This Jan. 21, 2014 file photo shows American film producer and director Joss Whedon at the screening of "Much Ado About Nothing" in Paris. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
Joss Whedon is releasing a film he wrote as a $5 digital download, bypassing the normal channels of independent film distribution.
In a video announcement Sunday following the premiere of the supernatural romance "In Your Eyes" at the Tribeca Film Festival, Whedon says the film will immediately be released online via Vimeo On Demand and InYourEyesMovie.com.
The film stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David. Whedon penned and produced it.
The release will be the second film release for Whedon's "micro studio" Bellwether Productions, following last year's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."
Whedon has experimented previously with digital releases. His 2008 miniseries "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was among the first high-profile Web series.
Whedon currently is working on the "Avengers" sequel "Age of Ultron," to be released next year.
Chuck Woolery hosts a special premiere of the "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007, in Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of "Wheel of Fortune," "Love Connection" and "Scrabble" who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83.
Mark Young, Woolery's podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. "Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him," Young wrote.
Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.
In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV's "Love Connection," for which he coined the phrase, "We'll be back in two minutes and two seconds," a two-fingered signature dubbed the "2 and 2." In 1984, he hosted TV's "Scrabble," simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990.
"Love Connection," which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.
A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest's choice, "Love Connection" would offer to pay for a second date.
Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. "She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, 'I remember wagon trains.' The... Read More
