What is a himbo?

Hi everybody!
I just saw G.I. JOE, and was reminded of what director John Lassiter (TOY STORY) said about CARS. In the early cuts, the cars did not seem to be hugging the road: their motion was frictionless. Lassiter said that he had to address the issue of physics in order to make the animation acceptable to the naked eye.
In a CGI fest like G.I. JOE, the camera tends to swirl around the big action scenes in rotoscope and such, perhaps to mask the fact that many of the spectacular stunts don't "read" properly to the audience. Now, I grew up with Ray Harryhausen stop action movies, so it doesn't take much to sell a scene to me. But too much CGI can kill the illusion.
Peter Jackson's KING KONG was simply too long, as was the 1976 Dino de Laurentis/Jessica Lange version; neither holds a candle to the 1933 original. CGI relies on a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, the longer you push it, the shorter you capture of it.
I also found it amusing that G.I. JOE still had a white American President who was in too many scenes to be cheaply reshot before release. Instead of hedging their bet by hiring Morgan Freeman for the Oval Office, they now come across as implying that in the near future we'll be back to hiring white guys for the White House.
All that said, I found G.I. JOE to be a fun popcorn movie and look forward to its' sequel. You go, JOE!
A himbo is a male bimbo. As a baby boomer, I have noticed the rise of himbos.
The acronym for himbo is Husband (or Hanger-on) Incessantly Malingering Bozo Overall. I trust that my fellow boomers can look around them and see himbos growing like weeds all over this great land of ours. As for the Gen-Xers and the Ys, they are probably too used to seeing them to even notice the rise of himbos.
What this means is: the himbos have won!
I have refashioned Steve Trevor (Daniel Craig) as a himbo for my WONDER WOMAN movie, with provocative results.
Steve Trevor has become the Lana Lang of comics, having been married off to Etta Candy (Kate Winslet) and largely discarded since the 1980s reboot of the WONDER WOMAN comic. The reason for this is because that Steve Trevor is the Worst Love Interest Ever in comic books, and maybe in life.
The simplification of the WONDER WOMAN (Eva Green) narrative includes moving her away from the cringe-worthy hand-holding of her romance with Steve Trevor.
We can't just marry her off and expect the audience to accept it, or have her divorced off-camera and start the story from there.
WONDER WOMAN is too smart to be single, too strong to be in a destructive relationship and too interesting to not get struck by Cupid's arrows. The TOMB RAIDER movies favored action over passion, to their detriment.
Romance has been hard to integrate into superhero movies.
While the first two SUPERMAN movies had a romantic element, they also took the romance away and returned Superman to his Fortress of Solitude. Understandable, but not acceptable for WONDER WOMAN.
A WONDER WOMAN movie without romance would be an empty exercise. Our WONDER WOMAN movie will deliver a lot of action, plenty of mythology, and a little romance, so help me, God!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Godly Attributes of Wonder Woman

Hi everybody!
I have already mentioned that the personal life of William Moulton Marston was closer to Charles Lindburgh's than to Amelia Earhart's. Moulton's unwavering focus on bondage in his WONDER WOMAN stories is his self-proclaimed legacy for that character. His position as a scientist, scholar and published author in an industry driven by adolescent drop-outs gave him unprecedented creative control over WONDER WOMAN comics.
Editor Sheldon Mayer gave Moulton a long leash that Moulton tugged-upon every issue. Moulton submitted his stories in typewritten full-script, including panel descriptions. This is a practice used by such comics masters as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman or Alan Moore, but remains the rare exception and not the rule.
Moulton was well-schooled in mythology, having written a book on the subject, which explains his comfort with giving WONDER WOMAN a mythological origin. Compared to SHAZAM!, WONDER WOMAN was a completely mythological person wholly divorced from American qualities.
The gods that Moulton chose were a curious gang of four. HERCULES, who had killed his 3 children and his wife, and had raped Hippolyta and enslaved the Amazons. Really?
HERMES, god of trickery and of speed. What is heroic about that?
APHRODITE, goddess of beauty and sexual desire, material in starting the Trojan War. Sexy? Yes. Heroic? Not in the least!
What, exactly, was Moulton thinking in choosing these three?
I suspect that Moulton was going for the lowest common denominator!
WONDER WOMAN had to be strong enough to not be out-muscled by any man, HERCULES is strong, so there you go.
WONDER WOMAN had to be fast enough to chase down an automobile, HERMES is fast, problem solved.
WONDER WOMAN had to be attractive enough to not need to wear a mask, APHRODITE is beautiful, so instant Amazon supermodel. Come on!
But Moulton also subverted his choices of gods just as bluntly. Once her bracelets are bound, WONDER WOMAN lost her strength. After getting her Invisible Plane, who cares how fast that WONDER WOMAN was? By putting on a pair of glasses when Diana Prince, WONDER WOMAN hid her extraordinary beauty.
Every superhero with staying power needed more than one power, anyway. THE HULK is not only stronger than Hercules, he is invulnerable and can cover miles in one big leap. THE FLASH is not only faster than Hermes, he can also catch a bullet and race back into time. IVANKA TRUMP is not only as beautiful as Aphrodite, her father The Donald can fire anybody: now that's a superpower we could all use! Nyuk, nyuk!
So, WONDER WOMAN did not have powers of any particular distinction. To this day, WONDER WOMAN's powers are not very well-defined.
However, Moulton snuck in one god who gave WONDER WOMAN all the power that she needed. ATHENA has the power of peace, wisdom and of military strategy. Once you have the power of ATHENA, you've got it all. Of course, no one in the 1940s really knew who ATHENA was, so Moulton could not make ATHENA the sole sponsor of WONDER WOMAN's powers. Moulton was enough of an entertainer that he knew he had to play to the cheap seats, so he did, by throwing in the better-known Hercules, Hermes and Aphrodite. But Moulton was only gilding the lilly with those three, the only god who mattered was ATHENA.
Of course, by including Hercules, Moulton completely muddied WONDER WOMAN's mission on earth. Hercules was known as the "savior of mankind" after his twelve labors, but Moulton made him the instrument of the Amazon's downfall.
Since bondage was Moulton's primary message in WONDER WOMAN, by having Hercules as both villain of the Amazons and sponsor of WONDER WOMAN's powers, Moulton was having it both ways. But enough about Moulton's personal life.
My point is, Moulton did not have a fully-dimensional origin for WONDER WOMAN, and he was happy enough to allow those contradictions to remain for as long as he controlled the comic book. However, it are those same contradictions that have hobbled all subsequent efforts to keep WONDER WOMAN relevant as well as popular.
In our WONDER WOMAN movie, Hercules (Hugh Jackman) is the bad guy, period. Aphrodite (Catherine Zeta-Jones) remains the patron goddess of the Amazons. Hermes has basically been replaced by Amelia Earhart (Cate Blanchett). But the goddess with the mostest is Athena (Lena Olin).
When I said that we were simplifying the origin of the Amazons, I did not mean that we were throwing out the baby with the bath water. But we have to be careful.
When the origin of Krypton was conflated in the SUPERMAN movie with Marlon Brando, it pushed Superman almost completely out of the first movie. It wasn't until SUPERMAN II that Christopher Reeve really showed his stuff.
When the first BATMAN movie had the origin of the Joker being that Jack Nicholson was the thief who killed Bruce Wayne's parents, it turned Michael Keaton into a cypher, not the Dark Knight.
When SPIDER-MAN III had the Sandman be the robber who killed Uncle Ben, it threatened to turn Peter Parker into a deranged revenge killer.
These were all mistakes that the movies could have avoided, but they chose symmetry over simplicity.
A superhero origin is one part derangement (Thomas and Martha Wayne are shot in a meaningless street crime, leaving their son Bruce orphaned and rich), one part dumb luck (a bat flies into Bruce's window, so he decides to become a bat), and one part dedication (Because criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot who will freak out when they see a man dressed as a bat... as a BATMAN!) .
We will simply her origin in the WONDER WOMAN movie to clarify her mission and get her into costume before the second reel. That's how we keep it reel in WONDER WOMAN! Woo woo!
By the way, a shout out to PMOY Tiffany Fallon for her great series of photos as Wonder Woman! Kiss your baby goodnight, for me!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Who should direct the WONDER WOMAN movie?

