Wonder Woman 1984 Creators Confirm A Few Rumors, Provide More Details On The Film
JB Augustine
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Wonder Woman 1984 would be out by now if it wasn’t for lockdowns everywhere. Vexing as that possibly is for those looking forward to the film, the plus is we all have a lot more time to learn as much as we can about its details, renewing anticipation.
A chat Nick Romano of Collider had with producers Charles Roven and Anna Obropta, director Patty Jenkins, and stars Chris Pine and Gal Gadot shed some light on Wonder Woman 1984. And they discussed more than Trump, capitalism, and what’s wrong with America in their minds.
Ms. Diana Prince
The film finds Diana (Gal Gadot), Obropta says, in a “disengaged” and “lonely” place, and that’s no knock against the museum she works at in Washington – a plot detail confirmed.
“She’s slightly disengaged with the world and a bit lonely as the world whips around her,” Obropta said, adding she “doesn’t really want to make close connections with anyone.”
“She knows either she’s going to hurt them because she’ll have to disappear one day or she will lose them because they’ll grow old,” Obropta continued.
But Diana isn’t depressed, Obropta adds. On the contrary, she is in a comfortable place.
“After the loss of Steve and the entire team, later on, I think Diana is in a place where she’s happy where she is,” said Obropta. “She’s fairly lonely, but she made the decision to do that.”
The World According to Steve
But what about Steve Trevor? He comes back in a big way to rock Diana out of her comfort zone. How remains a mystery, but our readers may recall the theory he quantum leaps into another guy’s body.
Some doubted if Chris Pine was playing the same character. He and reps for the film confirm “Yeah, you’re [Pine is] still Steve Trevor.”
Thus, sticking Steve in the 80s flips the “fish-out-of-water scenario” Diana found herself in last time. “That was definitely one of the highlights, comedically, in the first one,” Pine said.
He added we see a new side to Steve in 1984. “I think you see in Steve this time, which is a bit fun, is less the jaded realist that’s seen the worst sides of humanity,” he said. “There’s a playfulness and a boyishness to him.”
Related: Multiple Artists Redo And Fix DC Comics’ Wonder Woman 1984 Variant Cover
Pine continued, “There’s an earnestness to this wide-eyed, glorious taking-in of this role that he could never imagine, which for a man, is interesting to play, I think, because heroes are meant to be furrow-browed and that whole thing, and that’s not Steve’s deal in this at all.”
Fanny Packs, Y’all
His wearing of fanny packs might’ve been a sign this was coming. And Pine had fun accessorizing with the fanny packs. “My costume fitting for this was so much f***ing fun,” he said.
There were too many to use in the film, in fact. “There was a leather American flag fanny pack that I wore, that did not get in [the movie],” Pine recalled. “There was a denim fanny pack. Unfortunately, none of them got used.”
But the film isn’t entirely a comedy. Lightheartedness will be balanced with seriousness when Steve’s relationship with Diana is furthered. “We got an opportunity to continue from where we stopped last,” Gal Gadot said.
Related: New Wonder Woman 1984 Images Released; Includes Showdown Between Wonder Woman and Cheetah
“We’re doing it after, at least my character, carried the big loss of him all those years,” she added. “So, having someone that you love so much after so many years be with [you] again is just great.”
Pine chimed in Wonder Woman “was about falling in love” and ’84 is “an exploration of that missing and that longing and knowing what it is. So, there’s the strength of that bond.”
Catty Villain
Steve and Diana’s bond will be challenged by the threats posed to them and the world. Aside from Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), misrepresented capitalism, and greed, the big foe is Cheetah, aka Barbara Minerva.
Played by Kristen Wiig, Barbara starts out as nerdy but there is a feistiness about her. Wiig, known for SNL and comedic roles, was able to pull off “the Barbara Minerva that we meet,” says Charles Roven.
Not “very visible” and “kind of a geek,” “[Wiig] could give that character both the humor and the warmth that Diana sees in her and that we in the audience see in her so that hopefully we’ll like her, because Diana’s invested in her,” Roven said.
He continued, “It’s so funny because there are things about her that Diana admires, but she’s also incredibly smart and incredibly good at her job, too.”
Related: New Indication Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman 1984 is a Reboot of Zack Snyder’s DCEU!
Roven revealed Gadot and Wiig had a “chemistry read” to prove “she can have that toughness, that aggression that we’re going to believe when she gets nasty.”
“Well, boy, she could get nasty,” he added.
As she gets nastier and her attitude changes, Barbara starts wearing “[catsuits] and other bold sartorial pieces” inspired by Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner.
Where It Falls In Continuity
No, it isn’t a reboot. WW84 is a standalone movie wrapped in a sequel, contend Roven and Patty Jenkins. And “sequel” is not a favored term.
“[Jenkins] wanted to make sure that we had the character in a universe that was standalone so that we can continue her character without having to weave the other characters,” said Roven. “We wanted to make sure we could deal with her themes.”
Setting it in 1984 was a way of distancing themselves from Man of Steel but doesn’t erase that movie or Zack Snyder’s world-building.
“I’m not a huge fan of doing Chapter 2 of a seven-chapter story. That’s just not my jam,” Jenkins confessed, adding “every movie in my opinion that I want to make should be its own great movie.”
So how then does Diana don her armor and fight crime before the established age of heroes in the DC Extended Universe? Romano writes she “has ways of operating around the public eye,” but they’re holding onto that secret.
If you believe Reddit, Diana takes out a few cameras and tells some kids to keep her secret. That’s about it.
First Superhero?
Now I bet you’re still asking yourself if Wonder Woman has the whole DCEU revolving around her by the end since there’s a fear she will knock Batman and Superman off the top of the heap.
“Not quite” is the answer, though Jenkins sees Diana as having a strong core now. “I think that she planted her foot strong in the world,” she said. “I think that she’s a very strong core right now,” adding “things that had been planted before and will be planted after.”
Jenkins hopes Wonder Woman’s landing in this world continues to have an influence. “But I do feel like she sort of landed and set her place in this world, and hopefully things are influenced by each other when they work in that way,” she concluded.
How will that work out? We find out in October when Wonder Woman 1984 is in theaters.
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