OMG - Joss will be working in Australia for months whlist shooting this! Joss in Australia! JOSS IN AUSTRALIA! OMG!

Calm now - or I have to be, the people in the office are giving me strange looks again due to the noise! If this is true, it is so cool!

catalyst2 | May 11, 10:47 CET

Sure, why not? Down under sounds fine to me!

Plecky | May 11, 10:57 CET

Hot diggity damn. Great news if it's true. Finally Some Jossness in Australia!! (maybe I should audition for a role if it's filmed here) Seriously though I can understand why they would want to make it here in Sydney. The tax cuts alone make it very lucrative to film here George Lucas is planing on bringing Star Wars the TV series down here (although I suspect that's more to do with the fact that it has been an Australian Crew on the films for the last 6 years and if you're on a good thing stick with it) You can pretty much make Sydney look like any city in America. I had a friend in New York who didn't know that the Matrix was filmed in Sydney he just thought it was New York. Sydney has so many different styles of buildings that it lends itself to this type production. Superman feels right a home here. That being said though, they may even choose to film it in Queensland or Victoria. but I think Sydney is more likely. Heck if Joss likes working here maybe he'll bring Serenity 2 down here to film (okay I agree I'm getting ahead of myself.) Excellent news.

Crypto | May 11, 11:08 CET

Get ahead of yourself Crypto. Serenity2 with all the BDHs in my hometown??? Sounds pretty gorram good to me.

eyeofhorus | May 11, 11:31 CET

"Seriously though I can understand why they would want to make it here in Sydney" - now, not to bring up any East-West rivalry but he did say Australia, not just Sydney so it might be based elsewhere - Perth, anyone? I can hope can't I?

catalyst2 | May 11, 11:58 CET

I accepted Matrix filmed in Australia because the city was virtual so it didn't matter where it was filmed. When I learned Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand that didn't bother me because the story takes place in a fictional fairy tale world so again, doesn't matter where it's filmed. However, in the X-Files movie, there's scenes that are supposed to take place in Dallas, and I live in Dallas, so my suspension of disbelief completely went out the window when they tried to pass off British Colombia as my home town.

Excepting of course for scenes in the fictitious Paradise Island, so far as I can recall, the origin story of Wonder Woman is supposed to take place in the United States. If you film a movie in Australia, about a story that's supposed to take place in the United States, can't people who live in either Australia or the United States tell the difference?

ZachsMind | May 11, 12:00 CET

ZM - the American influence being so strong here (except for the accents - let us not even broach the subject of Meryl Streep's accent in "A Cry in the Dark"!), often very similar locations (architecturally anyway)can be found/constructed. I think it only tends to go wrong when specific locations are recreated - I saw something with the Golden Gate bridge in a while ago and it was so obviously *not* that it was painful. Otherwise, cities are cities by and large.

catalyst2 | May 11, 12:16 CET

Isn't the new Superman movie being filmed in Australia too? And alot of the work for the Star Wars trilogy was shot there as well?

TaraLivesOn | May 11, 12:35 CET

Joel Silver says "When I make Wonder Woman I'll probably do it in Australia... ".

Uh wait a minute, when who makes Wonderwoman?

fr0g | May 11, 13:19 CET

Superman filming in Australia is ok, he lives in fictional Metropolis. I forgot if WW is in a fictional city or not.

fr0g, he's the producer. He's been on the project for the last 6 years trying to get it made.

[ edited by eddy on 2005-05-11 11:22 ]

eddy | May 11, 13:21 CET

Joel is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. If he says he's making it, he's making it.

Simon | May 11, 13:25 CET

The two centres of overseas film production are Sydney and Brisbane. Brisbane was home to Ghost Ship (which Joel Silver produced), Inspector Gadget 2, House of Wax... and a bunch of b-grade Movies-of-the-Week (and miniseries of the week).

Sydney tends to get the big summer-blockbuster US productions. We're doing Superman, there's rumours that Logan's Run will be (re)made in Sydney immediately after Superman. Mask 2 was done here. Matrix, Star Wars etc. etc.

Melbourne recently had the Docklands studios built, but I'mm not sure if any overseas projects are there currently. There's far more of an underground cinema culture in Melbourne than in Sydney... but there's bugger all film-experienced post houses in Melbourne. All the big VFX companies are either in Sydney (Animal Logic, Rising Sun) or Brisbane (Photon, Beeps)... Atlab's head office is in Sydney, as is Panavision's. Spectrum (editing) are in Sydney too.

So my money is on Sydney.

Woo! Joss will be in Australia! Another person I want to meet but never will. :/

biki | May 11, 14:52 CET

At IMDb, Joss Whedon is listed as writer, director, and one of two executive producers. Joel Silver is listed as the other executive producer. Silver also produces Veronica Mars, and has had his hand in over seventy projects over the past thirty years, including 48Hrs, Die Hard 1 & 2, Predator 1 & 2, The Lethal Weapon series, the Matrix series, and the recently released House of Wax.

With Silver on board, we're in very good hands.

ZachsMind | May 11, 14:58 CET

I wonder if this could be a battle between them, cause didn't Joss fight for Firefly to be shot in California but Fox wanted to shot it in Canada because it would be cheaper. So if he'd go up against a whole company, what chance will Joel have if Joss decides he wants it film in LA. I just wonder, Joss is a pretty loyal guy when it comes to the people he wants on his crew, not to mention leaving or relocating his family for a few monthes with a couple of young kids. I think even though Joel has a great love of Australia and New Zealand he may have wanted to discuss this option with Joss before saying anything.

RavenU | May 11, 15:56 CET

I went to Melbourne once. *sniff* What a great place. I doubt Joss would mind spending a little time down there. Once you've been, you keep looking for reasons to go back.

