Patty Jenkins is heading to Cannes. The “Wonder Woman” director will be honored with the 2018 Women in Motion Award. A press release announcing the news emphasized that the trailblazing filmmaker’s work “has enabled significant progress to be made in the fight for gender equality.”
“Wonder Woman” is the highest-grossing live-action film ever directed by a woman, and Jenkins became the highest-paid female filmmaker of all-time when she signed on to helm and co-write the sequel of the Gal Gadot-starrer.
Besides “Wonder Woman,” Jenkins is best known for writing and directing Charlize Theron breakout “Monster,” a biopic of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She’s helmed the pilot of “The Killing” and “One Day She’ll Darken,” an upcoming TNT limited series about an adopted woman who investigates her mysterious past.
“I’ve never been more aware of a duty than I was in this deal,” Jenkins has said of negotiating her contract for “Wonder Woman 2.” “I was extremely aware that I had to make sure I was being paid what the male equivalent would be.” She explained, “Women who have not been in a system that allows them to build up the same level of pay as men are not able to be paid the same as men forever if that’s the way it continues.” The Emmy nominee added, “You have to ask for it to happen, and you have to ask when you’re the appropriate person. I knew when Charlize [Theron] had to do it on ‘Snow White and the Huntsman,’ and I felt that it was my job to do it here.”
“Wonder Woman” grossed over $821 million worldwide. The sequel is set to bow November 1, 2019.
Isabelle Huppert took home last year’s Women in Motion Award. Jenkins will accept the honor at the Women in Motion Dinner on May 13.
Cannes runs from May 8–19. Just 14 percent of films screening in Competition are women-directed.