Joss Whedon Allegedly Threatened Gal Gadot’s Career Amid Clash During Justice League Reshoots
Jean-Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images, Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
Joss Whedon, who oversaw reshoots on 2017’s Justice League after original director Zack Snyder stepped down, reportedly had a major clash with Gal Gadot on set.
The details emerged in a Hollywood Reporter interview with Cyborg actor Ray Fisher, who tweeted last year about Whedon’s allegedly “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” conduct on the set of Justice League.
Fisher declined to comment on the tension between Gadot and Whedon, instead speaking about his own issues with the director, but a “knowledgable source” involved in the production told THR that the Wonder Woman star had a major battle with Whedon as well.
According to the report, Gadot had “issues about her character being more aggressive than her character in Wonder Woman. She wanted to make the character flow from one movie to the next.”
Sources said the “biggest clash” came when Whedon pushed Gadot to record lines of dialogue she didn’t like, threatened to harm Gadot’s career, and disparaged Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.
A witness on the production who later spoke to investigators said that after one argument, “Joss was bragging that he’s had it out with Gal. He told her he’s the writer and she’s going to shut up and say the lines and he can make her look incredibly stupid in this movie.”
Gadot and Jenkins reportedly issued their complaints to then-Warners chairman Kevin Tsujihara. Gadot said in a statement to THR, “I had my issues with [Whedon] and Warner Bros. handled it in a timely manner.”
Over the past year, Fisher has been speaking out against both Whedon and Warner Bros. executives, lobbying complaints about the way he was treated by Whedon and how Warners failed to address the situation properly.
A new point of contention mentioned by THR was Whedon forcing Fisher’s Cyborg to use the word “booyah” as his catchphrase. “It seemed weird to have the only Black character say that,” Fisher told the publication, noting that none of the other characters had catchphrases.
Last month, HBO Max released Snyder’s original cut of Justice League, which did away with Whedon’s retooling of the film and restored Snyder’s vision.
