Looks like we’re going to be getting another Wonder Woman movie pretty soon, though this one isn’t from Patty Jenkins and has a bit of a twist. Production has begun on producer, writer, and director Angela Robinson’s “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women”. She is directing from her own screenplay.
A release describes the film as “a superhero origin tale unlike any other.” It’s “the true story of 1940s Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston, the inventor of the lie detector and creator of the iconic Wonder Woman, who defends his feminist superhero against charges of ‘sexual perversity’ while at the same time maintaining a secret that could have destroyed him. Unknown to others, Marston’s inspiration for Wonder Woman was his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women in the field of psychology who defied convention, building a secret life together with Marston that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.”
Luke Evans (“The Girl on the Train”), Rebecca Hall (“The BFG,” “Christine”), and Bella Heathcote (“Fifty Shades Darker”) will star. “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway is executive producing along with co-founder of Boxspring Entertainment Clare Munn. Amy Redford, Andrea Sperling, and Terry Leonard are producing. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has picked up the film.
Robinson most recently worked on the Shondaland series “How to Get Away with Murder” as a consulting producer and also served as an executive producer on the last season of HBO’s “True Blood,” for which she also directed. Robinson has directed episodes of “The L-Word,” plus the feature films “Herbie Fully Loaded” and the cult-favorite “D.E.B.S.”
Production on the film, which addresses the polyamorous and bisexual origins of the character of Wonder Woman, comes on the heels of some other progressive news about the character. In a recent interview, current Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka confirmed that Diana is indeed bisexual.
“It’s supposed to be paradise,” Rucka explained [referring to Diana’s all-female community]. “You’re supposed to be able to live happily. You’re supposed to be able — in a context where one can live happily, and part of what an individual needs for that happiness is to have a partner — to have a fulfilling romantic and sexual relationship. And the only options are women. But an Amazon doesn’t look at another Amazon and say, ‘You’re gay.’ They don’t. The concept doesn’t exist. Now, are we saying Diana has been in love and had relationships with other women? As Nicola [Scott, Rucka’s artist and collaborator on the ‘Wonder Woman: Year One’ storyline currently running in the series] and I approach it, the answer is obviously yes.”
Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” stars Gal Gadot and is slated to hit theaters June 2, 2017.
