With Joss Whedon currently in the midst of shooting a major blockbuster like The Avengers, you might assume that the writer/director would have no time for anything else right now. Fortunately, you would be wrong. This week the first details have started to leak out about a top secret project that he shot over a period of just 12 days. It is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing starring Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher, both of whom tweeted a link to the film’s official website on Sunday night. Since then more information has been revealed about the project via an official press release.

The movie was shot on a very limited budget, taking place entirely at Whedon’s home in Santa Monica. It is the first project for Bellwether Pictures, a small studio created by Whedon and Kai Cole for the “production of small, independent narratives for all media, embracing a DIY ethos and newer technologies for, in this particular case, a somewhat older story.” Sounds like this is simply building on the success of what he did with the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog a couple of years ago.

As the website implies, the movie was shot all in black and white and is said to have a noir feel to it. In addition to Whedon and Maher, the cast also includes Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Fran Kranz, Tom Lenk and Reed Diamond. They hope to finish the film by spring and then take it around to the festival circuit. Are you looking forward to a low budget Shakespeare adaptation from Joss Whedon?