When Joss Whedon made his first public comments after the Justice League drama, many didn’t know what to expect. Some thought he could be remorseful or a bit defensive. I don’t think anyone could predict just how angry the filmmaker sounds, even if he wants to call “one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been.”
In a feature piece in New York Magazine, there was a deep dive into allegations from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to the infamous Justice League reshoots as the once-beloved director opened up with his side of the story. The filmmaker does say early on that director Zack Snyder was ousted from the production during a family tragedy and says, “they asked me to fix it, and I thought I could help.”
The filmmaker now regards the decision as “one of the biggest regrets of his life.”
He says about the cast of Justice League that he’s never met “a ruder group of people.” He had some pointed things to say about Gal Gadot. The actress accused him of being very harsh on set and even threatening her career. Whedon recalls one situation a bit differently. Whedon opens up about one argument the pair had over a scene she wanted to cut. In his words, he ‘jokingly’ told her that if she wanted to get rid of it, she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body. “Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track,” he said.
He concludes, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” He does add, “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” Gal Gadot told New York Magazine that she “understood perfectly.”
Turning to Ray Fisher, the actor who played Cyborg in Justice League, Whedon again held nothing back. This time, his statements felt even more personal, with Whedon adding extra poison to his words. Concerning the removal of Cyborg’s story, he goes on to say the storyline “‘logically made no sense,’ and he felt the acting was bad.
He goes on to say that the claims Fisher made in the media were “either true or merited discussing,” Whedon told NY Mag that “we’re talking about a malevolent force.” He ends with, “We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”
Whedon also feeds into a conspiracy that Snyder or his fans started all of this to get Zack Snyder’s Justice League released. On that topic, he told NY Mag, “I don’t know who started it; I just know in whose name it was done.” Some comments Whedon faced accused him of being a fake feminist or his mistreatment towards women, which does fall in line with his statements about Gadot in this piece. But he says that’s all just BS started by his ex-wife. “They don’t give a fuck about feminism,” he said. “I was made a target by my ex-wife, and people exploited that cynically.”
“The beginning of the internet raised me up, and the modern internet pulled me down,” Whedon said. “The perfect symmetry is not lost on me.”
There is much more to this piece that we can’t include here. Check it out at New York Magazine, but brace yourself for a fairly dark look at one sad man.
In ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad, and Darkseid, and their dreadful intentions.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder and features Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Robin Wright as General Antiope, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, Amber Heard as Mera, Joe Morton as Silas Stone, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf, Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, Harry Lennix as Martian Manhunter, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Zheng Kai as Ryan Choi, Peter Guinness as DeSaad, Ray Porter as Darkseid, and Jared Leto as The Joker.
