Joss Whedon and Kai Cole’s “In Your Eyes” Available Now on Vimeo on Demand

JOSS WHEDON AND KAI COLE’S BELLWETHER PICTURES RELEASE “IN YOUR EYES” TO A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE FILM’S APRIL 20 PREMIERE AT THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Whedon makes surprise post-screening announcement.

Film is now available at www.inyoureyesmovie.com, powered exclusively
by the Vimeo On Demand platform.

NEW YORK, NY (April 21, 2014) – At the Tribeca Film Festival last night, Joss Whedon and Kai Cole’s Bellwether Pictures made an unexpected move with its latest feature, IN YOUR EYES, giving instant access directly to fans around the world with a digital release immediately following its world premiere at the Festival. Whedon announced the plan in a surprise post-screening video message:

IN YOUR EYES is available now as a $5.00 digital rental on the film’s website: www.inyoureyesmovie.com. The release is being powered by the Vimeo On Demand platform and has been translated into Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, and Japanese for the worldwide release.

Bellwether Pictures, founded by Joss Whedon and Kai Cole, is a micro-studio committed to creating quality independent films and utilizing modern tools of distribution to bring these titles directly to their audience.

The company’s first film was Whedon’s contemporized Much Ado About Nothing. Their newest project, IN YOUR EYES, written and executive produced by Whedon and directed by Brin Hill (Ball Don’t Lie), adheres to this mission by skipping the traditional modes of distribution and taking the film directly to fans via a digital distribution strategy.

Cole explained: “It was always the plan to release IN YOUR EYES in a new and exciting way. It’s no secret that the distribution landscape is shifting rapidly and there are tools at our disposal as filmmakers that we could only dream about ten years ago.”

In partnership with Bellwether Pictures is producer Michael Roiff’s Night & Day Pictures (Waitress, Save the Date), which shepherded the film through production and has been instrumental in forming and executing the release strategy.

Roiff echoed Cole’s sentiments: “We’ve been aiming to do something like this from the get-go. When you work with Joss and Kai – you don’t get to say ‘but this is how it is usually done’, you have to say ‘and now for something completely different’.” He went on to say, “Finding a partner like Vimeo to power this release was incredible. They are fantastic people working to make the future of distribution happen today.”

“We are honored to be partnering with the masterminds behind IN YOUR EYES to bring the film directly to audiences worldwide,” said Vimeo’s General Manager of Audience Networks Greg Clayman. “As big Whedon fans we were drawn to the film immediately and our shared vision for disrupting traditional distribution models made this an amazing collaboration all around.”

A timeless boy-meets-girl story, wrapped in a supernatural, Whedonesque world, IN YOUR EYES stars Zoe Kazan, Michael Stahl-David, Nikki Reed, Mark Feuerstein, Jennifer Grey, and Steve Howey.

In the frozen East Coast winter, Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) is withering away in a life of cocktail parties and lonely nights as the sheltered, soft-spoken wife of a successful doctor. Across the country in sun-drenched, arid New Mexico, charismatic ex-con Dylan (Michael Stahl-David) is struggling to find his footing and a fresh start. When these polar opposites realize they share an inexplicable connection, a unique metaphysical romance begins.

Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen talk about their music project This Girl and “Dr. Horrible” sequel

Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen are the co-writers behind such amazing projects like “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog” and Fox’s Dollhouse.  They recently released an EP album together under the name of This Girl.  Everyone seriously needs to check out this album, it is very fun and catchy.  They also just recently announced that they will be writing Marvel’s upcoming “S.H.I.E.L.D” TV pilot with “The Avengers” helmer Joss Whedon.  Jed & Maurissa took out a great deal of time to do a song-by-song analysis of their album and also discussed the long-awaited “Dr. Horrible” sequel.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how the name This Girl came about?
Jed Whedon: We were trying to present something that wasn’t just us and was trying to put a concept behind it. If you look at the photo shoot we did, it was me pushing Maurissa into the front.  And I think we were just talking and I was like “Hey look at this girl!” and Maurissa said “Hey, that could be the name” [laughs]. So that is how it happened.

MG: How long would you say this album took to complete?
Maurissa Tancharoen: Well it was sort of drawn out over the course of last year. It is a side project to pass the time since we were stuck at home for a long time. I had a rough health year last year. So Jed out of the kindness of his loving-husband heart [laughs], figured to pass the time we should record some songs. We worked on it sporadically over the course of last year. We never pushed to get it done and took our time we it. Right Jed?
JW: Yeah, I would say about a year. We would work on it for a while and then just toy around. When we realized that we were close to being done, then we gave a real push to finish it up.

