As Justice League star Ray Fisher continues to accuse Joss Whedon of being an abusive filmmaker, Kevin Smith has jumped into the fray with some insights of his own.
While discussing Fisher’s claim that Whedon’s behavior was “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” when he replaced Zack Snyder as the director on Justice League, Smith revealed on his Fatman Beyond podcast that he had heard rumors about Whedon’s attitude on set. For the record, Smith makes it clear that this is hearsay that “ain’t f**king fact or news,” but it does align with Fisher’s current allegations. Smith also has a track record of hearing all about behind-the-scenes drama on the DC Films, including having extensive knowledge of Snyder’s original Justice League plans. Via CBR:
Again, this is what a special effects guy who worked on both versions of the movie told me. And that [Whedon] would cut down, dismiss and be negative about Zack’s version, which he had seen, and all these people had made together without [Whedon] and stuff. And so the guy that said that it was kind of uncomfortable on set because, like, the people that he was talking to about not liking that version of the movie were all people that had made that version of the movie. So that, I think, is probably the ‘unprofessional’ thing, like, you don’t do that. Especially if you came in to you know, help out during a bad moment in the director’s life.
Not long after Smith weighed in, Fisher continued his campaign against Whedon over the holiday weekend by tweeting his support for Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole and Angel actress Charisma Carpenter, who have both accused the Buffy creator of sexist behavior. You can see Fisher’s tweet below:
I believe Kai Cole and Charisma Carpenter.
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 3, 2020
Cole made headlines back in 2017 when she wrote a column for The Wrap, with which she accusing Whedon of being a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals” who allegedly admitted to several infidelities with young women who worked for him on his shows, which raised several eyebrows during the #MeToo movement.
As for Carpenter, her character was infamously left in a coma and essentially written off the show after the actress became pregnant between the third and fourth season. It’s long been believed that Whedon fired her for getting pregnant, which has been bolstered by comments from Carpenter over the years.
(Via CBR)