Photo: EW
American filmmaker and co-founder of Bellwether Pictures Joss Whedon has spoken about current misconduct allegations laid against him. The film executive was incriminated with misconduct on numerous film and TV sets, 2017’s “Justice League,” to name one. However, he claimed these accusations to be false.
Gal Gadot, the actress behind Wonder Woman, has claimed that Whedon has threatened her career during the production of “Justice League.” In response to this, Whedon retorted that the matter revolved around the actress’ grasp of the English language.
“I don’t threaten people,” the filmmaker said. “Who does that?” He further said, “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.”
The issue seems to have occurred when Whedon and Gadot disagreed on a scene that the actress wanted to cut out from the film. To which Whedon playfully remarked that if Gadot wanted to discard it from the film, 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,” Whedon explained. In response to this, Gadot responded to an interview via email, “I understood perfectly.”
On another occasion, Cyborg actor Ray Fisher said that Whedon’s actions during “Justice League” production were “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” However, Whedon denied Fisher’s accusations, including that Whedon had made Fisher’s skin tone lighter.
“We’re talking about a malevolent force,” Whedon replied. “We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses,” indicating that Fisher merely wanted to impair his reputation.
Many artists have expressed their opinions about Whedon’s behavior, including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” cast members. Cast member Charisma Carpenter, famously known as Cordelia Chase, said that the director was “casually cruel” to her during the filming of “Buffy” and “Angel.” Michelle Trachtenberg also posted on Instagram that she wasn’t permitted to be unchaperoned with Whedon.
“I was young,” Whedon justified himself; however, he claimed he wasn’t informed of Trachtenberg’s rule. “I yelled, and sometimes you had to yell. This was a very young cast, and it was easy for everything to turn into a cocktail party.”
“Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming. She struggled sometimes with her lines, but nobody could hit a punch line harder than her…I did not call her fat. Of course I didn’t,” he further added.
As per an interview, Whedon is presently pursuing sex and love addiction treatment, together with additional addictive tendencies. The showrunner wielded this interview as an opportunity to weigh up his decisions and public insight.
Many people have managed to use “every weaponizable word of the modern era to make it seem like I was an abusive monster,” said Whedon. “I think I’m one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been.”
Opinions expressed by NY Weekly contributors are their own.
