NS: Joss Whedon Leaves Batgirl Movie

[angelophile]

Hollywood Reporter breaks the story that Joss Whedon has left the proposed Batgirl movie, stating:

"Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn't have a story."

Well then...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/joss-whedon-exits-batgirl-movie-1087384

Comments

[owlbrigade1]

I suspect it is less he has no story and more that he has realised that when dealing with a short woman who leaps around rooftops while kicking people in the face and quipping, he has only one story, and he's been telling that one for twenty years now and people are increasingly criticising it.

[alicemacher]

I'm sure Whedon will give WB a pro-rated refund of his salary, given he's apparently wasted months of their time.[/sarcasm]

Seriously though, who the hell takes on a major film project without having even the slightest idea of a story? It's not as though there aren't plenty of ideas he could've gleaned from the comics.

[laughing_tree]

Just because he realized he doesn’t have a story doesn’t mean he didn’t think he had one originally. Presumably, there were false starts. Lots of writers have talked about abandoning projects because they couldn’t get it to work in the execution.

[alicemacher]

Yes, but it's happened twice now, as bradygirl_12 says below.

Whedon has produced some truly classic, essential-viewing franchises, and I thank him for that. But between his creative water-treading and his exposure as anything but a feminist ally (with his biggest fansite shutting itself down in response), his entertainment career is effectively over. He may just not know it yet.

[laughing_tree]

In Wonder Woman’s, he and the studio couldn’t see eye to eye, and I kind of suspect that’s what’s going on underneath the sound byte with Batgirl. I think Whedon just isn’t the sort who’s good with creative compromise and restriction. Certainly, his weaker works tend to be the stuff where he has to paint between the lines (X-Men, the MCU).

[cyberghostface]

Snyder seemed to get most of the blame for JL (which I think is unfair given the situation but that’s how it goes) and unless it was revealed that he was harassing women on his shows as opposed to having consensual affairs I don’t see it affecting his career too much.

[bruinsfan]

I suspect Whedon has a considerably greater share of responsibility for how Justice League turned out than the company line credited him with, but the early hints of what Snyder was doing with the film sounded like more of his patented bleak violence porn to me—it probably would have been much worse than what we saw in theaters. If the rumors about the WB secretly pink-slipping him months before his daughter's death are true, he may have a hard time getting major studio backing from this point onward.

[bradygirl_12]

Whedon left the Wonder Woman project years ago.

Now it's Batgirl.

Pattern?

[bruinsfan]

Possibly divine intervention.

[zachbeacon]

Since when has not having a story stopped a DC film project?

[spider_man6]

Well, I did hear that Roxanne Gay has put her hat in the ring to potentially write this movie. Sounds interesting.

[jeyl]

I wouldn't have seen a Batgirl movie directed by Joss Whedon anyways. Not after what he did. You ask me, I think that had more to do with his departure than anything. How can someone who's feminist views turned out to be an outright deception actually promote, let alone make a movie about Batgirl? He is a taint now.

[starwolf_oakley]

He is a taint now? Phrasing!

Joss Whedon was a bastard to Kai Cole. I'm just not sure that makes his
feminist views a trick he was pulling on his fans.

On the other hand, that's also like saying "Harvey Weinstein can't be that bad. He produced 'Carol.'" Which I think some people have said!

[jeyl]

Wait, are you interpreting what I posted to be some kind defense towards Joss Whedon? No. Just no.

And yeah. It was trick. Especially to me. As a feminist who admired his works and how he openly expressed his views towards women, Kai's post felt like he just stabbed me in the back. Oh, sure. You can hit me with 'nobody's perfect' and 'he probably still likes powerful women', but no. You don't get to say you're a feminist who respects women when you only do it when it's for your own gain. To quote Marykate Jasper,

"monogamy, especially given its patriarchal history, is not a pre-condition for a feminist life. (Honesty with your partner(s) is, though!)"

Cripes. I still remember a speech he gave at the 'Equality Now' gathering after he was introduced by none other than Meryl Streep. It consisted of multiple answers to one question he's frequently asked.

"Why do you always write these strong women characters?"

Now we have a new answer.

[starwolf_oakley]

I don't think you were defending Joss Whedon. I'm not either. I just wasn't sure his feminist views were a deception. But they were. Which is a shame.

[deh_tommy]

What makes them a deception, though?

[jeyl]

Read Kai's post.

https://www.thewrap.com/joss-whedon-feminist-hypocrite-infidelity-affairs-ex-wife-kai-cole-says/

[coldfury]

There's a lot of ways to take this. Maybe Whedon didn't have a good story. Maybe this is DC giving Whedon a 'polite' out after being dismissed, like Snyder. Maybe this is DC backing out of Batgirl entirely, with Whedon politely providing them cover.

I hope we get a Batgirl movie, and I hope it's good. I don't think Whedon was capable of telling that story in a compelling way.

