Joss Whedon Denies Threatening Gal Gadot on ‘Justice League’ Set, Blames Language Barrier
17.01.2022 - 22:35
/ usmagazine.com
Joss Whedon denied Gal Gadot‘s allegations that he threatened her career, claiming any conflict between the actress and the director on the set of Justice League was a misunderstanding.
“I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” Whedon, 57, said in a lengthy interview with New York Magazine, published Monday, January 17.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator, 57, reflected on his time taking over 2017’s Justice League. Warner Bros. brought Whedon in to take over for director Zack Snyder, who stepped down after his daughter died by suicide, and the Avengers director worked in many rewrites and 40 days of reshoots — which caused tension on the set.
In April 2021, the Hollywood Reporter outlined how Whedon allegedly “threatened to harm Gadot’s career and disparaged Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins” after the Diana Prince actress, 36, brought up creative concerns. Whedon reportedly told her to “shut up and say the lines,” threatening to “make her look incredibly stupid in this movie.”
When asked about her relationship with the filmmaker, Gadot told THR, “I had my issues with [Whedon] and Warner Bros. handled it in a timely manner.”
In his New York Magazine interview, the director claimed that the Israeli actress — who speaks fluent English — misunderstood him. “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech,” Whedon told the magazine.
The New York native acknowledged that they argued over cutting a scene and claimed he jokingly told her that she “would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body,” the outlet explained.
“Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track,” he alleged.
The Red Notice star disagrees with his