Hi everybody!
He's a LETHAL WEAPON behind the camera. He's a MAN WITHOUT A FACE in his last two movies. He can dance the APOCALYPTO. Some say he has an Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART for having directed THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.
Mel Gibson has given actress Sophie Marceau her best role in BRAVEHEART. Including Monica Bellucci in THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST proved a wicked-good choice. The birthing scene in an underground pool in APOCALYPTO is one of the most radical depictions of a woman's role in the world in my memory.
Every time that Gibson goes behind the camera he goes for it full throttle. He truly puts his actresses through their paces. The scale and scope of BRAVEHEART is equal to any epic of the last 15 years. Hollywood still has not forgiven him for the wild success of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.
As I have written a book on Pocahontas, I love that APOCALYPTO takes place just before the arrival of Captain John Smith and crew in Jamestown.
WONDER WOMAN needs a director who will leap through a window and land like a cat on the sidewalk, below. The WONDER WOMAN movie will show actions that have never been depicted before on screen, simply because the stunts are being done by a woman.
I am persuaded by his movies that Mel Gibson wants to do movies that no one has attempted before, that his sensibility will make WONDER WOMAN resonate with power and daring. Reteaming him with legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel; who worked with him on THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST; will make the WONDER WOMAN movie a thing of beauty.
As we open the WONDER WOMAN movie with Athena (Lena Olin) emerging from the skull of Zeus (Max Von Sydow) to claim her birthright of lightning, the audience will know that it is in good hands with Gibson! Woo woo!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Lessons from The Matrix!

