The one-sided Ray Fisher/Joss Whedon situation has taken a turn, and finally Fisher has said something that has forced the Justice League director to defend himself. As charges of racism enter into the already-ugly allegations of on-set abuse, Forbes saw cause to remove some of what Fisher had to say in an interview with them.
In an interview with Forbes, Fisher claimed “Joss had ordered that the complexion of an actor of color be changed in postproduction because he didn’t like the color of their skin tone.”
This is a nasty charge, by far the ugliest and most direct we’ve heard from Fisher. And that may be why Whedon responded quickly to refute it through a spokesperson…
“The individual who offered this statement acknowledged that this was just something that he had heard from someone else and accepted as truth, when in fact simple research would prove that it was false. As is standard on almost all films, there were numerous people involved with mixing the final product, including the editor, special effects person, composer, etc. with the senior colorist responsible for the final version’s tone, colors, and mood. This process was further complicated on this project by the fact that Zack shot on film, while Joss shot on digital, which required the team, led by the same senior colorist who has worked on previous films for Zack, to reconcile the two.”
And apparently, that was enough to cause Forbes to pull Fisher’s quotes out of the article, replaced by a statement that reads: “This story has been updated from its original version, including the wording of the original headline. Comments have been added from Warner Bros. and representatives for Joss Whedon.”
They did, however, keep Fisher’s other claims of racial bias in the story…
“I always suspected that race was a determining factor for the way that things went down, but it wasn’t until this past summer that I was able to prove it,” Fisher said.
“Race was just one of the issues with the reshoot process. There were massive blowups, threats, coercion, taunting, unsafe work conditions, belittling, and gaslighting like you wouldn’t believe.”
Fisher says that his cause is just, and you can tell because nobody has bothered to take out any legal action against him. Personally, I think that sounds like tempting fate, but for now he’s absolutely right.
“In a business as notoriously litigious as Hollywood, the fact that I haven’t received so much as a cease and desist letter should tell you something,” Fisher stated. “The people involved know I’m telling the truth. They’re just looking for a way to mitigate blowback for themselves.”
For now, this has had no impact on Fisher’s expanded role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Whether he still ends up in The Flash when that is finished we’ll just have to wait and see.
