Joss Whedon reveals how ‘Justice League’ cast treated him

Almost five years after the release of the critically slammed ‘Justice League’ movie, director Joss Whedon sat down with NY Magazine to give his side of the story and detail the troubled shoot, accusing the cast of being rude.

The production of Warner Brothers’ ‘Justice League’ was troubled, to say the least. Halfway through the shoot the original director, Zack Snyder, stepped down from the role after his daughter committed suicide, and also due to creative differences with the studio. Whedon, who had previously directed the critically acclaimed ‘Avengers’ movie, was called in to finish the job and was told to rewrite and reshoot big chunks of the film. The result proved underwhelming and angered fans and critics alike.

Now, almost five years later, Whedon has opened up about what happened and how the fallout from the disastrous release brought him down. According to the article, published by NY Magazine, Whedon had a very different approach to directing the film, preferring to have the actors read lines exactly as he wrote them, whereas Snyder encouraged most of the cast to ad-lib their lines and treated the production as more of a collaborative effort. This difference in approach apparently led to quite a bit of tension between the cast and Whedon, who, after one heated exchange, said he had never worked with “a ruder group of people.”

Since the film came out the director has been accused of harassment and toxic behavior by multiple stars, with Gal Gadot saying Whedon threatened to “make her career miserable.” However, the director claims that he “doesn’t threaten people” and that Gadot simply misunderstood him as “English is not her first language” as he tends to be “annoyingly flowery” in his speech.

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Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in the ‘Justice League’ film, also famously launched an entire campaign to expose Whedon’s alleged poor behavior during the reshoots, describing his treatment as “abusive and unprofessional,” as well as accusing him of racism for cutting many scenes with the black actor. Other actors also chimed in, including, once again, Gadot, who shared her own experiences from the set, and ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ star Charisma Carpenter who alleged abusive treatment by him over the course of many years.

“For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and even made excuses for certain events that traumatize me to this day,” said Carpenter. “He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites.” Reportedly, when Whedon found out about her pregnancy, he asked her if she was “going to keep it” and called her “fat” in front of the cast and crew.

Whedon, however, says that none of the claims, particularly those made by Fisher, were “either true or merited discussing,” adding that “we’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”

Some of Whedon’s fans believe the outrage aimed at the director was actually orchestrated by Zack Snyder, or at least his fan base, who were demanding the original cut of the film be released. Whedon has not given any comment on these suspicions, saying he doesn’t know “who started it” but knows in whose name it was all done and that Snyder superfans attacked him online as a bad feminist and a bad husband, piling on to the accusations.

Snyder’s four-hour cut of ‘Justice League’ was eventually released on HBO Max and was widely praised by fans and critics as what the film should have been, once again taking a stab at Whedon’s version.