Hi everybody!
Will Smith has said that he turned down the lead in THE MATRIX because he could not understand the script. He said something like, "you see, you don't know that you're in THE MATRIX, but THE MATRIX exists so that you don't know that you're in THE MATRIX, but once you know that you're in THE MATRIX, only you have the power to destroy THE MATRIX, but once you have the power to destroy THE MATRIX, then THE MATRIX will do everything in its' power to destroy you, and, then, hey, say what?!"
First, for an actor who took the lead in MEN IN BLACK and THE WILD, WILD WEST, saying that logical narratives drive his acting choices is rather naive, but let us accept his premise. Next, considering that Jada Pinkett Smith was in the two MATRIX sequels but that he was not also begs the rationale, but, again, let us say his reasons remain true.
But for an actor who has once boasted that he was King of the BlueScreen; or even of the GreenScreen, I offer that the real reason that Will Smith turned down THE MATRIX was less about the script and more about his screen persona.
Let's face it, the only reason that an actor explains why he "turned down" a movie is because the movie that he did instead of the movie that he "turned down" was so lame that people ask him why wasn't he in the movie that he "turned down", right?
From the beginning of his acting career in THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR, it has always been about Will Smith all of the time. After SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, Smith has only since played the Alpha Male. Be it the extended cameo in INDEPENDENCE DAY, the caddy in THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, the slickster in HITCH or the broker in THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, he plays the guy who is The Man.
If you are Will Smith reading THE MATRIX script, then you have got to realize that it is Trinity (Carrie Ann-Moss) who is the motor of the movie, not Neo (Keanu Reeves). Well, Smith is not going to spend the entire movie in a fog while somebody else does the heroic stuff until the last gasp of third act.
But the reason that THE MATRIX is so effective is that Neo takes so bloody long to assert himself; it's as if Sleeping Beauty wakes up and is carrying an Uzi and an attitude. The entire movie is about passitivity and drugs and gamer fantasies. Neo actually dies before his girlfriend; Trinity; manages to pull his fat out of the fire: it's like the reverse of what happened to Uma Thurman after John Travolta plunged a hyperdermic into her chest in PULP FICTION.
Smith would never let himself get rescued like that on screen, does not need a mentor like Lawrence Fishburne, does not need an Oracle in the kitchen, does not need to be a supporting player in his own life.
Will Smith only does a certain kind of a movie and it has afforded him a long string of box office success, but there will come a day when he will be given a supporting role and then we will see his true mettle. Will he become, like Robert Redford, an actor who will insist on being the lead long after all of the good lead roles are gone? Will he become, like Paul Newman, an actor who brings star quality to small parts and vastly improves the movies that he participates in? Or will he become, like Jack Nicholson, an actor with idiosyncratic tastes who is mostly baffling but sometimes brilliant? I suspect he will go the path of Redford.
As an actor, Keanu Reeves has been more adventurous with his career than has Will Smith, and we the audience have benefitted from it. In films like CONSTANTINE and even SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE, Reeves has been better than expected when he could have just phoned it in. Ultimately, successful actors are like small businesses, and every movie is a serious risk to their entertainment portfolio. If every movie Reeves did after SPEED was a variation on SPEED, well, then, he would have never done THE MATRIX. And if Reeves never matches the success of THE MATRIX, well, very few actors ever go beyond the success of their franchise, now do they?
WONDER WOMAN is going to be a movie with mythic figures and modern conundrums all wrapped up in a golden lasso, woo woo! Because that's the way we do it!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

How the Amazon culture works!

Hi everybody!
Let me give you a quick rundown of how I see the Amazons came into the world, were separated from the larger world, and how WONDER WOMAN gained entrance back into the world.
First, the Amazons were conscripted by Ares (Russell Crowe) to be his elite fighting force. In the Ancient World, the Amazons were not a kingdom, a city or a culture: soldiers do not run governments.
The general of the Amazons was Antiope (Charlize Theron), the ambassador of the Amazons was Hippolyta (Helena Bonham Carter). When the Amazons could no longer be controlled, Ares sent Hercules (Hugh Jackman) to destroy them.
Aphrodite (Catherine Zeta-Jones) took pity on the Amazons and resettled them on Paradise Island.
Athena (Lena Olin) blessed the sacred clay sculpted by Hippolyta and brought princess Diana (Eva Green) to life as WONDER WOMAN.
Ares invades Paradise Island while WONDER WOMAN sets up her fighting unit in Manhattan. WONDER WOMAN returns to Paradise Island to free her sisters from the tyranny of Ares.
William Moulton Marston spent the lion's share of WONDER WOMAN's debut story defining the Amazons and did not depict WONDER WOMAN in her costume until the very last panel. This Amazonion culture has proven to be the fallback narrative every time DC Comics is unable to figure out what to do with WONDER WOMAN.
But there never was an Amazon culture in real history, or has there ever been a successful same sex culture in recorded history.
It is important to acknowledge the importance of the Amazons to WONDER WOMAN's legend, but we must avoid getting tangled up in the weeds of the possibilities of the Amazon culture. WONDER WOMAN is not an elegantly conceived science fiction narrative as conceived by Phillip K. Dick, it is simply the most sophisticated premise ever for a superheroine comic by William Moulton Marston.
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

The best female action performance ever!

Hi everybody!
The WONDER WOMAN cast will be collection of the best performers since the cast of THE GODFATHER. Why? Because we can!
It is no small feat to be the best thing in a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche; both since deserving Oscar winners. After seeing Lena Olin in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, you'll be hard-pressed to remember anything else about that movie.
It is a difficult thing to steal a scene from Gary Oldman, let alone an entire movie like ROMEO IS BLEEDING. Oldman completely loses our attention for every minute that Olin is on the screen and never regains our sympathy once she leaves the movie.
Lena Olin gave an essentially feral performance in ROMEO IS BLEEDING, playing an assassin with a fake arm and a sub-zero heart. The ferocious delight she takes in murder goes beyond being unsettling, she simply seems unhinged by the memory of it. It is hard to make crazy believable in the cloying confines of a genre movie, I mean, a steady stream of unapologetic crazy. Heath Ledger came close to it in THE DARK KNIGHT, and received a well-deserved post-mortum Oscar for his Joker. But, my friends, Olin goes much further in ROMEO IS BLEEDING. Olin, here, is all crazy, all of the time, and it is an astonishment. I have seen foreign movies that boast performances which are jaw-droppingly strange, but the heat that rises from the skin of Olin's performance in ROMEO IS BLEEDING transcends mere language.
Olin was once a ballerina, then began acting in Ingmar Berman films. Her lofty pedigree was an invaluable asset in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, but what she manages in ROMEO IS BLEEDING is another matter, entirely: it cannot be analyzed or explained away. It appears to be an uncalculated performance, but it is in fact the height of discipline to bring such furious life to the screen.
Is it any wonder that Lena Olin is the only woman to play ATHENA in WONDER WOMAN: AT LAST?
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

The best action movie ending ever!

