Warner Bros. hiring a woman to direct their live-action Wonder Woman film was a relief to many. While anyone can direct any film, the lack of female directors on big budget Hollywood films is disheartening so putting a woman in charge of this specific character was important. Turns out, actor Gal Gadot feels the same way.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Gadot discussed her collaboration with Patty Jenkins on set.
“All my life I”ve been working with male directors which I”ve really enjoyed. And I”m lucky in that I”ve worked with men who have a lot of respect for women. But working with a woman is a different experience,” she told them. “It feels like the communication is different. We talk about emotions. With Patty, it”s a thing now, we communicate with our eyes. She doesn”t need to say a thing. If I”m hurt, she feels the pain. It”s a whole different connection that I have with her. She”s also brilliant, she”s bright, she”s fierce, she”s sharp. She knows exactly what she wants Wonder Woman to be.”
Entertainment Weekly debuted some new shots from set this past week, one of which depicted the two women working together.
Gadot also told them she felt it was “important” for a woman to direct the 75-year-old DC Comics character. “It”s a story about a girl becoming a woman,” she said. “I think only a woman, who has been a girl, can be able to tell the story in the right way.”
While Jenkins may be leading the story, it was actually several men who wrote Wonder Woman's story. Warner Bros. had reportedly set five writers to compete for the job of writing Wonder Woman early on, to the dismay of many. When Michelle McLaren was still attached to direct, it was said that Jason Fuchs was writing the script with her input but the latest reports say Wonder Woman has a story and script by Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, and Zack Snyder.
And while Batman and Superman have had several chances at box office success, it took Wonder Woman far to long to get here because many didn't know how to approach her story. But Gadot finds Princess Diana “really accessible.”
It”s very easy to relate to her. She has the heart of a human so she can be emotional, she”s curious, she”s compassionate, she loves people. And then she has the powers of a goddess. She”s all for good, she fights for good, she believes in great. I want to be her. And in Wonder Woman, she has this naiveté in her. It isn”t stupid, it”s magical. I would want to be naïve like that again.
But the actor and director talked plenty about their views of the character. “When Patty and I had our creative conversations about the character, we realized that Diana can still be a normal woman, one with very high values, but still a woman,” Gadot said. “She can be sensitive. She is smart and independent and emotional. She can be confused. She can lose her confidence. She can have confidence. She is everything. She has a human heart.”
Jenkins also talked to Entertainment Weekly on her long road to Wonder Woman. “Everybody knew I wanted to make a superhero movie,” she told them. Years ago she came close. Marvel asked her to direct Thor: The Dark World but they had creative differences and went their separate ways.
“I”m still so grateful to those guys for hiring a woman to direct fu–ing Thor,” Jenkins said of Marvel. “Why would you do that? You don”t have to do that.”
But now that she's working on the other side of the superhero fence, Jenkins is excited to tell Wonder Woman's origins. “Part of the reason I”m in such a good mood is this is the movie I”ve wanted to make my entire life,” she said. “I feel so grateful that I get to be able to do this.”