Kristen wiig
Is one cool cat…
Meet Wonder Woman’s new nemesis.
Ilove doing drama; I love doing comedy,” mused Kristen Wiig at the tail-end of 2017. “I like to be challenged, and I don’t want to repeat myself.” Flash forward to spring 2018, and the one-time SNL player has certainly found something new to sink her claws into, after signing on to a prime villainous role in 2019’s Wonder Woman 2.
It’s a typically agile move from an actress who, over the years, has dodged categorisation more effectively than a coyote-bothering road runner. After hitting a comedy payload with 2011’s Bridesmaids, the 44-year-old New Yorker has proved there’s plenty more to her than a nose for the funny bone, having led poignant sibling comedy The Skeleton Twins, tackled action (and gloop) with Ghostbusters, and become an indie queen with the likes of Nasty Baby, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl, and mother!.
Wonder Woman 2 will see her changing her spots once more, though, as she takes on the role of Cheetah, a super-fast beast who first appeared in Wonder Woman #6 in October 1943. While it remains unclear which of the three canon versions of the character Wiig will play, we do know the sequel will be set in the 1980s, against the backdrop of the Cold War, with Gal Gadot returning as Princess Diana. And as exciting as the news of Wiig’s casting was, nobody seemed more excited than her director. “Yes! It’s true!” Patty Jenkins tweeted. “Can’t wait to finally work with one of my favourites. And SO excited by what we have planned.”
That’s not all Wiig has going on. Along with Reese Witherspoon, she’s also starring in and executive producing a new comedy series for Apple based on a book of short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld. Plus she’s returning to voice Ruffnut Thorston in How To Train Your Dragon 3, as well as starring alongside Cate Blanchett in Richard Linklater dramedy Where’d You Go, Bernadette. “So much of it really is the script and the director,” she says of how she chooses roles. “It’s kind of a gut feeling.” Or feline intuition, you might say.
ETA | 2018 / WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE OPENS LATER THIS YEAR. WONDER WOMAN 2 IS IN PRE-PRODUCTION.