Well this is a revolting development. Despite being the most popular and arguably most well known female superhero of all time, Wonder Woman gets none of Hollywood attention that her peers Batman and Superman get. While they’re allowed to make a bunch of horrible movies that nobody wants to acknowledge exists in retrospect, Wonder Woman couldn’t even get a single feature film, not even through the concerted efforts of Supreme Geek Overlord Joss Whedon.
But with Warner Bros actually seeming to have a plan this time to build up their DC Comics movie universe – a plan that would see Gal Gadot debut the character onscreen in next year’s Batman v Superman: Yawn of Tiredness before spinning off to a solo movie in 2017 – things were finally looking good on the big screen for the Amazonian Princess. Hell, they even landed Emmy and Golden Globe winner Michelle Maclaren (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones), one of the most respected, talented and decorated female directors working in TV right now, to make her feature film debut with Wonder Woman. It all sounded extremely promising. Until today.
THR is now reporting that Maclaren has officially exited the project, due to that classic Hollywood stalwart: “Creative differences”. There’s no further details given other than that oft-used catch-all statement, but you can’t help but feel the echoes of when Monster director Patty Jenkins also exited Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World in 2011 over “creative differences”, with the gig then being given to Alan Taylor. Much has been made about the old boys club of Hollywood studios’ ill treatment of female filmmakers, and these mysterious high profile exits are sure as hell not helping to improve that image.
At the moment, it’s unclear whether Maclaren’s exit will affect the release window of Wonder Woman, but with it still being so early in pre-production you would have to think that this wouldn’t be a problem in that regard. Where the problem does arise is in finding another female director – because clearly that seems to be the mandate here, and with a character like Wonder Woman, it makes perfect sense – that was as embraced by fans and critics alike. Many fans who weren’t as keen on Gadot’s casting, got on-board anyway because Maclaren was at the helm. Now that is no longer the case.
So… anybody know what Katheryn Bigelow’s schedule looks like for the next few years?
Last Updated: April 14, 2015
Weanerdog
April 14, 2015 at 12:08
I hope that I am wrong and that this delivers as both as a financial and critical success but I feel it in my bones that it is going to suck, not cat woman suck (please not that) but just not cut the mustard. I have a terrible feeling that they are going to try and be so gritty and have such social commentary that they forget to make a good film that is actually enjoyable to watch. So if anyone from Warner is reading this please make the movie kick ass fun and make the commentary you want to make subtle in that context.