The Whole Cast of 'Buffy' is Confirming That Joss Whedon is an Insufferable Prick
AFF-USA. Shutterstock Images.Joss Whedon has been one of the true kings of nerd culture for the better part of 25 years. He might be best known for directing "Marvel's the Avengers," which was a damned near heroic effort that tied together the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and "Age of Ultron," which didn't live up to the first, but that's generally blamed on a lot of studio interference. He also made the criminally underappreciated horror satire "Cabin in the Woods." But his greatest accomplishment is creating "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the movie and the series. Which to this day remains on my all time Top 10 TV show list.
So it was no surprise when he was brought in to finish DC's "Justice League" film after director Zack Snyder had to step down half way through production due to a family tragedy. What followed was not just a disjointed mess of a movie, with the tone shifting back and forth due to two different directors with entirely different visions, but a much more serious controversy. Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, characterized Whedon as an abusive asshole to the cast and crew. And accused him of digitally altering the skin color of one actor in post production, which Whedon denies. The studio is reportedly looking into it. But in the meantime the Cyborg character has been written out of "The Flash" standalone movie.
But now the seat on the Geek Throne is getting hotter for Whedon. Because the entire cast of 'Buffy' is blowing the whistle on what an unconscionably abusive dick he was to them too.
Getty Images. Getty Images.Daily Mail - Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Charisma Carpenter has hit out against the show's creator Joss Whedon, calling him 'toxic' and 'cruel', claiming he called her fat and killed her character off after she had a baby.
Carpenter, who portrayed Cordelia Chase on the show
… for three seasons and in its spin-off Angel, made the allegations in a Wednesday Twitter post. …
Carpenter claims Whedon would regularly make 'passive-aggressive' threats to fire her throughout the filming of the two shows, which she said 'wreaks havoc on a young actor’s self-esteem.'
The actress further alleged that Whedon would 'callously' mock her and call her fat to other members of the cast and crew when she was four months pregnant, despite weighing just 126 lbs, she said. …
She claimed in one instance Whedon called her in for a sit-down meeting to 'interrogate and berate' her regarding a tattoo [pf a rosary] she had gotten during filming to help her cope with 'a volatile work climate that affected me physically.'
Carpenter has previously accused Whedon of writing her character off Angel during its fourth season back in 2003 because he was 'upset' she had gotten pregnant. …
Once eventually informed, Carpenter said Whedon requested a one-on-one meeting with her, in which he allegedly asked her, '[Are you] going to keep it?'
And - Sarah Michelle Gellar and three other Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars have spoken out after their castmate Charisma Carpenter accused the show's creator Joss Whedon of bullying and abuse of power.
Gellar, who played the supernatural series' titular character Buffy Summers from 1997 to 2003, appeared to validate Carpenter's claims in a vague Instagram post on Wednesday afternoon.
'While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon, ' the 43-year-old actress wrote. …
Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy's younger sister Dawn on the show,
… reposted Gellar's statement and accused Whedon of 'very not appropriate behavior'.
'Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this,' Trachtenberg wrote in her caption. 'I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman….To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior….very. Not. Appropriate.'
In a comment she added: 'What he did was very bad. But we win. By surviving!'
Castmate Amber Benson, who played Tara Maclay, chimed in on Twitter, saying: 'Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top.
'[Carpenter] is speaking truth and I support her 100%. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later.'
Emma Caulfield, who played Anya Jenkins,
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… also shared Gellar's post on Instagram, writing: 'In the wise words of my friend @sarahmgellar.' …
Co-star James Marsters, who played fan-favorite Spike,
… detailed an allegedly aggressive interaction he had with Whedon over his character’s popularity on a recent podcast.
'I came along, and I wasn’t designed to be a romantic character. But then the audience reacted that way to it. And I remember he backed me up against a wall one day, and he was just like, "I don’t care how popular you are, kid, you’re dead. You hear me? Dead. Dead!" And I was just like, "Uh, you know, it’s your football, man. OK",' he recounted.
Damn. I get that Hollywood is a magnet for unstable, insecure narcissists. And I'm sure the pressures are enormous when you're a showrunner/director of a multi-million dollar operation with hundreds of careers hanging in the balance of how good a job you do. But assuming what is alleged here - and it needs to be said these are just allegations - if doing your job involves harassing a pregnant 25-year-old to the point you're making her sick and tearing into her for getting a religious tattoo and the very people you made famous are backing up her claims and taking snipes at you, you've crossed virtually every line there is to cross.
I'm a big believer that creative genius deserves some leeway. When you make great things, you earn the right to some dickish behavior. In direct proportion to what you've created. Mozart ran around Vienna making fart jokes. Van Gogh had crippling depression and probably wasn't the most pleasant guy to be around. Hemingway waxed poetically about guys in tight pants who stabbed majestic farm animals to death for sport. Stanley Kubrick was a notorious perfectionist who pushed Shelly Duvall to the brink of insanity making "The Shining." But they're all among the very best that ever did what they did. I loved "Buffy." Just not enough that I'd accept the - alleged - verbal abuse of an expectant mother about her pregnancy and her faith as an ancillary cost of doing business. I'd rather just live without the show.
It's a weird thing about entertainment. We tend to personalize the things we enjoy. So it diminishes the enjoyment of it when you find out the creative process was miserable for all involved. To some extent, it destroys the magic of it somehow. Like realizing that circus animals live a terrible existence or that orcas would rather be swimming around eating sea lions than jumping through hoops for our pleasure. In the same way "The Office" seems even funnier when you hear the cast talk about how much fun they had on set and watching them laugh in the outtakes. Once in a while I'll revisit an old "Buffy" episode, and it's not going to be the same show if this turns out to be an accurate description of what it took to make it.
So far Whedon hasn't responded. It'll be interesting to see whether he denies it like he has with "Justice League" or owns it. Stay tuned.
P.S. 'Buffy" had one of the best opening credits in TV history. Hands down.