All the adults in my family are big Joss Whedon fans, primarily because of the late, lamented TV series “Firefly” and its follow-up movie Serenity (2005). So I was happy to stumble on a recent interview with Whedon on MTV Movies Blog. In it, Whedon discusses several of his projects in development including Goners, which is languishing at Universal and something called “The Cabin in the Woods.”

Well, surprise, surprise! When I checked out what sold yesterday, Cabin was one of them, the spec script Whedon penned with Drew Goddard landing at MGM:

MGM now stands for Mary’s Greenlighting Movies.

Mary Parent, that is, who has rapidly been rebuilding the production capabilities of the iconic studio since she grabbed the foreman’s hat in March. On Tuesday, the Worldwide Motion Picture Group chairman gave her first greenlight to a spec script from sci-fi mavericks Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard titled “The Cabin in the Woods.” Goddard, who most recently scripted the $168 million grossing (worldwide) Paramount monster movie “Cloverfield,” will make the film his directorial debut. Whedon will produce as well.

It’s a love-fest all around witness comments by Goddard and Whedon:

“This has to be considered the dream scenario for a first-time director,” Goddard said. “I get to make a movie with my best friend at a studio that’s shown us nothing but aggressive love from the start. This script is very near and dear to my heart — I can’t wait to step behind the camera and mess up all the parts Joss wrote.”

Said Whedon: “The new MGM is the perfect place for Drew to do the kind of work I know he can do. Except for when I’m subtly sabotaging him because I’m jealous of his talent and height.”

While the Hollywood Reporter article gives scant clues to Cabin’s plot, Goddard ponies up this info in the MTV interview:

“It’s genius, it’s funny,” Goddard said. “It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time.” Enough with the hype, what’s it about? “There’s a reason the title is so straightforward,” Goddard teased. “It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”

” Don’t worry, Goddard assures us, it’ll be worth the wait. “That man is a genre all to himself,” he said. “He’s comedy, horror, drama, all at once, and you’ll never be able to classify it as one thing. What do you call it? At the end of the day, it’s Joss.”