Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow finally responds to Joss Whedon's 'sexist' criticism: 'I don't totally disagree'

Everyone held their breath when Avengers director Joss Whedon took a stab at the first Jurassic World preview clip earlier this year, branding it "70s era sexist".

The sequel's director Colin Trevorrow chose not to respond at the time, but has now confirmed that he did not "totally disagree" with Whedon's criticism.

Universal released a short teaser showing Chris Pratt's dinosaur trainer Owen bantering and flirting with Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire, a move which Trevorrow has revealed he was not best pleased about.

"I wasn't bothered by what [Whedon] said about the movie and to be honest, I don't totally disagree with him," he told Italian publication Bad Taste.

"I wonder why [Universal] chose a clip like that, that shows an isolated situation within a movie that has an internal logic, that starts with characters that are almost archetypes, stereotypes that are deconstructed as the story progresses."

Trevorrow went on to insist that while Claire is the "real protagonist" in the film, the story openly "embraces her femininity" in its progression.

"There's no need for a female character that does things like a male character, that's not what makes interesting female characters in my view," he said. "Bryce and I have talked a lot about these concepts and aspects of her character."

Whedon later backtracked after posting his critical remarks on Twitter, saying in an interview that attacking another director's movie was "bad form". He then quit the social media platform and deleted his account, after film fans began picking perceived feminist holes in his own movie Avengers: Age of Ultron.

"I'm too busy wishing this clip wasn't 70s-era sexist?" Whedon had written originally. "She's a stiff, he's a life-force- really? Still?"

Trevorrow has defended Whedon, who received "an incredible amount of anger and vitriolic comments and doesn't deserve that".

"If there is someone who has paid due respect to the women of his movies that guy is Joss," he said. "I think he should be the last person in Hollywood to be accused of sexism and if you've seen something like that in his last movie it's not his fault.

"We all know that Joss is too kind and polite to rise up and tell people to screw off, so I'll do it on his behalf!"

So there you go, Trevorrow and Whedon are best buddies really. You can judge for yourself how "sexist" or otherwise Jurassic World is when it reaches UK cinemas on 11 June.