Joss Whedon is speaking out, and according to him, the allegations against him are partly due to a language barrier. The “Justice League” director came to his own defense as part of a New York Magazine interview and firmly placed the blame on others.
Whedon, who also created the cult classic series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” said in the interview that people used “every weaponizable word of the modern era to make it seem like I was an abusive monster.”
“I think I’m one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been,” he claimed.
The 57-year-old director specifically addressed allegations made by “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot, who is of Israeli descent. Gadot said in May that Whedon “kind of threatened my career and said if I did something, he would make my career miserable.” This abuse of power allegedly took place during the lengthy reshoot phase of the DC movie.
“I was shocked by the way that he spoke to me,” Gadot told Elle magazine. “You’re dizzy because you can’t believe this was just said to you. And if he says it to me, then obviously he says it to many other people.”
Whedon denied these claims at the time they were made. And now, he’s offering more of an explanation of what happened.
“I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” Whedon said of Gadot’s version of events. He went on to describe how the actress must have misunderstood him due to a communication barrier.
“English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech,” the “Justice League” director said. According to Whedon, the whole thing started when he said that if Gadot wanted a certain scene to get cut, 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 tying her to the railroad track,” he explained.
But Gadot doubled down on the claims. “I understood perfectly,” she told the magazine in response to his explanation, Mediaite reported.
And that’s not the first time Whedon has been accused of aggressive behavior on set. Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also claimed Whedon “abused his power” on set. She said he was both “hostile and toxic.”
“He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites,” Carpenter said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
And both she and Gadot had the support of co-stars, who verified those claims publicly.
One witness from Justice League came to Gadot’s defense, saying Whedon’s bad treatment of the “Justice League” lead was an open secret.
“Joss was bragging that he’s had it out with Gal,” the witness said. “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.”