MG: Tell us the inspiration behind the songs first up “Bombs” Away”
JW: Usually the way we work is music first. We just started building tracks and of course a ton of then never go anywhere. So, I think the general concept of the record was the make something upbeat and fun. Maurissa has a little bit of the R&B background.
MT: [laughs] Yeah, he told me “Let try and make you sing as white as possible.
JW: [laughs] Yeah. Like a androgynous, very vanilla sounding pop record. That was our inital concept.
MT: That was also the concept behind This Girl was that the songs do fall under the indie pop category. But overall they are all over the map. Like “Mr. Electric” is just so different” and “Dangerous” has a little bit of hip-hop and R&B vibe but very subtle. You are this girl on each track basically.

MG: Speaking of “Dangerous”, tell us a little more about that track?
JW: “Dangerous” was our first track. The concept was basically to do a really light vocal about getting your heart ripped out of your chest. The idea was that the music would be so kind and easy-going but the lyrics would be darker.
MT: She is basically a stalker or the quiet voice of the stalker. She is saying take my hard and crush it cause I am watching you and that is all I want.
JW: We had the track and had the idea of a jazz guitar. So I brought my older brother Sam in, he is an amazing guitarist. We recorded for an hour and just riffed on it. The guitar wasn’t meant to be this epic solo. But on one of the takes, I told him to just go crazy with it and that is the one we used.

MG: Next up we have “In Your Dreams”, tell us about that one?
JW: The idea was to make a five song album. We had the five tracks and Maurissa said we should just put it out. I thought let’s just do one more and whatever it is it will end up being our favorite. Your last song always ends up being your favorite.
MT: And it is…it is definitely our favorite.
JW: So, that one was the only one with a chorus before any tracks were laid down.
MT: I just love the story about a guy living a very monotonous life and wanting to be elsewhere.
JW: It is sort of a braggy mean song.
MT: It is a very mean song but again it is sang so gently it tricks you.
JW:  I just love the idea of “Your obsessed with me. You know it. Your pathetic” and then the last line of the chorus is “In your dreams”. Like “Yeah right, you wish”. In general that is something we like to do, which is play the lyrics against the song. It gives it this nice extra layer.

MG: Awesome, I love that song also; next up tell us about where “Second Nature” came from?
JW: That is another one that started with a drum beat feel. We wanted that to be kind of upbeat…
MT: That is also a sad song…all of our songs are sad [laughs].
JW: Yeah [laughs], considering how upbeat we always are.
MT: I guess since we were having a harder year, it came out in the lyrics.
JW: Happy lyrics are boring. Jane Doe is about a girl feeling sorry for herself. The music just grew organically from a general feel and then just sort of evolved.  I know that may seem a bit boring but it is true.
MT: That is the way that Jed has always worked. It is the music first. It is funny when he comes up with the melody. He will sort of half record the melody. It will be a bunch of gibberish and then a line that totally sticks and becomes the actual chorus.

MG: One of my favorites, tell me about “Mr. Electric”?
JW: That was one of the tracks that I had the hardest time with, since it was a hard mix for me.
MT: We almost took it off.
JW: We didn’t like it very much and now of course it’s everyone’s favorite.
MT: It just stuck out and was different from the rest. Up to the very last minute we were going to yank it. It is just unbelievable the response we have gotten about it from fans.
JW: It is basically another dark side of a happy song. I guess it is sort of a 50’s upset, “Mr. Sandman” rip-off. It is about a drug dealer and a girl that keep getting hooked. We also have a cool video concept in mind for it.

MG: “Remains” was previously released a single back in 2009 for “Dollhouse”, tell us about why you chose to close the album with it?
JW: We just wanted to put in on the album. Since we only had one tune out there together, we wanted want to put it on one album. “Remains” is a more genuine track and we  felt like it was a good bridge between “In Your Dreams” and would also work well after “Mr. Electric”.

MG: Any more plans for Jed Whedon and The Willing in the future?
JW: We do have a lot of projects going on right now. If we ever have any downtime, which is where This Girl came from, I will definitely spend time making a new one. That is the plan right now. I hate saying that though since when it comes out in four years people are going to wonder what took so long.

MG: Jed, if your brother can stop making films that gross $1 billion dollars [laughs], where do you guys think that a “Dr. Horrible” sequel lands your timeline?
MT: It is definitely in our timeline.
JW: It is for sure. There are a lot of projects in the works now. Everyone in the world now know how busy Joss is now. We are definitely planning to do it.
MT: We have more of a solid plan to aim to start next year.
JW: Not only do we think we will get it done, we also think it will be pretty great.

photos by kate danson
http://katedansonphotography.com/

Book Review “Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion”

Author: PopMatters
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: May 1, 2012

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

I am one of the biggest fans of Joss Whedon and this is easily the Essential Guide to the Whedonverse.  I just feel like it more accumulated knowledge from the internet, than an actual bio on his career.  The book runs at almost 500 pages and covers everything in Whedon’s career from his TV Series, Movies, Comic Books and more.

