Joss Whedon Opens Up About His Time on JUSTICE LEAGUE and Denies All Of The Accusations Made Against Him
Joss Whedon sat down for an interview with New York magazine, and it covers everything from Whedon’s childhood to everything that he accomplished over the course of his career. He offers a lot of insight into his life and the projects that he has worked on. This all eventually led to his time on Justice League, when he came in to take over after Zack Snyder left the project due to a family tragedy.
It’s explained that Warner Bros. originally wanted Whedon to write and advise as they moved forward with the production, but soon it became clear that "they had lost faith in Snyder’s vision and wanted him to take full control." The studio denies this, but they also gave Whedon millions of dollars to reshoot over half the movie, which they could have easily said no to.
The report goes on to say that things were tense from the very beginning, especially with the stars of the movie, as Whedon and Snyder have completely different directing styles. "It wasn’t just that he wanted to impose a whole new vision on their work; he introduced an entirely different style of management. Snyder had given the actor exceptional; license with the script, encouraging them to ad-lib dialogue. Whedon expected them to say their line exactly as he’d written them."
In regards to that, one crew member said that didn’t go well at all." The actors criticized his writing, and one member of the crew claimed that Gal Gadot told Whedon that he "didn't understand how superhero movies worked." At one point, it’s said that Whedon paused production and told the cast and crew that he had "never worked with a ruder group of people." The actors obviously felt the same way about Whedon.
As you’ve heard in the past, one of the biggest points of contention came from Ray Fisher’s role in the movie as Cyborg. As you know, Snyder has said that Cyborg was the heart of his version of the film, and he treated Fisher as a writing partner, but Whedon significantly cut down his role because he claimed it "logically made no sense" and Fisher was a bad actor. Fisher reached out to Whedon to raise concerns about the revisions, but Whedon cut him off. Whedon reportedly told him, "It feels like I’m taking notes right now, and I don’t like taking notes from anybody - not even Robert Downey Jr."
Whedon explained that none of Fisher's claims were "either true or merited discussing." We’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses." That seems pretty harsh. He went on to say that he actually spent hours working with Fisher and that their conversation with "friendly and respectful." He denies all of the claims Fisher has made about him.
Then Godot, who claims that Whedon threatened her career and said he would make her "career miserable." Whedon denied this, though, saying "I don’t threaten people. Wo does that?" He explained, "English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech."
He talked about a scene they argued over that she wanted to cut out, and he said he jokingly told her that if she wanted to get rid of it, she would have to take 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." As you might imagine, Godot does not agree with that and, in response, says, "I understood perfectly."
In the end, Whedon regards taking over Justice League "as one of the biggest regrets of his life." He finished his interview with the following quote:
"The beginning of the internet raised me up, and the modern internet pulled me down. The perfect symmetry is not lost on me."
At this point, I don’t think there’s anything that Whedon can do or say to save his career and reputation. I’m not here to judge anyone or take anyone’s side, but it just seems like an all-around shit situation for everyone who was involved with Justice League.
You can read the full interview here if you’re interested. What are your thoughts on all of this?