Wonder Woman is so close we can almost feel the crackle of power emanating from Diana’s Lasso of Truth.
At the time of writing, we’re little under two months away from welcoming Patty Jenkins’ origin story into theaters, which means that the Warner Bros. marketing machine is beginning to fire on all cylinders. But rather than a scintillating new TV spot, today brings forth a new interview with Jenkins herself, who shed new light on the inclusion of Ares, Wonder Woman’s sense of humor, and the inherent challenge of wrangling a female-driven superhero film.
Per Empire, the writer-director begins by addressing Ares, the all-powerful menace that’s widely considered to be one of, if not the most prominent villain in the Wonder Woman lore.
He’s the biggest villain of Wonder Woman’s World. I think if you’re going to start off big, and start off right, you go with the greatest villain. I also think it was a great delight to place him in the world in a way where he believes in exactly what a real, true Ares does, and what kind of havoc would an Ares wreak on this planet and how?
That’s the question facing Gal Gadot’s Amazonian, who leaves Themyscira on a mission to stop humanity from tearing itself apart during the throes of World War I. But make no mistake, this is a Wonder Woman origin story through and through, and viewers can expect a feature film that is much more vibrant than its DC counterparts (see: Suicide Squad and Batman V Superman).
It’s an origin story, and it’s a classic film. For both of those things, it’s essentially not modern in the color palates of our times. I was going for brand classic cinema. Also, Wonder Woman is a very colorful character to me. The red and the blue, and just the beauty, and the beauty of the world that she comes from… everything about that asks to make a colorful film.
At times the wait has been excruciating, but Wonder Woman will finally make that defining jump onto the silver screen in June – and not a moment too soon. Here’s what Jenkins had to say about the importance of a female-led superhero movie in today’s era.
I think it’s pretty significant, but I also didn’t think about it that way at all. I tried not to think about it, and that’s the great thing about being a woman director doing it, is I was like, ‘Oh, I’m just making a superhero movie.’ I’m not looking at her as being any different than any other superhero. And that’s the victory. I think the reason that there wasn’t a woman superhero made for a long time is because people were assuming that it had to be a different kind of thing. Or more rarefied, or something. This is Wonder Woman. There’s nothing different. There’s Batman, there’s Superman, there’s Wonder Woman. She’s the full-blown real deal. So it’s very significant, but I also just went forth trying to make a great superhero film the same way I would have with any of them, which was great.
Wonder Woman kicks off DC’s 2017 slate on June 2nd, and will be followed by Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie in November. By that time, Gal Gadot’s Immortal Warrior will be rubbing shoulders with Batman, Cyborg, Aquaman, the Flash and Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel to ward off the impending Steppenwolf.
