Back in October, we heard the absolutely brilliant news that Joss Whedon, king among men, had not only been working on The Avengers, but had also scripted and directed a microbudgeted production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, filmed in his own home.

So far, so awesome.

The first snippets of footage from the film have now surfaced in a CBS TV report on The Avengers – due out in the US on Friday, and currently in UK cinemas – which Whedon of course has also written and directed.

The cast is exceptional, featuring many of Whedon’s frequent collaborators from his own special Whedonverse, including Amy Acker (Angel), Alexis Denisof (Angel), Fran Kranz (Dollhouse), Sean Maher (Firefly), Ashley Johnson (Dollhouse), Tom Lenk (Buffy), Clark Gregg (The Avengers), and of course, the one and only, Nathan Fillion (Firefly).

As yet, Much Ado About Nothing doesn’t yet have a release date scheduled, but I’m really hoping it will be sooner rather than later, because this is a project to look forward to. The initial press release stated intentions to give the film a festival release, so there’s a possibility that it could be making a surprise appearance at Cannes later this month, or one of the handful of great festivals coming over the summer and autumn. Time will tell. For now, here’s the TV report that features both footage of The Avengers, an interview with Whedon, clips from his past work, and finally the footage from Much Ado About Nothing, which comes in near the end.

Source: CBS News via The Playlist.