Famed director Joss Whedon hit out at Gal Gadot’s claims that he “threatened” her career during the filming of “Justice League,” saying that English is not the actress’s native tongue, and that she likely didn’t understand his remark.
Israeli-born Gadot, however, fired back with a thundering response: “I understood perfectly.”
Whedon has been at the center of lurid entertainment industry allegations over the past several years, which have seen him accused of misogyny, racism, verbal abuses, sexual harassment, and more.
How did this all play out?
In May, Gadot said Whedon threatened her career during the filming for 2017’s “Justice League.”
“[He] said that if I do something, he will make sure my career is miserable, and I took care of it on the spot,” she said at the time.
During a later interview, Gadot addressed the exchange again and said that she was “shocked” by Whedon’s remarks.
During a recent interview with New York Magazine, Whedon addressed Gadot’s claims and said, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.”
Whedon clarified that the exchange he believes was at the crux of problem was a joke that Gadot would have to tie him to a railroad track and cut a scene from the film over his dead body. He added that she must have misinterpreted his response to being over her dead body rather than his own.
Gadot in response to Whedon’s claims said, “I understood perfectly.”
Anything else?
In 2020, actor Ray Fisher — who portrayed Cyborg in “Justice League” —
accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior toward the cast and crew during filming of the movie.
At the time, he did not delve into the specifics of Whedon’s purported behavior.
Fisher — who is black — later went on to complain that Whedon used color correction to lighten his complexion.
In the New York Magazine interview, Whedon insisted that he’d brightened the coloring of the entire movie.
“Whedon was stunned,” the report said. “He had given the whole movie a lighter look, brightening everything in postproduction, including all the faces. He said the claim that he had disliked a character’s skin tone … was false and unjust.”
Whedon suggested that Fisher wasn’t much more than a troublemaker, and that the Cyborg thespian was a “bad actor” in more than just one sense and a “malevolent force.”
Fisher hit back at Whedon’s defense and on Monday tweeted, “Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all… Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today—I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow the work continues.”
By Tuesday, Fisher added, “Before I get started today, I want to thank you all for lifting and supporting EVERYONE that has been negatively affected by Joss Whedon. I was not the first to speak out about him, but I hope to be one of the last that has to.”
He later continued, “I’m starting a team called ‘The Malevolent Force.’ Who wants in? *Joss Whedon’s need not apply*”