Wonder Woman

[GeneChing]

I thought we had a thread on this. Maybe it's just random mentions on other threads.



Gal Gadot on Wonder Woman casting, fan criticism, training, and more (video) (http://batman-news.com/2013/12/26/gal-gadot-on-wonder-woman-casting-fan-criticism-training-and-more/)
By Chris Begley on December 26th, 2013
http://i2.wp.com/batman-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/IC1_1024.jpg?w=800

For the first time since being cast as Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman, model/actress Gal Gadot has commented on landing the huge role. Gadot was interviewed on Good Evening with Gai Pines, the top entertainment show in Israel. She talked about the casting news, fan criticism, training, and more. The entire interview was conducted in Hebrew, but thanks to Batman News reader Maxim, we have a full transcript below.

Where were you when you heard the news that you’d been cast as Wonder Woman?

I was just on my way to shooting at LA. I landed at NY in a connection flight when my agent, Hadass Lichtenstein, called me. She says to me “Wonder Woman!” and I’m like “What??” – “The role is yours!…and it’s a secret and the news are not yet announced and you can’t tell anyone…”. I’m saying to her “Are you serious??”- and we both scream! Now it’s a plane from Israel to NY and I can’t make loud noise, and so I lean on a window, bending down to my legs, and just try to understand. Long story short – I was totally alone in NY, I got to a hotel at 12 pm, I needed to wake up in the morning for shootings. I remember laying in the darkness by myself, staring at the ceiling, and I was telling myself “It’s not real!”…it shouldn’t be like that, I’m supposed to be like… “where’s the champagne?”.

It’s been said that you’re too skinny for the part. Wonder Woman is large-breasted, is that going to change?

Hmm. I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world. Breasts… anyone can buy for 9,000 shekels and everything is fine. By the way, Wonder Woman is amazonian, and historically accurate amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I’d really go “by the book”…it’d be problematic.

So you’re not going to gain a little weight and start eating carbs before filming begins?

It’s the physical preparations that I’m starting now. A very serious training regimen – Kung Fu, kickboxing, swords, jujutsu, Brazilian…1,000 and 1 things…I’ll gain body mass.

If you speak Hebrew and would like to see the video for yourself (and help add to the translation), check it out:


Big thanks once again to Batman News reader Maxim for the heads up, and for sending in the translation above. Maxim is a PC modder whose modding team has created a “Batman vs. Bane” mod for Wolfenstein 3D.
click the link above to get to the video.

[GeneChing]

Wonder Woman’ Gal Gadot Signs Three-Picture Deal with Warner Bros.
(http://variety.com/2014/film/news/wonder-woman-gal-gadot-signs-three-picture-deal-with-warner-bros-1201067961/)
http://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/gal-gadot-super-woman.jpg?w=490&h=276&crop=1
Donato Sardella/WireImage
January 23, 2014 | 08:49AM PT
Justin Kroll
Film Reporter @krolljvar

Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress who was recently cast as Wonder Woman, has signed a three-picture deal with Warner Bros., Variety has confirmed.

We’re told Gadot will play the role in not only the upcoming Batman-Superman pic, but in a Justice League movie and a Wonder Woman standalone film.

The Israeli entertainment show “Good Evening with Gai Pines” reported that Gadot will earn $300,000 per film.

Limiting the deal to three pictures makes sense for Warners, since the studio still doesn’t know how auds will react to Wonder Woman in the untitled Batman-Superman movie. Since its taken so long to find the right parts to make a Wonder Woman movie work, WB and DC don’t want to rush into a large commitment if fans are still not drawn to a standalone movie featuring the character.

The untitled Batman-Superman film was originally scheduled to open next year, but has been pushed back to May 6, 2016. Meanwhile, as DC gets off these three pictures, how many Marvel films and TV shows will be made?

[GeneChing]

I guess we must put those rumors to bed now, but I'm clinging to my fantasies of Gina and a golden lasso. ;)

Henry Cavill Girlfriend Gina Carano Speaks Up On Wonder Woman Rumors; Says She Was ‘Never Approached’ & ‘Don’t Know If I Was Considered’ (http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/91687/20140515/henry-cavill-gina-carano.htm)
By Staff Writer | May 15, 2014 06:39 AM EDT

http://images.kpopstarz.com/data/images/full/168117/source-flickr-az29c.jpg?w=600
Source: Flickr/Az29c

Henry Cavill girlfriend Gina Carano is one of those actors who’s nearly as well known for what she’s not doing as for what she is notes the Toronto Sun. For a while, there has been this ongoing buzz about Carano possibly playing the role of Wonder Woman.

Last month, the actress finally set the record straight on rumors that she was offered the role of Wonder Woman for the film. Speaking with the Toronto Sun, the actress said that she was “never approached” role despite reports suggesting otherwise. “I don’t know if I was considered,” she added. But She praised Gal Gadot for clinching the role of the heroine in the movie.

“She’s such a great person with such solidness in her character, so I’m very excited for her to do that,” the actress said. She also added that she and Gadot were co-stars in “Fast & Furious 6.”

Superman’s on again, off again girlfriend also addressed the negative criticism that Gal Gadot received from fans saying that she’s “too skinny” to play Wonder Woman.

"I think people have an idea what they consider Wonder Woman. I definitely know [Gadot] had been training and there's so much more than goes into being a strong female character," Carano said.

"I think people have their own idea, but I always like the underdog, I'm always rooting for the underdog. If the world says you can't do something, I couldn't care less because that's not how anybody should live their lives."

According to the HGN, many superhero fans have pegged the MMA fighter-turned-actress for the female superhero lead. Many thought that she had the perfect look to play Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder’s “Batman vs. Superman.”

Gina Carano is an American actress, TV personality, fitness model and former mixed martial artist. She began her training with straight Muay Thai to compete in the MMA where she had tenures in organizations such as Strikeforce and EliteXC.

The actress’s first big break came when Ocean Eleven’s director Steven Soderbergh cast her as the lead in his smart, arty 2011 thriller Haywire.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Gina just makes me all tingly...

I wonder about this part though:

It’s the physical preparations that I’m starting now. A very serious training regimen – Kung Fu, kickboxing, swords, jujutsu, Brazilian…

Since she separated brazilian from Jujutsu, maybe she (Gal) means Brazilian wax?

:D

[GeneChing]

Okay, maybe our minds go there too but we just don't post it out loud. ;)

I'm glad Gal's training Kung Fu. You really got to train Kung Fu if you want to make it in the movies. Movie fu is the most powerful ******* child of Kung Fu.

If only Gina would start Kung Fu. Remember my interview with her (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=834)?

I've got to ask you a kung fu question because that's the basis of our magazine.

Gina: (laughs) OK.

Everyone feels you have the charisma to go into movies. If you did that, do you think you'd ever train in something more showy like kung fu?

Gina: Absolutely. I would love to train in kung fu. You know, kung fu, I'm all about training and learning. And especially if it was to just learn - I'd love to actually. You know what really is a beautiful thing I've - it's not anything related - well, I don't know if people use it in fighting, is capoeira. That's beautiful. I think if I had to do those flips and that dance - that would be awesome.

If you ever start training kung fu, just let us know. I'll have you on our cover so fast, it'll make your head spin harder than Cyborg's punch.

Gina: (laughs)

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/images/ezine/0916GinaCarano_2.jpg

:cool:

[GeneChing]

This should probably go on the Batman-vs-Superman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?66531-Batman-vs-Superman) thread, but I don't really care about them.


Wonder Woman in ‘Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ Knows Tons of Martial Arts Styles (http://masterherald.com/wonder-woman-in-batman-vs-superman-dawn-of-justice-knows-tons-of-martial-arts-styles/13190/)
Posted By: Kazem Sedighzadeh Posted date: March 26, 2015In: TV

The third most popular superhero or superheroine in the upcoming DC movie “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” is obviously Wonder Woman.

It’s very evident on the first posters of the DC superhero film which will hit theaters on March 25, 2016. In addition to Batman and Superman, Wonder Woman is also featured as the metamorphosis of goddess Diana, with god-like superpowers. After all she is also one of the daughters of Greek supreme god Zeus.

Those who have had the opportunity to see Wonder Woman on TV back in the late 70s and early 80s know that the superheroine’s main strengths are her unique hand-to-hand combat skills and her bracelets which can deflect bullets. In the cartoons and the comics, Wonder Woman also has her invisible jet which she uses to fly and join Superman in the sky.

However, in the upcoming DC movie, Director Zack Snyder has given Wonder Woman some realism in terms of her superpower abilities. According to Screen Rant, Diana will have unbelievable endurance and will be exceptionally strong.

She is capable of jumping really high and practically fly, which would remind moviegoers of how Marvel did it with the Incredible Hulk. Most of all, Wonder Woman is a fighting expert because she knows tons of martial arts styles.

Bulking up

Given the premise of Wonder Woman’s superpowers, which are more realistic than say flying an invisible jet or having a wonder beam emanating from her crown, which she actually used to do in the cartoons before, it was imperative for Israel actress Gal Gadot, who’s playing Wonder Woman, to really bulk up.

Gadot disclosed recently that she had undergone training at the hands of Mark Twight of Gym Jones, who was the same trainer who turned Henry Cavill the muscle man that he is and become the largest actor rendition ever to Superman.

The idea behind the training is to make Gal Gadot bulk up more so that she would look really capable in defeating her opponents not unlike her previous slender and model-like figure. Snyder simply wanted her to become a convincing warrior, and Gadot was more than happy to oblige.

She recalled that the training was quite easy for her because she also worked once as a fitness instructor for the Israel Defense Forces before she joined the movies. Gadot was more than just a pretty face because she was also loaded with fitness and fighting skills as an individual.

http://masterherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/batman-vs-superman.jpg

The actress also said that it was also easy for her to go to the gym without any inhibition since she was more like a tomboy when she was little. She explained that her daughter did not take after her because her little one likes dressing up like a princess and putting on makeup and lipstick. She was more like one with the boys, and likes playing balls, getting sweaty, and scraping her knees too.

[GeneChing]

Lynda Carter: The Wonder Woman movie needs the female perspective (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/14/lynda-carter-thinks-wonder-woman-needs-creative-female-voice)
by C. Molly Smith

http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/styles/tout_image_612x380/public/i/2013/08/26/lynda-carter_612x380.jpg?itok=trnPLjCX
(Michael N. Todaro/FilmMagic)
Wonder Woman

Posted April 14 2015 — 6:10 PM EDT

Monday, news broke that Michelle MacLaren will no longer direct Wonder Woman, which stars Gal Gadot and is slated for a 2017 release.

Less than 24 hours later, Lynda Carter, who played Diana Prince (a.k.a. Wonder Woman) in the 1970s TV series, caught up with Jessica Shaw and Sara Vilkomerson on EW Radio’s “Inside TV.”

In an interview clip, Carter said she’s excited to see the story of Wonder Woman continue on, and added that the film, director or otherwise, needs the female perspective. Could Carter become involved herself?

“I would love to be involved in a creative position of it,” Carter said. “I know so much about what people want from it, I think, that just being as a consultant on a movie. I think it needs a woman.” She explained that women understand women.

Carter said she hasn’t talked to the studio about any kind of involvement in the film, but she may. And as for onscreen time, Carter is open to the idea of playing a role—but would prefer it be something more than a cameo.
Follow the link for a sound clip.

[boxerbilly]

That girl in the Justice League poster is my kind of hot.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Ur4De7yT8

[GeneChing]

After seeing B v S (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?66531-Batman-vs-Superman&p=1292177#post1292177) last Tuesday, well, I'm not a spoiler kind of person, but I will say that it's all about WW.


Wonder Woman exclusive: Meet the warrior women training Diana Prince (http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/24/wonder-woman-first-look-gal-gadot-robin-wright-connie-nielsen)
BY NICOLE SPERLING
Posted March 24 2016 — 9:00 AM EDT

Themyscira is a hidden island where Amazon women of Greek myth have thrived for centuries, living in harmony and free to self-govern away from the gaze of man. It’s also, of course, the birthplace of Wonder Woman, who after years of false starts, is finally a movie star. With a much heralded introduction in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is now a cornerstone in Warner Bros.’ DC Comics multiverse, with a crucial role in the first Justice League movie (out November 2017), and the center of her own long-awaited film, which will hit screens next June.

Directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster), Wonder Woman will be an origin story illustrating the transformation of a young Princess Diana into the greatest female warrior of all time.

She will need some help getting there, though. Preparing her for a world of men are three regal women: Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta (Gladiator’s Connie Nielsen), and her two military aunts – General Antiope (Robin Wright) and Antiope’s lieutenant, Menalippe (Force Majeure’s Lisa Loven Kongsli). This trio of immortals is responsible for both raising and training Diana — the only child on this estrogen heavy isle — but they don’t always agree. Hippolyta, a revolutionary leader, longs to shelter her beloved daughter from the outside world, but Antiope, the Amazon responsible for Diana’s training, wants to prepare her. “She is the only child they raised together,” says Jenkins, calling from outside London, where she is deep into the film’s production. “And their love for her manifests in a different way for each of them.”

http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/i/2016/03/23/8461545-menalippe-diana-hippolyta-antiope.jpg
Image Credit: Clay Enos/DC Comics

To create Themyscira, Jenkins and her team used exotic islands off the coasts of Italy and southern China to enhance the otherworldliness of scenes filmed on Italy’s Amalfi coast. Still, designing a fantastical place proved challenging. Every decision about it, she says, came back to a central question: “How would I want to live that’s badass?”