April | May 11, 16:23 CET

Of course he would discuss it with Joss(probably did weeks ago on a cell phone while having brunch with some other big-name). They have to pick a location before they actually start shooting, pre-production stuff. Plus this isn't a confirmation that it will shoot in Australia, just that Joel wanted to. I don't think it'd be something to have a disagreement over, its not like Joel is a "suit" from Fox. Joel is to Wonder Woman as Chris Buchannan is to Serenity.

[ edited by eddy on 2005-05-11 15:00 ]

eddy | May 11, 16:59 CET

I can't imagine Joss Whedon wanting (or easily agreeing) to film Wonder Woman in Australia! His wife and two small children would have to be uprooted or left behind, and I doubt if either of those options are what he would choose. I think that RavenU has it right, that this could end up being a battle of the producers. It'll be interesting to see what ends up happening in this regard.

However I can readily understand and have sympathy for the Australians wanting to have JW around!

embers | May 11, 19:42 CET

I wouldn't worry about Joss doing WW in Australia. The Joss offspring are very young and not even in school yet, so it wouldn't be a big deal to have the whole family in Australia for a few months. I handled some of the travel for the DP on the Matrix and (1) if you're high enough on the totem pole, you can negotiate enough tickets for your entire family into your contract, and (2) on a big studio job, they get enormously discounted deals with airlines and/or they use the studio's corporate jets to go back and forth. Nice, huh?

Plus Sydney is one of the nicest cities in the world to live in, if that's where they end up doing the shoot. That helps a lot for those long movie shoots. And it's not as if Joss has any tv shows he's got to stick around L.A. to run. Sniff.

punkinpuss | May 11, 20:47 CET

I'm just sayin' it'd be great if they let Joss make the big decisions on this movie.

fr0g | May 11, 22:35 CET

Joss will lose if he has to go against Joel. Joel Silver is one of the richest and most powerful producers in Hollywood. Joss isn't an A-list director, for a lot of people he's not even a B-list director (until Serenity comes out). This puts the power in Joel's seat.

I'm hoping that Joel really does want to Joss to do WW and is willing to negotiate to keep Joss involved - but Joel isn't exactly known as someone who hands over the reins on project's he's producing. That said, Joss is a smart guy, he would've known this from the beginning.

Ewan McGregor relocated to Australia - twice! - with his entire family for the Star Wars prequels.... and he loved it here.

Until Joss says something [hi joss! please come to Australia, I'll cook you damper and smother it in vegemite!] its hard to predict either way.

biki | May 12, 03:32 CET

"And it's not as if Joss has any tv shows he's got to stick around L.A. to run. Sniff."

punkinpuss, you almost made me cry. This would be great for my Aussie friends at Whedonesque. I know they're longing for it. I can't help but start to feel selfish. This means IF one of his fellow 'verse writers were to write/direct a Spike movie, Joss would be that much more out of the loop since he would be in Australia. But really, GEEZ, who knows when filming would actually happen for WW and no one has moved forward with the Spike movie we all want so desparately. waaaaahhhh. OK, I'm done. Yippee for the Aussies, oh, and for Joss too.

Harmalicious | May 12, 07:31 CET

Extrapolating, much? ;)

Willowy | May 12, 08:45 CET

Joel is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. If he says he's making it, he's making it.

And seeing that he has just given us a film with Paris Hilton in it (House of Wax), this is exactly the kind of statement that makes me sleep badly.

miranda | May 12, 12:07 CET

Heh, I know what you mean. But oddly enough, I've read some good reviews of that movie.

Simon | May 12, 12:40 CET

Well, it's about time our Australian friends caught a break. I hope this news will become fact. Congratulations and enjoy :)

Madhatter | May 12, 15:15 CET

Woo Hoo! Please let this happen, and please Joss give me work experience on your film and I can die happy!

I was wondering if maybe they would shoot on the Gold Coast at Warner Bros Studios at Movie World where they shot parts of Scooby Doo and who knows what else? Does WB have to be a 'producer' to shoot in their studios? Probably not.

Oh I love our economic appeal to Hollywood producers! Thanks to all the non-aussies for being potentially happy for us, good sports! I'm so excited :)

buffbuff | May 12, 15:56 CET

Simon, I heard on a radio news thing about summer movies that House of Wax is okay, but despite that, it didn't make the first weekend sales they hoped for. I probably won't see it now that I know Paris Hilton is in it, as obviously someone encouraged and allowed that.
I really think our Beloved has more clout these days than people realize. He's walked away from projects that butchered his works before. No one wants to see that happen. I think producers are much more willing to work with him rather than against him these days.

April | May 12, 16:39 CET

Add another "Good for you, Aussies." to the thread. Even if this does not get filmed there, it is still good publicity for your film industry. I would love for the work to stay here in the States, of course, and specifically come to New York and New Jersey, but economics are economics and it is good to spread the wealth to friends. Not to mention finding a good substitute for Paradise Island around here might be a little difficult.

Actually I don't think I have known anyone who did not enjoy their trip to Australia. Someday maybe I'll be able to get there and find out what all the fuss is about.

Wait a minute. Now that I think of it, years ago there was a huge bunch of actors from Down Under at school with me. As I recall, they were a friendly bunch who really enjoyed a good time...a really good time. Hmmmm. I'm begining to have an idea of what the fuss may be about. ;-)

newcj | May 13, 09:01 CET

I want Joss to come to Sydney! Wherever he goes is good tho. He might like the sun on the Gold Coast.
Catalyst, while your on here, I can't get into my emails! I sms'd you yesterday but I don't know if you got it. You can email me at nixygirl@msn.com if you want. Hopefully we can meet up this weekend.
Sorry everyone else for the personal message.

nixygirl | May 13, 13:41 CET