Director Joss Whedon has denied allegations he threatened Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot on the set of the 2017 film Justice League, insisting: "English is not her first language".
Whedon, who has been accused of misconduct on multiple film and television sets, addressed the claims made against him in a new interview with Vulture.
Last year, Gadot told reporters Whedon had "threatened her career" and told her if she "did something" he would "make sure her career is miserable".
Whedon insisted: "I don't threaten people. Who does that?" adding: "English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech."
The director did recall a "joke" in which he told Gadot, who wanted a scene of hers cut from the film, that she would have to "tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body," according to Vulture.
"Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track," Whedon said.
In an email to Vulture, Gadot disagreed with Whedon's version of events, replying: "I understood perfectly."
Ray Fisher, another Justice League actor, also spoke out against Whedon's behaviour during production of Justice League, calling it "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable".
Whedon dismissed Fisher's claims, including an assertion that the director had lightened the actor's skin tone. Whedon said he had cut down Fisher's role of Cyborg in the film because the storyline "didn't make sense" and he felt the acting was bad.
Whedon told Vulture he didn't feel any of Fisher's allegations were "either true or merited discussing", insisting the star was simply out to damage his reputation.
"We're talking about a malevolent force. We're talking about a bad actor in both senses."
Elsewhere in the lengthy profile piece Whedon addressed accusations from several cast members on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, his '90s TV show.
Charisma Carpenter tweeted that Whedon had been "casually cruel" and had taunted her about her weight when she became pregnant, "sucking the joy" out of new motherhood for her.
Meanwhile, Michelle Trachtenberg - who was a teenager at the time of filming Buffy - wrote on Instagram that she wasn't allowed to be alone with Whedon.
Whedon responded "I was young" in reference to the claims, adding he wasn't aware of Trachtenberg's situation.
"I yelled, and sometimes you had to yell. This was a very young cast, and it was easy for everything to turn into a cocktail party," he said.
"Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming. She struggled sometimes with her lines, but nobody could hit a punch line harder than her... I did not call her fat. Of course I didn't."
Whedon discussed having had multiple affairs with actresses, colleagues and fans while working on Buffy and revealed he had sought treatment for sex and love addiction.
He claimed that his public perception as an "abusive monster" was the result of people using "every weaponisable word of the modern era" against him, declaring he thought he was "one of the nicest showrunners that's ever been".