Hi everybody!
It was the follow-up to AMERICAN GRAFFITI and was hard-wired into heroic archetypes. The comical sidekicks were transformed from Laurel and Hardy into 2 creaky robots called R2D2 and C3PO. The wise counselor (Sir Alec Guiness) was only a few pints short of Merlin. The earnest hero (Mark Hamill) was orphaned, infatuated and indignant in equal measure. The endangered princess (Carrie Fisher) was more tomboy than Barbie doll. The meta-villain Darth Vader was relegated to the sidelines and revealed almost as an afterthought. The arena of the dogfight was more vast than the summer sky in the dead of night. The music was majestic. The special effects were state of the art for its' time. The leap across the chasm was breathtakingly nostalgic. The leap into hyperspace was audacious. The dashing rogue (Harrison Ford) and his shaggy companion Chewbacca were just menacing enough to make their surrender to heroism meaningful. The pacing was leisurely, the dialogue perfunctory, the budget was small. There was a firefight between the Storm Troopers and our heroes in a trash compactor, for goodness' sake. However, it was that rare movie that got better as it locked into the 3rd act. The first act is to stage the importance of Obiwan Kenobi; which proves to be a MacGuffin; and the plight of the Princess Leia, which proves to be easily solved. The second act is the recruitment of Han Solo and the leap into hyperspace, which is a classic movie moment. But the movie does not realize that Luke Skywalker will never stir the imagination as does Han Solo, it stubbornly keeps its focus on the kid. That proves to be fine, because the 3rd act star war is spectacular, the last minute arrival of Han Solo effective, the last minute escape of Darth Vadar regrettable but acceptable. But it was a clean victory acheived in a trash compactor world.
The reason why the closing scene in STAR WARS is so effective is because it is the first time that we see the princess gussied up, Chewbacca shampooed up, R2D2 and C3PO polished up, and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo dressed up. Our ragtag group of heroes are finally putting on the Ritz and getting their just rewards and, for once, the movie has the good grace to shut up when the getting is good. There is not ironic twist like there was in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the heroes simply get their reward and the credits start to roll. Yes!
Our WONDER WOMAN movies will end on a high note, just like the first STAR WARS! Why? Because we love you, baby!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

How we can prevent WONDER WOMAN from crashing!!

Hi everybody!
Movies are basically visual, audible and musical. The right mix of these three elements can make a movie unforgettable. Too much eye candy; too many loud explosions; or too many notes on the soundtrack can ruin an otherwise entertaining movie. One element can crowd out the other: sometimes you can't hear what the actors are saying because the music is too loud, for example.
Harrison Ford once said that they had to reshoot the closing scene in PATRIOT GAMES because the audience couldn't see his and Sean Bean's eyes when they were fighting. It seems like a small thing, but it can make the difference between disappointing the crowd or sending them home with a big grin.
I just saw HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE, which sports another fine adaptation by Steve Kloves (FLESH AND BONE, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS). While at the start I was concerned that this film was going to get smothered in special effects knick-knackery, Kloves settled into a quite becoming rhythm which matured the principle characters along very nicely. Kloves underplayed each emotional scene, but he took the time to linger when he could, and this served to remind why we enjoy going to Hogwarts so much. Director David Yates also did a smashing job, never pushing too hard and letting the cast shine a bit more than they have in the past.
I have a pivotal scene between Hercules (Hugh Jackman) and young Queen Hippolyta (Helena Bonham Carter) that, if done incorrectly, can do irreparable harm to the WONDER WOMAN franchise. But it also serves as the foundation for all that follows, so it cannot be avoided. It's all about striking the right balance. We have to approach the WONDER WOMAN movie with the attitude that there are no unimportant scenes.
My favorite note about Shakespeare is that someone asked the actor who played the GRAVEDIGGER what the play HAMLET was all about. The actor replied, "It's about the Gravedigger!"
In a way, that actor was right. The Gravedigger, you will recall, gives Prince Hamlet the family history, pointing out that every king and queen has their final reckoning under his shovel. The Gravedigger has also managed to outlive them all, and certainly outlives Hamlet, himself. So the point of the play is delivered by the Gravedigger moreso than by Hamlet.
On the other hand, the only reason that the Gravedigger has a job is because of Hamlet! And so it goes.
We all have a little Gravedigger in us, but in order to keep the WONDER WOMAN movie above ground, we need to remember the basic principles: make it beautiful, make it comprehensible and let the music play!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Why Stunt Casting Does Not Work Wonders!

Hi everybody!
It is easy to overstuff an entertainment with big stars who are given nothing of consequence to do. My goal in the WONDER WOMAN movie is to keep each star important; nobody is being cast just to provide a cameo.
When you see Charlize Theron as Antiope in WONDER WOMAN ARRIVES and Debra Winger as Donna Troy in WONDER WOMAN: AT LAST, these stars are there to advance the WONDER WOMAN narrative and to deepen the movie experience for all of us.
Comic book characters are not known for their fully dimensional characterizations, and WONDER WOMAN is no exception. The correct casting can gloss over gross lapses in the plot in a good way!
For example, Alfred Hitchcock found his perfect Ice Queen in Grace Kelly. After casting her opposite Ray Milland in DIAL "M" FOR MURDER, and then James Stewart in REAR WINDOW, he gave Kelly her best showcase in TO CATCH A THIEF. We don't care about how much older Cary Grant is than she, or much care how ridiculous a notion that Grant is ambulatory enough to be a cat burgler. We just want to see Kelly scoop up Grant in the hotel lobby and drive him off in her sportscar on the winding mountain roads at breakneck speed while he sweats bullets in the passenger seat. We want to see Kelly dish out the best picnic basket since Joanne Woodward's in THE LONG, HOT SUMMER, and to better purpose, yet. We want to see Kelly lure Grant with her fake diamond necklace while the sky literally lights up with fireworks. It is the perfect casting of these two actors that make TO CATCH A THIEF such a treat.
Conversely, I don't think that an entertainment can be completely created in a computer. With all due respect to Skywalker Ranch, sometimes a CGI is just a CGI.
The reason why the car chase scene in BULLITT remains the best ever is because of the drivers. Sure, it begins with the audacious obstacle course of the winding streets of San Francisco, but it does not remain in our memory because of the hairpin turns and the precipitous descent down the stairs. We've seen that a thousand times since, with diminishing returns. It is when both cars open up the throttle in the wide open spaces that the chase is truly on. The scene has no dialogue, but we can read these drivers' thoughts as their grips tighten on the steering wheels. After they try to bump each other off of the road, and glance at each other in their respective rearview mirrors? After they lose sight of each other behind an embankment, then realize that it was only for a moment? It then becomes a test of their driving skill, of their racing along at twice the safe speed limit, of their matchless daring and their incredible luck. We see their eyes darting between the road, the other random cars, the road, their odometers, we see them put the lead out and then slam onto the brakes. The physics of the chase makes sense, it has stops and starts, accelerations and hesitations. It all feels possible when it is all impossible! When one car speeds out of control and explodes at a lonely gas station, we realize that we never wanted this car chase to end. Because it was never about the cars, it was always about the bloody chase!
So my WONDER WOMAN movie is not about the hardware or the CGI, it is about people living larger-than-life lives, and for that we need stars who burn brighter than the ordinary actor. Stars who can work with each other and who enhance the others' strengths. Stars who know when to whisper, when to strut and when to let the camera do all the talking. Oscar caliber actors who can bring a 4 color comic book to thrilling life.
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

