Director Patty Jenkins Says Wonder Woman Will Be Especially Important in This Political Climate
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins spoke to The Hollywood Reporter for their 2016 Women in Entertainment Power 100 issue, sharing what her goals for the film were and how she’s been waiting years to tell Diana’s story.
The director writes about telling Warner Bros. she wanted to make a Wonder Woman movie “more than 10 years ago,” and how as a result she feels a “huge amount of responsibility” leading the icon’s first solo feature. Jenkins points out that the film will draw largely from the William Moulton Marston books and pay tribute to what made Wonder Woman such an inspiring figure for all of us. She writes:
The goal was to tap into what always spoke to me about her — to honor who she was, her legacy, and to make her as universal as she was to all of us little girls who ran around pretending to be Lynda Carter when we were kids. Wonder Woman is the grand universal female hero who didn’t have to be lesser in any way. She wasn’t less powerful, she wasn’t less of a woman. She’s as beautiful as any woman and as strong as any man. That, to me, is so enduring. There have been so few female characters like that — who weren’t small, niche characters or sidekicks. She’s a full-blown superhero who lives up to all of your dreams in every way.
Susan Eisenberg, who plays Wonder Woman in the Justice League animated series shared a similar sentiment last month, praising her fanbase and how, “She’s a standalone character. She doesn’t depend on Superman or Batman to define her.” It’s heartening to hear that there was a strong emphasis on her legacy and how young girls will get to watch and be inspired by Wonder Woman next year.
Jenkins ends with the note that Wonder Woman’s “message of fighting for a loving, thoughtful government” feels especially timely in a time where “it’s difficult to be a hero and stay kind and thoughtful in everything that you do.” After all, it’s not for nothing that the superhero was named U.N. Honorary Ambassador a few months ago.
Gal Gadot praised Jenkin’s for knowing “exactly how she wanted to tell her story,” and I’m very excited to see the director finally get to opportunity to tell Diana’s story. You can read her full essay here, where she also talks about the pressure of being a female director and making Wonder Woman multidimensional.
(via Comic Book Resources, Image via Full Time Photographer)
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