Gal Gadot rose to prominence with her debut in Fast & Furious (2009) with her relatively small role in the fourth film of the franchise. Her recurring role in the subsequent Fast films made her a familiar face but it wasn’t until Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) that she attained fame and popularity unparalleled on a global scale.
However, Snyder’s DC Extended Universe has always been mired in controversy and it reflected poorly on all the actors involved with the trilogy. The grimdark vision of the DC filmmaker was further brought under scrutiny when WarnerMedia brought in Joss Whedon to finish Snyder’s rough cut of the film after the latter’s exit in 2017.
Therein originated one of the biggest scandals in Hollywood history.
Gal Gadot crosses paths with a controversial director
Joss Whedon is one of the most instrumental members of the film and television industry. His contribution to comic books and other significant pop culture genres has been immeasurable and his work on The Avengers in 2012 further solidified his status as a legend of the CBM world.
Gal Gadot first crossed paths with Whedon in 2017 when he was called in by the studio execs at Warner Bros. to finish Zack Snyder‘s incomplete DCEU trilogy. The 5-year-long controversy that followed as a direct result of Whedon’s efforts has now been embedded in the annals of the film industry.
After Ray Fisher (who plays Victor Stone aka Cyborg in DCEU) accused the director of on-set abuse and mistreatment, WarnerMedia launched an investigation that has been extensively documented and written about in news publications.
Gal Gadot herself came forward with her own version of events and encounters with Joss Whedon, and although they were not so colorfully worded as Fisher’s, Gadot had a lot to say about her experience on set.
Gal Gadot put up a fight against a Hollywood big-shot
One of the most criticized aspects of Joss Whedon’s Justice League, or “Josstice” League, as the cynics and dissenters like to label it, is the film’s extensive reshoots and toned-down edits in the post-production process. Gal Gadot, although not a part of those reshoots, had her own troubling experience with Whedon which she later disclosed in an interview with The LA Times.
While Ray Fisher was vocal about his distrust toward the director and hurled multiple allegations against him after he took over the reins from Zack Snyder, Gadot was more subtle and political about her approach to the situation.
In her interview with The Los Angeles Times, she claimed:
I wasn’t there with the guys when they shot with Joss Whedon — I had my own experience with [him], which wasn’t the best one, but I took care of it there, and when it happened, I took it to the higher-ups and they took care of it. But I’m happy for Ray to go up and say his truth.
While the fan revolution and campaigning on social media eventually succeeded in forcing Warner Bros.’ hand to release Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of Justice League in 2021, the DCEU trilogy will forever bear a red mark of shame due to the complex and controversial history that went into the making of the decade-long franchise.
Gal Gadot, whether willingly or unintentionally, will forever remain a part of the history that Zack Snyder helped build from the darkest crevices of his imagination.
Justice League (2017) and its subsequent Director’s Cut of 2021 are both available to stream on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