[filthysize]

Take this as you will, but reminder that WB had zero plans on making a Batgirl movie. They greenlit it solely because Whedon said he wanted to do one and they just threw money at him.

“We weren’t even talking about Batgirl – it came up as part of another conversation and then we all got so excited that the movie suddenly appeared. So that’s a really good sign to me. It wasn’t a slot they were trying to fill. We all just started talking about her and then I couldn’t stop. So, that’s a good feeling.”

My guess is if Joss isn't doing it, they're not gonna do it.

[angelophile]

Well, that's his take on it anyway. I'm not saying it was the case, but "They only decided to do the movie because ME!" is something that an egomaniac would say.

[cyberghostface]

I don't think he's coming off as an egomaniac, it's less "This is only being made me because of me" and more DC liked the idea.

[angelophile]

I suspect the truth is mostly along the lines of Warner being keen to do another female led superhero movie and having Whedon already in the gold he was in a meeting where they were throwing around possible characters and Batgirl was one he suggested, rather than him coming up with the idea in a vacuum. The character would most likely have been slated as a possibility sooner or later without him. Bats are big business.

[joetuss]

Did anyone really believe this was going to work? How can you make a film about Batgirl, when the two pillars of DC (Batman and Superman) are so fucked

[mastermahan]

We had a good film about Wonder Woman, so yes, I do think someone could make a good Batgirl movie. I just don't think that someone is Whedon.

[joetuss]

WW and Batgirl are not comparable...WW has quite a bit more juice than her.

[mastermahan]

I've always held that there's no such as a bad character, only a badly written character. Look at Man-Ape, AKA M'Baku. He's a black African with the gimmick of being ape-like - pretty sketchy in the '60s, and even more so now. He got his generic strong guy powers from eating a gorilla, and has mainly just been a generic thug for decades.

In "Black Panther", though, M'Baku is one of the best characters in the film, and people were thrilled to find out he'll be in Infinity War.

So yes, you can absolutely make a movie about a spunky brilliant young woman who becomes an urban vigilante.

[joetuss]

Well, M'Baku was a side character who's presence was a cherry on top of the sundae that was Black Panther. The movie would have been just fine without him...ntm Marvel/Disney usually hit the bullseye with their character portrayals...WB/DC on the other hand...not as successful... and can Batgirl carry a movie? I don't know. Seems to me that DC should put all their focus into making a good Superman movie, and figuring out who their going to have play Batman before launching movies about sidekicks, and what not.

[starwolf_oakley]

Joss Whedon's take on Batman for Warner Bros. (before Batman Begins)
https://www.gq.com/story/joss-whedon-interview-avengers-buffy-firefly-dr-horrible-sing-along-blog?currentPage=4

A 2012 GQ article described the script, with quotes from Whedon:

There was a lot more in Whedon's take, about the orphaned Bruce Wayne as a morbid, death-obsessed kid. There was a scene—Whedon used to well up, just thinking about it—where young Bruce tries to protect this girl from being bullied in an alley, an alley like the one his parents were murdered in.

"And he's like this tiny 12-year old who's about to get the s— kicked out him. And then it cuts to Wayne Manor, and Alfred is running like something terrible has happened, and he finds Bruce, and he's back from the fight, and he's completely fine. And Bruce is like, "I stopped them. I can stop them.' That was the moment for me. When he goes 'Oh, wait a minute; I can actually do something about this.' The moment he gets that purpose, instead of just sort of being overwhelmed by the grief of his parents' death."

Now, if someone starts here, and also uses the line from Batman Forever. "So you run out into the night to find another face, and another, and another, until one terrible morning you wake up and realize that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why.".

[deepspaceartist]

Not gonna lie, I kind of like the sound of that. Young Bruce being adrift and lost for a while before finding a purpose in stopping his tragedy from happening to others seems like a good character moment.

[shadwing]

Honestly? I think he wanted to do the film, and had good ideas for it.

However...WB has a HORRIBLE habit of messing around with these films, Suicide Squad was the prelude to the utter mess Justice League became. Joss came into JL with a list of demands from the PTB of WB he could not direct that film, he was just the unlucky sap with the marching orders. If Snyder had stayed (and there are rumors that he was asked to leave BEFORE his daughters suicide) he'd have gotten the same marching orders, the same drop date and the same shortened running time.

Wonder Woman only come out as well as it did because the brass at WB had utterly no confidence in it. They pretty much Ignored it, did no marketing for it, and didn't bother to sign anybody up for stand alone sequels till it became a smashing success...

Rumors are already flying that Ben is running for the hills, and my theory is that Joss, seeing what they did to Ayer (Suicide Squad) what they were doing to Snyder (JL) and the chaos he went through...and decided he wasn't going to go through that hell AGAIN and decided to run screaming for the hills and give WB a graceful exit.