Adds producer Charles Roven, “Themyscira is influenced by the Greek but it’s clearly more then that,” he says. “It’s a place that has the ‘you’ve never been to’ kind of feel. But once you’re there you’re not so sure you really want to leave so fast.” ​

That uniqueness extended to how the Amazons look, too. “To me, they shouldn’t be dressed in armor like men,” Jenkins says of the women’s battle wear. “It should be different. It should be authentic and real – and appealing to women.” Jenkins and her costume designer, Lindy Hemming (The Dark Knight), crafted a look that showed off the women’s ripped shoulders and toned legs, in outfits that looked practical but that still featured the tropes of the comic book, in particular the braces on their wrists and, yes, even the high heels.

Jenkins defends the impractical footwear. “It’s total wish-fulfillment,” she says, adding that the warriors have flats for heavy fighting. “I, as a woman, want Wonder Woman to be hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time – the same way men want Superman to have huge pecs and an impractically big body. That makes them feel like the hero they want to be. And my hero, in my head, has really long legs.”

Wonder Woman is slated to debut on June 23, 2017.

[mickey]

Greetings,


ttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amazon-women-there-any-truth-behind-myth-180950188/?no-ist


mickey

[Jimbo]

I'm not really the type who gets into all that boring crap about 'celebrity hotness', at least not for many years, but IMO, Gal Gadot is definitely one of, if not THE, hottest-looking actresses today.

And I've always felt that Wonder Woman was a more interesting character than Superman.

[GeneChing]

The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/?all)
The history of the comic-book superhero's creation seven decades ago has been hidden away—until now

http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/5c/52/5c52beda-b4ef-4756-9e6f-77e0c7b8518f/oct14_g12_wonderwoman-1.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg
As soon as Wonder Woman appeared in Sensation Comics, beginning with her cover debut in 1942, she caused a stir. "Wonder Woman is not sufficiently dressed," one bishop groused. (Dibner Library / NMAH, SI)

By Jill Lepore
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2014

“Noted Psychologist Revealed as Author of Best-Selling ‘Wonder Woman,’” read the astonishing headline. In the summer of 1942, a press release from the New York offices of All-American Comics turned up at newspapers, magazines and radio stations all over the United States. The identity of Wonder Woman’s creator had been “at first kept secret,” it said, but the time had come to make a shocking announcement: “the author of ‘Wonder Woman’ is Dr. William Moulton Marston, internationally famous psychologist.” The truth about Wonder Woman had come out at last.

Or so, at least, it was made to appear. But, really, the name of Wonder Woman’s creator was the least of her secrets.

Wonder Woman is the most popular female comic-book superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, no other comic-book character has lasted as long. Generations of girls have carried their sandwiches to school in Wonder Woman lunchboxes. Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she also has a secret history.

In one episode, a newspaper editor named Brown, desperate to discover Wonder Woman’s past, assigns a team of reporters to chase her down; she easily escapes them. Brown, gone half mad, is committed to a hospital. Wonder Woman disguises herself as a nurse and brings him a scroll. “This parchment seems to be the history of that girl you call ‘Wonder Woman’!” she tells him. “A strange, veiled woman left it with me.” Brown leaps out of bed and races back to the city desk, where he cries out, parchment in hand, “Stop the presses! I’ve got the history of Wonder Woman!” But Wonder Woman’s secret history isn’t written on parchment. Instead, it lies buried in boxes and cabinets and drawers, in thousands of documents, housed in libraries, archives and collections spread all over the United States, including the private papers of creator Marston—papers that, before I saw them, had never before been seen by anyone outside of Marston’s family.

The veil that has shrouded Wonder Woman’s past for seven decades hides beneath it a crucial story about comic books and superheroes and censorship and feminism. As Marston once put it, “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world.”


http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//embedly/embedly_image_ec61c7ae1b5661d58ebc84ca0b7ac0367825 a748.jpg.300x0_q85_upscale.jpg
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
A riveting work of historical detection revealing that the origins of one of the world's most iconic superheroes hides within it a fascinating family story-and a crucial history of twentieth-century feminism Wonder Woman

Comic books were more or less invented in 1933 by Maxwell Charles Gaines, a former elementary school principal who went on to found All-American Comics. Superman first bounded over tall buildings in 1938. Batman began lurking in the shadows in 1939. Kids read them by the piles. But at a time when war was ravaging Europe, comic books celebrated violence, even sexual violence. In 1940, the Chicago Daily News called comics a “national disgrace.” “Ten million copies of these sex-horror serials are sold every month,” wrote the newspaper’s literary editor, calling for parents and teachers to ban the comics, “unless we want a coming generation even more ferocious than the present one.”

To defend himself against critics, Gaines, in 1940, hired Marston as a consultant. “‘Doc’ Marston has long been an advocate of the right type of comic magazines,” he explained. Marston held three degrees from Harvard, including a PhD in psychology. He led what he called “an experimental life.” He’d been a lawyer, a scientist and a professor. He is generally credited with inventing the lie detector test: He was obsessed with uncovering other people’s secrets. He’d been a consulting psychologist for Universal Pictures. He’d written screenplays, a novel and dozens of magazine articles. Gaines had read about Marston in an article in Family Circle magazine. In the summer of 1940, Olive Richard, a staff writer for the magazine, visited Marston at his house in Rye, New York, to ask him for his expert opinion about comics.

“Some of them are full of torture, kidnapping, sadism, and other cruel business,” she said.

“Unfortunately, that is true,” Marston admitted, but “when a lovely heroine is bound to the stake, comics followers are sure that the rescue will arrive in the nick of time. The reader’s wish is to save the girl, not to see her suffer.”


continued next post

[GeneChing]

http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/bf/c7/bfc72d4b-8ff4-43be-b044-01dba6c4f239/oct14_g11_wonderwoman-1.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale.jpg

Marston tried to showcase Wonder Woman’s athleticism whenever possible. In this 1942 comic she plays baseball; in other episodes she plays ice hockey and tennis and even founds a chain of fitness clubs. (Smithsonian Libraries)

Marston was a man of a thousand lives and a thousand lies. “Olive Richard” was the pen name of Olive Byrne, and she hadn’t gone to visit Marston—she lived with him. She was also the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most important feminists of the 20th century. In 1916, Sanger and her sister, Ethel Byrne, Olive Byrne’s mother, had opened the first birth-control clinic in the United States. They were both arrested for the illegal distribution of contraception. In jail in 1917, Ethel Byrne went on a hunger strike and nearly died.

Olive Byrne met Marston in 1925, when she was a senior at Tufts; he was her psychology professor. Marston was already married, to a lawyer named Elizabeth Holloway. When Marston and Byrne fell in love, he gave Holloway a choice: either Byrne could live with them, or he would leave her. Byrne moved in. Between 1928 and 1933, each woman bore two children; they lived together as a family. Holloway went to work; Byrne stayed home and raised the children. They told census-takers and anyone else who asked that Byrne was Marston’s widowed sister-in-law. “Tolerant people are the happiest,” Marston wrote in a magazine essay in 1939, so “why not get rid of costly prejudices that hold you back?” He listed the “Six Most Common Types of Prejudice.” Eliminating prejudice number six—“Prejudice against unconventional people and non-conformists”—meant the most to him. Byrne’s sons didn’t find out that Marston was their father until 1963—when Holloway finally admitted it—and only after she extracted a promise that no one would raise the subject ever again.

Gaines didn’t know any of this when he met Marston in 1940 or else he would never have hired him: He was looking to avoid controversy, not to court it. Marston and Wonder Woman were pivotal to the creation of what became DC Comics. (DC was short for Detective Comics, the comic book in which Batman debuted.) In 1940, Gaines decided to counter his critics by forming an editorial advisory board and appointing Marston to serve on it, and DC decided to stamp comic books in which Superman and Batman appeared with a logo, an assurance of quality, reading, “A DC Publication.” And, since “the comics’ worst offense was their blood-curdling masculinity,” Marston said, the best way to fend off critics would be to create a female superhero.

“Well, Doc,” Gaines said, “I picked Superman after every syndicate in America turned it down. I’ll take a chance on your Wonder Woman! But you’ll have to write the strip yourself.”

In February 1941, Marston submitted a draft of his first script, explaining the “under-meaning” of Wonder Woman’s Amazonian origins in ancient Greece, where men had kept women in chains, until they broke free and escaped. “The NEW WOMEN thus freed and strengthened by supporting themselves (on Paradise Island) developed enormous physical and mental power.” His comic, he said, was meant to chronicle “a great movement now under way—the growth in the power of women.”

Wonder Woman made her debut in All-Star Comics at the end of 1941 and on the cover of a new comic book, Sensation Comics, at the beginning of 1942, drawn by an artist named Harry G. Peter. She wore a golden tiara, a red bustier, blue underpants and knee-high, red leather boots. She was a little slinky; she was very kinky. She’d left Paradise to fight fascism with feminism, in “America, the last citadel of democracy, and of equal rights for women!”

It seemed to Gaines like so much good, clean, superpatriotic fun. But in March 1942, the National Organization for Decent Literature put Sensation Comics on its blacklist of “Publications Disapproved for Youth” for one reason: “Wonder Woman is not sufficiently dressed.”

Gaines decided he needed another expert. He turned to Lauretta Bender, an associate professor of psychiatry at New York University’s medical school and a senior psychiatrist at Bellevue Hospital, where she was director of the children’s ward, an expert on aggression. She’d long been interested in comics but her interest had grown in 1940, after her husband, Paul Schilder, was killed by a car while walking home from visiting Bender and their 8-day-old daughter in the hospital. Bender, left with three children under the age of 3, soon became painfully interested in studying how children cope with trauma. In 1940, she conducted a study with Reginald Lourie, a medical resident under her supervision, investigating the effect of comics on four children brought to Bellevue Hospital for behavioral problems. Tessie, 12, had witnessed her father, a convicted murderer, kill himself. She insisted on calling herself Shiera, after a comic-book girl who is always rescued at the last minute by the Flash. Kenneth, 11, had been raped. He was frantic unless medicated or “wearing a Superman cape.” He felt safe in it—he could fly away if he wanted to—and “he felt that the cape protected him from an assault.” Bender and Lourie concluded the comic books were “the folklore of this age,” and worked, culturally, the same way fables and fairy tales did.

That hardly ended the controversy. In February 1943, Josette Frank, an expert on children’s literature, a leader of the Child Study Association and a member of Gaines’ advisory board, sent Gaines a letter, telling him that while she’d never been a fan of Wonder Woman, she felt she now had to speak out about its “sadistic bits showing women chained, tortured, etc.” She had a point. In episode after episode, Wonder Woman is chained, bound, gagged, lassoed, tied, fettered and manacled. “Great girdle of Aphrodite!” she cries at one point. “Am I tired of being tied up!”

The story behind the writing and editing of Wonder Woman can be pieced together from Bender’s papers, at Brooklyn College; Frank’s papers, at the University of Minnesota; and Marston’s editorial correspondence, along with a set of original scripts, housed at the Dibner Library at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. In his original scripts, Marston described scenes of bondage in careful, intimate detail with utmost precision. For a story about Mars, the God of War, Marston gave Peter elaborate instructions for the panel in which Wonder Woman is taken prisoner:

“Closeup, full length figure of WW. Do some careful chaining here—Mars’s men are experts! Put a metal collar on WW with a chain running off from the panel, as though she were chained in the line of prisoners. Have her hands clasped together at her breast with double bands on her wrists, her Amazon bracelets and another set. Between these runs a short chain, about the length of a handcuff chain—this is what compels her to clasp her hands together. Then put another, heavier, larger chain between her wrist bands which hangs in a long loop to just above her knees. At her ankles show a pair of arms and hands, coming from out of the panel, clasping about her ankles. This whole panel will lose its point and spoil the story unless these chains are drawn exactly as described here.”

Later in the story, Wonder Woman is locked in a cell. Straining to overhear a conversation in the next room, through the amplification of “bone conduction,” she takes her chain in her teeth: “Closeup of WW’s head shoulders. She holds her neck chain between her teeth. The chain runs taut between her teeth and the wall, where it is locked to a steel ring bolt.”

Gaines forwarded Frank’s letter of complaint to Marston. Marston shrugged it off. But then Dorothy Roubicek, who helped edit Wonder Woman—the first woman editor at DC Comics—objected to Wonder Woman’s torture, too.

“Of course I wouldn’t expect Miss Roubicek to understand all this,” Marston wrote Gaines. “After all I have devoted my entire life to working out psychological principles. Miss R. has been in comics only 6 months or so, hasn’t she? And never in psychology.” But “the secret of woman’s allure,” he told Gaines, is that “women enjoy submission—being bound.”

