Joss Whedon calls on celebrity superheroes one last time to get out the vote
LOS ANGELES -- Joss Whedon is assembling his avengers -- aka his celebrity friends -- one last time before Election Day.
The director, who founded the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Save the Day earlier this year, released the latest in a series of videos encouraging people to vote.
"Vote Tomorrow," which debuted on Save the Day's YouTube channel on Monday, features A-listers such as Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, James Franco, Julianne Moore, Martin Sheen and Neil Patrick Harris.
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"The thing that I have always been able to do with my work is to unite people," Whedon told Mashable in a recent phone interview. "This is an incredibly divisive time ... and I'm interested in saying we all have something in common."
As of Monday, Save the Day said it has registered nearly 50,000 young voters. Of those they registered, 61% were between the ages 18 and 29 and 56% were female.
"The whole idea behind the video series is telling people you can do something great, you can actually be a heroic figure," Whedon said. "I knew there would be a lot of talking head celebrity vote videos and I myself had gotten incredibly tired of the ‘hey look at a whole lot of people saying things.' I thought it would be great to make fun of those videos, and at the same time get a message across."
Save the Day first began releasing the videos in September, two months after the Democratic National Convention.
Whedon first released an election-related video in 2012, poking fun at then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for having “the vision and determination” to lead the country toward a zombie apocalypse.
This election cycle, Whedon said he had more time on his hands, and wanted to up his involvement.
To help Save the Day behind-the-scenes, Whedon tapped Ben Sheehan, who previously worked at Funny or Die, and Carri Twigg, who worked at the office of public engagement for Vice President Joe Biden, to serve as executive director and head of media partnerships, respectively.
In all, the team worked on about 10 to 15 videos, Whedon said, with potential plans to roll out more.
"We are in the home stretch," Whedon said. "It's almost over. I'm excited to see whether I go into a coma before Tuesday."
Topics Elections
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
