WarnerMedia Investigating 'Justice League' Production, Making This Movie Somehow More Controversial Than Ever
Who could have imagined that a Justice League movie would still be generating this many headlines three years after its release?
The film, which has for years been the center of a loud conversation about Zack Snyder's "Snyder Cut," is now also the subject of a retroactive investigation by WarnerMedia, the parent company of Warner Bros. and DC Comics. WarnerMedia is evidently investigating abuses of power made during the making of the movie – abuses which Cyborg actor Ray Fisher suggests were overlooked during the merger of Time Warner and AT&T.
This morning, Ray Fisher tweeted that WarnerMedia had launched a third-party Justice League investigation into the production of the superhero movie, continuing his vocal disapproval of the way that production was handled behind the scenes.
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!🙏🏽
A>E
(2/2)
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) August 20, 2020
We reached out WarnerMedia about this investigation, but never heard back from them. However, Variety managed to get confirmation that the investigation is actually underway, and the outlet reports that "there have been no findings yet," "there is no specific timeline for the investigation," the company will not be conducting the investigation in public, and that WarnerMedia has not "prejudged" director Joss Whedon, Geoff Johns, or Jon Berg, the three people Fisher has previously pointed to as being the chief subjects of what went wrong on the set.
Fisher's tweet today also points to unnamed "others" who are also apparently culpable in the mysterious abuses of power that allegedly happened while making the movie, but it's unclear who those people might be. Fisher has not made any specific, concrete allegations against anyone publicly...yet. I don't blame him for not putting people on blast online (getting sued is expensive, even for superhero movie actors), but selfishly, it makes this entire conversation a difficult one to have right now, because we have no idea what he's even talking about when he mentions these abuses of power.
Here's a selection of his tweets over the past couple of months addressing the incidents in question:
Joss Wheadon's on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.
He was enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.
Accountability>Entertainment
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 1, 2020
Our industry will not advance unless we are willing to speak the names of those preventing it from doing so.
Accountability>Entertainment https://t.co/jPfwktg2I7 pic.twitter.com/raPTRswyAV
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 27, 2020
"This may be the only thing I do that matters." #BORGLIFE
Accountability>Entertainment https://t.co/icJ9ZC5OT0
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 28, 2020
I understand full well the personsal and professional risks associated with my speaking out against the abhorrent behavior of Joss Whedon and his enablers—Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.
I will not relent.
This is "good trouble, necessary trouble."
Accountability>Entertainment
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 31, 2020
During the LA reshoots for Justice League, Geoff Johns summoned me to his office to belittle and admonish my (and my agent's) attempts to take grievances up the proper chain of command.
He then made a thinly veiled threat to my career.
This behavior cannot continue.
A>E
— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) August 12, 2020
After Fisher's first statement about this in early July, Jon Berg responded that it was "categorically untrue that we enabled any unprofessional behavior" during Justice League. Hopefully this investigation will get to the bottom of everything.