Gaines was troubled. Roubicek, who worked on Superman, too, had invented kryptonite. She believed superheroes ought to have vulnerabilities. She told Gaines she thought Wonder Woman ought to be more like Superman and, just as Superman couldn’t go back to the planet Krypton, Wonder Woman ought not to be able to go back to Paradise Island, where the kinkiest stuff tended to happen. Gaines then sent Roubicek to Bellevue Hospital to interview Bender. In a memo to Gaines, Roubicek reported that Bender “does not believe that Wonder Woman tends to masochism or sadism.” She also liked the way Marston was playing with feminism, Roubicek reported: “She believes that Dr. Marston is handling very cleverly this whole ‘experiment’ as she calls it. She feels that perhaps he is bringing to the public the real issue at stake in the world (and one which she feels may possibly be a direct cause of the present conflict) and that is that the difference between the sexes is not a sex problem, nor a struggle for superiority, but rather a problem of the relation of one sex to the other.” Roubicek summed up: “Dr. Bender believes that this strip should be left alone.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

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Gaines was hugely relieved, at least until September 1943, when a letter arrived from John D. Jacobs, a U.S. Army staff sergeant in the 291st Infantry, stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. “I am one of those odd, perhaps unfortunate men who derive an extreme erotic pleasure from the mere thought of a beautiful girl, chained or bound, or masked, or wearing extreme high-heels or high-laced boots,—in fact, any sort of constriction or strain whatsoever,” Jacobs wrote. He wanted to know whether the author of Wonder Woman himself had in his possession any of the items depicted in the stories, “the leather mask, or the wide iron collar from Tibet, or the Greek ankle manacle? Or do you just ‘dream up’ these things?”

(For the record, Marston and Olive Byrne’s son, Byrne Marston, who is an 83-year-old retired obstetrician, thinks that when Marston talked about the importance of submission, he meant it only metaphorically. “I never saw anything like that in our house,” he told me. “He didn’t tie the ladies up to the bedpost. He’d never have gotten away with it.”)

Gaines forwarded Jacobs’ letter to Marston, with a note: “This is one of the things I’ve been afraid of.” Something had to be done. He therefore enclosed, for Marston’s use, a memo written by Roubicek containing a “list of methods which can be used to keep women confined or enclosed without the use of chains. Each one of these can be varied in many ways—enabling us, as I told you in our conference last week, to cut down the use of chains by at least 50 to 75% without at all interfering with the excitement of the story or the sales of the books.”

Marston wrote Gaines right back.

“I have the good Sergeant’s letter in which he expresses his enthusiasm over chains for women—so what?” As a practicing clinical psychologist, he said, he was unimpressed. “Some day I’ll make you a list of all the items about women that different people have been known to get passionate over—women’s hair, boots, belts, silk worn by women, gloves, stockings, garters, panties, bare backs,” he promised. “You can’t have a real woman character in any form of fiction without touching off a great many readers’ erotic fancies. Which is swell, I say.”

Marston was sure he knew what line not to cross. Harmless erotic fantasies are terrific, he said. “It’s the lousy ones you have to look out for—the harmful, destructive, morbid erotic fixations—real sadism, killing, blood-letting, torturing where the pleasure is in the victim’s actual pain, etc. Those are 100 per cent bad and I won’t have any part of them.” He added, in closing, “Please thank Miss Roubicek for the list of menaces.”

In 1944, Gaines and Marston signed an agreement for Wonder Woman to become a newspaper strip, syndicated by King Features. Busy with the newspaper strip, Marston hired an 18-year-old student, Joye Hummel, to help him write comic-book scripts. Joye Hummel, now Joye Kelly, turned 90 this April; in June, she donated her collection of never-before-seen scripts and comic books to the Smithsonian Libraries. Hiring her helped with Marston’s editorial problem, too. Her stories were more innocent than his. She’d type them and bring them to Sheldon Mayer, Marston’s editor at DC, she told me, and “He always OK’d mine faster because I didn’t make mine as sexy.” To celebrate syndication, Gaines had his artists draw a panel in which Superman and Batman, rising out of the front page of a daily newspaper, call out to Wonder Woman, who’s leaping onto the page, “Welcome, Wonder Woman!”

Gaines had another kind of welcome to make, too. He asked Lauretta Bender to take Frank’s place on the editorial advisory board.

In an ad King Features ran to persuade newspapers to purchase the strip, pointing out that Wonder Woman already had “ten million loyal fans,” her name is written in rope.

Hidden behind this controversy is one reason for all those chains and ropes, which has to do with the history of the fight for women’s rights. Because Marston kept his true relationship with Olive Byrne a secret, he kept his family’s ties to Margaret Sanger a secret, too. Marston, Byrne and Holloway, and even Harry G. Peter, the artist who drew Wonder Woman, had all been powerfully influenced by the suffrage, feminism and birth control movements. And each of those movements had used chains as a centerpiece of its iconography.

In 1911, when Marston was a freshman at Harvard, the British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, who’d chained herself to the gates outside 10 Downing Street, came to speak on campus. When Sanger faced charges of obscenity for explaining birth control in a magazine she founded called the Woman Rebel, a petition sent to President Woodrow Wilson on her behalf read, “While men stand proudly and face the sun, boasting that they have quenched the wickedness of slavery, what chains of slavery are, have been or ever could be so intimate a horror as the shackles on every limb—on every thought—on the very soul of an unwilling pregnant woman?” American suffragists threatened to chain themselves to the gates outside the White House. In 1916, in Chicago, women representing the states where women had still not gained the right to vote marched in chains.

In the 1910s, Peter was a staff artist at the magazine Judge, where he contributed to its suffrage page called “The Modern Woman,” which ran from 1912 to 1917. More regularly, the art on that page was drawn by another staff artist, a woman named Lou Rogers. Rogers’ suffrage and feminist cartoons very often featured an allegorical woman chained or roped, breaking her bonds. Sanger hired Rogers as art director for the Birth Control Review, a magazine she started in 1917. In 1920, in a book called Woman and the New Race, Sanger argued that woman “had chained herself to her place in society and the family through the maternal functions of her nature, and only chains thus strong could have bound her to her lot as a brood animal.” In 1923, an illustration commissioned by Rogers for the cover of Birth Control Review pictured a weakened and desperate woman, fallen to her knees and chained at the ankle to a ball that reads, “UNWANTED BABIES.” A chained woman inspired the title of Sanger’s 1928 book, Motherhood in Bondage, a compilation of some of the thousands of letters she had received from women begging her for information about birth control; she described the letters as “the confessions of enslaved mothers.”
continued next post

[GeneChing]

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When Marston created Wonder Woman, in 1941, he drew on Sanger’s legacy and inspiration. But he was also determined to keep the influence of Sanger on Wonder Woman a secret.

He took that secret to his grave when he died in 1947. Most superheroes didn’t survive peacetime and those that did were changed forever in 1954, when a psychiatrist named Fredric Wertham published a book called Seduction of the Innocent and testified before a Senate subcommittee investigating the comics. Wertham believed that comics were corrupting American kids, and turning them into juvenile delinquents. He especially disliked Wonder Woman. Bender had written that Wonder Woman comics display “a strikingly advanced concept of femininity and masculinity” and that “women in these stories are placed on an equal footing with men and indulge in the same type of activities.” Wertham found the feminism in Wonder Woman repulsive.

“As to the ‘advanced femininity,’ what are the activities in comic books which women ‘indulge in on an equal footing with men’? They do not work. They are not homemakers. They do not bring up a family. Mother-love is entirely absent. Even when Wonder Woman adopts a girl there are Lesbian overtones,” he said. At the Senate hearings, Bender testified, too. If anything in American popular culture was bad for girls, she said, it wasn’t Wonder Woman; it was Walt Disney. “The mothers are always killed or sent to the insane asylums in Walt Disney movies,” she said. This argument fell on deaf ears.

Wertham’s papers, housed at the Library of Congress, were only opened to researchers in 2010. They suggest that Wertham’s antipathy toward Bender had less to do with the content of the comics than with professional rivalry. (Paul Schilder, Bender’s late husband, had been Wertham’s boss for many years.) Wertham’s papers contain a scrap on which he compiled a list he titled “Paid Experts of the Comic Book Industry Posing as Independent Scholars.” First on the list as the comic book industry’s number one lackey was Bender, about whom Wertham wrote: “Boasted privately of bringing up her 3 children on money from crime comic books.”

In the wake of the 1954 hearings, DC Comics removed Bender from its editorial advisory board, and the Comics Magazine Association of America adopted a new code. Under its terms, comic books could contain nothing cruel: “All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.” There could be nothing kinky: “Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable.” And there could be nothing unconventional: “The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.”

“Anniversary, which we forgot entirely,” Olive Byrne wrote in her secret diary in 1936. (The diary remains in family hands.) During the years when she lived with Marston and Holloway, she wore, instead of a wedding ring, a pair of bracelets. Wonder Woman wears those same cuffs. Byrne died in 1990, at the age of 86. She and Holloway had been living together in an apartment in Tampa. While Byrne was in the hospital, dying, Holloway fell and broke her hip; she was admitted to the same hospital. They were in separate rooms. They’d lived together for 64 years. When Holloway, in her hospital bed, was told that Byrne had died, she sang a poem by Tennyson: “Sunset and the evening star, / And one clear call for me! / And may there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea.” No newspaper ran an obituary.

Elizabeth Holloway Marston died in 1993. An obituary ran in the New York Times. It was headed, “Elizabeth H. Marston, Inspiration for Wonder Woman, 100.” This was, at best, a half-truth.



There was a lot of buzz on this book when it came out. I almost picked it up after hearing an NPR interview with the author.

[@PLUGO]

From the review…

The first attempt at a Wonder Woman show occurred on the heels of the success of the 1967 Batman show and featured Linda Harrison, who played Nova in the original Planet of the Apes (1968), in the titular role. No more than five minutes of that version was filmed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIodk5wQ6c&feature=youtu.be

You're Welcome.

[GeneChing]

Wonder Woman Release Date Moved Up, WB’s Jungle Book Delayed (http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/674005-wonder-woman-release-date-moved-up-wbs-jungle-book-delayed#/slide/1)
BY MAX EVRY ON APRIL 6, 2016

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Wonder Woman release date moved up, WB’s Jungle Book delayed

In the wake of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. Pictures has moved up the release date for their Wonder Woman solo movie from June 23, 2017 to June 2, 2017. While the move up may seem like a vote of confidence, it could also indicate trouble for Sony’s Bad Boys 3, which was also slotted for June 2 along with the animated film Captain Underpants. Recent comments by Bad Boys 3 producer Jerry Bruckheimer to Deadline could indicate there are still hurdles for the Joe Carnahan-helmed threequel.

“We have to get the script in,” said Bruckheimer of Bad Boys 3. “Once we get that, we’ll make a lot of decisions.”

In another move, Warners has pushed back its Andy Serkis-directed Jungle Book: Origins a whole year, from October 6, 2017 to October 19, 2018. That’s a big move, which many would read as a way to further distance it from Disney’s rival Jungle Book, which opens next weekend and is earning rave reviews. Serkis himself took to Twitter to applaud the move:


Andy Serkis
55 minutes ago
've got to say that personally I'm absolutely thrilled that Warner Brothers have changed the delivery date of Jungle Book: Origins. The ambition for this project is huge. What we are attempting is an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance in morphing the phenomenal performances of our cast into the facial expressions of our animals. We are breaking new ground with realistic non-humanoid animal faces ,such as a panther or wolf, ensuring that they convincingly communicate with human language and emotion via performance capture, and are able to stand up to real scrutiny in richly complex dramatic scenes. So, every minute more that we have to evolve the technological pipeline will make all the difference...the evidence is there already and it's off the chain exciting, so hang on in there...This is truly next generation storytelling, and it will be the real deal!

Most mysteriously, Warners has dated two untitled DC Extended Universe movies for October 5, 2018 and November 1, 2019. There’s no telling what these films could be, whether they are the much-hyped Ben Affleck-directed Batman solo film, a Superman solo adventure, or something else. An untitled WB event film is now also slated for October 6, 2017, taking over the date from Serkis’ Jungle Book.

Starring Gal Gadot as the title hero, Wonder Woman also stars Robin Wright (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Netflix’s “House of Cards”), Danny Huston (Clash of the Titans, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), David Thewlis (the “Harry Potter” films, The Theory of Everything), Ewen Bremner (Exodus: Gods and Kings, Snowpiercer), Saïd Taghmaoui (American Hustle), Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, Nymphomaniac: Vol. I) and Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead). Directed by Patty Jenkins, the film is being produced by Charles Roven, Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder, with Richard Suckle, Stephen Jones, Wesley Coller, Geoff Johns and Rebecca Roven serving as executive producers.

