We already knew Warner was pursuing a female director for their Wonder Woman solo outing. Then Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander ruled herself out, saying “If [a female director] does fail, then all of a sudden it’s ‘all women suck at directing.'” That is an entirely true assessment of how Hollywood overgeneralizes the failure of any female-starring or female-directed movie as an excuse to pass on other projects (while ignoring evidence that female-inclusive movies are disproportionately profitable).
Our assumption that Warner would back up the money truck to Kathryn Bigelow was apparently unfounded, however. The Wrap reports Michelle MacLaren is the frontrunner for the job. And she has quite a résumé: Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones, among other things (like, oh, just a couple of Emmys. No biggie).
The job isn’t official yet; The Wrap offers a caveat:
There are several other directors waiting in the wings — not all of whom are female — but MacLaren has earned a spot at the top of WB’s list thanks to her strong track record working in television on visually sumptuous hit shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. It’s unclear whether negotiations have formally begun, but the Wonder Woman job appears to belong to MacLaren, according to a well-placed source.
If Warner is seeking a TV director for Wonder Woman, they’d be following a technique that’s been successful for Marvel. Thor: The Dark World was handed to Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier went to Community directors Joe and Anthony Russo. So maybe we can look forward to a Breaking Bad influenced Wonder Woman tying up dudes with a whip while saying she’s the one who knots.
