In an interview with New York Magazine, filmmaker Joss Whedon spoke about recent allegations against him for the first time and criticized the “Justice League” cast for their “rude” behavior during the reshoots.
Whedon, the director of Marvel Studios’ blockbuster superhero movies “The Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” took over directorial duties for Zack Snyder on DC Comics’ “Justice League” after Snyder, and his partner and wife Deborah, stepped down from postproduction duties. The Snyder’s exit from the film was due to their daughter, Autumn, taking her own life.
After Whedon’s entrance on to the scene, “Justice League” went through massive reshoots and saw a total theme change. The movie also removed a large portion of characters of color, as some viewers noted. After the initial theatrical release in November 2017, “Justice League” became a critical flop, thus bringing about the famous “Release the Snyder Cut” movement.
The movement gained major momentum as stars, creators and more confirmed the existence of the cut, prompting fan demand to see it. Fans were rewarded after years of campaigning with a four-hour long super epic on HBO Max, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” which premiered March 2021.
However, back in 2020, during the planet-wide Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd, Cyborg Actor Ray Fisher spoke up about “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” on-set behavior he experienced from Whedon. Fisher also spoke out against other Warner Bros. Executives for enabling this behavior, namely Geoff Johns, John Berg and Walter Hamada.
Fisher’s accusations were backed up by Aquaman actor Jason Momoa and Whedon later faced more allegations from Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot and Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in Whedon’s popular supernatural teen series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
Warner Media soon launched an Independent third party investigation into the accusations. According to Warner Media, the investigation concluded in December 2020 and “remedial action was taken.”
Throughout all these endeavors Whedon has stood silent, until today. In the interview with New York Magazine Whedon commented on his faced allegations.
According to the article, Whedon once stated that he had never worked with “a ruder group of people” on the set of “Justice League.”
The article also spoke on the statements released by Gal Gadot Gadot last year. Gadot stated Whedon “threatened” her and said he would make her “career miserable.”
“I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” Whedon told New York Magazine writer Lila Shapiro. “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.”
According to the article, Gadot did not agree with Whedon’s version of events. “I understood perfectly,” the Wonder Woman star said in an email.
Whedon also insisted that he spent hours discussing the changes with Fisher and that their conversations were friendly and respectful, but Fisher has combated this.
According to Whedon, none of the claims Fisher made were “either true or merited discussing.”
“We’re talking about a malevolent force,” Whedon said. “We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”
Fisher has yet to comment fully on the interview, but he did Tweet.
“Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all,” Fisher said. “Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today — I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow the work continues.”
This New York Magazine interview faced criticism from fans and readers, some accusing the author of the long-form article of showing complicit bias. Others also pointed out that Whedon never officially apologized, he just came up with excuses.
As the article leads, Whedon, the creator of “Buffy,” once “an icon of feminism,” is now an outcast accused of misogyny. Yet, in an era where past abusers are facing justice as accusations continue to surface, a question does arise — just how truly iconic was Joss Whedon behind the scenes?
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