A Brief History of the Female Action Movie!

Hi everybody!
The aesthetic of the action movie is well-established for men and for extra-terrestrials, not so much so for women. Let us discuss what I'm looking for with the WONDER WOMAN movie for a bit.
The most successful director for the female hero archetype has been Luc Besson. First was LA FEMME NIKITA (starring his then-wife Anne Parillaud), which concerned the recruitment of a violent street criminal who is groomed to become an international assassin. The physicality of Parillaud's performance and the kinetic energy of the movie is irresistable. It inspired the basic cable TV series NIKITA (with Peta Wilson) and was remade in America as the tepid POINT OF NO RETURN, directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda.
Besson then lifted the character of Leon the Cleaner (of crime scenes) for THE PROFESSIONAL, which concerned a young orphan (the debut of Natalie Portman, who has never been better), taken under the wing of a lonely hit man (Jean Reno) and who learns his deadly trade. While not as thrilling as LA FEMME NIKITA (few movies are), THE PROFESSIONAL remains provocative and a touch unsettling.
(For those who have seen PULP FICTION, the character played by Harvey Keitel - Victor the Cleaner - was "borrowed" from these two films!)
In THE FIFTH ELEMENT, gypsy cab driver Bruce Willis picked up fare Milla Jovovich (Besson's then-2nd wife) who turns out to be the savior of the world. With the slinkiest outfit in memory, Jovovich still manages to fire more bullets than Swarzenegger did in THE PREDATOR.
Unfortunately, Besson's directing career has been tabled because of his vehicular manslaughter conviction, but he continues to be an active action-screenwriter in such films as THE TRANSPORTER series with Jason Strathem and the recent TAKEN with Liam Neeson.
The trick with the female hero archetype is that she not be punished for being courageous, curious or adventurous.
For example, in THE GOLDEN COMPASS, the teenage heroine survives dangers that would have normally made her Victim #3 in your average splatter movie.
Besson's triology of films display an uncluttered appreciation of what a woman can do with a license to thrill!
William Moulton Marston's WONDER WOMAN comic was less an exercise in misogyny than in misanthrope, but it is still a quite grim view of the essential human condition. It was basically OF HUMAN BONDAGE with a smiley face. WONDER WOMAN was less into rehabilitation than she was into transformation - turning evil men into good. This goes beyond incarceration or retributions - things that we can actually implement or aspire to.
Modern psychology has eliminated certain ideations that were popular practices in the 1940s, such as phrenology. Sometimes a bump in the head is just a bump in the head.
Even the lie detector that Marston introduced produced results that are inadmissable in court.
However, the DR. JECKLE and MR. HYDE mentality, the Salem Witch trials, even a movie like THE EXORCIST; all speak to the stubborn belief that possession by evil spirits is possible and solvable.
Marston was engaging in magic realism with WONDER WOMAN, applying cutting edge psychology to a children's entertainment, with truly bizarre results.
If WONDER WOMAN's bracelets were removed, she was driven into an insane rage. Why, exactly? Did her Amazonian discipline completely disappear without Aphrodite's restraints? (More likely, the only way that Marston could rattle WONDER WOMAN's cage was to make this Amazonian exception. Luckily, the readers did not respond favorably to this behavior and Marston rarely included it.)
Even if WONDER WOMAN had this buried evil side, how could she ever hope to redeem us mere human beings from our own evil selves?
Aphrodite's philosophy of "refrain from evil", of "restrain our sisters", and "do it all over again, baby", never made much sense to me.
In the last decade, WONDER WOMAN has been portrayed as either a whiny Cassandra or a naive Pollyanna. Her once-sunny view of life has since turned her into a cynical ambassador (THE NAIL), an embittered princess (THE DARK KNIGHT) or a homogenized tough girl (JUSTICE RIDERS).
WONDER WOMAN is bigger, better and more benificent than she has been shown to be.
WONDER WOMAN is not just a goddess among us slumming with the sinners in the good ol' summertime.
Marston assigned her a different spectrum of emotions than the rest of us, with gradations of reactions and orchestrated scenarios completely unique to her. Maybe Marston was right to encircle her in experiences which completely isolated her from her fellow adventurers.
However, even his editor the great Sheldon Mayer was unable to incorporate WONDER WOMAN into the Justice Society, and when Marston passed, Mayer dumped the WONDER WOMAN comic like a hot potato into the legendary Robert Kanigher's young lap.
When Marston died he took the twinkle in WONDER WOMAN's eyes with him.
We have to respect the weirdness that made WONDER WOMAN wonderful to allow her to return to her legendary appeal.
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Wonder Woman in a bubble