Based on Rudyard Kipling’s classic story, Andy Serkis’ directorial debut Jungle Book: Origins stars Freida Pinto, Matthew Rhys and Rohan Chand in the live-action roles, rather than joining those doing the performance capture for the animals as Serkis himself did in the “Apes” and “Lord of the Rings” movies. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Serkis, Jack Reynor and Tom Hollander make up that performance capture cast. The prequel film is written by Callie Kloves with Serkis directing and co-producing with “Harry Potter” screenwriter Steve Kloves.

Given all the weirdness with B V S (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1290), I'm sure DC wants to drop WW ASAP.

[mickey]

From the review…



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIodk5wQ6c&feature=youtu.be

You're Welcome.

Greetings and Thank you, Design Sifu,

Though Linda Harrison got a credit for that, she is not in the scene, not even as Wonderman. Makes me wonder if there was a second pilot made and they decided to go with this one. That was five minutes of horror and it gave me the feeling that the Dozier people were pro Batman during the dawn of Feminism. Linda Harrison was a looker, as they would say in those days. Two seconds with her on screen would have green lighted the series.

mickey

[GeneChing]

Gina would've rocked WW.



PUBLISHED: JULY 6 2016 12:51
TV NEWS / MERLINE ERDA

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Kelly Brook, Gina Carano, Kourtney Kardashian: Women looking better than Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (http://www.fansshare.com/news/kelly-brook-gina-carano-kourtney-kardashian-women-looking-better-than-gal-gadot-as-wonder-woman/)
Gal Gadot plays Wonder Woman in the DC movies
Many celebrities have dressed up as the character
Here we take a look at some of the best looking efforts

Hollywood superstar Gal Gadot plays the role of Wonder Woman in the DC movies and, in all fairness, she did do a very solid job in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but there are still some fans who are not impressed with the casting choice. There have been many celebrities who have dressed up as the character in the past, and here we take a look at some of our favourites.

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When it was first announced that Wonder Woman was coming to the big screen, there were a lot of fans who called for Gina Carano to be cast as the character, with many people putting together their own image of what she might look like in the role. Unfortunately though, this never came to be, with some blaming her failed romance with Henry Cavill as the main reason she was over looked.

When it comes to fancy dress parties, we have seen so many different people deciding to show what they could look like as Wonder Woman, with the beautiful Kourtney Kardashian being among the celebs to don the outfit. Last Halloween, Kourtney chose to dress up as Wonder Woman and we have to admit that she looked absolutely stunning.

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Another celebrity who has dressed up as Wonder Woman in the past, is the beautiful British star Kelly Brook, who took to her official Instagram account earlier in the year, to share a picture of her in her Wonder Woman costume. We are not sure there are many women who could look as good as Kelly does.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM9HRsrkv4k

Who do you think makes the sexiest Wonder Woman?


Warner Bros Confirms ‘Wonder Woman’ Screenwriters, and It’s Not Who We Thought (http://collider.com/wonder-woman-screenwriters-geoff-johns-allan-heinberg/)
BY ALLISON KEENE 20 HOURS AGO

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When Warner Bros. announced their Comic-Con film lineup, there was a kind of quiet Easter Egg hidden within: a confirmation of the screenwriters for the upcoming Wonder Woman film. The highly anticipated movie is set to hit theaters next summer, and will be directed by Patty Jenkins, but the most important thing is, of course, who has crafted the story — one of the biggest disappointments with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was exactly that issue. While the acting and the visuals were all (well, re: the acting mostly) laudable, the story needed some help.

Originally, there were five writers brought into give treatments for Wonder Woman‘s story, with Jason Fuchs winning that bid. Though there was another writer hinted at, we didn’t know their identity. Despite the fact that IMDB is still reporting that the screenplay was written by Fuchs (and William M. Marston the character’s creator), WB’s own press release says that Wonder Woman was in fact penned by Allan Heinberg and Geoff Johns. The two have worked together before, notably in writing a five-issue arc of JLA and the relaunch of Wonder Woman. Johns is also the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, and has written for the CW’s The Flash, Arrow, the Justice League TV series, and more, while Heinberg is also a force in TV, having produced and written for The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City, and more recently, ABC soaps Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and The Catch. (And while you might be quick to malign those last three dramas, you have to admit — at least for Grey’s and Scandal — they do definitely have their moments).

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Image via Warner Bros.

It seems that Warner Bros decided to go in a different direction from Fuchs, who also wrote the screenplays for Pan and Ice Age: Continental Drift, but of course we don’t know any more specifics at this time. I’m sure there will be an oral history of the script changes at some point but for now, speculate away!

For the full details about Wonder Woman, check out the press release below:


“Wonder Woman” hits movie theaters around the world next summer when Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.
Joining Gadot in the international cast are Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner and Saïd Taghmaoui. Jenkins directs the film from a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and Geoff Johns, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg, based on characters from DC Entertainment. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston. The film is produced by Charles Roven, Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder and Richard Suckle, with Rebecca Roven, Stephen Jones, Wesley Coller and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with RatPac-Dune Entertainment, an Atlas Entertainment/Cruel and Unusual production, “Wonder Woman.” The film is scheduled for release on June 2, 2017, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. www.wonderwomanfilm.com

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Gil is pretty hot tho...:)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lGoQhFb4NM

[GeneChing]

The big 75 this Friday. WoW.


FASHION & STYLE

Is It Time for Wonder Woman to Hang Up Her Bathing Suit? (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/fashion/wonder-woman-75-un-honorary-ambassador-fashion.html?_r=0)
Unbuttoned
By VANESSA FRIEDMAN OCT. 20, 2016

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Lynda Carter from the television series “Wonder Woman.” Credit Warner Bros./Getty Images

On Friday, Wonder Woman turns 75, and she is getting a bang-up party. It will take place at the United Nations in the Economic and Social Council chamber, and special guests will include Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment (the company that owns DC Comics, which invented Wonder Woman); Lynda Carter, who embodied Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series; Gal Gadot, who has taken on the role in the forthcoming Wonder Woman film; and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

Mr. Ban, as it turns out, also has a present of sorts for the character: She is being named an honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls and for gender equality, a.k.a. Goal 5 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform Our World. She will appear in a social media campaign and other initiatives.

On one level, this makes sense. Wonder Woman is the epitome of the woman who needs a man the way a fish needs a bicycle. (She appeared twice on the cover of Ms. magazine.)

She is self-sufficient and strong and fights for equality and justice. She is not derivative of a male character the way Supergirl or Batgirl is, and she does not disguise herself as Catwoman does. In the new “Wonder Woman” movie, due for release next summer, she says to her male co-star, “What I do is not up to you.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lGoQhFb4NM
WONDER WOMAN Comic-Con Trailer Video by Warner Bros. Pictures

And certainly, she brings the organization’s cause to a whole new audience, said Maher Nasser, the Outreach Division director for the United Nations Department of Public Information.

(The organization realized the advantages of teaming up with the comic book world this year when Red from Angry Birds became its honorary ambassador for the International Day of Happiness; all honorary ambassadors are fictional characters, as opposed to, say, messengers of peace, a category that includes celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron and Jane Goodall, or good-will ambassadors, who include Anne Hathaway, David Beckham and Shakira.)

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Wonder Woman, issue no. 7, published in 1943. Credit Wonder Woman/DC Comics

It makes even more sense when you realize that in 1943, Wonder Woman ran for president. (It was “1,000 years in the future,” the ’40s comic book said, but, still.) And she was renominated by Ms. magazine in 1972. Bringing her back to speak for what she believes in, in a year when a real-live woman may be elected to the Oval Office, seems more relevant than ever.

Except for one thing.

As Mr. Nasser put it, somewhat delicately, the “outfit issue.”

Specifically, what he said was, “We are not unaware of the outfit issue,” the issue being that Wonder Woman does most of her power work, as we all know, in a star-spangled strapless bathing suit and knee-high boots, with a healthy amount of cleavage and leg on display. Her clothes have not, to put it mildly, caught up with her politics — or many other people’s, for that matter. (In the new film, she appears to wear a sort of loincloth-like skirt, too.)

In the end, the United Nations determined that, “You have to look beyond the superficial to her actions,” Mr. Nasser said. And Ms. Carter noted that the character is “so much bigger than what she wears.”

But in the era of Donald J. Trump, when the issue of objectifying women because of how they look is foremost in every conversation, the outfit issue — and the related body image issue — cannot be so easily dismissed.

Indeed, Wonder Woman’s workwear is a look straight from the Miss Universe stage — as it used to be when Mr. Trump owned the pageant. (He sold it last year to WME-IMG, the entertainment and sports giant.) After all, even Miss Teen USA ended its swimsuit competition this year, transforming it into a gymwear segment, the better to celebrate strength as opposed to va-va-voom. Paula Shugart, the president of the Miss Universe Organization, wrote in a letter to state directors that was later quoted in The New York Times, “This decision reflects an important cultural shift we’re all celebrating.”

Except Wonder Woman is not.

This matters because, like most superheroes, she is inseparable from her clothing: It is her immediate signifier, the representation of all about her that is special and unique (and kick-butt). And that clothing unavoidably indicates to everyone that part of the source of her power is her babeliciousness, as defined in a particularly retrograde way.

The reason Steve Trevor, her original love interest, falls for her is not just that she can defend herself and him, gallop into battle and choose not to kill her enemies. It’s because, let’s be honest, of her looks — when she takes off her glasses, stops being that dowdy Diana Prince in a buttoned-up shirt and blossoms into her barely clad self.

She may not be using her sexuality as a weapon (she has bracelets and a gold lasso for that), but it’s nonetheless making a statement.

Which raises the question, even accepting that she is an exaggerated character in an exaggerated world: Is that really the message we want to send about female empowerment to our daughters in an era when there are a number of fully clothed, notably powerful female role models?

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The film “Wonder Woman” is scheduled for release in the summer of 2017. Credit Warner Bros. Pictures

On the one hand, allowing girls to revel in their physicality and femininity is a good thing. I am not saying they should dress like nuns or adopt a pantsuits “r” us mentality. They should own their womanhood and all that is special and different about it. You can argue that refusing to apologize for or hide your body under a sackcloth is a feminist act.

But most women, I would guess, would not choose to display their allure while wearing a star-spangled maillot and cape, which is to say an outfit that no one could actually wear to work, unless she were working as the impersonator of a comic book character.

Ms. Carter is unapologetic about the look (“I never felt objectified as Wonder Woman, though I have as Lynda Carter,” she said in a recent phone call), but she acknowledges that, though she owns two classic costumes, she has not put one on since she hung up her cape in 1979.

Pointedly, when she appears as the president on “Supergirl” this season (she will make her debut next week), Ms. Carter wears a long baby-blue jacket, skinny black trousers and pumps. “Smart, strong, easy, comfortable,” she said of the look, adding that she based it on Hillary Clinton and the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

Power dressing does not have to mean dressing like a man, but it also does not have to mean dressing like a clichéd male wet dream.

Certainly, fashion, which is not ignorant of the rise of the power woman, and the industry’s role in determining what she might look like, has come up with a lot of options, from the C-suite sheath to the swishy suit to the athleisure power duo of leggings and Lycra. I imagine Donatella Versace, Stella McCartney and Diane von Furstenberg (who actually released her own Wonder Woman book in support of the nonprofit Vital Voices in 2008), to name a few, would have some ideas about what becomes a modern female superhero. That’s something I would love to see.

When asked if the United Nations had thought about a wardrobe overhaul, Mr. Nasser said, “The key art that was developed with the campaign does reflect many of the observations and comments that we have provided,” but he declined to be more specific.

A spokeswoman for DC Entertainment used words like “regal” and “appropriate” when discussing how Wonder Woman would look in her United Nations appearances, and added that the campaign was drawn by Nicola Scott, the artist behind the current incarnation of the comic book Wonder Woman. “The goal was to create a noble and strong look, while still maintaining Wonder Woman’s approachability and global appeal,” Ms. Scott said. “I put considerable effort into ensuring her eyes were powerful and conveyed her characteristics of peace, justice and equality.”

We will see soon enough. In the meantime, if we had to hold up a woman in a bathing suit as an example, perhaps we should consider Katie Ledecky, one of the greatest swimmers ever. Her power famously comes from within. Which is, in fact, the message the organization wants to send: “that there is a Wonder Woman in every woman,” in the words of Mr. Nasser.

That is a concept worth applauding. But, given the current climate, isn’t it time its avatar had something new to wear to the party? Ms. Carter, for one, said she had chosen an elegant Oscar de la Renta navy and black lace jacquard.

Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram.

A version of this article appears in print on October 20, 2016, on page D8 of the New York edition with the headline: Should Wonder Woman Dress for the Corner Office?.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Equality for Wonder Woman would be a step-down.

People always forget that equality was never "all are equal", because we are not, it is "equality amongst equals".

I recall some famous actress or personality once said, when asked about women and men being equal, " Why would I want to lower myself?"

[Jimbo]

It's funny how that article is against Wonder Woman being objectified because of her attire, but the fact is, there are women who objectify men as well. Why do so many women ooooh and aaaaah over (for example) Channing Tatum and his abs? Ever hear *some* groups of women talking when they aren't aware that other people (especially men) are within earshot? They can be more graphic than a lot of men.

