Patty Jenkins Signs On To Direct ‘Wonder Woman’
Only a few days after Michelle MacLaren left Wonder Woman hanging by her lasso, due to creative differences, Patty Jenkins has signed on to take over the project. Warner Bros was quick to replace MacLaren, following the announcement that she had parted from the Wonder Woman project, eager to keep the release on target with their timetable.
Image courtesy of Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment
Also of interest is the fact that Patty Jenkin’s appointment to the Wonder Woman project comes so soon after many sources questioned Hollywood’s ability to work with female directors on big live-action superhero adaptations. Ms. MacLaren’s departure from Wonder Woman was compared to Patty Jenkin’s decision to leave Thor in 2011 by many, raising further issues of gender equality in Hollywood and especially in this genre of films.
Nonetheless, Wonder Woman will be the first DC Comics universe film to see a female director. Had she stayed with the Thor project in 2011, Patty would have been Marvel Comics first female director.
Ms. Jenkins is just as qualified for the position as Ms. MacLaren, if not more so. Not only does Patty have experience directing episodes of Arrested Development, Entourage, and The Killing, Ms. Jenkins also has the feature film experience under her belt, unlike MacLaren. Ms. Jenkins directed 2003’s Monster, which earned Charlize Theron the best actress award at that year’s Oscar Awards.
Although Wonder Woman is a highly successful staple in the DC Comics universe, she seemed destined to remain in the newstands and away from the theaters. Now, as Ms. Jenkins prepares to take over the lead behind the camera and Gal Gadot steps into the role of Wonder Woman, the recent failed attempts to bring this particular superheroine to television and to the big screen may finally be forgotten.
If Ms. Jenkins needs any help, there is one name that has yet to be thrown into the mix. Possibly the most well-known incarnation, Lynda Carter, star of the 1975 Wonder Woman series, has also expressed an interest in the new film.
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“I would love to be involved in a creative position of it,” Carter told Entertainment Weekly‘s radio program Inside TV. “I know so much about what people want from it, I think, that just being as a consultant on a movie. I think it needs a woman.”
Wonder Woman will appear in at least four films. The Wonder Woman solo film to be directed by Patty Jenkins will be the second of the four films. Ms. Gadot will first appear in the March 25 release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Following the release of the Wonder Woman solo film on June 23, 2017, Wonder Woman will again grace the screens in two Justice League films to be released on November 17, 2017 and June 14, 2019, respectively.
[Featured image: Patty Jenkins Photo courtesy of Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment]