Hi everybody!
Like BIRTH OF A NATION, GONE WITH THE WIND and SONG OF THE SOUTH, some "racial truths" quickly curdle in the light of increased democracy.
William Moulton Marston's WONDER WOMAN; which is far-and-away the definitive version of her; suffers from ethnic caricature and geo-political naivte.
Not that WONDER WOMAN herself displayed any base prejudice, which points to another vital contradiction that the WONDER WOMAN comics benefited from.
Like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, all manner of despicable behaviors were crawling around WONDER WOMAN, but WONDER WOMAN herself always remained above the fray.
After Marston passed, the lurid scenarios that WONDER WOMAN strolled through like a walk through the park disappeared.
Remove WONDER WOMAN from the majority of Marston's stories and they make absolutely no sense, even with WONDER WOMAN around, the rationale usually runs a bit thin.
To his credit, Marston did not write cookie cutter stories that any old character could participate in.
However, the hallucenegenic hyper-reality that WONDER WOMAN operated in never incorporated the conventions that other superhero adventurerers were ruled by.
Marston created a philosophy for WONDER WOMAN to live by, a personality for her to process with, and resources for her to overcome any foe.
Her tiara, her earrings, her Visible Plane, her bracelets, her magic lasso: these made her as well outfitted as Batman.
WONDER WOMAN did not need a Utility Belt as she was stronger than Hercules, swifter than Hermes and wiser than Athena.
WONDER WOMAN has the best, most efficient uniform in comics!
As a character, WONDER WOMAN did not contradict herself, but she proved difficult to integrate into her fellow superhero's stories: WONDER WOMAN could get into trouble on her own and get out of trouble on her own just fine.
Sorry to be briefer than usual, but I also wrote an email to a cultural icon about the WONDER WOMAN movie, tonight! Wish me luck!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

What made the 1940s Wonder Woman comic successful?

Hi everybody!
As we discussed earlier, by compromising WONDER WOMAN's natural development as a person (by separating her aging with WONDER TOT, WONDER GIRL and QUEEN HIPPOLYTA, three completely different people), DC Comics avoided the hard publishing choices that would have kept WONDER WOMAN relevant and made her a more dimensional character.
WONDER WOMAN has long served as a once-over-lightly mythologically-based hero, but her creator William Moulton Marston introduced her as a direct descendant of the greek god pantheon first, and as a contemporary woman a distant second. Every common experience for WONDER WOMAN came as an afterthought: Moulton's focus was unfailingly directed toward the WONDER, only ever-reluctantly on the WOMAN.
It is the mythology; lovingly doled-out by Marston during his 5 year tenure on the character; which gave WONDER WOMAN her completely unique appeal. No comics character was more wedded to a mythology; a culture other than America; than was WONDER WOMAN. To see that constant cultural tension on display in story after story throughout the darkest days of WWII gave WONDER WOMAN an unmatched escapist appeal.
Marston understood that having a strong woman extol the virtues of willing submission to a loving authority was a singular opportunity. Marston did not care that it was a comic book, and it turned out that the WONDER WOMAN comic book ended up being Marston's primary source of income.
As good as being in the WONDER WOMAN business was, Marston never hesitated to push his bondage themes to the limits in every story.
A WONDER WOMAN story would often depict unwilling bondage, playful bondage on Paradise Island, and nefarious bondage by the villain of the piece in the space of the same 8 pages.
Marston knew that he was instructing young boys that it was okay to be bigger than their britches, that even the most wonderful woman in the world wanted nothing more than to be under the control of a loving spouse.
Of course, the unasked question of that gender equation is: why would a loving authority put an obedient spouse in chains?
Gloria Steinem once said that "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle", yet she was thrilled by WONDER WOMAN's adventures as a child. I believe that seeing a woman fully powered-up back in the day was so unusual as to be thrilling despite the driving under-theme, the "racial truth" that Marston was marinating-in that women enjoyed being bound up.
Surely when Steinem put WONDER WOMAN on the cover of the first issue of MS. magazine the furthest thing from her mind was how delightful it was to be chained up like Houdini.
Somehow, there are as many images of 1940s-era WONDER WOMAN being tied up as there are images of 1950s-era fetish queen Bettie Page in the same dire straits. However, WONDER WOMAN was never bound recreationally (except on Paradise Island, which is an entirely different bottle of weird), she was always bound in the course of her adventures and she unfailingly escaped her chains.
It must be this quality that spoke to Steinem; not the chains, but the breaking of the chains. Not the humiliation of the Amazon people by the forces of Hercules, but the salvation of the Amazons by the grace of Aphrodite. Not the rape of Hippolyta, but the image of WONDER WOMAN in her Visible Plane.
It is this combination of elaborate culture, independent behavior and winning personality that made WONDER WOMAN an instant hit in 1941, but it is also the insistent subversive themes that made the WONDER WOMAN comic so wildly successful during the most explosive sales which comic books have ever enjoyed from 1941-1947.
When Moulton passed away, this intoxicating mix of impulses left the WONDER WOMAN comics, never to return. To be fair, no other comic book has ever captured these qualities.
WONDER WOMAN the movie has to be edgy, but it needs different edges to succeed as an entertainment in this less-innocent age. What Marston brought to the party does not translate to these modern times, but we need to be as adventurous in our thinking as Marston was in his to give WONDER WOMAN her due.
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!
Brad

Why A Wonder Woman Movie will work now!