Wonder Woman is a heroic comic book character. She's definitely NOT a hentai character. I think some people need to lighten up and save their battles for where they're really needed.

There are so many PC police nowadays who want to deny the fact that there are differences between men and women. No more separate boys' or girls' toy sections at Target anymore(?!), because that's "discriminatory and messes with their self-identities"(?!). Should I be offended because The Hulk is topless, or because all the male superheroes have perfect muscular development/definition (or in Iron Man's case, his costume has the muscles)?

[GeneChing]

Wonder Woman Named U.N. Ambassador; Lynda Carter Channels Clinton, Mocks Trump (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wonder-woman-named-un-ambassador-lynda-carter-channels_us_580a78ade4b099c434319582)
10/21/2016 04:36 pm ET | Updated 15 minutes ago
Aaron Sagers
TV personality, journalist, pop culture/geek expert, travel nut, and professional nerd

http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/580a7a991a000042275bb0ea.jpg
AARON SAGERS
Wonder Woman Director Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, and Lynda Carter pose with young Wonder Woman fans on Oct. 21 UN ambassador announcement

From the comic book realm of Themyscira to New York City, Amazonian princess Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince) was appointed Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls at the United Nations today.

The U.N. event, coinciding with the character’s 75th anniversary, featured statements by Carter, Gal Gadot of the 2017 Wonder Woman film directed by Patty Jenkins (also in attendance), president of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson, and UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Cristina Gallach.

Wonder Woman’s role will be part of the U.N.’s campaign for achieving gender equality by 2030. Said Nelson, the strength and backing of Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, which own the rights to the character, agree to “add Wonder Woman to their arsenal” of raising awareness of the struggles women face – and U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 5. According to Gallach, the iconic status of the “newest recruit to the cause” – and her “commitment to justice, peace, and equality” – will help the U.N. reach new audiences with essential messages of empowerment with the theme of “Think of all the wonders you can do.”

The new campaign will include launching a special 2017 Wonder Woman comic book that, said Nelson, “tells the story of empowerment, peace, justice, and equality. For the first time in the publisher’s history, it will be available around the world in multiple languages simultaneously. The character will also be made available to U.N. agencies to “leverage the commanding visual image” in outstanding programs, said Nelson.

“What makes Wonder Woman empowering isn’t that she represents ‘look what girls can do,’ it’s that she represents ‘look what girls can already do’,” said Nelson. “We believe in addition to the exemplary work that amazing real women are doing in the fight for gender equality, it is to be commended the U.N. understands stories, even comic book stories, can inspire, teach, and reveal injustices.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BPnBzwaT-E
continued next post

[GeneChing]

Meanwhile, Lynda Carter, star of the 1975-79 live-action Wonder Woman show, provided the heart for the U.N. gathering, and the political edge – and made one think at least her Wonder Woman would not be voting for Donald Trump.

“We are stronger together,” said Carter, echoing Hillary Clinton’s message, before adding that women are half the world, and “mothers of all mankind.”

“We believe in fair play, and fair pay, and playing by the rules,” she added. “We stand by our men – as they stand beside us. And now we call upon on these good men of the world to work with us, and help us achieve the freedoms that all women and girls worldwide so richly deserve.”

Speaking to the silent protest taking place in the assembly, and an online petition of more than 600 U.N. staff members calling on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to recall the ambassador appointment, Carter said, “Please embrace her.”

“Wonder Woman lives, do not doubt it; she lives in every woman, and Wonder Woman helps bring out the inner strength every woman has … I see it in the letters, and the stories, and in social media, and I see it in the tears that fall from the eyes of women who say she saved them, inspired them from some awful thing they endured – because they saw they could do something great.”

Mocking Trump’s signature pronunciation three or four times, Carter said she hoped we could all look back on 2017 as a year of “Yuge progress!” She then moved on to the topic of immigration, and its connection to Wonder Woman.

“My grandmother was an immigrant born in Mexico,” she said. “We are all immigrants; I really like immigrants.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTVM2V5ozg
continued next post

[GeneChing]

When Carter stepped off the stage to a standing ovation, Gadot replaced her, suggesting Carter should be president of the United States – a nod to the former’s new role as Commander in Chief on The CW show, Supergirl.

“Wonder Woman seeks to promote strength, wisdom, leadership, justice, and love,” said Gadot. “Qualities that, when combined, make us the very best we can be.”

Gadot’s statement went on that the “honor” of the initiative helps set a good example for both boys and girls on a “massively global scale.”

“Wonder Woman is a fighter, better than most, but it’s what she fights for that is important,” said Gadot in closing. “It is her vision of a future of peace and acceptance that makes her the right ambassador for everyone.”

Created in 1941 by psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston — along with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston (who added the “intellect and attitude to the characters, said Carter, echoing Marston’s granddaughter, Christie) – Wonder Woman has undergone many iterations. At times sporting patriotic colors, and a star-spangled skirt, the character is a founding member of DC Comics’ Justice League, and considered one of the publisher’s Trinity, alongside Superman and Batman. Recently revealed to canonically queer, the character is a comic book icon that has evolved over time, but has overall transcended the damsel-in-distress trope.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqAmlla0AyY

http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/580a7b0f1b00004b2bef8a29.jpg
COURTESY DC COMICS/DC ENTERTAINMENT
Lynda Carter, Gal Gadot accept announcement of Wonder Woman as UN Ambassador of Empowerment

Dang. Lynda Carter. What a Wonder Woman!

[GeneChing]

Wonder Woman Faces Challenge at U.N.: A Recall Petition (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/world/americas/wonder-woman-united-nations.html)
By SOMINI SENGUPTAOCT. 20, 2016

Though a founding member of the Justice League, Wonder Woman is receiving pushback inside the United Nations.

More than 600 United Nations staff members have signed an online petition calling on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a professed feminist, to reconsider the appointment of the fictitious superhero as its ambassador for women’s empowerment.

The petition says “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots” is not an appropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations.

Privately, several United Nations officials have expressed concern about the choice of a comic-book character. Publicly, its leaders have described the decision as a creative way to reach younger audiences, in advance of a new Hollywood film starring Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Whether a character who is even older than the United Nations will appeal to the young — she soon turns 75, about four years older than the world body — remains uncertain. The heroine’s appointment ceremony will proceed, as scheduled, on Friday. A silent protest is expected.

Women’s advocates inside and outside the United Nations say the selection of Wonder Woman is particularly ill timed because the United Nations this month rejected seven female candidates for secretary general. The next leader will be António Guterres of Portugal, even though many had hoped a woman would take the helm for the first time.

Raimonda Murmokaite, the permanent representative of Lithuania, reacted to the news of Wonder Woman’s appointment by asking on Twitter why “real life women” could not be selected.

Anne Marie Goetz, an academic and a former adviser to the United Nations who had campaigned for a woman to be secretary general, called the choice “disgusting” and wrote on Twitter that Wonder Woman should use her “lasso of truth” to expose the United Nations’ “hypocrisy.”

Stéphane Dujarric, a United Nations spokesman, said Thursday that leaders of the organization had listened to the concerns of United Nations staff members and even changed the public campaign around Wonder Woman to reflect those concerns and “bring a celebration of real-life women and girls making a difference every day into the core messaging.”

“We work and engage with amazing women around the world every day and have many strong, real-life women who advocate on behalf of the U.N. for rights of women,” Mr. Dujarric said. “These include Alaa Murabit of Libya, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, the Brazilian soccer player Marta, and Angelina Jolie, to name just a few.”

The petition appears to have been started by an anonymous United Nations staff member perhaps concerned about his or her job, and many signatories are anonymous.

“The message the United Nations is sending to the world with this appointment is extremely disappointing,” the petition reads. “The bottom line appears to be that the United Nations was unable to find a real-life woman that would be able to champion the rights of ALL women on the issue of gender equality and the fight for their empowerment. The United Nations has decided that Wonder Woman is the role model that women and girls all around the world should look up to.”

Follow Somini Sengupta on Twitter @SominiSengupta.

A version of this article appears in print on October 21, 2016, on page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Wonder Woman Faces Challenge at U.N.: A Recall Petition.

"and many signatories are anonymous" Wait, how does that work exactly? :confused:

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGZrRgdOlU

[GeneChing]

...the truth is this Wonder Woman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman) is a major sword hottie (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?41007-Sword-hotties).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INLzqh7rZ-U

[GeneChing]

A dated interview, but surely one not to be overlooked here. I cross checked the original 2015 Inquisitor interview online (http://www.inquisitr.com/2278905/gal-gadot-interview-magazine-reveals-wonder-womans-superhero-martial-arts-workout-diet-photos/) that is cited as the primary source, but there was no mention of Kung Fu (http://www.martialartsmart.com/kung-fu-tai-chi-shaolin-styles.html) there. :confused:


Gal Gadot Worked On Jiu-Jitsu and Other Martial Arts To Portray Wonder Woman (http://www.bjjee.com/articles/gal-gadot-worked-jiu-jitsu-martial-arts-portray-wonder-woman/)
Apr 17, 2017Iva Djokovic

http://www.bjjee.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/17.jpg

Wonder woman movie is set to be released June 2nd 2017. But with it come several surprises, Gadot as a part of the DC Comics universe had the pleasure to star alongside several famous fans of bjj so it’s no surprise she opted for some bjj classes when she was cast as the bad a*s hero of female empowerment.

“I work out a lot now with Wonder Woman [Gadot is playing the superhero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, out in 2016]. I can’t say too much about my training regime but we do work out a lot—we do a lot of different martial arts. But in my ordinary life when I don’t work, I like to paddle board and do TRX.” Gadot told inquisitor.

Gadot later added:
“It’s the physical preparations that I’m starting now. A very serious training regimen – Kung Fu, kickboxing, swords, jujutsu, Brazilian…1,000 and 1 things…I’ll gain body mass…Wonder Woman is amazonian, and historically accurate Amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I’d really go ‘by the book’…it’d be problematic.”.”

Of course Gadot is no stranger to martial arts – she spent two years in the Israel Defense Forces.
“My mom is a gymnastics teacher. So growing up I was never sitting watching TV in the afternoons. I always played ball outside in the backyard. I was a dancer for 12 years. I did tennis, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, you name it,” she said. “[In the IDF] I was a gym trainer on one of the bases in Israel. So my boot camp was longer than other boot camps. It was four months and all about sports, waking up at 6:30 a.m. and going for a run, doing push-ups…”

Gadot was also friends with the late Paul Walker thanks to her role in Fast and Furious 6 – Walker was one of the biggest ambassadors of jiu-jitsu prior to his tragic passing.

Gal is not just credited with smashing beauty, she also possess immense inner strength. Her background of being a part of Israeli Military shows that she is a real tough woman. Not being alien to vigorous workouts, Gal shares that one of the reasons why she has been chosen for the role is her insight about the use of diverse weapons. The smashing beauty who is all resolved to give her hundred percent to the role is embracing really intense workouts such as kickboxing, martial arts, kung fu, sword fighting, Jiu-Jitsu etc.

http://healthyceleb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Gal-Gadot-Biceps.jpg

Growing up “very Jewish” in suburban Tel Aviv, the teenaged Gadot was tall, sporty and strong. “My mother was a PE teacher so I grew up playing volleyball, tennis, basketball … I was a high jumper,” she says. “I was very, very active. I danced for 12 years – ballet, hip-hop and jazz – I thought I might be a choreographer. I never planned on being an actress. Life just happened that way.”

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLlwgBuKymo

Lynda, Teri & Melissa.

I went to High School with Teri.

[GeneChing]

4 Wonder Woman Projects That Never Took Off (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/4-wonder-woman-projects-never-took-1008558/item/joss-whedons-anti-corporation-wonder-woman-wonder-woman-failed-attempts-1008547)
6:00 AM 5/31/2017 by Tatiana Siegel

Before Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot brought Diana Prince to the big screen, scores of others tried and failed.

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/list_landscape_960x541/2017/05/wonderwomen_graphic.jpg

Sandra Bullock, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Megan Fox, Christina Hendricks, Beyonce Knowles — at one point or another, they were all rumored to be filling Wonder Woman's boots. Indeed, Hollywood has been promising for decades to make a movie about the Amazonian princess in the red, yellow and blue bathing suit, with many of the town's top leading ladies vying for the title role. But, until now, Wonder Woman remained as invisible as her plane. Here's a look back at some of her most notable failed launches.

Joss Whedon's Anti-Corporation Wonder Woman
Joss Whedon reportedly earned $2 million to $3 million for a 2005 Wonder Woman script for Joel Silver. Its plot, Whedon later revealed, was "about how giant conglomerates are eating the world and how we are all puppets underneath them — maybe that's what [Warner Bros.] didn't like about it." It never got to the casting stage, although Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Charisma Carpenter was considered a possibility. Whedon was adamant that the character get a change of wardrobe. "In my version, she had an outfit that was more classically Greek in the warrior sense — she wasn't going to be wearing an American flag."

