Joss Whedon didn't think 'Much Ado About Nothing' would be released.

The director filmed the low budget passion project - which is an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name - in secret after finishing work on last year's smash hit superhero team-up movie, 'The Avengers', as a way to de-stress and admits he didn't think the movie would see the light of day until it began getting a positive reaction from different movie festivals.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the MTV Movie Awards in Culver City, California on Sunday (14.04.13), he said: ''We were supposed to go on holiday after 'The Avengers' but my wife [Kai Cole] who produced 'Much Ado' just said, 'You need this more, this'll be more relaxing for you.' So that's what we did and she was right.

''We've shown it at a few festivals and it's gotten a good reception but it's so hard to tell at festivals; they're all having a great time or very much not having a great time, so we'll wait to see when it comes out.

''We were all so surprised with how it's been received, though. When we made it, we had no distribution plan. We kind of thought it would just be something we'd be showing to each other at parties in years to come, or maybe put it up on iTunes but we showed it at [Toronto International Film Festival] and people really responded to it, so it's all been extraordinary.''

The director - who is also the creative mind behind shows such as 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel' and 'Firefly' - relied on friends in the business to make up the film's cast and was ecstatic with the result.

He added: ''I had an embarrassment of riches in terms of my cast. I had so many people I knew I could count on from my various other shows that I have done. The only way you can make a movie in that short space of time is if you know you can count on everyone.''

'Much Ado About Nothing' is due for release in June.

The MTV Movie Awards air on MTV UK, Sky 126 and Virgin 311, on Wednesday 17th April at 18:00.