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Exiting Huge Movie

SOLVED!

[Blind Gossip] This famous multi-hyphenate director says that he has chosen to exit from a huge movie project because he just couldn’t figure out how to make the story work.

That’s not the whole story.

It took months for them to convince him to step down. They wanted him out because they knew trouble was coming in the form of multiple complaints from women on previous films.

This is a female protagonist film, so they didn’t want the controversy. Problem is that he had a contract, so they had to be careful about their approach. It had to look like he “volunteered” to leave. I don’t know what they had to give him to make him go away, but it had to be substantial.

We do not know who is up at bat to replace him, but certainly hope it will be someone who is more respectful of women.

Similar: Let Me Give You A Fat Nickname

Director:

Movie:

[Optional] Who should the company hire to replace him?

SOLVED!

Director: Joss Whedon

Movie: Batgirl

Back in 2018, your friends at Blind Gossip told you that a famous director was pushed out of a big project because of his poor treatment of women.

That movie was Batgirl.

Whedon’s exit was so disruptive that Batgirl is still in development three years later.

While DC Entertainment and Warner Bros intend to eventually make Batgirl, there is neither a star nor a director attached right now.

Why was Joss Whedon asked to step away from Batgirl?

Well, Joss Whedon has always been a jerk. Some of of his behavior was detailed in another blind item (see Joss Whedon Is A Lying Hypocrite for details).

For the answer as to why he was forced out of Batgirl in 2018, it’s helpful to understand what happened with Joss Whedon on Justice League in 2016-2017.

Joss Whedon replaced Zach Snyder as the director of Justice League midway through production in 2016.

In 2020, an actor from that film – Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg – publicly accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set in 2016.

Ray Fisher claims that he reported Whedon’s behavior to his superiors at the time but that they kept Whedon on the film.

That accusation gained a lot of traction on social media.

Now, an actress from a famous TV series created by and directed by Joss Whedon is speaking out in support of Ray Fisher.

Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for more than fifty episodes in the 1990s. Buffy starred Sarah Michelle Geller. In this cast photo, Carpenter is on the right.

After starring on Buffy, Whedon offered Carpenter a role on a spinoff called Angel, starring David Boreanz. In this cast photo, Carpenter is again on the right.

Charisma Carpenter is now describing the horrible experience she had working with Joss Whedon on those two series in a series of tweets.

Carpenter accuses Whedon of making “passive-aggressive threats to fire her,” calling her “fat” when she was four months pregnant, and alleges that Whedon fired her for having a child after trying to manipulate her into have an ab*rtion.

Wow.

Carpenter says that she participated in Warner Media’s Justice League investigation because she believed in the integrity of Ray Fisher.

Here is the original tweet from Charisma Carpenter:

 

It’s a little hard to read in that format, so here is Variety’s article about it:

From Variety:

Charisma Carpenter Alleges Joss Whedon ‘Abused His Power’ on ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’: ‘Joss Was the Vampire’

Charisma Carpenter alleges Joss Whedon “abused his power on numerous occasions” while she performed on Whedon’s series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.” In a lengthy statement the 50-year-old actor posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Carpenter alleges that Whedon’s “casually cruel” behavior included threatening to fire her, calling her “fat” when she was four months pregnant, asking her if she was going to “keep” her baby, and firing her after she gave birth.

A representative for Whedon declined to comment.

Of course they did.

The bulk of Carpenter’s statement focuses on Whedon’s reaction upon learning that she was pregnant while shooting the WB series “Angel,” which premiered in 1999 as a spin-off to “Buffy.” She alleges that after “refusing” calls from her agents to communicate she was pregnant, when Whedon did learn of her status, he took a “closed-door meeting” with her.

When your superior has a problem with you, never do a closed-door meeting alone.

“[H]e asked me if I was ‘going to keep it,’ and manipulatively weaponized my womanhood and faith against me. He proceeded to attack my character, mock my religious beliefs, accuse me of sabotaging the show, and then unceremoniously fired me following the season once I gave birth.”