Wonder Woman's Daughter
Before Whedon, Silver had gone through a half-dozen other screenwriters with contemporary storylines, including one about Wonder Woman's daughter, Donna Troy, before hiring Laeta Kalogridis (co-writer of Oliver Stone's Alexander) in 2003. Her script went back to basics. "The island, the Amazons, chicks kicking butt," she described it. It churned through the studio for a few years, never getting much traction.

Wonder Woman vs. Superman?
Wonder Woman had a major role in Warner Bros.' original 2007 Justice League project, written by husband-and-wife team Kieran and Michele Mulroney (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), including a rock 'em, sock 'em midair fistfight with a hypnotized Superman. After he lands a shattering blow, sending Wonder Woman jackknifing into outer space, the Man of Steel delivers his parting words, "Die … ***** …!"

Wonder Woman on NBC
David E. Kelley wrote a Wonder Woman pilot for NBC that was shot in 2011. It starred Adrianne Palicki as Diana Themyscira, who not only fought crime in contemporary Los Angeles but also was CEO of her own large corporation. Despite a cameo by Alan Dershowitz arguing against Wonder Woman's extrajudicial reach ("I don't remember anything in the United States Constitution that says a woman in a costume is exempt from the Bill of Rights …"), the pilot never made it on the air.

I was hoping for a screener invite, but no. Wonder Woman stood me up. :(

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D05Uhk-xB8

Wonder Woman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman)'s sword forged by my cast mates on MAN AT ARMS: ART OF WAR (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70140-Man-at-Arms-Art-of-War-New-Original-Series-from-EL-REY-Network).

[GeneChing]

Domestic: $100,505,000 45.1%
+ Foreign: $122,500,000 54.9%
= Worldwide: $223,005,000

BOM (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=wonderwoman.htm)



http://cdn3.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/1500x845/2017/05/thr_splash-wonderwomen-b.jpg
The Complex Gender Politics of the 'Wonder Woman' Movie (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/complex-gender-politics-wonder-woman-movie-1008259)
by Tatiana Siegel May 31, 2017, 6:00am PDT

Can Patty Jenkins make the superhero world safe for female directors? Warner Bros. gambles $150 million on its first woman-centered comic book movie with a filmmaker whose only prior big-screen credit was an $8 million indie: "I can't take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I'm a woman."
Patty Jenkins is sipping some sort of healthy soup-like sludge at a restaurant in Burbank called Olive & Thyme. Dressed in black jeans and a white tank top, with a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on her forehead to keep her straight black hair from falling into her brown eyes, she looks like a grad student taking a break between classes. You'd never guess that this petite woman drinking green gunk is actually the most important female film director in the business today. She doesn't think so, of course.
"I can't take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I'm a woman," says Jenkins, bristling when asked about the heavy responsibility of directing Wonder Woman, the most expensive film ever shot by a person with two XX chromosomes (its $150 million budget surpasses Kathryn Bigelow's $100 million K-19: The Widowmaker). "I'm just trying to make the greatest version of Wonder Woman that I can for the people who love the character as much as I do and hope that the movie lives up to all the pressure that's on it."

And that pressure is superhuman, to be sure. When the biggest female-centered comic book movie ever premiered at the Pantages Theatre in L.A. on May 25 (it goes wide June 2), it was Jenkins' name leading the credits. That would be nerve-wracking enough even for a director with lots of experience working on big-budget superhero movies. But aside from the pilot of AMC's The Killing and occasional gigs on other high-profile TV shows — shooting episodes of Arrested Development and a couple for Entourage — Jenkins' biggest accomplishment (indeed, her only big-screen feature) was 2003's Monster, the indie drama about a female serial killer that earned critical raves and Charlize Theron a best actress Oscar.

Hiring Jenkins, 45 — who had come close to directing a superhero movie before, the 2013 Thor sequel, but ended up backing out — was obviously a big gamble for Warner Bros., a studio that has been having creative if not necessarily financial issues with its superhero franchise films ever since the Dark Knight trilogy. But her taking the helm of Wonder Woman is also a big deal for pretty much every female director in Hollywood with tentpole ambitions. If Wonder Woman is a hit, then doors that have been kept shut for decades could potentially swing open (they are already, at least a crack, with Gina Prince-Bythewood just getting hired to direct Sony's Spider-Man spinoff Silver & Black). If, on the other hand, Wonder Woman turns out to be another Catwoman, the superhero universe could remain a boys club for eons to come.

"That's the challenge — how to tell a story of a woman and make it universal," says Gal Gadot, the 32-year-old Israeli actress who stars as the Amazonian princess with bullet-deflecting bracelets. "We are all used to having male protagonists in movies [directed by men]. But the way Patty has captured the Wonder Woman character, she is very relatable to everyone. Boy, girl, man, woman — everyone can relate to her."

http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/shot_03_111-embed_2017_thr.jpg
Photographed by Miller Mobley
"Wonder Woman can be charming and warm — she just happens to be a demigoddess who can beat the **** out of you," says Gadot.
•••

Jenkins grew up in California. And Thailand. And Kansas. And Germany. Her dad was an Air Force captain (who won a Silver Star in Vietnam) and her mom an environmental scientist; and Patricia Lea, as she was christened, spent most of her childhood moving from one air base to another. As far as she's concerned, it was the perfect training for a future career in filmmaking. "To be a director, you need to be reliable, on time, confident, calm, all of those things you see demonstrated in the military," she notes.

As a kid, she'd always been interested in storytelling and visual arts. Her first job in movies was during junior high, when she was a production assistant on a documentary directed by a friend of her mother's. She ended up studying painting at Cooper Union in New York, where she took a course in experimental filmmaking, and after graduation spent nine years in New York learning filmmaking by working on "literally thousands" of commercials and music videos until she moved to L.A. and enrolled at AFI for directing.
After AFI, she made a couple of shorts of her own, which she used to raise money ($8 million) for her first feature. It was at this point that she first demonstrated a talent for making unexpected but fortuitous choices: She cast Theron, then considered more of a pin-up than a serious actress, as the film's lead, the decidedly unsexy serial killer Aileen Wuornos. "I said to her, 'You know, you're absolutely f—ing crazy,' " remembers Theron of her conversation with Jenkins over her casting. "Nobody else would have done that. It was very, very unusual. She looked at me in a way that nobody has ever looked at me."

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/ww-21192r-embed_0.jpg
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment
Jenkins (left) with Gadot on the Italy set of Warner Bros.' $150 million Wonder Woman.

The film became such a breakout success that dream opportunities began falling into Jenkins' lap. Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager approached her to make a movie about his life story, but she opted to develop it independently rather than at a studio, and it eventually fell apart. Then she was set to team with Ryan Gosling on an indie drama titled I Am Superman (no relation to the DC Universe). But she got pregnant with her now-8-year-old son (she's married to travel writer Sam Sheridan; the three live in Santa Monica, where Jon Favreau is a neighbor), and it got put on hold (she still plans to make the movie with Gosling). Instead, she started directing TV shows — a much less time-consuming job for a new mom — including that pilot for The Killing, which drew critical raves and earned Jenkins an Emmy nomination.

At one point, Jenkins was attached to direct Marvel's Thor: The Dark World, the critical misfire that Alan Taylor wound up shooting after Jenkins left the project (it ended up grossing $645 million worldwide). She won't say what transpired with that film but will talk more generally about a certain unnamed tentpole that she ultimately walked away from (rhymes with "s'more"). "There have been things that have crossed my path that seemed like troubled projects," she says. "And I thought, 'If I take this, it'll be a big disservice to women. If I take this knowing it's going to be trouble and then it looks like it was me, that's going to be a problem. If they do it with a man, it will just be yet another mistake that the studio made. But with me, it's going to look like I dropped the ball, and it's going to send a very bad message.' So I've been very careful about what I take for that reason."

http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/shot_01_062-embed_thr.jpg
Photographed by Miller Mobley
"I can't take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I'm a woman," says Jenkins.

The problem is that tentpole opportunities for women — or any movie directing jobs, for that matter — are still pretty rare … and getting rarer. Despite an increased spotlight on diversity and inclusion, female filmmakers actually lost ground in 2016. Women made up just 7 percent of all directors on the top 250 films, a 2 percent decline from 2015, according to San Diego State University's Celluloid Ceiling report. That downward trajectory puzzles Jenkins. "I'm sure there's a long history of belief that certain jobs are masculine," says Jenkins. "But why a director would fall into that [category] makes me very confused. Because it feels like a very natural job for a woman. It's incredibly maternal in a way. You're caretaking all of these sorts of things."

But around the same time Marvel was making its sequel about the Norse god with the big hammer, Warner Bros. was trying to figure out what to do with its greatest untapped superhero resource. The studio had been toying with the idea of making a big-screen Wonder Woman for decades, with producer Joel Silver going through at least a half-dozen screenwriters (including Joss Whedon) looking for a greenlight-able script (until Silver was relieved of the brand when Diane Nelson was named entertainment president and tasked with shaking up the studio's comic book development). At one point in 2010, there was an effort to bring Wonder Woman back to TV for the first time since Lynda Carter wore the tiara on ABC in the 1970s, with David E. Kelley writing a pilot for NBC. But that never panned out either.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

http://cdn2.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/t8dwowo_ec006_h-embed.jpg
Courtesy of Everett Collection
Lynda Carter on ABC's 1970s TV show.

Jenkins herself came to the Warners lot and pitched her version of a Wonder Woman feature back in 2010. She wanted to make it an origin story set against the backdrop of World War I, beginning with Princess Diana of Themyscira at age 7. But the studio hired another female director, Game of Thrones helmer Michelle MacLaren, who had a different vision — one that turned out to clash with the studio's. "We parted ways over just never being able to agree on the direction we wanted to take the material," says producer Charles Roven of MacLaren's departure from the project. But even before MacLaren left, Roven made sure his daughter, executive producer Rebecca Roven, stayed in contact with Jenkins, "just in case there was a reason that it wasn't going to work out with Michelle." And in 2015, Warner Bros. finally agreed to let Jenkins make her Wonder Woman period piece.

•••

As is so often the case with superheroes, this one arrives just in the nick of time, or so at least Warner Bros. hopes. The studio's past three DC Comics adaptations — Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad — have all made respectable money but also have been disappointments to fans and critics alike (Gadot's debut as Wonder Woman in 2016's Batman v. Superman was about the only bit of that film hailed by reviewers). The studio undoubtedly had concerns about hinging the fate of a priceless superhero brand on a director with no big-screen action experience to her credit. But few female directors outside of Bigelow do, and Warners was committed to hiring a woman, or so it was widely reported. "That was important," admits Roven. "But it wasn't critical."

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/shot_03_020-embed_thr.jpg
Photographed by Miller Mobley
Gadot made her debut as Wonder Woman in 2016's Batman v. Superman.

To Jenkins, though, all budgets are created equal. "My last two TV pilots — Exposed and Betrayal — were over $10 million each," she says. "But you only shoot for eight or 10 days, so it's actually the same budget per day as what I was working on with Wonder Woman. Obviously, Wonder Woman is a bigger budget expanded throughout, but I feel like every experience I've had has been exactly the same from my short film to Wonder Woman, which is, you have 20 percent too little money for what you're trying to do."

And as far as Gadot is concerned, Jenkins would have gotten the job even if she'd been a man. "It might translate to some people that the only reason they took Patty for the job was because she is a woman," she says. "Honestly, they took her for the job because she was the right person to deliver the movie with a similar vision to theirs."

That vision — crafted with screenwriter Allan Heinberg — is what one might describe as a postfeminist Wonder Woman. Jenkins says she strove to temper the character's traditional strength with vulnerability, pointing to Richard Donner's original 1978 Superman as one of her inspirations ("It wouldn't mean as much when he saves Lois Lane if you hadn't gone on that journey with him as a little baby being sent to Earth …"). But it's also clear there's more than a little piece of herself under Wonder Woman's armored bodice. "I have an aggressive streak of my own," admits Jenkins. "I grew up in a family of fighter pilots, and I have a real kindred spirit to that kind of fast-moving aggression and momentum." (Not surprisingly, her two favorite non-work, non-mom pastimes are skiing and speed skating).

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/wonderwoman_08-embed.jpg
Courtesy of DC Comics
The character's first comic book in 1942.

"Credit Patty for not turning [Wonder Woman] into a ballbuster," says Gadot, a onetime Israel Defense Forces soldier turned model turned actress (before Wonder Woman, she co-starred in four of the Fast and Furious films). "Wonder Woman can be very charming and warm and have so much compassion and love for the world. She can be soft and naive. At the same time, she just happens to be this demigoddess who can beat the **** out of you and can be a super badass and smart and confident. Ultimately, she's very relatable."

Theron puts it slightly differently. "Patty loves conflicted women," she says. "She believes women are more conflicted than men, and she tells her stories very much through that eye. That's why you can't take your eyes off her girls because they're showing you something maybe you haven't seen before."

