Wonder Woman is one of the most formidable female protagonists in DC history. The iconic role of Diana, Princess of the Amazons is played by Gal Gadot in the DC Universe. Directed by Patty Jenkins, the Wonder Woman film garnered major success which was followed by a sequel that was released in 2020. Though fans were happy with the first film’s outcome, Jenkins spilled the beans on something unexpected related to the project.
The filmmaker revealed that Warner Bros only wanted her to promote the film as female-centric without letting her give any input on the ideas she envisioned initially.
Patty Jenkins Spilled Beans on Her Initial Involvement in Wonder Woman
The 51-year-old director, Patty Jenkins in her appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast via The Playlist opened up about working on 2017’s Wonder Woman. She described that there had been some “internal war” regarding that Gal Gadot-led project. She further talked about how Warner Bros were not taking consideration of her vision on the project and rather wanted her to follow what they had planned for the film.
“They wanted to hire me like a beard; they wanted me to walk around on set as a woman, but it was their story and their vision.”
She continued,
“And my ideas? They didn’t even want to read my script. There was such mistrust of a different way of doing things and a different point of view.”
She continued to share about her time when she joined the franchise to helm the project but they were not completely ready to accept her.
Overlooking Patty Jenkins’ Opinions!
She continued to share that it happened when she first joined the 2017 project. They were ready to welcome her but not her opinions at first. She knew what she envisioned for the film but it clashed with what the studio wanted at the time.
“So that was definitely happening, even when I first joined ‘Wonder Woman’ it was like, ‘uhh, yeah, ok, but let’s do it this other way.’ But I was like, ‘Women don’t want to see that. Her being harsh and tough and cutting people’s heads off, that’s not what— I’m a ‘Wonder Woman’ fan, that’s not what we’re looking for. Still, I could feel that shaky nervousness [on their part] of my point of view.”
She opened up about how the franchise was “nervous” at the time since they were trying to figure out what to do with DC. After a lot of creative conflicts which even led her to exit the project, it eventually worked out in the end. She got to work on what she wanted for the project and the first film became a critical success that grossed $822 million worldwide.
Jenkins also directed its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 which got mixed reviews grossing $169.6 million worldwide. While the third installment was given the green light at first, it was ultimately canceled as it “did not fit in” with the new plans DC Studios Co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran had for DCEU.
Wonder Woman is available on HBO Max.
Source: “WTF” podcast via The Playlist
