For this week’s issue of TIME, Belinda Luscombe sat down with television auteur and filmmaker Joss Whedon to ask him a few questions, and TIME’s cameras were there.
Whedon answered questions about why he’s drawn to strong female characters, what it was like to grow up in a creative household and why superheroes are so successful at the box office these days. Plus, he explains why a man famous for his super-creative writing would make a Shakespeare movie, considering his take on Much Ado About Nothing—which he says is “THE rom-com”—arrives in theaters on June 7.
Also: Whedon reveals which vampire he thinks is the hottest in undead history.
(MORE: The Beginner’s Guide to: Amy Acker of Much Ado About Nothing)