New Delhi

Filmmaker Joss Whedon has finally spoken up about the misconduct allegations levelled against him while working on 2017 film ‘Justice League’ and TV series ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. Denying Gal Gadot’s allegation that he “threatened” her career while working on ‘Justice League’, Joss Whedon said in an interview with New York magazine, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” 

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Joss Whedon had taken over from the original director Zack Snyder when he withdrew from the DC film citing family emergency over a tragedy. 

Joss had told Gal Gadot that she would have to tie his body to a railroad track before he would cut a scene she wanted removed and that Gadot misunderstood as the director threatening to tie her to a track instead. In response, Gal Gadot has responded to this explanation and said that she “understood perfectly.”

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Meanwhile, there’s bad blood between Joss Whedon and Ray Fisher. Ray had said Whedon’s behaviour while making ‘Justice League’ was “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable”. It led to the downfall of Joss’s career. There was a mention of some “remedial action” following which HBO said that Joss Whedon was withdrawing as executive producer of ‘The Nevers’.

Ray Fisher also alleged that he was told that Joss Whedon had lightened an actor of colour’s complexion in ‘Justice League’ because he didn’t like the skin tone. To this, Joss has said that he had brightened the entire movie, including all the actors’ faces, and that he talked with Fisher for hours about his changes. He says he significantly cut down Fisher’s screen time because Cyborg’s storyline “logically made no sense” and that Fisher’s performance was lacking. 

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Joss said, “We’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”

The New York story also contains several new allegations of workplace misconduct by Joss Whedon. A member of the ‘Buffy’ production team claimed that Whedon and one of the show’s actors were rolling around on the floor in her office making out, banging against her chair. The filmmaker did not deny the affair but said it was untrue that he was out bragging the affair as he “lived in terror” that the affairs on the set would be discovered. 

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