Carpenter says she was then given a 1 a.m. call for work after her doctor had recommended shortening her hours after she began experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions due to the “long and physically demanding days.” She says she believes the 1 a.m. call “was retaliatory.” (Carpenter’s pregnancy was worked into the plot line of the show.)

Braxton Hicks contractions are “false labor” pains.

In the wake of her experience of leaving “Angel,” Carpenter says that she felt “powerless and alone,” especially as the “primary breadwinner” for her family. “Unfortunately, all this was happening during one of the most wonderful time[s] in new motherhood,” she writes. “All that promise and joy sucked right out. And Joss was the vampire.”

Here is Charisma Carpenter with Bruce Jenner and her baby.

Just kidding. That’s her now ex-husband, Damian Hardy. He manages a hair salon.

In her statement, Carpenter says she chose to come forward in light of Ray Fisher’s allegations that Whedon abused his power on the set of “Justice League,” which was the subject of a lengthy investigation by WarnerMedia last year. Carpenter says that she participated in that investigation, and decided to come forward after Fisher went public that he was no longer going to appear as his “Justice League” character of Cyborg in the upcoming movie “The Flash.”

We’re not sure how or why that decision was made, as Joss Whedon will not be the director of The Flash, which will star actor Ezra Miller.

“Although I am not shocked, I am deeply pained by it,” Carpenter writes. “It troubles and saddens me that in 2021 professionals STILL have to choose between whistleblowing in the workplace and job security.”

Did you catch the one big clue we gave you in the original blind item?

We do not know who is up at BAT to replace him.

That clue alone made it so easy that even this guy could solve it.

Nico68 was first with the correct response!

Related: Joss Whedon Is A Lying Hypocrite

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Sharper_Teeth says

    Director: Joss Whedon
    Movie: Batgirl

    he’s letting a lot of ladies down, I know a lot of them thought he was above all of this.

  5. Johnny Brasco says

    Joss Whedon, who’s no longer writing or directing (multi-hyphenate) the Batgirl movie (female protagonist, also “up at bat”) saying that he has no story.

    Such a shame if he’s been disrespectful to women given the care with which he’s written female characters like Buffy in the past. Thought he was one of the good guys.

  6. xxNYGirl says

    Director: Joss Whedon

    Movie: Batgirl

    [Optional] Who should the company hire to replace him?: A female director for sure, maybe Patty Jenkins since she already directed Wonder Woman

  7. bluekisses07 says

    Director: zack synder?

    Movie; Justice League part 2

    Optional: dont know anyone is better than the * we got with justice league, horrid CGI, very werid editing scences where lois and superman’s mom looked like they werent in same room when talking to each other…you could tell they were speaking to a stand in for each others character…very werid.

  10. wombat says

    Director: Joss Whedon
    Movie: Batgirl
    Optional: Maybe try a female director, it worked well for Wonder Woman

  21. SilverLining says

    Director: Joss Whedon

    Movie: Batgirl

    Replacement Director that I would want for this type of movie: Patty Jenkins

  22. OhWaiterAndHesGone says

    Director: Joss Whedon
    Movie: Batgirl
    [Optional] Who should the company hire to replace him? Patty Jenkins

  27. luvprue1 says

    This one is easy
    Director: Joss Whedon
    Movie: The Batgirl Movie

    I guess he has more skeletons in his closest than I imagine.

    Optional: The company should hire a female director. There are plenty of them that are never given the opportunity to work on a major film.

  29. Miss Tink says

    Joss Whedon
    Batgirl

    Don’t care. I wasn’t excited about a Batgirl movie – even though I love Whedon projects in general.

  31. KatarinaJ says

    Joss Whedon left Batgirl with up to bat as the clue. He should have scandals come out. He was lucky his wife saw his life as ‘infidelities’ and he described it as falling into the entrapping of fame by cheating. I’d bet my left arm he used casting couch methods to cherry pick actresses he made famous.

