Embattled filmmaker Joss Whedon has finally responded to the multiple allegations of unprofessional behaviour, including those from “Justice League” stars Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot.
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The flurry of allegations started with Fisher who first accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional” conduct during the production of the 2017 Warner Bros movie.
Whedon took over the reins of “Justice League” after director Zack Snyder left the project in the wake of a family tragedy.
Later, Gal Gadot alleged that the director threatened to make her “career miserable”, followed by similar accusations from the cast of TV shows “Angel” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.
In a New York profile piece, titled “The Undoing of Joss Whedon”, Whedon tried to offer his side of the story.
Taking on Fisher’s allegations, the 57-year-old actor called him a “malevolent force”.
Besides accusing Whedon of unprofessional behaviour, Fisher had also alleged that the filmmaker brought down the screen time of his character Cyborg and also lightened the actor’s skin complexion.
Whedon said he cut down Cyborg’s role because it “logically made no sense”, and claimed that his acting was bad as the test-screening viewers found Cyborg to be “the worst of all the characters in the film”.
“We’re talking about a malevolent force…We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses,” he said.
As for Gadot, Whedon denied threatening the “Wonder Woman” star.
“I don’t threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” In response to a scene which Gadot wanted cut, Whedon told the outlet that he told the actress jokingly 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 tyingherto the railroad track,” he added.
In a brief email response toNew York,Gadot disagreed with the filmmaker’s version of events and said, “I understood perfectly.” Whedon, who rose to prominence with the fan-favourite TV series“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, was alsoaccused by the show’sstar Charisma Carpenter of “hostile and toxic” behaviour.
Talking about Carpenter, Whedon admitted that he did not behave badly with the actor.
“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,” he said.
The director also denied calling Carpenter “fat” when she was pregnant.
“I did not call her fat. Of course I didn’t,” Whedon said.
