Joss Whedon Denies That He Threatened Gal Gadot's Career: 'English Is Not Her First Language'
Amy Sussman/Getty; Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic Gal Gadot (L); Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon denies that he threatened Gal Gadot's career.
In a new interview with New York Magazine, Whedon, who directed Gadot in 2017's Justice League, addressed her 2021 claims that "He threatened my career and said that if I do something, he will make sure my career is miserable."
"I don't threaten people. Who does that?" said Whedon, 57, adding of the alleged incident, "English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech."
Whedon told the magazine that had joked with Gadot, 36, that to fulfill her wishes and cut a specific scene of hers from the film, she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body. According to Whedon, she mistakenly thought he said over her dead body.
In an email to the magazine, Gadot remembered the exchange differently, saying, "I understood perfectly."
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Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Joss Whedon
Gadot's initial comments about Whedon's alleged threat came in a May interview with Israeli news outlet N12, in which the Wonder Woman actress said, "I had my issues with Joss, and I handled it."
"He threatened my career and said that if I do something, he will make sure my career is miserable and I took care of it on the spot," she added. (Whedon did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment at the time.)
In a more recent conversation for ELLE's "Women in Hollywood" November 2021 issue, Gadot said she was "shocked" by how Whedon spoke toward her on set, saying she "was shaking trees as soon as it happened."
"And I must say that the heads of Warner Bros., they took care of it," she added, in part. "Going back to the sense of righteousness that I have ... you're dizzy because you can't believe this was just said to you. And if he says it to me, then obviously he says it to many other people."
A rep for Whedon did not comment to PEOPLE at the time.
RELATED VIDEO: Gal Gadot Recalls Being "Shocked" by Joss Whedon's Comments on Justice League Set: "It's Not Okay"
In his interview with New York Magazine, Whedon also addressed claims from Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in Justice League, after Fisher, 34, said on Twitter in July 2020 that Whedon "was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" during reshoots on the film.
In an October 2020 interview with Forbes, Fisher further alleged that "race was just one of the issues with the reshoot process." He said at the time, "There were massive blowups, threats, coercion, taunting, unsafe work conditions, belittling and gaslighting like you wouldn't believe."
Fisher went on to say last year in a feature for The Hollywood Reporter that his own creative input was continually not taken seriously by producer and DC Films co-chairman Geoff Johns and other leadership, including Whedon.
The latter denied Fisher's claims to New York Magazine, saying he trimmed Cyborg's role in the film because his plot "logically made no sense" and he wasn't a fan of Fisher's acting in it. He also denied digital lightening specifically of Fisher's skin tone, telling New York Magazine that he brightened everything in postproduction.
Frazer Harrison/Getty; Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Ray Fisher (L); Joss Whedon
According to the publication, Whedon said Fisher's allegations were neither "true or merited discussing." He described Fisher's actions as "a malevolent force," adding, "We're talking about a bad actor in both senses."
While Fisher didn't respond to related interview requests from New York Magazine, he tweeted Monday, "Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all … "
"Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today—I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr," he added. "Tomorrow the work continues. #MLKDay A>E."
Whedon took over directing duties on Justice League after original filmmaker Zack Snyder stepped away from the movie after his 20-year-old daughter's death by suicide.
