A person claiming to be an ex-employee of Warner Bros has lit a fire under the studio with a scathing open letter, in which she takes CEO Kevin Tsujihara and Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder to task for “fucking up” major movies and putting livelihoods at risk.
The former staffer published the letter under the pseudonym Gracie Law, which is the name of the Kim Cattrall character in the 1986 action-comedy Big Trouble In Little China. She really didn’t hold back, saying at one point:
“If I worked at a donut stand, and I kept fucking up donuts, I’d be fired. Even if I made a tiny decent one every now and then, it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna get fired.”
The letter opens with Law explaining that she left a recent screening of Suicide Squad and pondering how Warners could “mess up” a movie with such a great cast and premise, and laying the blame on Tsujihara.
Tsujihara was behind a recent round of job losses at the company, and Law accuses him of bad leadership, claiming that he’s “crashing the ship into as much shit as you can find in the ocean by making inane decisions over and over again.”
She also rages against Zack Snyder, a producer on every one of the studio’s DC movies, saying that he is “not delivering” and is being “rewarded with more [opportunities] to get people laid off.”
As for the rivalry between Marvel and Disney‘s established cinematic universe, and the darker, edgier one that Warners and DC are trying to set up with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, Law reckons Marvel is winning, saying:
“Your uneven Hall H presentation at Comic Con this year was a ridiculous mess that ranged from rushed to boring. When Marvel announced their full slate of films with a fun fan event several years ago, you announced yours on a shareholder conference call.”
She goes on to list other recent flops like Jupiter Ascending and Pan as other examples of Tsujihara’s bad decision making:
“You just don’t get it. And it’s not just DC movies, it’s your whole slate. Jupiter Ascending. Get Hard. Hot Pursuit. Max. Vacation. Pan. Point Break. Fucking PAN, you jerk. People lost their jobs and you decided Pan was a good idea. You think another Jungle Book is a good idea.”
Batman v Superman had a massive opening weekend, but was considered by some box office analysts to be a disappointment, because it dropped off drastically thanks to bad word-of-mouth.
As Suicide Squad heads into its second weekend, box office nerds are poised to see whether it suffers from a similar fate following its record-breaking debut.
Worryingly, the writer of the open letter suggests that the upcoming Wonder Woman, whose trailer debuted to great fanfare at Comic Con, could be another dud waiting to happen:
“Don’t try to hide behind the great trailer. People inside are already confirming it’s another mess. It is almost impressive how you keep rewarding the same producers and executives for making the same mistakes, over and over.”
She concluded with a challenge to Tsujihara, saying:
“I love [Warner Bros], and you’re allowing it to sink. It’s not about making movies for ‘the fans’ and not ‘the critics.’ It’s not even about ‘ruining childhoods.’ It’s about protecting livelihoods.
It’s time to wake up and make the fucking donuts, Kevin.”
The identity of the former employee, and the role they had in the company, has not yet been revealed, but you can read the whole, scathing letter over on Pajiba.
Bring popcorn.