From left: Gadot, Jenkins and Chris Pine on the set of <em>Wonder Woman</em>.
Courtesy of Warner Brothers
From left: Gadot, Jenkins and Chris Pine on the set of Wonder Woman.
When she's on set, Jenkins can be a pretty exacting boss, both physically and psychologically. "The shoots were so intensive, six days a week for six months," recalls Gadot. "But what Patty really cared about most was the emotional fate of a fight because we'd do the drills and the choreography, and you can have them down technically, but if the emotion is not specific, then Patty would say, 'It's not going to translate as well. Let's do it again.' "

Theron has similar memories of working with Jenkins on Monster, recalling a 14-hour day shooting a scene in which her character kills a man execution-style. "I'm not lying. I think I did that scene 50 times — if not more," she says. "By the end of it, I was literally lying facedown in that grass being so exhausted. And she wouldn't stop. And I'm grateful for that. You want somebody to push you further than you can push yourself. A lot of directors don't know how to do that, and Patty is very, very good at that."

•••

On the eve of Wonder Woman's release, box-office omens look promising (even if a London premiere had to be canceled after the May 22 terrorist attack in Manchester). Tracking for the film predicts its opening weekend at a very respectable $87 million, although judging by early word-of-mouth, that could end up being a conservative estimate (reviews have been overwhelmingly positive — "Offers a welcome change of pace from a superhero realm that's often overloaded with interconnections and cross-references," says THR — with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 96 percent fresh rating.) Curiously, tracking also indicates that the film is appealing more to fanboys than fangirls, although producer Deborah Snyder insists "the marketing push is to get everyone" and that female audiences "want to see a strong, empowered woman kicking ass." Roven looks at numbers the same way. "I actually think that with the pressure comes an opportunity," he says. "Historically, audiences in this genre are male — 60 to 40 percent — but if you can really tap the market and maintain the males and actually add a significantly greater female audience, it's a great win-win. You've accomplished something that hasn't really ever been accomplished before."

http://cdn2.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/05/ww-03380r-embed.jpg
Courtesy of Warner Brothers Entertainment
"We love how fresh and timely it feels to be coming out with a kick-ass female superhero movie right now, giving a lesson in some serious female empowerment," says Toby Emmerich, president and chief content officer at Warners.


In other words, the big question mark hanging over Wonder Woman isn't whether a female director can make a successful superhero event movie; it's whether a female superhero can upend that long-standing formula and do something that the male ones haven't accomplished: expand the female base. And at this point, there's no reason to suspect Wonder Woman can't. After all, not all female superhero movies have to go the way of such bombs as Catwoman (or Elektra or Aeon Flux), just as not all male superhero movies go the way of Green Lantern. And if it all goes according to plan, Jenkins is more than ready to return to the character for a contemporary-set Wonder Woman sequel (she and Gadot are contractually committed to a second film). Not that Jenkins wants to limit herself just to tentpoles. She's also hoping to squeeze in a limited TV series based on something her husband wrote — maybe starring Chris Pine, who plays Lyle Waggoner's old role, Steve Trevor, in Wonder Woman — before returning (fingers crossed) to Paradise Island for another go.

"What I never want to do is start phoning it in and making things just to show that I can keep my foot in the door and do big movies," says Jenkins, scraping the last bits of gunk from the bottom of her soup bowl. "I don't care about that at all. I just want to make great movies. And that could come from any direction. It might be a $10 million movie or it might be $200 million movie."


Miller Mobley
This story first appeared in the May 31 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Surely someone here saw this over the weekend. Who's got that first forum review?

[GeneChing]

Nice story on Gal's stunt double.


Stunt double Caitlin Dechelle on 'Wonder Woman' and her real-life superpowers (http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/article/19510724/stunt-double-caitlin-dechelle-wonder-woman-real-life-superpowers)
By Katie Barnes | Jun 2, 2017
espnW.com

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2017/0602/r214803_800x450_16-9.jpg&w=800
Courtesy of Caitlin Dechelle
Caitlin Dechelle has black belts in three martial arts disciplines and doubles Gal Gadot in "Wonder Woman."
Caitlin Dechelle fights for a living.

She doesn't suit up and step into the Octagon, or put on gloves and get into a ring. She slides on shields, thrusts people off towers and wields swords. As the lead stunt woman for the Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment's Justice League film "Wonder Woman," which comes out on Friday, Dechelle may qualify as a real-life superhero herself.

Behind Gal Gadot's portrayal of Diana Prince -- the Amazonian warrior who is also Wonder Woman -- is Dechelle. She's punching, kicking and, yes, leaping through the air. She doubles Gadot and was selected specifically for her fighting proficiency.

"Fighting is my thing and what I'm hired for 99 percent of the time," Dechelle, 26, said in a phone interview.

For the Patty Jenkins-directed "Wonder Woman" film, Dechelle spent eight months (seven in London, and one in Italy) on location shooting, which gave her plenty of time to get to know the woman she was doubling.

Dechelle had nothing but kind things to say about Gadot, who certainly held her own regarding action scenes and fitness. When their shooting overlapped, Dechelle stood off-camera, coaching Gadot through footwork and her portion of the stunts. "She picked up quite well," Dechelle said. "Obviously, anytime you do something you've never done, it's tough, but [Gadot] had such a willingness to learn and was always upbeat."

Dechelle has been honing her superpowers since she was 6 years old, which is when she started taking martial arts. Her two decades of training have led her to black belts in three disciplines: Chinese Kenpo, Japanese Goju-Ryu and taekwondo. All of which proved quite helpful for many of her film projects.

"I was trained to be like the boys, if not better," Dechelle said. "People say that men can do it better, but that's not true. This film portrays that."

However, pro fighting didn't seem like a long-term career option. After high school, Dechelle enrolled at the University of Central Florida as a biology major with the goal of becoming an orthodontist. At the time, she was still participating in martial arts competitions but knew that that road would eventually end. But she wasn't quite ready to hang it up.

"I loved school and was always a straight-A student," Dechelle said. "But martial arts had been my life, so I wanted to somehow transfer that from the competing world into the [entertainment] industry -- still doing what I love, just in a different fashion."

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2017/0602/r214804_400x600_2-3.jpg&h=480
Courtesy of Caitlin Dechelle
Dechelle spent nearly 20 years training in several martial arts before pursuing a career in Hollywood.

However, applying martial arts to stunts is a bit different than competing. Dechelle's stylistic background was in disciplines that preferred straight punches and clean lines.

"I had to learn how to 'dirty up' my fighting," she said.

And, there's a camera. Shooting a fight scene requires an extreme attention to detail that is not always at the forefront of athletic competition. Moving a hand a half-inch might not matter in traditional sparring, but it does on film. Additionally, the actors and stunt performers have to understand camera angles so that the illusion of a strike is present.

"Everyone thinks we're hitting each other, but we're not," she said. "We make sure we're not hitting the actor in the face."

Dechelle's first gig was a David LaChapelle-directed Comcast commercial in 2010, in which she served as the principal martial artist. After that, her career started exploding. She did stunt work for the Jackie Chan-directed 2012 film "Chinese Zodiac" and even worked as Ronda Rousey's stunt double in the "Fast & Furious 7" in 2015.

With her career on the upswing, Dechelle practically lives in the gym. Even when she's working, Dechelle typically arrives on set before her rehearsal call time to fit in 30 minutes of cardio. After rehearsal, she works outs with a trainer for about 90 minutes to two hours. Afterward, she might add a round of weights.

Dechelle also enjoys instructing. She started teaching martial arts when she was 16 and still conducts private lessons and seminars. She thinks about her students when considering the importance of "Wonder Woman" and the imagery of female superheroes. It's not just about how good Dechelle personally is with a sword. It's the impact her work has on the viewers.

"Having such strong women attached [to] this [film], I just think it's going to be fantastic."

Katie Barnes is a writer/reporter for espnW. Follow them on Twitter at Katie_Barnes3.

[GeneChing]

I'll copy this into its own indie thread when the project gets more solid.


JUNE 07, 2017 5:55am PT by Borys Kit
'Wonder Woman' Director Patty Jenkins Not Signed for Sequel (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/wonder-woman-director-patty-jenkins-not-signed-sequel-1010845)
Sources say Warner Bros. will soon begin negotiations with Jenkins, who will have major leverage thanks to the movie's historic opening weekend.

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2017/06/ww-03465rcc-h_2017.jpg
Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
'Wonder Woman'

Sources say Warner Bros. will soon begin negotiations with Jenkins, who will have major leverage thanks to the movie's historic opening weekend.
A $103.2 million domestic opening usually means a sequel is a no-brainer — but director Patty Jenkins has yet to sign on the dotted line for a Wonder Woman follow-up.

While star Gal Gadot has an option in place for Wonder Woman 2 as part of her overall deal to appear in several DC movies, Warner Bros. executives enlisted Jenkins for just one film, a decision that could end up costing the studio millions of dollars if Jenkins' reps drive a hard bargain for her to return.

At the time she was hired, Jenkins had directed just one movie, her 2003 feature debut Monster, and she was taking over the long-gestating project from Michelle MacLaren, who left over creative differences. A one-picture-only deal is said to be standard practice at Warner Bros. for directors taking on a big-budget studio film for the first time.

Warners execs also may have been a bit unprepared for the level of success and acclaim Wonder Woman has achieved; initial tracking reports predicted Jenkins' $150 million-budgeted film would open to about $65 million domestic, solid but hardly a reason to begin planning a long-range strategy. And the studio had been focusing on putting together Justice League Dark, a supernatural team-up project, and Batgirl, a Joss Whedon-helmed film (among other Bat-offerings), as the likely next movies to go into production in the DC Comics universe.

Patty Jenkins (left) and Gal Gadot were photographed May 8 at Milk Studios in Los Angeles.
READ MORE
The Complex Gender Politics of the 'Wonder Woman' Movie
Also a factor in not locking in Jenkins is the studio's more filmmaker-centric approach to its DC slate, where installments are not fait accompli; 2013’s Man of Steel, for example, still doesn’t have a direct sequel despite grossing more than $668 million worldwide.

Some insiders say it was only in recent weeks that Wonder Woman buzz began to grow on the Warners lot in Burbank, so the studio wanted to wait for the opening weekend results before initiating any negotiations. This strategy is a shift from the tactic under previous regimes, which got to work on sequels early. Warners famously greenlighted a sequel to The Hangover two months before the first film was released.

Sources say the studio intends to begin negotiations with Jenkins shortly (although the exact timing is unclear), and the filmmaker and her reps at CAA, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Tyerman will enjoy enormous leverage. Jenkins could not only return to the director's chair on Wonder Woman 2 but also could ink a more expansive deal that would allow her to work with DC Entertainment president and chief creative officer Geoff Johns on a script treatment for that movie and possibly others as well.

None of us have seen Wonder Woman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman) yet? No forum reviews? srsly? :o

[sanjuro_ronin]

As a matter of fact...
Saw it on Monday.
Probably one of he best movies I have seen in a long time.
Thoroughly enjoyed every part of it.
My wife said it was the bets superhero movie she has seen and one of the best, period.
My girls loved it, they loved the kick assery and they loved the story and they loved Gal as Diana and Wonder Woman.
Chris Pine was great, as always, and the supporting cast were all very good.
There was no weakness in the movie at all really.
Personally I would like Gal to add about 10LBS but that's just me.
She sold the action and sold the acting, 100%

Wonder Woman is what all true feminist should strive for:
Strong, independent, loving, compassionate, doesn't ask for special favors or treatment, she simply DOES what NEEDS to be done because she CAN.

A role model for young women.

Again, loved it.

[Jimbo]

I agree with SR's post 100%.

This is the best movie I've seen so far this year. 2017 has been the year for superhero movie "bests". My previous favorites were Dr. Strange and Logan. But IMO, Wonder Woman has both of them beat by a long shot. It's just at a whole other level, IMO. And this is from a dyed-in-the-wool Marvel fan. The director, the actors, the storyline, etc., just work together perfectly. Gal Gadot is the best choice...the only choice...to play WW.

Wonder Woman was always secretly my favorite DC superhero/heroine, and not for the reasons someone might think. I've always felt there was an undefinable potential to WW that was never quite realized, either in the comics or on the small screen. I've always found Superman to be bland; even Batman, not to mention Aquaman. But there was always something more to WW, and now this movie has unleashed her potential beyond anything I could have ever imagined. WW is not just a great superhero movie, but a great movie, period.

Also saw the Justice League trailer. I'm not sure how Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman will be able to share the screen with WW, but I'll go see it for her.

[GeneChing]

Wow, s_r & J both WW (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman) the big thumbs up. It's got to be good.

This strikes me as really funny because I hate the ol' sword-over-the-back thing. How to you re-sheath that? But who am I to critique sword hottie (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?41007-Sword-hotties) fashion? There are more pix - I only posted a few.


Women Are Trying Out Wonder Woman's Sword Trick, And It Works! (http://www.konbini.com/us/entertainment/wonder-woman-sword-trick-social-media-trend/)
by Amanda Adame | 5 days ago

It seems women around the world have really connected with the girl power in the hit film Wonder Woman. Some women are even trying out the Amazonian skills in the flick, like hiding a sword beneath their dresses to channel fearsome vibes.

http://images.hellogiggles.com/uploads/2016/07/23054122/ww5.gif
(via Hello Giggles)

Viewers wondered if Diana's sword trick in the film was plausible in real life, so one girl set out to discover how realistic it actually was. When pressed by a friend, Eva Wei shoved a one-handed regenyei down her sheer chiffon dress, and the results were quite surprising!