  34. nooneuno says

    This is Joss Whedon, I love his work but I always knew he was a hypocrite. I figured something would come out about him sooner or later.

    Why not Greta Gerwig? After the success of Wonder Woman, a female director would be a great fit.

  40. gunther85 says

    Joss Whedon
    Batgirl
    It would be too tongue in cheek to hire the director from WW but maybe the director of the first 50 shades? she’d prob do the story justice.

  41. MikeInSanJose says

    THANK GAWD!!!

    They fired Tarantino from Star Trek!!! He would have tainted the entire franchise for years and un-done everything the Roddenberry had sought to build with the Star Trek universe and franchise!!

  45. Kika80 says

    Joss Whedon for the Batgirl movie. Ugh I’m soooo disappointed. 🙁 I’ve loved him since the Buffy tVS movie!

    Clue: who is up at BAT to replace him.

  53. kaikara says

    Director: Joss Whedon

    Movie: Batgirl

    [Optional] Who should the company hire to replace him?:

    Either Patty Jenkins or Ava DuVernay. We need more *-kicking women and less gratuitous * in these movies. Some of these male Uber-nerds are damaged goods.

  57. aaaR3D15 says

    Director: Joss Wheadon

    Movie: Batgirl

    Good riddance! After the * he pulled in Age of Ultron and Justice League, I wouldn’t mind him staying away from superhero movies forever.

  70. jasper says

    huh. I thought that was a weak excuse Joss gave for leaving Batgirl.
    He’s still involved peripherally with the MCU, tho, isn’t he?

  75. PettyBish12 says

    Joss Whedon just stepped down from Batgirl so I’m going with him. I think they should get a female director for it anyway then maybe they’ll have a good movie for once from someone who’s not just trying to sexualize the females. I like Joss Whedon’s films, but IDK I don’t think he’s the best director by any means and if these rumors are true I’d probably hate the movie more.

  79. silkysheen says

    Joss Whedon just exited Batgirl, and good riddance too, could hyphenate mean writer/director/producer?

  81. louisianagurl says

    Director: Joss Whedon
    Movie: Batgirl

    Who should they hire to replace him? Patty Jenkins or a woman with the chops but not the opportunity. Time is up!

  86. emptychorus says

    Joss Whedon – Batgirl
    They should hire a woman, first and foremost. Maybe Millicent Shelton, who’s done wonders on TV and might like to tackle the big screen. But secondly, they need to rethink their entire film franchise because they’re doing it wrong.

  94. anyanka2 says

    Director: Joss Whedon

    Movie: Bat Girl

    Optional: Michelle McLaren

    I’m honestly surprised it took this long for him to exit. His reshoots of Justice League didn’t make that work. His ex-wife spoke out last summer, shortly before the Weinstein bombshell, so it almost slipped under the radar.

    I’m curious about which actresses who worked under him on Buffy and the MCU films could come out about his behavior towards them.

  95. tallzeez says

    Joss Whedon for the Batgirl movie.

    Honestly, after seeing Black Panther i would say Ryan Coogler. He did some great work with the female characters in that film.

  99. mycull says

    Joss Whedon

    Batgirl

    Patty Jenkins to replace him of course!

    So sad to think the creator of Buffy would turn out to be one of “those” guys

  100. Endoracat says

    Joss Whedon is out of “Batgirl.”
    If the coming allegations prove true, he is an enormous hypocrite.
    Remember his awful tweet about the teenage cancer survivors
    meeting Paul Ryan?

  102. random1234 says

    Ben Affleck
    Batman

    Up to bat makes me think of this

    Optional. DC movies are terrible. The Nolan/bale we’re the best

  107. samsayssix says

    Joss Whedon
    Batgirl
    Get Lexi Alexander to direct; Roxane Gay, Hope Larson or Gail Simone to write the script.