Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' gets June 2013 release date

Angel type TV Show network WB

To be, or not to be … Joss Whedon.

The Avengers writer-director’s film adaptation of the comedic Shakespeare classic Much Ado About Nothing has been slated for a June 7, 2013 joint theatrical release by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, according to a press release Thursday.

The contemporary take on the play stars Whedon alums Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and Nathan Fillion, plus Fran Kranz, Jillian Morgese, Sean Maher, Clark Gregg, and Reed Diamond. Whedon and his wife Kai Cole produced the film through their studio Bellwether films, with Daniel Kaminsky as a co-producer, according to the release.

The movie, about bickering lovers Beatrice (Acker) and Benedick (Denisof), was filmed in only 12 days. Any loyal fan of Acker and Denisof in Whedon’s Buffy spinoff Angel, or Fillion in Whedon’s sci-fi western show Firefly, will appreciate the stars’ performances in Much Ado.

“Amy’s the best actress I’ve ever worked with. Get ready for an ace star performance. People were speechless,” Whedon told EW in an interview before the movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. “We started the home Shakespeare readings 10 years ago or more. It was season five or season six of Buffy. Sarah Michelle Gellar did not do the readings. A smattering of writers and actors from the shows did them. With Much Ado, eventually the technology changed to the point where you can make a movie, and not just a stage reading, but an actual production at home.”

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