It was a very bizarre press tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron when it hit cinema screens last year. At the London press screening, Whedon came out on stage and introduced the film with, “I fucking hate this movie” and then publicly criticised Marvel Studios in interviews saying they forced him to build toward Thor: Ragnarok and that they made a huge mistake in losing Edgar Wright from Ant-Man. The film also caused the director to quit Twitter over fans and movie goers lambasting him for labeling Black Widow a “monster” due to her inability to have children.
But one year later, Whedon has reappraised his feelings.
“Ultron, I’m very proud of”, he said at the Tribeca Film Festival. “There were things that did not meet my expectations of myself and then I was so beaten down by the process.”
“Some of that was conflicting with Marvel, which is inevitable and a lot of that was about my own work and I was also exhausted, and we right away went and did publicity”, he continues. “I created the narrative – wherein I’m not quite accomplished at – and people just ran with [that] – ‘well it’s OK, it could be better, but it’s not Joss’ fault’ and I think that did a disservice to the movie, and to the studio and to myself. Ultimately, it wasn’t the right way to be because I’m very proud about it.”
“The things about it that are wrong frustrate me enormously”, he adds. “but I got to make an absurdly personal movie about humanity and what it means in a very esoteric and bizarre ways for hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that Marvel gave me that opportunity twice is so bonkers and beautiful and the fact that I come off as a miserable failure is also bonkers, but not in a cute way.”
Avengers: Age of Ultron certainly divided audiences when it was released last year. Some thought it was really, really great while others found it rather mediocre. Flickering Myth Podcast co-host Oli Davis, for example, thinks it’s better than Captain America: The Winter Soldier. What did you think of the film? Do you agree with Joss?
Source: Deadline
Originally published April 19, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
