Joss Whedon 'Inspired' by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Calls HAMILTON a 'Breathtaking Experience'

AVENGERS helmer Joss Whedon talks party scenes, movies and pop culture inspirations in an all-new interview shared on Asthebunnyhops.com.

The director reveals that one of his biggest pop culture inspirations is Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and calls his recent visit to see the new musical, now playing at New York's Public Theater, a "breathtaking experience."

Says Whedon, "I have a weird relationship with pop culture. I've never really been a part of it until I suddenly was. So, you know, most of my influences are a little left of center. Or very old. You know, the directors that I look at, um, when I'm thinking about a movie, usually are people like Vincent Minnelli or Sam Fuller, or Frank Barseghian. But it's the people too, not just artists. It's just the people in my own life that I see working four times as hard as I ever can... Those are the people that make me sit down and go, oh wait a minute, I can do better because ultimately, the only person who's ever really going to inspire me to go further and do better is me. I have to sort of like gear up and... I should actually have two chairs because at some point, I always do go, "Okay, you need to work harder, you need to do more, you need to be better."

He continues, "I'll tell you who's inspired me of late, Lin-Manuel Miranda... seeing Hamilton at the Public Theatre was just such a breathtaking experience. And the amount of work that he did for six years to put that together, I just thought, "Oh, gotta bring up my game. There it is. The bar is higher again. Dammit."

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The world premiere production of Hamilton, inspired by the book "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow, with book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed byThomas Kail opened February 17, 2015 at the Public Theater. The show is set to run through May 3rd at the Public Theater before transferring to Broadway's Richard Rodgers theater in July.

From the creative team behind the Tony Award-winning In The Heights comes a wildly inventive new musical about the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: AlexanderHamilton. Tony and Grammy Award winnerLin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he is. From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe,Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America's fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we've become. Tony Award nomineeThomas Kail directs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.

Photo: Joan Marcus