Included within this book are essays and interviews about Whedon’s work and also conversations with key collaborators Jane Espenson and Tim Minear.  Since this book is complied by 40 contributors from PopMatters, I feel that the direction of the book is a little confused.  This is why I am never a real big fan of unofficial companions, it just doesn’t seem like the information is original.  I mean, the book definitely contains EVERYTHING you need to know about Joss Whedon but seems to be miss a proper narrative.

Where you are a fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, “Firefly”, “Dollhouse”, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”,  or the upcoming “The Avengers”, this book has it.  I also noticed that there is a lack of illustration in the book.  I would have liked to see images to accompany this vast amount of information.  Even if PopMatters, didn’t have rights to the screenshots, I would have liked to see some fan art…just something to push the book a long.  If you are a die-hard fan of Whedon and his work, you should check this out but don’t expect much besides a bunch of known information about his work.

Interview with Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon

“Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon is best known for co-writing the story for “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”. She also was a writer on “Dollhouse” and “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”. Besides writing Maurissa is currently appearing in the web series “The Guild” and also just worked with her brother Kevin Tancharoen in “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”. Media Mikes had the privilege to chat with Maurissa on her various projects.

Mike Gencarelli: You have worked with your husband Jed Whedon on numerous projects, how is it always collaborating?
Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon: Fortunately it’s a very harmonious working relationship. We sort of balance each other out as far as our creative processes go. I tend to be very detail oriented and over think things at times. Jed is capable of thinking stuff up on the fly. He will often throw out some ideas and I will be the one to pick out which one works and then we massage it into something that we both feel comfortable with. It’s definitely a ying and yang situation. I’m glad it is because if it wasn’t we probably wouldn’t be working together. (Laughs)

MG: How do you feel about writing for such projects ranging from “Dollhouse” to “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”?
MTW: We are very grateful to have the chance to work on all these great shows. Me personally, when I started to get into writing seriously I always imagined myself writing on “Sex in the City” or a CW show. I never thought I would be pulled into the sci-fi/fantasy genre. I love it and am happy that I have discovered it. Of course having Jed who has always liked those things worked out great. Going from “Dollhouse” to “Spartacus” is something I like because it allows us to change things up and we never get bored.

MG: What was it like working with your brother, Kevin Tancharoen, on “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”?
MTW: He is my younger brother but I have always looked up to him. He has just been incredible since he was born. I don’t understand. (Laughs) When we were kids he was always coming up to me wanting to show me what he had done on his computer. He hates when I talk about him being the little brother. Just seeing him on his set with the cast and crew and directing something that he also wrote was great. I was just happy to be a part of it. I would have been there bringing him his water just to get to see him working. Getting to work with him professionally was a great experience. That was the first time he directed me or told me what to do…in front of other people. (Laughs) I was happy to be in it saying lines my brother wrote.

MG: Can you tell us about your work on this season of “The Guild”?
MTW: I have been a fan of the show since season one. I had heard about it when we were looking at casting Felicia Day to play the Penny character for “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”. Joss had worked with her on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and said she would be great and the part and that we should watch her series “The Guild”.  I checked out the show and fell in love with it. The characters and cast are just great. When she asked me this year if I would like to play a part on the series I couldn’t believe it. I was over the moon! This season is really great and it’s much bigger than anything in the past. I feel all the cast are just shining. I can’t wait for everyone to see what happens.

MG: Out of all the songs on “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, what is your favorite?
MTW: That’s hard. I really love “Everything You Ever”. That song gives me the chills. We actually recently watched on tape for a stage production done during Comic-Con for “Dr.Horrible”. Seeing people take something we had done and interpret it themselves and then adapt it to stage was very cool. The way they did the last song “Everything You Ever” was really great. It warms my heart that people love that project so much. It’s very exciting that it’s still alive years later.

MG: I love your song with Jed called “Remains”, any plans to release more music?
MTW: Yes in fact. We have been working on an album which has been really cool. I am not exactly sure as to when it’s going to be done but I think we might do a five song EP initially. We currently have three songs done and we are working on two more. I don’t know what’s going to become of it but we are just going to do it! “Remains” was a song Jed and I did strictly just for “Dollhouse”. We had no idea people would love it so much. A friend of ours came to us wanting to direct a video for the song. We basically shot it on the fly and people really responded well to it. The song has been out for two years but some people are just now discovering it which is great.

MG: Any top secret information you would like to leak to MediaMikes.com?
MTW: (Laughs) “The Avengers” is going to be a really cool movie! I really feel it’s going to knock people’s socks off. We have been privy to a lot of the stuff going on with the film and from what I hear it’s going really smooth and is going to be great.