Joss Whedon Stars in 5-Year-Old's Adorable Movie

Fanghawk

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Joss Whedon Stars in 5-Year-Old's Adorable Movie

Written By A Kid's pilot pits Joss Whedon against a milkman-killing monster.

Ever since 5-year old Malachai Nicolle partnered with his brother to create the webcomic smash-hit Axe Cop, the question inevitably arose how else one could best exploit the creativity of children without breaking any labor laws. Now Felicia Day's web production company Geek & Sundry has the answer with Written By A Kid. The concept is straightforward enough; the series creators sit a child in front of a camera to tell whatever crazy story comes off the top of their head, and Geek & Sundry uses a combination of live-action and animation to realize their vision. That's not what really sets Written By A Kid apart though; what sets it apart is that they brought Avengers director Joss Whedon on board as the hard-boiled action hero of the first episode.

Although he has no dialogue (except for some adorable voice-overs by episode writer "Brett"), Whedon clearly steals the show. When a giant rampaging monster kills the local milkman, Whedon's Gerald, head of the elite S.Q.U.A.T team (a perpetually squatting S.W.A.T team) arrives to dispatch it. According to Brett, "he has a hat, he has a shield, a sword, and a gun. And he has a small gun, and he has a belt to hang that stuff on, and he got jeans." Clearly if Gerald worked for Nick Fury, the Avengers would never have needed to assemble.

Whedon was under no obligation to join this particular project, but once he did sign on, he demanded to be treated just like the other actors. "We sent the rough cut to Joss," said director Daniel Strange <a href=http://youtu.be/oSwKY5B0zcw>in a behind-the-scenes video, "and we said 'Here's the thing, we would love you to do this, it's really fun, it'll be super easy. Come in and get some photographs taken, no squatting necessary.' And he writes back, 'I'll do it on one condition. If [Kate Micucci] gets to do all her own squatting, so do I. 'Dem's my terms."

This project isn't the first time Whedon has stepped away from the director's chair to help someone out with their video. Shortly before Avengers reached theaters, Whedon appeared in <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyuFfKPCvY>this comedy sketch where he teaches an incredibly insecure young man the basics of potty training. Whedon's years of experience in film and television clearly haven't put him above the occasional fun project that gets filmed with friends in a garage to be put on the internet, and it makes me respect him all the more.

Source: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyuFfKPCvY>YouTube

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toomuchnothing

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Fanghawk said:
Shortly before Avengers reached theaters, Whedon appeared in <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyuFfKPCvY>this comedy sketch where he teaches an incredibly secure young man the basics of potty training.
Yea I remember that as I'm a huge fan of BriTANicK's skits. Also yay Dave Foley! Haven't seen him since Fallout New Vegas and even then I didn't technically see him.
 

vrbtny

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Sep 16, 2009
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This is possibly the best thing to have ever been uploaded onto youtube....no understatement

Sorry to all adorable kittens, piglets and dogs, and other adorable animals.

Oh, and Red vs blue was uploaded other places first....sooo...

DA BEST
 

Kopikatsu

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Nobody else is a bit disturbed that a five year old kid's imagination includes roughly seven people(I'm counting the monster) getting murdered?

Because that was a thing.
 

Dastardly

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SmashLovesTitanQuest said:

Fuck Joss Whedon. I hate him as much as Yahtzee does. Just as irrationally.
Lots of folks have legitimate complaints about his writing style. I think the problem is that the people who love Joss Whedon love very different aspects of his writing, to the point that they are able to ignore those other flaws, and that both sides insist on only discussing the issue from their own "high ground."

I enjoy his dialogue because it's quirky and funny, but I can agree with Yahtzee that there's a certain amount of "character voice" that is lost as a result. It's not unlike the rapid-fire dialogue that fueled Gilmore Girls (two sisters growing up, don't you judge me). Of course, in some of his series, even that matured quite a bit.

But what I love about the guy is that he is able to really get at the true, authentic heart of each individual character, and is able to do very memorable things with and around that. While the dialogue and set pieces and even genre can be interchangeable, the characters themselves are very distinct and authentic.

I might challenge you to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. If you're not a music person, try to ignore the songs -- but listen for the lyrics and stuff. There is more character development in Dr. Horrible's character in that 45-minute production than most characters get in the entire run of most series.

But again, it comes back to different people liking different things. Folks that love hard sci-fi truly hate Firefly because it explains NOTHING about the pseudo-science behind the gadgetry. Me, I love good, authentic characters. Story itself is a minor concern to me, except as a vehicle that reveals characters. So, to me, the guy's fantastic.

I'm not bothered by people who don't like Joss Whedon, because he does their beloved thing poorly. Just, to those people, let the rest of us enjoy how well we does our beloved thing.
 

Torrasque

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SmashLovesTitanQuest said:

Fuck Joss Whedon. I hate him as much as Yahtzee does. Just as irrationally.
I think Yahtzee enjoys being controversial and hating things that everyone likes. Thats one of the things that drew me to ZP besides his sarcastic humor. That was quite funny though, I lol'd.

As for Joss Whedon, I loved Firefly, really enjoyed Avengers, so I enjoy his work. I never really watched much of Buffy, so /shrug. This little video is awesome, and I think it says a lot about the guy who can make one of the most successful movies of all time, and then be in this very minor video. How many directors would do this? I know Mr. Cameron sure as hell wouldn't.
 

Jamous

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Years from now people will wonder when Joss Whedon made the transition from director to the greatest action hero of all time... Only the then grown Brett will ever know the truth.
 

Danzavare

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I was skeptical, but the video is undeniably entertaining.

Kopikatsu said:
Nobody else is a bit disturbed that a five year old kid's imagination includes roughly seven people(I'm counting the monster) getting murdered?

Because that was a thing.
I think to most kids it's less death as we know it and more just someone losing at something. It doesn't carry the violence or the gravity of real murder, it just means the 'dead' guys didn't win.

Captcha: fathom out
 

MoD1212

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Great Vid, I lost it at Joss Whedon's face on the "10 hundred push up line" O man that was too prefect
 

TIMESWORDSMAN

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Mar 7, 2008
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I thought this was absolutely hilarious. I wish this sort of thing had existed when I was a young'n.

Captcha: In Stitches
 

Draconalis

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Sep 11, 2008
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So... I read the first comic of this "axe cop" series... and I just gotta say...

I wanna punch some five year old kids in the mouth.

edit:

axlryder said:
So relevant in fact... that it was linked in the article.
 

Goofguy

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Aaron Kuehmichel said:
No love for Dave Foley as the milkman? C'mon!
Noooo, not the milkman! He was just minding his own business. I sure am glad Gerald avenged his death.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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Some people may find this adorable and funny. I think it's mindbogglingly stupid. But whatever. No point in arguing about tastes.