Actress Gal Gadot has revealed while promoting the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984 that she reported Justice League reshoots director Joss Whedon to executives at Warner Brothers. Gadot is well known for her diplomatic and professional approach, felt it was necessary to stamp out the toxicity the filmmaker is well known for before it festered further.
Moreover, this comes off from Ray Fisher’s allegations that Whedon is unprofessional and Geoff Johns and Jon Berg abuse their power. However, this Babes Against Bullshit post is not about that drama. Furthermore, it is about what Gal Gadot had to say, which includes my view on Joss Whedon.
During this post, I also want to dive into how Whedon views himself and how women look at him.
Now, before any Whedon fans jump down my throat, this post is written based on evidence and from an essay written by Kai Cole, the director’s ex-wife.
Whedon Oversexualises His Female Actors
Joss Whedon is a man with an eye for sexualising women in his film and television projects. Meanwhile, he claims to be a self-proclaimed feminist who treats the opposite sex like trash.
What’s more, is Kai Cole, Whedon’s ex-wife, wrote an essay on The Wrap in 2017 which detailed his cheating ways during their marriage. Interestingly, she stated it made her uncomfortable with the attention he gave the women that worked on his projects.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the titular role, had differing views to Whedon on Season 6. The story for the season included a sexual relationship that almost resulted in rape, as per Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly.
When looking at Whedon’s track record of sexualising female characters, we need to look no further than Natasha Romanov.
In the first two Avengers films, Natasha Romanov is nothing more than a sexy assassin in a black catsuit. Also, she is made sterile in Age of Ultron, which is a Whedon addition. In Marvel comics, Black Widow had a stillborn daughter.
Also, her jumpsuit zipped down, so her cleavage shows. While is this a nod to the comic counterpart of Natasha, displaying this in a film is not a message that kids should be sent. Meanwhile, in the next two Avengers films, directed by the Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony, the jumpsuit is zipped up as the cleavage isn’t as visible.
In the second image above, Nat is wearing the same time suit as the male Avengers. No variation of the suit is used for her or Nebula.
Abandoning Batgirl
In 2017, the announcement came that Whedon would be directing a Batgirl movie. However, a few months later, in February 2018, he left the project.
Originally, he was going to direct and write the film, according to Dave McNary of Variety. Christina Hodson, who wrote Birds of Prey and Bumblebee was hired to pen the screenplay after Joss’ departure. However, there is still no director.
Whedon Trashes Justice League
Justice League was always going to be Zack Snyder’s biggest project to date. However, tragedy struck his family, and he stepped aside before reshoots started.
In the meantime, this prompted Warner Brothers to hire Joss Whedon. However, he didn’t complete the task given to him. He reshot a large majority of the project to fit the narrative he wanted. He had little regard for what Snyder was going through in his life at that time. Through, the only honourable thing he did do was not slap his name in the director’s slot in the credits.
When it comes to someone else’s film, don’t mess with it. That is the whole reason the Snyder Cut movement became one of the most talked-about subjects on social media. People hated what Whedon did with the movie and wanted Zack Snyder’s vision to play out in full.
Back To The Issue At Hand: Gal Gadot’s Experience With Whedon
Earlier this week, Gal Gadot spoke out about the Ray Fisher situation while promoting Wonder Woman 1984. Now, I want to address the question of why she didn’t come out sooner to address the allegations against Whedon. We’ll get to that in a moment.
We know Gal was interviewed by WarnerMedia while they were investigating Fisher’s claims as per 9Honey. However, she did not mention anything about producers Jon Berg, Geoff Johns or Walter Hamada. It is alleged Johns threatened Fisher’s career at some point. This has not been backed up by anyone. Now, the main focus of the whole thing is Joss Whedon.
Fisher’s claims include unprofessional behaviour by Whedon, Berg, and Johns. However, Whedon is believed to have been the main instigator. Gadot backs this up by saying in her interview that she became a target too. She did not bring up the others who were allegedly involved in the misconduct.
Now, Gal is well known for putting hot-shot male directors in their place. She reportedly did not want Brett Ratner anywhere near Wonder Woman 2. Gadot allegedly went to Warner Brothers and told them she did not want any association with the disgraced director and his production company RatPac Entertainment.
Just for clarification, Dune Entertainment which was one of the companies involved with the first Wonder Woman is associated with RatPac Entertainment and they are known together as RatPac-Dune Entertainment, according to Mack Rawden at CinemaBlend. This came in 2017 after the success of Wonder Woman when bullying and sexual assault allegations were levelled against Ratner by at least half a dozen women.
Did Gal Do To The Right Thing?
Did Gal do the right thing in coming forward when she did in regards to Joss Whedon? It depends on your definition. In my opinion, she had her reasons for speaking out when she did.
Whether she couldn’t speak out straight away because of business reasons is unclear. The goal was not to throw anyone under the bus except Whedon. If she had issues with Johns and/or Berg she would have said something.
Does this make her a hypocrite for speaking out much later than she should have? No, I don’t think it does. She did it strategically. She even said that she is pleased Fisher spoke out about his truth. Note the keyword here; his. She never used ‘the’. She even said that she had no interactions with Ray during reshoots on Justice League so she can’t say whether his claims are true. Anyone who knows her work ethic knows that she would not do something unless necessary and there is proof.
She waited until the investigation was over before she spoke up because of reasons known only to her. It should have nothing to do with anyone but those she surrounds herself with. Gal has faced down a powerful director before and she will do it again.
Not A Feminist
A man like Joss Whedon should not be allowed to get away with treating women like something he can ogle whenever he chooses. He is not a feminist and the treatment his ex-wife received during their marriage is proof of that.
When it comes to his female-led projects, every woman working with him needs to watch their backs. He could single them out. I’m not saying he’s a predator by any means, but he has a reputation. Kai confirmed it in her essay.
Production companies work with Whedon due to his success, which is fair. However, they have to watch out for the people working under him as well. If the WarnerMedia investigation is any indication, he screwed up big time. What his fate is going forward, I cannot say, but I would not want to be in his shoes.
A true man respects women and doesn’t have them flaunt their chests. They also see the opposite sex as equals and treat them the same way their male colleagues are.
Women Do Not Owe Joss Whedon Anything
Now, I know there will be a load of Whedon fans who will likely read this and go, “But Joss Whedon, practically handed a load of women their careers.” No, he didn’t. Not really. Now, before you argue with me, just listen.
Whedon is like a load of men in Hollywood. Look at Harvey Weinstein as a prime example. Joss is nowhere near that level, but his view of women is pretty high up there. If you want to idolise a man who degrades a woman by making her wear skimpy clothing on screen but is then shown being ‘weak’ because she cannot bear children, then you have a pretty warped sense of reality.
The women who have become big names from his projects did the hard work themselves. They never needed him to succeed. Sarah Michelle Gellar would have still gotten her gigs in the two Scooby-Doo movies, Cruel Intentions, Ringer, and The Crazy Ones.
Joss Whedon does not make women famous. They make themselves famous for putting in the hard yards.
