Director of ‘Wonder Woman’ is forging path for her peers
Years ago, Chris Pine turned “Wonder Woman” down.
Then Patty Jenkins came on board and suddenly without even much of a script, he found himself under a kind of spell listening to her vision for the film over a hamburger in Los Angeles. His no turned into a yes.
Jenkins, the 49-year-old “Wonder Woman 1984” writer-director, has in the past few years turned more than one “no” into a “yes.” Along the way, she has not only cemented herself in the top echelon of big-budget filmmaking, but also has forged new paths for her peers along the way with glass-ceiling shattering budgets, paydays and opportunities. Soon, she’ll be the first woman to direct a “Star Wars” film too.
In 2017, “Wonder Woman” became the highest-grossing film from a solo female director with over $821 million in worldwide ticket sales, proving to skeptics the worth of not just female-fronted superhero films but female-directed ones as well.
Jenkins was already brainstorming the inevitable sequel, she held out on committing to direct until she secured an equitable raise, reportedly in the $7- to $9 million range. It wasn’t an uncommon sum for a man, but it was unheard of for a woman.
“I’d never, ever in my life been somebody who talks about money or would have asked for a situation like that to happen to me.
“However, the movie was extremely successful and I was aware that I was not being paid on par with my peers. And so, you know, it became about something much bigger than me, even though, of course, I’m aware that it’s me,” Jenkins said. “I found myself saying, if not me, who is going to do this? And so it felt like both a personal thing, but also kind of a duty.”
She didn’t just help herself: She also helped clear a path for other women to get more opportunities to direct tentpole movies and has become a de facto mentor to her contemporaries.
Gina Prince-bythewood met with Jenkins a few times in the leadup to shooting her big action film “The Old Guard.”
2020 was going to be a banner year for female-directed tentpoles, including “Wonder Woman 1984,” “The Old Guard,” Cathy Yan’s “Birds of Prey,” Niki Caro’s “Mulan,” Cate Shortland’s “Black Widow” and Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals.” Only one ended with a traditional theatrical release, “Birds of Prey,” which came out before the pandemic shutdown. Others went to streaming or video on demand, or, in the case of “Wonder Woman,” a hybrid. And both “Black Widow” and “Eternals” were pushed to 2021.
Jenkins is excited that there does seem to be a sea change happening in the industry and, pandemic aside, this year proved she was not an anomaly.
“The idea that no one had done a movie of that scale before I did and then there are like five now on the heels of it is amazing,” Jenkins said. “Obviously those directors have been out there and ready and waiting.”