What do you do when you have a little time off between shooting The Avengers? Well, there’s only really one person qualified to answer that question, but he doesn’t have to. Will Whedon decides to shoot a low budget version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in his Italian home.

Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

The idea was born out of a conversation with his wife, who co-produced the film. "She said, 'You've been talking about Much Ado. Let's do it.' I went back and looked at the text and then, for the first time ever, I saw the film," Whedon said. "Sometimes the most obvious things are right in front of you," he said. "I looked at it and went, 'Oh, this isn't about nothing. This is about everything.' This is about us and about love and ritual and romance and pain and lies and a lot of very dark stuff and a lot of very beautiful stuff. Suddenly it wasn't just 'Let's film a play.' This was the next film."

"It's very approachable," said Alexis Denisof – star of some of Whedon’s best pop-culture creations. "My guess is that most people, after the first couple minutes, will forget that they are hearing Shakespeare," he added to USA Today. "They will just be in the world and the characters and the relationships. I think (Whedon) achieved an ease with this movie that will make it appealing."