Will Ray Fisher win the day?
Variety reports the actor’s occasional insights into the abuse directed at the cast and crew of Justice League during its infamous reshoots have led WarnerMedia to launch a third-party investigation into his claims. On Twitter, Fisher called the move “huge.”
The making of Justice League has turned into one of the most eventful Hollywood tales of the 21st Century. Rushed into production before the world made up its mind about director Zach Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the planned two-part film quickly became one film. A legendary poor screening of an early cut for Warner executives led to Joss Whedon signing on to write new scenes. Then, Snyder left the production to deal with a family tragedy, leaving Whedon to direct the reshoots based on his rewrites.
The result is the probably the most compromised big budget film in studio history. And, as it turns out, a product rushed to market to guarantee bonuses for certain Warner executives before the company itself was sold to AT&T. Snyder’s version of the film is expected to debut on HBO Max sometime next year.
Starting in this past July, Fisher — who played Cyborg in the film — began shedding light on Whedon’s abusive nature on set, which he claimed was enabled by producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. In more recent posts, Fisher accused Johns of threatening his career and belittling him for attempting to get Whedon’s abuses addressed by studio management. He has gone on to call Johns’ behavior itself abusive.
It should be noted both Johns and Berg exited their executive positions in the DC Entertainment structure after Justice League‘s lukewarm reception. Both continue to work at WarnerMedia, with Johns serving as the executive producer of Stargirl — as series based on the character he co-created with Lee Moder.
Whedon departed from a planned Batgirl film, stating he could not crack the story. Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson took over the project. He is now working on a series for HBO — another part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia empire.
On Twitter, Fisher thanked WarnerMedia and AT&T for taking his claims seriously. He also predicted the investigation will show “that Geoff Johns, Joss Whedon, Jon Berg (and others) grossly abused their power during the uncertainty of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner.”
Who would have ever thought Justice League would live alongside infamous studio projects like Cleopatra and Heaven’s Gate?
Will Ray Fisher win the day? Variety reports the actor’s occasional insights into the abuse directed at the cast and crewCOMICONRead More