Wonder Woman has long been a popular DC Comics character, so it wasn’t a huge shock when DC and Warner Bros. decided to team-up for a Wonder Woman movie. The studio signed on director Patty Jenkins in 2016 and the flick was off to the races afterward, but now Jenkins has revealed she really didn’t know or fully understand the impact Wonder Woman would have on audiences.
In an interview, Patty Jenkins talked about how she didn’t realize Wonder Woman would be a “lighting rod” once it actually was shown to audiences in theaters, also stating it took until some heavy hitters started talking about it before the point was really driven home:
I didn’t really start to make the connection about the lightning rod it was going to hit until it had opened. I assumed that it would be seen just as a superhero film. When you hear about people like Hillary Clinton or Dwayne Johnson talking about you in the press, it’s like, ‘What!’ It’s so crazy and lovely.
Later in the interview with Variety, Patty Jenkins also touched base about becoming “well-known” due to Wonder Woman and how that was also a surprise for the director. You gotta think that most people who sign on for superhero movies these days have to know there will be some sort of impact on popular culture, but there's definitely a difference between some of the lower impact superhero films and the films like Wonder Women that have become notable mainstays in the genre.
Of course, people have liked Wonder Woman as a character for a long time, but without a reasonably good movie to back her, I’m sure Wonder Woman would not have had the exact impact it did on popular culture. Sure, people would still have noted it as being the first standalone female superhero movie in more than 10 years and the first to be helmed by a lady director, but that isn't a guarantee the movie would have made a splash.
Related: Patty Jenkins Calls Wonder Woman 2 Mind-Blowing
Luckily, it also captured audiences emotionally, was hugely successful at the box office, started lots of conversations and even became a popular Halloween costume. In fact, if you have your own Wonder Woman look Patty Jenkins is all for it. The director also said:
I think the legacy of Wonder Woman is a different kind of hero, one that hits the same marks but also really is about love and empowerment in a slightly different way. I think that’s why I love that people wear her outfit. People who are struggling in some sort of way or don’t identify with the world they live in can often find themselves in Wonder Woman.
Next up, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are teaming up for Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to the 2017 movie that got this whole conversation started. That will officially hit theaters on Jun 5, 2020. To find out what all we know about the upcoming movie -- including the fact Wonder Woman will be getting a brand new costume this time around -- take a look at our full guide.
