venice sequence was filmed, told me there would be. Neither of us could figure out what the hell the Musketeers would be doing in Venice. In this film, being a Musketeer means you're really James Bond in a steampunk 17th centry, and Athos, Porthos and Aramis plus Milady who are the original spy team are on a mission in Venice to steal some Leonardo da Vinci drawings (given Leonardo concluded his days in France, with his estate being left in Amboise, one wonders why they would have to, though actually one doesn't because history never has more than passing acquaintance with anything in this film) and parts of Schloß Weissenstein double as a Venetian palazzo complete with secret vault. I must say, given that the book reason why we're supposed to feel sorry for Athos never sat well with me when I was a girl and these days makes me growl (in the novel, Athos' backstory with Milady is that shock horror, after a few months of blissful marriage he discovers she is really a convicted criminal who lied to him about her past and promptly hangs her on the next tree, which is what heroes do to women who lie to them, leaving her for supposed dead and riding off to sulk and drink for the next decade or so until the plot of the novel starts) , basically making him Jack Bristow and Milady Irina Derevko instead isn't a twist I objected to. Carry on, Hollywood. Anyway, so, a Venetian palazzo interior a la Bavarie:
After this newly invented intro, I was surprised the film actually uses parts from Dumas (which is more than you can say of the Disney abomination from the 90s), to wit, the whole bit where young D'Artagnan shortly after his arrival in Paris manages to run into all three of the Musketeers while pursuing Rochefort, ends up due for duels with them at St. Germain where they're rushed by the Cardinal's guards and bond to fight those instead. This was filmed at the Alte Hofhaltung, with our cathedral doubling as St. Germain in the background, and was where a lot of Bambergers could double as cheering onlookers. It was also the very use made of the same location when the local theatre inacted The Three Musketeers. (The Alte Hofhaltung is where our summer theatre festivals take place.)
French duel ground a la Bamberg, theatre version:
Film still:
I was relieved that despite the trailer, no one in this film is actually plotting the end of the world or stopping same. On the other hand, just as I guessed Richelieu's book aims are too much realpolitiik for a film villain to have, so the scriptwriters looked no further than the Disney abomination (though here they stop short of letting him plot for the actual throne; instead, he wants "the regency", and I'm not even getting into that bit of nonsense, which thankfully is limited to one scene; admittedly, Christoph Waltz enjoys himself tremendously through the film). Anyway, the second Bamberg location, instantly recognizable if you've ever visited, is where our heroes live in Paris. (In the book, D'Artagnan has lodgings at M. and Mme Bonancieux', starting an affair with the later, but the cheerful adultery of the novel does of course not suit an AngloAmerican target audience, so Constance is instead an unmarried noblewoman. Anne d'Autriche doesn't have an affair with the Duke of Buckingham, either. That's complete slander on Richelieu's part. BTW, Orlando Bloom apparantly agreed to the film because they promised him he could at last play a hammy villain, and he makes the most of it. Buckingham as villain has been done by Doctor Who before, so I'm not counting it as an innovation.) The film Musketeers live next door to a brothel that looks exactly like the old city hall of 'Bamberg, so you can imagine the audience exploding in laughter every time it came into sight.
Parisian house of ill repute a la Bamberg:
Very suitable for a 3D rendering, as you can imagine. Which is the main reason I had for watching the film: Bamberg in 3D! And I got my money's worth of that one. As for everything else, I strongly suspect the cast agreed to play in the film in order to enjoy our beautiful countryside as well...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/723611.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Cast thoughts: I remember how mainly but not only disgruntled Wes/Lilah shippers bashed not only Fred the character but Amy the actress through much of s4 and s5, getting sometimes really vicious and personal about everything from her legs to her voice... until Illyria showed up, at which point the Amy bashing stopped. Along with the cries of "no chemistry", because while Wesley and Fred might not have had, Wesley and llyria did. Then Amy Acker enjoyed herself as a villain in Alias' fifth season, which impressed people further, and while Dollhouse had a mixed reception for very good reasons, everyone seemed to agree she was outstanding there as well (one of many problems of the show being that everyone proved to be more versatile than the lead, but AA in one of the supporting roles was very good indeed). So I have no doubt she'll do justice to Beatrice. As for Alexis Denisof, it remains as big a mystery to me as to everyone else why his career didn't take off after his outstanding performance through Angel's run, and I am utterly unsurprised that Joss gave him the leading part for this one. I always found the guards scenes the only parts of Much Ado I don't enjoy, but Nathan Fillion might make Dogberry not just bearable but genuinenly amusing to me. And I'm looking forward to Sean Maher as Don John. Am very amused to learn that after ASH had to drop out (he was supposed to play Leonato), Joss stole Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson to you, if you've watched the Iron Man films and Thor) from the Avengers set and gave him the part. And Andrew Tom Lenk! I can see Reed Diamond as Don Pedro, and am amused the other Dollhouse alumnus, Fran Kranz, who on that show played possibly the most twisted form of that Whedon archetype, the babbling gleeful fanboy, gets to play everyone's most disliked lover (aka Claudio - at least I never met anyone who likes Claudio, though I hasten to add there might be Claudio fans out there... somewhere).
