While a lot of DC Extended Universe fans are looking forward to Zack Snyder’s original vision for Justice League being brought to life on HBO Max next year, Cyborg actor Ray Fisher has been focusing his attention of late on what went down during the superhero movie’s reshoots period, which saw Joss Whedon sitting in the director’s chair following Snyder’s exit. For those out of the loop, Fisher stated at the beginning of July that Whedon’s behavior on the Justice League set was “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable,” and that producers Jon Berg and Geoff Johns enabled this behavior.
Now Ray Fisher has revealed that an independent investigation concerning Justice League’s reshoots has been launched. As the actor wrote on Twitter:
After 5 weeks of interviews with various cast/crew, Warner Bros. 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! 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 Warner Media and AT&T for making strides to ensure a safer workplace for all!)
While Ray Fisher was hesitant to provide specific details back in July due to still being “under contract” and signing a non-disclosure agreement, he’s made it abundantly clear that he’s wanting to point a bright light on the toxicity of the Justice League reshoots environment, stating that accountability is more important than entertainment. Clearly this investigation is a big step forward, though it’s unclear just how much the public will be clued in on specific details.
All this started at the end of June when Ray Fisher publicly retracted all praise he gave to Joss Whedon for his work on Justice League at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, which occurred several months before the movie was released. Last week, Fisher also pointed the spotlight back on Geoff Johns, claiming that during the Justice League reshoots in Los Angeles, Johns made a “thinly veiled threat” to Fisher’s career after the actor tried to take his grievances up the “proper chain of command.”
Whatever ends up happening in this independent investigation, it reaffirms that Justice League had a troubled production, particularly after principal photography had wrapped up. As far as the Joss Whedon-helmed portion of the creative process went, there were reportedly around 80 pages of new material written, and only 10% of the footage that Zack Snyder shot was supposedly kept in the final product. And then there was the Mustachegate debacle, but we don’t need to delve into that.
Ultimately, Justice League’s theatrical cut critically and commercially underperformed during its time in theaters, resulting in the direction of the DCEU changing significantly. Interested parties will get to see a wildly different version of the DC superhero team-up with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, and over in another corner of the entertainment industry, we’ll ideally learn more about the kind of work environment Justice League’s reshoots had in the future.
The Snyder Cut is expected to drop on HBO Max in early to mid-2021, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage on that, Be sure to also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else the DCEU has coming up.