Hi everybody!
Today we'll be talking about (1) the objectifying of bad boy behavior, then (2) the testosterone driven action movies of the 80's and last (3) the few and the proud female action flicks that have struck paydirt!
This will demonstrate how there has never been a better time to deliver the WONDER WOMAN movie, woo woo!
WANNABE PIMPS OF THE 80's (1)
The rise of Madonna as the sex toy of the 80s explains why so many nerds were rolling like pimps on the big screen. First there was (1A) NIGHT SHIFT, which found Michael Keaton running a prostitution ring out of the city morgue.
Next, there was (1B) RISKY BUSINESS, which found Tom Cruise having a one night hooker hootenanny while his parents were away.
Lastly, there was (1C) FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (the apex of the recently departed writer/director John Hughes' movies), which found Matthew Broderick skipping class with the delightful Mia Sara in her skivvies in a jacuzzi. (If that's not Big Pimpin', then nothin' is!)
WHAT MAKES A TRILOGY INEVITABLE?
THE CRACK OF THE WHIP, THE SHOCK OF THE SHADES, THE AGONY OF THE FEET (2)
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (2A) had an astonishing opening scene with barbed spikes coming out of the cold stone walls, huge boulders rolling down narrow corridors, poisoned arrows flying in a flurry, much too many spiders, gaping chasms forded by a grizzled adventurer using his whip as a swing, and ancient treasures snatched away by base treachery. It was an uncanny blend of thrills and character development, guaranteeing that Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones would be back on the big screen.
THE MATRIX (2B) showed how a faceless cubicle drone was transformed into a messianic warrior who could dodge a hail of bullets in a black dusker while wearing the coolest sunglasses ever. With pinpoint special effects turning a bland office building into a modern Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Keanu Reeves as Neo became an iconic cyberpunk hero who deserved additional screen time.
DIE HARD (2C) promised 50 floors of excitement and delivered it more efficiently than the TOWERING INFERNO. With a bank thief (career-best performance by Alan Rickman) pretending to be a terrorist, the movie enjoyed a terrific 2nd act twist. But the enduring legacy is the creation of a hard luck urban hero as the weeble who wobbles but who won't fall down. The underrated Bruce Willis as John McClane basically gave a performance into a walkie-talkie, and when he ran barefoot across broken glass worldwide audiences knew that they had found the unlikeliest Alpha Male of the 80's. Yippee kay yay, indeed!
ALIENS: WHAT'S SPACE GOT TO DO WITH IT? (3)
The most successful action heroine franchise began as the space horror flick ALIEN (3A) - where no one could hear you scream. Director/writer James Cameron; fresh off of TERMINATOR; decided to give Ripley a brand new crew and a whole hive of ALIENS - this time it's war. Ripley became a reluctant leader against a vicious enemy. With big guns and a New Jersey attitude, Sigourney Weaver swaggered her lithe frame around that space ship like a samurai warrior. It was like watching Mary Poppins go ghetto and pick up an AK47, and it worked like gangbusters (or GHOSTBUSTERS: who do you call?). Weaver received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for her efforts and spawned 2 more sequels.
Less successful (but still fun) was LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER (3B) with a plot that even a gamer would be hard-pressed to understand. Croft is a freelance archeologist without a strong personal motivation, so all of her elaborate exertions became less compelling the longer the movie soldiers on. Supporting Oscar winner Angelina Jolie was better utilized in the notorious MR. AND MRS. SMITH and the provocative WANTED, but her two TOMB RAIDERS remain the last big budget attempt at a female driven action franchise.
THE BOTTOM LINE
We no longer need to send women into deep space or down an archeological dig for them to act heroically. Women can save the contemporary, modern world just like a man. However, we need to start with the Cadillac, the Cartier, the pink champagne of heroines to get on the good foot.
Without WONDER WOMAN, every superheroine would be either a girlfriend or an also-ran. WONDER WOMAN stands alone in an ocean of wannabes. WONDER WOMAN will not be ignored, overlooked or avoided. It is our patriotic duty to make a WONDER WOMAN movie!
Tomorrow, more good stuff! Be good!
Brad

How Do We Make Wonder Woman bigger than Elvis?

Hi everybody!

When BATMAN the movie came out in 1989, it was after an oppressive marketing campaign. As expensive as the movie was, the marketing outlay was even greater. For a brief moment BATMAN made Jack Nicholson the highest paid actor in Hollywood. The BATMAN soundtrack album by Prince is the last time the Purple One's music hit the #1 Billboard spot. Since then, probably only TITANIC and THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY have marketed so hard and profited so well.

WONDER WOMAN is a multi-platform property that needs just as insistent a campaign!

Our opening volley for WONDER WOMAN is insultingly simple: Body Painting. There is no costume anywhere that would benefit more from the airbrush of the High Priestess of Body Painting: Joanne Gair.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you. If I thought a GOT MILK? campaign would be enough to make WONDER WOMAN the center of the pop culture universe, I'd go for it.

What WONDER WOMAN needs in the marketplace of ideas is heat, relevance and currency. WONDER WOMAN is the total package and she needs to be totally packaged.

Let us embrace the timelessness of WONDER WOMAN's appeal. The effortless glamor and entrepreneurial savvy of Heidi Klum will open the pages of Vogue, Bazaar and Cosmopolitan to images of WONDER WOMAN. We need Heidi Klum in the room!

Let us allow the fetish edge and subversive qualities of WONDER WOMAN have made her more than just another pretty face. The bad girl ways and theatrical flair of Dita Von Teese will find a ready audience in the less genteel gentry of the general population, opening the pages of Playboy and Stuff and Lad Mags to edgier images of the Amazon princess. Please oh please give us Von Teese!

Let us admit that brevity is the essence of lingeree, and that no one shashays better than Victoria's Secret. Who better than sometimes-chaste Adrianna Lima to bring fire to the smoky sultriness of WONDER WOMAN? Vanity Fair, Elle and Esquire are her kingdoms to acquire for the glory of our lady of eagles. Please'a join our team'a lady Lima!