In other news, I won't write a proper review of the latest Three Musketeers (it, err, is what it is), but as it was filmed partially in my hometown and surrounding areas, I shall include a few remarks on what location ended up being what. Not least it causes much amusement and cheers every time the film is shown in a Bamberg cinema.
I knew there would be one scene set in Venice since Count Schönborn, at whose estate the Venice sequence was filmed, told me there would be. Neither of us could figure out what the hell the Musketeers would be doing in Venice. In this film, being a Musketeer means you're really James Bond in a steampunk 17th centry, and Athos, Porthos and Aramis plus Milady who are the original spy team are on a mission in Venice to steal some Leonardo da Vinci drawings (given Leonardo concluded his days in France, with his estate being left in Amboise, one wonders why they would have to, though actually one doesn't because history never has more than passing acquaintance with anything in this film) and parts of Schloß Weissenstein double as a Venetian palazzo complete with secret vault. I must say, given that the book reason why we're supposed to feel sorry for Athos never sat well with me when I was a girl and these days makes me growl (in the novel, Athos' backstory with Milady is that shock horror, after a few months of blissful marriage he discovers she is really a convicted criminal who lied to him about her past and promptly hangs her on the next tree, which is what heroes do to women who lie to them, leaving her for supposed dead and riding off to sulk and drink for the next decade or so until the plot of the novel starts) , basically making him Jack Bristow and Milady Irina Derevko instead isn't a twist I objected to. Carry on, Hollywood. Anyway, so, a Venetian palazzo interior a la Bavarie:
After this newly invented intro, I was surprised the film actually uses parts from Dumas (which is more than you can say of the Disney abomination from the 90s), to wit, the whole bit where young D'Artagnan shortly after his arrival in Paris manages to run into all three of the Musketeers while pursuing Rochefort, ends up due for duels with them at St. Germain where they're rushed by the Cardinal's guards and bond to fight those instead. This was filmed at the Alte Hofhaltung, with our cathedral doubling as St. Germain in the background, and was where a lot of Bambergers could double as cheering onlookers. It was also the very use made of the same location when the local theatre inacted The Three Musketeers. (The Alte Hofhaltung is where our summer theatre festivals take place.)
French duel ground a la Bamberg, theatre version:
Film still:
I was relieved that despite the trailer, no one in this film is actually plotting the end of the world or stopping same. On the other hand, just as I guessed Richelieu's book aims are too much realpolitiik for a film villain to have, so the scriptwriters looked no further than the Disney abomination (though here they stop short of letting him plot for the actual throne; instead, he wants "the regency", and I'm not even getting into that bit of nonsense, which thankfully is limited to one scene; admittedly, Christoph Waltz enjoys himself tremendously through the film). Anyway, the second Bamberg location, instantly recognizable if you've ever visited, is where our heroes live in Paris. (In the book, D'Artagnan has lodgings at M. and Mme Bonancieux', starting an affair with the later, but the cheerful adultery of the novel does of course not suit an AngloAmerican target audience, so Constance is instead an unmarried noblewoman. Anne d'Autriche doesn't have an affair with the Duke of Buckingham, either. That's complete slander on Richelieu's part. BTW, Orlando Bloom apparantly agreed to the film because they promised him he could at last play a hammy villain, and he makes the most of it. Buckingham as villain has been done by Doctor Who before, so I'm not counting it as an innovation.) The film Musketeers live next door to a brothel that looks exactly like the old city hall of 'Bamberg, so you can imagine the audience exploding in laughter every time it came into sight.
Parisian house of ill repute a la Bamberg:
Very suitable for a 3D rendering, as you can imagine. Which is the main reason I had for watching the film: Bamberg in 3D! And I got my money's worth of that one. As for everything else, I strongly suspect the cast agreed to play in the film in order to enjoy our beautiful countryside as well...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/723611.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.