Joss Whedon talks Goners, Cabin in the Wood

From MTV:

“Goners” — Whedon once told us that he was writing a script for a movie, which he called a “very personal thing about human connection and questioning whether there is such a thing at all.” It was to be an original story, a horror fantasy, “a little darker than I’m used to,” about a young woman who gains some powers. “Not something I’ve written about before,” he joked, “but I’m excited to try some new territory.” Universal, however, has not been quite as excited just yet, as “Goners” “has gotten backburnered,” Whedon said, meaning it’s still in development. “I still have hope for it, though.”

“Cabin in the Woods” — Instead, Whedon moved on to a new movie project, which he co-wrote with “Buffy” alum and “Cloverfield” scribe Drew Goddard. “It’s genius, it’s funny,” Goddard said. “It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time.” Enough with the hype, what’s it about? “There’s a reason the title is so straightforward,” Goddard teased. “It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”

Whedon, who said the pair are close to going out with the project, is also wearing a producer’s hat on this one; he said doing double duty is “very hard.” “Writing is like a cave,” he explained. “You have to go very far down, and you have to have time to get down there and come back up. But producing, that means you’re involved with everything. Right now, that has more to do with very preliminary stuff, budgeting and whatnot, but it’s still another thing on the list that keeps you having enough time to get into your artistic head.” Don’t worry, Goddard assures us, it’ll be worth the wait. “That man is a genre all to himself,” he said. “He’s comedy, horror, drama, all at once, and you’ll never be able to classify it as one thing. What do you call it? At the end of the day, it’s Joss.”