It’s no secret that director Patty Jenkins had to fight tooth and nail to realize her vision for the first DCEU Wonder Woman movie. Oone of the more compelling ideas to come true Wonder Woman 1984‘s treatise is that, even though Jenkins’ first foray into Themysciran was heroic a resounding success, it was never quite relaxed enough to walk away and let her do her thing properly.
Since Wonder Woman is such an integral part of DC Comics’ brand identity, it’s easy to see why the studio may have been as precious as the IP address when Jenkins was first introduced in the tumultuous production of the film. when she was. first offered to get a Wonder Woman film in 2007. Jenkins initially turned down Warner – and thereafter signed up, left over creative differences in 2011-only to return to lead the project years later after she left what became Thor: The Dark World. But during a recent conversation about Marc Maron WTF podcast (through Indiewire), Jenkins went into detail about how intensely she felt offside after being overheard Wonder Woman– so much so that it seemed to Jenkins that the studio only wanted her for the optics.
“They wanted to hire me like a beard,” Jenkins said. “They wanted me to walk around the set as a woman, but it was their story and their vision. And my ideas? They didn’t even want to read my script. “
According to Jenkins, a fundamental difference in perspectives was the root of the problem that manifested itself when Warner Bros had no faith in Jenkins’ own stance as a Wonder Woman fan. Where Jenkins wanted her film to be the ideals and values who embodies Wonder Woman, she felt the studio was more interested in dissecting the success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies in an attempt to recreate it with the Themysciran princess.
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‘Even when I first joined Wonder Woman it was like, ‘Uhh, yeah, okay, but let’s do it a different way,’ Jenkins explained. ‘But I was like,’ Women don’t want to see that. Being hair hard and tough and cutting people’s heads off … I am one Wonder Woman fan, we are not looking for that. Still, I could feel that shaky nervousness [on their part] from my opinion. “
Of course there are always multiple sides to each story, and with as many different scripts and creative teams attached to what would become Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, there are certainly other memories like to what happened. Considering how drastically different in terms of overall density Wonder Woman 1984 compared to its predecessor, it’s interesting to consider what kind of conversations were held behind closed doors in the months leading up to its release –and what kind of conversations Jenkins and Warner Bros. could have in the near future.
Wonder Woman 1984 is currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
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