A NEW GENERATION
’ make that much sense to me,” Jenkins said in a recent interview. “They felt like an imposition on landscape, which didn’t feel like something that women are jonesing to do.”
As the director of Wonder Woman, Jenkins is creating new worlds for women both onhelp
. dream up the look of the Amazon island and hire scores of actresses to serve as its resident warriors, she’s the first woman to direct a major superhero movie, and her success could pave the way for others.
As a child, she was inspired by Wonder Woman, describing
r’s ortrayal of her in the 1970s as “the embodiment of everything that I wanted to be as a woman”.
“When I was playing Wonder Woman, I was able to do incredible things and save the world,” Jenkins said.
That’s the feeling she hopes to evoke with Wonder Woman.
Gal Gadot, 32, plays the title character, who discovers her superpowers and fights for justice alongside humans after following a charming spy (Chris Pine) to London during World War 1.
Israeli-born Gadot didn’t grow up with Wonder Woman, but she was always on the lookout for powerful characters to play. “Usually, the women are the damsel in distress or the heartbroken woman or the sidekick, but in real life, it’s not the case.
“In real life, we bring life. We have babies. We have careers. We are so many other things,” she said.
Wonder Woman was created in 1941, yet this is her first solo feature film. Jenkins wanted to bring her to the big screen for more than a decade, but studios doubted the appeal of the lasso-wielding superheroine.
Connie Nielsen, who plays Diana’s mother, Amazon queen Hippolyta, also didn’t grow up with Wonder Woman, but had other models of powerful women as a child in Denmark.
“The Denmark I grew up in was a Denmark in which women were fully liberated and the whole world had been opened up to us,” she said.
For Robin Wright, who was raised on the Wonder Woman, television series, training and shooting with the Amazons was the best part.
“I think it was a little daunting for the men because it was very unusual. I think there were like 120 Amazons,” said Wright, who plays warrior Antiope, Diana’s aunt and teacher. “That’s a different energy on the set, and great for us. We just felt like a team of women that had each other’s backs.” AP