Gal Gadot refused to shoot scene that se-ualised Wonder Woman, director Joss Whedon brought in body double
Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot refused to shoot a se-ualised scene in Justice League, and director Joss Whedon went ahead and shot it with a body double.
The dissent around director Joss Whedon is intensifying after Justice League actor Ray Fisher called his on-set behaviour ‘gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable.’ It is now being reported that even Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot was unhappy with some of Whedon’s creative choices.
Whedon was brought in as a replacement for original director Zack Snyder, after Snyder was forced to depart production because of a family tragedy. Whedon, known for directing Marvel’s The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, was tasked with re-shooting several portions of the film.
Fisher, who played Cyborg in the movie, in a recent tweet slammed Whedon’s behaviour. “Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable. He was enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. Accountability>Entertainment,” Fisher wrote. Photographer Clay Enos, who has collaborated with Snyder on several projects, tweeted in response to Fisher’s statement, “I heard the same thing.”
Reporter Grace Randolph added to the allegations and said that Gal Gadot refused to shoot a comedic scene in which The Flash lands on her body, and Whedon persisted by bringing in a body double to shoot the scene instead. “I doubt we’ll ever get specifics from Ray Fisher re Joss Whedon, but here’s one I was the first to report: Gal Gadot didn’t want to film this scene, so Whedon did it w/ a stunt double. That’s why you can’t see her face,” Randolph wrote.
One fan was quick to point out that the scene in question is virtually the same as a similar moment in Age of Ultron, when Bruce Banner lands on top of Natasha Romaoff. “The fact that he did the same exact gag in Age of Ultron just two years earlier really shows his growth as a comedy director,” the fan wrote. Photographer Jason Laboy, who has worked with Fisher, tweeted, “Don’t forget to add that he locked her in a room and threatened her career if she didn’t do the scene. That is very important and should not be omitted.”
Filmmaker Kevin Smith on the Fatman Beyond podcast, recalling what he’d been told by someone who worked on both versions of the film, said, “The special effects guy said there was a fair amount of trash-talking of Zack’s version of the movie on-set by Joss. Again, this is what a special effects guy who worked on both versions of the movie told me. But 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 him and stuff.”
“The guy had said he was kind of uncomfortable on-set because the people he was talking to about not liking that version of the movie were all people that had helped make that version of the movie, so that I think is probably the unprofessional thing,” Smith continued.
Whedon has offered ‘no comment’ on the controversy, and producer Jon Berg has said that Fisher’s complaints arose from the fact that he was made to say a catchphrase that he wasn’t on board with. Snyder’s version of Justice League will be released on HBO Max in 2021, after massive fan pressure.
