Justice League Cast Were Lied To That Zack Snyder Picked Joss Whedon
Ray Fisher says the Justice League cast was lied to that Zack Snyder chose Joss Whedon to oversee reshoots. Whedon took over on Justice League after Snyder left following a family tragedy. During the build-up to the film's release, much was stated publicly about how Whedon came in to honor Snyder's vision and complete the movie as it was initially conceived. But when audiences got a chance to see Justice League's theatrical version, it became clear that wasn't the case, as several key character arcs and story moments were drastically changed. As a result, fans launched an ultimately successful campaign calling for the release of Snyder's Justice League.
Though Whedon has experience working with superhero ensembles due to his time directing Avengers movies, his style starkly contrasts from Snyder. That made him a curious choice for Justice League, with the final product playing like a Frankenstein's monster of clashing tones. The situation made a little more sense when Snyder confirmed over the summer he had nothing to do with Whedon joining Justice League, saying that decision was made "by committee." However, Snyder's cast was apparently led to believe otherwise during the process.
In an interview with Forbes, Fisher discussed Whedon taking over Justice League and how that was handled in the earliest days of the change. According to him, the cast and crew were lied to and given a set list of "talking points" for media appearances:
“For one thing, the cast and crew were told that Zack had handpicked Joss to finish the film for him. I didn’t find out until after the reshoots that that was a complete lie. I heard whispers and rumblings of things being off behind the scenes, but nothing concrete until much later. They had us go out to San Diego Comic-Con in 2017 and say Zack picked Joss and that Joss was a great guy. I still have the email with those talking points.”
It's important to note these are Fisher's allegations, but his comments are in line with what Snyder revealed earlier, so there's likely some truth to this. It will be interesting to see if anyone else involved with Justice League corroborates Fisher's claims (Jason Momoa has voiced his support for Fisher before). As for why Warner Bros. may have gone this route, it was probably an attempt at damage control in wake of the Justice League directorial shakeup. From the studio's perspective, they didn't want the cast to be openly criticizing Whedon or stating the decision wasn't Snyder's during the pre-release phase (hence, why there were so many quotes about how Justice League was still Snyder's movie). That being said, the practice is arguably disingenuous, especially since Fisher is claiming WB misled the cast and crew. Studios give cast media talking points all the time, but lying about Snyder's involvement could be perceived as a step too far.
Over the past few months, Fisher has been very vocal about his experience on Justice League, accusing Whedon and others of misconduct during the infamous reshoots. With that in mind, it isn't surprising to see him go public with this latest allegation of the studio manipulating the cast and crew into believing Snyder handpicked Whedon. It's clear Fisher isn't going to back down in his fight for accountability, and many will be curious to see what becomes of the investigation into Fisher's claims. In the meantime, Fisher is interestingly returning as Cyborg for additional photography on Zack Snyder's Justice League, finally realizing the vision he had years ago.
Source: Forbes