From #RestoreSnyderverse to Gal Gadot’s revelations: All scandals to hit Warner Bros since Snyder cut release
The Warner Bros has had a rocky relationship with Zack Snyder and faced one public controversy after another, right from the time they replaced him with Marvel director Joss Whedon in 2017’s Justice League , when the Army of the dead director left to attend a family crisis.
On 26 October, 2017, when the original Justice League was released in theatres, it left fans disappointed. The critics were similarly bewildered.
Not long after that, the hashtag “Restore the Snyder Verse” started trending on Twitter. For years, fans put out petitions and began posting hundreds of videos asking Warner Bros to release the Snyder Cut of Justice League in theatres.
The much-anticipated film was released on 18 March, 2021.
However, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey depicted the film as an “exhausting four-hour behemoth that doesn’t particularly serve anyone outside of the minority that demanded its existence.”
Ever since, there have been numerous scandals and behind-the-scene drama around the cast members. Listed here are some of them:
Ray Fisher opened up about Justice League, Joss Whedon, and Warner Bros
In 2020, American actor Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg in the film, claimed that Whedon engaged in “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” behaviour on the sets of 2017’s Justice League.
His allegations led to an investigation into the director’s behaviour by WarnerMedia, where several other actors who had worked with the director in the past were interviewed by officials.
The investigation was concluded in December 2020 where WarnerMedia announced that “remedial action” had been taken.
In January 2021, Fisher tweeted a lengthy statement that claimed he was removed from the cast of The Flash, which is set to be released in 2022.
Please Read.
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) January 13, 2021
A>E pic.twitter.com/y51qzMp7bg
On 10 February, many actors, including Charisma Carpenter, extended their support to Fisher, where Carpenter made her own accusations against Whedon.
On 16 February, Fisher wrote on Twitter: “There’s only one reason that I haven’t been sued by Joss Whedon,” he wrote, also naming other producers and executives who worked on the film. “They know I’m telling the truth.”
Gal Gadot says Whedon ‘threatened’ to make her career ‘miserable’
Earlier this month, Israeli actor Gal Gadot, who played the role of Wonder Woman, opened up about her negative experience working with Whedon, claiming that he once threatened to make her career “miserable.”
She elaborated upon her comment in an interview with the Israeli channel N12. According to translators, Gadot said: “I had my issues with Joss and I handled it. He kind of threatened my career and said if I did something, he will make sure my career is miserable.”
Gadot said: “I took care of it on the spot.”
A Hollywood Reporter article from April 2021 claimed that Whedon turned nasty when Gadot questioned new lines of dialogue the director had given her superhero character.
Whedon has yet to publicly comment on either Gadot or Fisher’s claims so far.
Hashtags “Restore the Snyder Verse” and “Release the Ayer Cut” went viral after Snyder’s Justice League release
Within hours of the Snyder Cut hitting screens, two other hashtags, namely “#RestoretheSnyderVerse” and “ReleasetheAyerCut,” began trending on Twitter.
The first referred to Snyder’s cancelled Justice League sequels and the second to a director’s cut of 2016’s supervillain flick Suicide Squad.
Clearly the fans want it @hbomax #RestoreTheSnyderVerse #ReleaseTheAyerCut pic.twitter.com/BzHWotYDmB
— adi (@WubbaLubba_DD) March 23, 2021
However, during an interview with Variety, WarnerMedia Studio CEO Ann Sarnoff shut down suggestions that either proposal was being entertained.
She said: “We are the shepherds of the franchise and hopefully when the fans see what we’ve got in store they’ll know that DC is in good hands across many different platforms with many different creators. We want different voices in the mix.”
“For certain fans that want singular voices, they may be disappointed, but we would ask them to be patient and see what we’ve got in store because perhaps the newer voices in the mix will have just as compelling stories to tell,” Ms Sarnoff said.
She addressed the “reprehensible” conduct of some fans, which included threats made to Warner Bros executives and critics who were seen as discouraging the Snyder Cut’s release.
Warner Bros’ current relationship with Snyder
The 55-year-old American director has revealed that he began composing a 300 sequel during the pandemic, however, Warner Bros passed on it because it wound up being a gay romantic story.
During an interview with The Fourth Wall, The Playlist’s podcast, the film director said: “Over the pandemic, I had a deal with Warner Brothers and I wrote what was essentially going to be the final chapter in 300.”
“But when I sat down to write it, I actually wrote a different movie,” he said.
Snyder continued explaining how there was a concept and it came out really great. “It’s called Blood And Ashes, and it’s a beautiful love story, really, with warfare. I would love to do it, [Warner Bros] said no… you know, they’re not huge fans of mine. It is what it is,” he said.
The American screenwriter recently made a jump to Netflix by releasing his zombie epic Army of The Dead.
Producer Deborah Snyder, who is married to Zack Snyder, told IndieWire about the Justice League release: “I got absolutely no information from HBO Max or Warner Bros. None.”
“I’m getting a lot more indication [from Netflix about ‘Army of the Dead’], a lot more sharing of information in terms of indicators that are looking good. They won’t be reporting box office because it’s not really about the box office for this — we’re in 600 theatres — but I think the idea was more, this is a big film and they want to eventise it,” she said.
