It’s been nearly a year sinceZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguewas released to overshadow the previous cut of the film made by Joss Whedon. However, it’s been a tad longer since the latter’s behavior came into question, and now a new interview finally exposes his side of the story.
Whedon became a notorious figure in Hollywood not for his directing skills, but due to his reportedly aggressive personality on set afterJustice Leaguealumni Gal Gadot and Ray Fisher came out against the director to denounce being harassed by him. These claims were further backed up by some ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s cast, who described similar conduct to what theJustice Leaguestars reported suffering.
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The interview in question took place during spring 2020, roughly afterZack Snyder’s Justice Leagueand all the accusations had surfaced. The excerpts published by Vulture even include conflicting details about Snyder’s departure from the project. Whedon recalled instructions for the cast to stick to their lines as written by him, with a fellow cast member telling him “That didn’t go down well at all” at the time, while denying any accusations of threats made by Gadot, saying, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that?”.
With regards to Fisher, whose Cyborg character got the biggest upgrade in Snyder’s film, Whedon claims he cuts the actor’s role because he felt the story “logically made no sense” and that the acting was bad. Whedon noted that in his opinion, the many conversations he had with Fisher over the movie were always friendly and respectful. Nevertheless, Whedon preferred not to dive too deep into this subject, saying his accusations never “merited discussing” and calling Fisher “a bad actor in both senses.”
Out of the entire piece, Whedon’s explanation aboutwhat happened with Gadotseems most puzzling, as the director goes as far as to say it could have all been a misunderstanding because, “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech,” something categorically denied in Gadot’s response to reporters. Overall, the working environment was never right in Whedon’sJustice League, due to the evident clash in styles and the fact that arguing over how to make a superhero movie with a man that directed twoAvengersfilms was never going to be easy.
Even giving Whedon the benefit of the doubt, he did not address the other accusation of workplace harassment dating back to hisBuffydays andBen Affleck too has said how awfulJustice Leaguefilming was. At least when it comes to the film, there’s no going back on the public choosing to side withZack Snyder’s Justice Leagueas the far superior movie.
