To say the drama behind the scenes on “Justice League” is more interesting than the finished film released by Warner Bros. is a gross understatement. First, there was the fact that director Zack Snyder stepped down to deal with a family issue after principal photography was done and was replaced by Joss Whedon. Then Whedon (with the approval of the studio) greatly altered the film, including massive reshoots. Ultimately, the film was a major critical and box office disappointment, leading to a wholesale reworking of the DC superhero film slate moving forward.
Those issues alone could fill a book. However, recently, actor Ray Fisher has cryptically tweeted about on-set abuses by Joss Whedon and producer Geoff Johns, which has led to a number of new headlines about the 2017 film. Now, it appears that Warner Bros. is opening an investigation into the accusations, a full three years after the film hit theaters.
In a recent tweet, Fisher said, “After 5 weeks of interviews with various cast/crew, @WarnerMedia has officially launched an independent third-party investigation to get to the heart of the toxic and abusive work environment created during Justice League reshoots. This is a MASSIVE step forward!”
He added, “I believe this 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. Thank you @WarnerMedia and @ATT for making strides to ensure a safer workplace for all!????????”
Since the original tweets about this subject last month, there hasn’t been much revealed about what happened during the reshoots. However, Deadline is confirming that the studio is in fact investigating Fisher’s claims. The only issue that he has been upfront about is the allegation that Geoff Johns threatened Fisher’s career when issues were brought to the producer’s attention. Of course, what this stems from is anyone’s guess.
All this does is add to the insane story that shapes “Justice League” and the public’s perception of the film. It’s bad enough that the film has been publicly disavowed by Snyder (who still has directorial credit and is releasing his own cut of the film in 2021), but to have a formal investigation into on-set abuses just further adds blemishes to the already maligned film.
But hopefully some good comes of this if the studio finds that there are facts to support the allegations.
