Indeed. Although truth be told, Whedon is more a writer than a director. And Snyder is a deft visual stylist but definitely not a writer. I loved Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse; haven't watched Nevers yet. But I'm depressed about the kind of person Whedon has revealed to have been. Sadly it's unlikely he'll work again at least in the near future. Nevers should have been the next megaproject of his own, but he had to leave that after directing the first couple of episodes.
Oh I can talk about this all day. Snyder is a deft visual stylist, but it happens to be something I find aesthetically ugly. Like I'd never deny Snyder is an artist. He has a singular, how you say, Snyder-esque vision, from his visuals to his themes and etc. I just totally dislike them! And I think he's very bad at piecing a story together (Batman V Superman and Man of Steel.)
The Whedon stuff bums me out for sure. I've been a huge fan for years. I have a four-tier shelf of Buffy/Angel action figures in my living room. I had a party and bought a cake when me and my friends got to the final episode of Buffy. But yeah, he's apparently a huge asshole. It's very hard to say if his behavior crosses into illegal territory, or harassment or what. There's enough stories from enough people to believe them all, and there's even some anonymous industry people on twitter who have confirmed he is horrible to people.
I couldn't stop thinking about it for a while...It is just bizarre to me somebody will destroy their own career like that. I don't understand, how hard is it to just not treat people like garbage? I've directed too and I've been tense and stressed out on sets. I get that. But apparently being so cruel and cutting (and apparently in a particular funny/mean Whedonesque way, can't you just picture it?)
What baffles me is the Justice League accusations. None of the Cyborg actor's stories were...anything really. And he won't go into any further detail. But nothing he said seemed that bad...he made fun of "booya" by quoting Shakespeare? I can see myself doing something like that. Who cares? And accusations of racism seem bizarre...clearly Whedon has a problem with people, as everybody from men, women, all races, have confirmed he has been hostile and manipulative to them. I'm sure there's some horror stories out there.
Finally, yes, Nevers is a tragedy. I'm not even watching it. I had been waiting for years or Whedon to lead a tv series again, because as we know, he can do amazing things. And I found it laughable how people kept tweeting "Whedon's writers and crew are great! Not Whedon! You don't need Whedon to make something good!" Well...sorry, you do. Every writer has said "all the best lines/ideas are Joss." He did a pass on every script. The episodes he wrote and/or directed are all leagues better than the others usually. Go watch Agents of SHIELD if you want a lot of the same writers/producers/crew. It's fine (sometimes VERY good), but it's mediocre. It's missing that spark. That chaotic painful element that Whedon put in all of his work.
The problem with outing abusers and then saying they are monsters and "they were never good anyway" is that is the perfect recipe to not catch them or believe people about them in the future. Whedon was apparently abusive, he's also funny, talented, and people liked him a lot both personally and artistically. Reckon with that.
I don't have high hopes for Nevers, and knowing all of the stuff about Whedon, the aggressive feminism (something I automatically find suspect anyway) of the concept feels more hollow than ever to me. Not even interested.