As she explains in her Facebook post, Eva put the slick trick to the test and found out she could walk and even dance with the sword in her dress.


Eva Wei (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154757170722252&set=a.10151349122632252.1073741826.735087251&type=3&theater)
June 7 ·

https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18951254_10154757170722252_4384756517191267531_n.j pg?oh=fecdbd5fdfae58b7c6bc72d6a1292f59&oe=59D4F9AF

So, Anna-Karin asked if the sword in dress-scene from Wonder Woman was plausible. I promised to give it a serious try, so I took my regenyei onehander and shoved it down my sheer chiffon dress. It worked.. surprisingly well. The sword sits pretty decent and I can walk and dance in it without that much of a fuss. I also think it could be drawable if it was just 10 cm shorter (which I estimate WW's sword to be) so that also kind of works. So the verdict is that the scene is actually surprisingly plausible.

EDIT: Apparently, this is a thing now. Grab a dress and your weapon of choice and tag #WWgotyourback and let me see all your marvellous creations <3

In the course of just one day, this has suddenly become a thing and women all over are putting weapons underneath their gowns and sharing the results under the hashtag #WWgotyourback on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Check out a selection of the images below for an instant dose of girl power:
https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t51.2885-15/s750x750/sh0.08/e35/18947698_535056090217208_6731892960490684416_n.jpg

[sanjuro_ronin]

She quite obviously held it in place with those magnificent amazonian gluts.
Then, by manipulation of said gluts, the sword "shoots" out into her hand, ready for action ( slice, dice, circumcision, etc)

[GeneChing]

Now Wonder Woman 2 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70375-Wonder-Woman-2) has it's own separate thread from the original Wonder Woman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman) thread.

The 80s were awesome. ;)


Wonder Woman 2 Set in 1980s, Chris Pine Returning? (http://screenrant.com/wonder-woman-2-movie-setting-chris-pine/)
By Andrew Dyce 07.10.2017 112 Comments

WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS for Wonder Woman

–

As Wonder Woman‘s box office success continues to build, it sounds like it may carry her straight into the 1980s for Wonder Woman 2 – with her leading man returning, despite Steve Trevor’s fate. DC Films has been careful not to shift attention away from the DCEU’s runaway success and towards a sequel too soon, with director Patty Jenkins not yet officially returning, even as a a story treatment for the inevitable Wonder Woman 2 begins to take shape. A shape we may now know, at least in terms of setting.

The current timeline of the DCEU made fans question whether Wonder Woman 2 is tied to Justice League‘s fallout (as is the case with Jason Momoa’s Aquaman solo film), or tell another period story set between Diana’s origin and her Batman V Superman debut. Thanks to some new information, it seems that question can be answered, along with the villains Wonder Woman 2 will introduce decades before Steppenwolf ever challenged the DCEU’s Justice League.

According to production details Screen Rant has learned, the story of Wonder Woman 2 will be another historical adventure prior to the modern day DCEU. Set during the 1980s, the film will send Diana against the forces of Soviet Union in the closing days of the Cold War. The production team is expected to remain on board for the sequel, with confirmation that Geoff Johns is developing Wonder Woman 2‘s script with Jenkins (who is still in negotiations, with all evidence and word of mouth pointing to her return once the contracts are signed).

As fans use their imagination to picture the sequel – swapping out the battlefields of World War I for the espionage and maneuverings of Moscow – the last detail may be the biggest relief. The report also confirms that Chris Pine will be returning, once again acting as Diana’s ally Steve Trevor. Exactly how that’s possible given the conclusion of his story in Wonder Woman… may be the real question moving forward.

http://screenrant0.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Wonder-Woman-Movie-Steve-Trevor-Art.jpg?auto=format&cs=tinysrgb&q=50&w=786&h=393&fit=crop

From a marketing standpoint, the decisions all make complete sense. Across the critical and commercial acclaim heaped on Jenkins’s film, the chemistry between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine was one of the most praised aspects – tinged with the fact that one glimpse may be all audiences ever get. On one hand, the winning combination of Steve Trevor and Diana makes his sacrifice in the movie’s final act all the more meaningful for Diana’s character in BvS and beyond. On the other… it’s the kind of formula movie studios tend to pursue at all costs, even ones in less critical hot water than DC Films.

The same line of thinking may be to thank for the decision to tell another story set prior to Diana’s introduction into BvS and the Justice League. The cynics will claim it’s an effort to keep Diana somewhat removed from everything we know about Zack Snyder’s Justice League (despite his role in shaping Wonder Woman with Jenkins), and allow Jenkins and Johns the freedom to tell whatever story she wishes. Taking a step back, though, it seems the smartest move all around. Jenkins has already explained how the Batman V Superman claim that Wonder Woman “walked away from mankind” can mean more than fans inferred, opening doors to any number of compelling stories set in the 20th Century.

With Justice League telling the next chapter of Diana’s story alongside DC’s younger heroes, why not have the cake and eat it, too – filling in the exciting years when Diana was Earth’s only living superhero? And considering the comparisons to Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger the first time around, shifting the next film to World War II would only exacerbate the potential problems. Diana can still comment on the war and its role in shaping the Cold War that followed, after all.

Fans won’t need to be convinced that seeing Diana during the 1980s would be worth the price of admission alone, but the promise of another pairing with Pine (whether a resurrected version, or a descendant of Steve Trevor) should seal the deal. Since Jenkins has stated her feelings that Wonder Woman 2 should be set in America, the heroes may be forced to swap No Man’s Land for a Cold War spy thriller – and who would complain?

Let us know what you think of a 1980s setting for Wonder Woman 2, and whether Steve Trevor’s return is the right move – no matter how the filmmakers explain it.

[GeneChing]

AUGUST 08, 2017 8:41am PT by Pamela McClintock
Box-Office Milestone: 'Wonder Woman' Crosses $400M in North America (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/wonder-woman-box-office-film-crosses-400m-north-america-1025977)

The femme-centric superhero film has defied all expectations since debuting in early June.
Wonder Woman muscled past the $400 million mark Tuesday at the domestic box office — an increasingly difficult feat for any film to achieve in North America.

Directed by Patty Jenkins, the summer hit is a major, and much needed, victory for Warner Bros. and the DC Extended Universe of superhero films.

The femme-centric superhero tentpole, starring Gal Gadot, has smashed a number of records since first hitting theaters in early June, including becoming the top-grossing live-action film of all time from a female helmer, with more than $795 million in global grosses.

More recently, Wonder Woman became the top grossing title of summer 2017 in North America and the No. 2 film of the year domestically behind another female-led movie, Disney's Beauty and the Beast ($504 million).

While certainly no slouch, Wonder Wonder hasn't been as big overseas in comparison to its domestic strength. To date, it is the No. 5 title of the year on a global basis behind Beauty ($1.26 billion), The Fate of the Furious ($1.24 billion), Despicable Me 3 ($881.5 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($861.4 million).

In North America, Wonder Woman has enjoyed the best hold of any superhero in decades, or 3.8 times its opening gross of $103.3 million, besting the first Spider-Man in 2002. Gadot stars opposite Chris Pine in the tentpole.

Regarding where it ranks on the chart of superhero films, Wonder Woman is the No. 8 comic book adaptation of all time domestically, not accounting for inflation. And if it can pass up the $403.7 million grossed by Spider-Man in 2002, it will rest at No. 7. Marvel's The Avengers is the record holder with $623.4 million, followed by The Dark Knight ($534.9 million). Otherwise, no superhero movie has scaled the $500 million threshold.

And Wonder Woman is Warner Bros.' third-biggest movie domestically behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1 million) after passing up the final Harry Potter film ($381 million), American Sniper ($350.1 million) and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.4 million), again not adjusting for inflation.

“When Wonder Woman opened to such a terrific number in June, we thought, ‘This is truly a moment' — for the film, for our industry, for director Patty Jenkins and, of course, for Gal Gadot," stated Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Warner Bros. "Now, more than two months later, Wonder Woman has become a phenomenon, the must-see movie of the summer. Audiences have embraced this character and her story in such a spectacular fashion, and we couldn’t be happier for everyone involved in bringing this incredible property to life and to cinemas across the country."

Gadot is returning for a Wonder Woman sequel, which has received a release date of Dec. 13, 2019. Talks with Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins are ongoing, although her involvement in the sequel hasn't been officially announced.

Didn't realize Beauty & the Beast did that well.

[GeneChing]

I stand with Lynda. She's had me lasso-ed for 40+ years...:o


September 28, 2017 4:22pm PT by Aaron Couch
Lynda Carter Wants James Cameron to "Stop Dissing" 'Wonder Woman' (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/wonder-woman-lynda-carter-wants-james-cameron-stop-dissing-movie-1044257)

http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2017/09/lynda_carter_and_james_cameron_split.jpg
Getty Images
Lynda Carter (left) and James Cameron

"Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do," Carter wrote after the director doubled down on comments he previously made about the film.

Wonder Woman herself isn't happy with comments James Cameron has made about the hit movie about the DC superhero.

Lynda Carter, who played the character in the 1970s TV show, shared a post on Facebook Thursday after a The Hollywood Reporter cover story featured Cameron doubling down on a previous critique he made of this summer's Wonder Woman.

"To James Cameron -STOP dissing WW: You poor soul. Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do," Carter wrote. "Like all women--we are more than the sum of our parts. Your thuggish jabs at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins, are ill advised. This movie was spot on. Gal Gadot was great. I know, Mr. Cameron--I have embodied this character for more than 40 years. So--STOP IT."

Here's a quick refresher course on Cameron v. Wonder Woman:

In August, Cameron sparked a controversy after he called Wonder Woman "a step backwards." He said in interview with The Guardian, "All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. … She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing!"

He pointed to his Terminator protagonist Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) as an example of what a strong female protagonist could be.

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins responded soon after those August comments were published by tweeting, "If women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong, and we aren't free to be multidimensional or celebrate an icon of women everywhere because she is attractive and loving, then we haven't come very far have we[?]"

Cameron explained his comments further in this week's THR cover story.

"Yes, I'll stand by that," Cameron told THR's Kim Masters of the original interview. "I mean, she was Miss Israel, and she was wearing a kind of bustier costume that was very form-fitting. She’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. To me, that’s not breaking ground. They had Raquel Welch doing stuff like that in the ’60s."

He added, "as much as I applaud Patty directing the film and Hollywood, uh, 'letting' a woman direct a major action franchise, I didn't think there was anything groundbreaking in Wonder Woman. I thought it was a good film. Period."

Carter has been a strong advocate for Wonder Woman and its star, Gal Gadot. Read Cameron's full comments to THR here (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/james-cameron-doubles-down-wonder-woman-critique-details-avatar-sequels-1043026).


Lynda Carter (https://www.facebook.com/OfficialLyndaCarter/?ref=nf&hc_ref=ARS9PAXFs73NZs6SzXW2IJZMj_3zCXqW0yk--yAc0Dbm4M8rJeUYr2ddSopMRKs1ySs)
17 hours ago

To James Cameron -STOP dissing WW: You poor soul. Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do. Like all women--we are more than the sum of our parts. Your thuggish jabs at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins, are ill advised. This movie was spot on. Gal Gadot was great. I know, Mr. Cameron--because I have embodied this character for more than 40 years. So--STOP IT.
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[Jimbo]

Funny that James Cameron says that Wonder Woman/Gal Gadot is too attractive for the role of a heroine. Meanwhile, the male actors that play Superman, Thor, etc., all have the lean muscles, abs and overall looks that all the women go ga-ga for. Talk about objectifying. Yet Cameron thinks it's a step backwards for Wonder Woman to be physically attractive. What an idiot. Maybe he should go back to deep-sea exploration.

The thing about the Wonder Woman movie is that they purposely made her outfit LESS revealing and 'suggestive' than the original one.

Edit to add:

James Cameron is probably jealous that Wonder Woman wasn't directed by himself.

[GeneChing]

James Cameron is probably jealous that Wonder Woman wasn't directed by himself.
It looks like Gal will have the last laugh. :p


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU5-_EGfcHw

[GeneChing]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqJtCCRVsAA390G.jpg:large

El Rey Network (https://twitter.com/Elreynetwork)
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9h9 hours ago
TOMORROW! Danny Trejo & the builders bring Wonder Woman's Shield to life! Catch the all-new Man At Arms: Art Of War WEDNESDAY 9p ET on @ElReyNetwork! #dannytrejo #manatarms #weapons #wonderwoman #deathstroke #justiceleague #action #movies #tv #elreyallday @officialdannyt



THREADS:
Man at Arms: Art of War - Original Series from EL REY Network (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70140-Man-at-Arms-Art-of-War-Original-Series-from-EL-REY-Network-with-Gene-Ching/)
Wonder Woman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67096-Wonder-Woman)