These are the types of things that inspire fan fiction writers to become the best versions of themselves, if we’re being honest.
While there’s no way any of us can be sure what exactly inspired this turn, Ray Fisher has been out and about speaking his truth about having allegedly experienced an abusive environment while working for Warner Bros. Though the actor has yet to post specifics, he’s previously alleged that Joss Whedon was “gross, abusive, unprofessional” and that Geoff Johns and Jon Berg “enabled” the director. The several statements Fisher has made about the Justice League set being a difficult work environment were finally addressed by Warner Bros. in August, with the company saying it was starting an official investigation. Earlier this month, the company claimed Fisher “declined to speak to the investigator” which he later denied. So far, only Berg has made a public statement denying the allegations and all inquiries io9 made to Warner Bros. have gone unanswered.
The DCEU’s Aquaman is also now pushing back by coming out in strong support of Fisher. Last week, Jason Momoa posted a photo of his Justice League co-star on his Instagram story with the message “IStandWithRayFisher.” In a regular Instagram post yesterday, Momoa both expressed his belief in Fisher’s statements about his treatment during the filming of Justice League and made it clear that the things Fisher described are precisely the kinds of things that a multimillion-dollar studio would, you know, maybe want to avoid.
“THIS SHIT HAS TO STOP AND NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT @ray8fisher AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO EXPERIENCED WHAT HAPPEN UNDER THE WATCH OF @wbpictures NEEDS PROPER INVESTIGATION I just think it’s fucked up that people released a fake Frosty announcement without my permission to try to distract from Ray Fisher speaking up about the shitty way we were treated on Justice League reshoots,” Momoa wrote. “Serious stuff went down. It needs to be investigated and people need to be held accountable. #IStandWithRayFisher. aloha j”
Regarding Frosty, Momoa is referring to trade reports citing he was going to voice Frosty the Snowman in a live-action Warner Bros. project. Deadline wrote, “Jon Berg and Greg Silverman of Stampede produce with Geoff Johns of Madghost, Roy Lee, and Momoa. Berg and Silverman were Warner Bros. senior execs who helped architect the DC franchise launch of Aquaman with James Wan at the helm.” There were official quotes attached to the report from Berg and Silverman.
It’s clear that something went down that led to Fisher feeling as if he was being mistreated, and that’s the sort of thing that we should very explicitly be working to make sure does not continue to happen on film sets. But it’s good that he’s speaking up about how he feels regarding his involvement with Warner Bros. and DC Films because worshipping these brands to the point where criticisms leveled at them don’t land is a problem.
Stars like Fisher and Momoa who are willing to go on the record pointedly telling the companies they work for to shape up is is a fundamentally good thing because that’s the exact same kind of good energy that’s necessary to usher in longterm change. Much as certain sects of the nerd population wanna pretend that these things aren’t political or that movie stars should only use their platforms to promote their work, that’s just not true.
As much noise as people make about Hollywood becoming a place where everyone has a seat at the table, this is how it happens. Not with rule changes to award season, but with people using their outside voices to say “Hey, maybe some of this should work differently.”
For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.