Let me now go on record as saying that I do not agree with the decision to turn WONDER WOMAN's eagle into a double "W". I have much love for former DC publisher Jeanette Kahn. Writer Roy Thomas is a comic book writing legend, and Gene the dean Colan drew the best-looking Iron Man of anybody. But Kahn, Thomas and Colan should have left WONDER WOMAN's classic costume alone.

Let me close (clothes?) by saying that while at first the WONDER WOMAN costume appears to be too elaborate it is actually a quite elegant uniform. The knee-high red boots are white striped vertically, giving her additional height. The blue shorts are bedecked with white stars. The waist is corseted and visually mirrors the tiara. The central golden pillar over her abdominals give her additional length. The eagle emblem is both her bustier and logo. Her back brace is low waisted. Her red top covers her rib cage and stomach so that no one can confuse it with a mere swimsuit, this affords freedom of movement while providing functionality. Her arms sport her bullet-deflecting bracelets. Her red-starred tiara doubles as a boomerang. Her red star earrings double as radio receivers. The color palette scheme is "primary": red, gold and blue, with white highlights. The jewelry accentuates; it does not detract.

Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good!

Brad

Why Hasn't There Been A Wonder Woman Movie? Part II

Hi everybody!
First, some extraneous business!
* I listed Christopher Reeves (sic) instead of Christopher Reeve yesterday, my bad! :(
A shout out to Chloe Grace Moretz, the hero's sister in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, whose wise-beyond-her-years delivery reminded me of Jodie Foster during her BAD NEWS BEARS days (which is the highest compliment, my friends)! I would love to have Chloe Grace in WONDER WOMAN: AT LAST!
* An additional shout out to Minka Kelly (of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS fame) also in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER as the upgraded potential soul mate Autumn. Always a smart actress, Minka brought a welcome architectural job hunting coolness to the wearing-a-bit-thin quirkiness of this clever movie. In fact, I would love to see the INFINITE DAYS OF AUTUMN sequel!
A third shout out to Evgeny Sidikhin who beautifully underplays a Russian major in A WOMAN IN BERLIN opposite the tremulous Nina Hoss. Sidikhin delivers the kind of performance that transcends subtitles and eschews voiceovers: bravo!
* Lastly, happy 25th anniversary to the magnificent Cirque du Soleil! They came to give a free performance at The Grove in Los Angeles, and they rocked the house in large amounts! I sat behind the open air stage just in front of the bridge overlooking the water fountain, and arrived early enough to see the performers arriving in street clothes to rehearse their routines. Of course, Cirque du Soleil has reinvented the modern circus by not using animals, by composing their own music and by creating narratives which overcome language barriers. I believe that there is no better theatrical or concert experience in the world, and if you have not seen them, you owe it to yourself to do so! Cirque du Soleil performed a 10 minute act from each of their 6 permanent Las Vegas shows: MYSTERE, "O", ZUMANITY, KA, LOVE (featuring Beatles music) and BELIEVE. The temperature in L.A. was in the 90s, and by mid-afternoon, they were icing down the stage so that the performers would not burn their faces while doing their amazing acrobatics. Not only is Cirque du Soleil vastly entertaining, they are complete professionals!There was one lady who performed in black lace and panties from ZUMANITY (their most provocative show) whose laser beam focus while twisting herself into my favorite pretzels made me think that she was doing it all just for me :). After her set, she put on a silk robe (of course) and took some photos with a young man in a wheelchair and I thought that I should point out to her that I was feeling a bit weak in the knees, myself, and could I have a little bit of that, please?! That may seem salacious but this girl was outrageous! Anyway. Make your way to Cirque du Soleil!
Okay! Now on to today's business!
Why hasn't there been more character development for Wonder Woman since 1941?
Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston, who is best known for having invented the Lie Detector. Instead of basing Wonder Woman's heroic motivations on Amelia Earhart, Marston created the Amazon culture.
Amelia Earhart was an aviator, author and entrepreneur who disappeared on an attempted solo flight around the world in 1938. Her fame was approaching that of Charles Lindbergh and she was the very model of the New American Woman that Marston was (reportedly) trying to extol. Had Marston based Wonder Woman's background on Amelia Earhart, he would have had a credible psychological foundation upon which to build her heroic character. Instead, Marston chose to create Wonder Woman's personality out of the whole cloth to advance his own psychological theories.
While creating the Amazon culture gave Marston a ready supply of adversaries and allies for Wonder Woman (the Olympian gods, some of whom bequeathed her powers, others of whom opposed her efforts for peace), this failed to give her a credible civilian identity. Compare this to Captain Marvel (Shazam), whose civilian identity as Billy Batson; newspaper boy; allowed the character to find his lost lost sister (Mary Marvel) and befriend Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr.), leading to a wealth of interlocking characters which inspired hundreds of stories. Making Wonder Woman an Amazon princess further alienated her from ordinary experience, leading to a distorted supporting cast.
Steve Trevor never succeeded as a romantic partner and served more as a scolding father figure in the stories who always got into trouble. Etta Candy was less a best friend than an enthusiastic cheerleader who sometimes assisted in solving crimes. But there was never a strong emotional connection with either her civilian or superhero identities made.
Marston died 7 years after creating Wonder Woman, so the writing was given to the great Robert Kanigher, who managed to muddle her character developing even further. Marston had told several stories in which Queen Hippolyta had imitated being Wonder Woman in place of her daughter, which was weird enough. Kanigher over the 25 years as her writer created Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot on top of that. These proved to be not earlier versions of Wonder Woman, but SEPARATE PEOPLE from Wonder Woman.
The bottom line is this: instead of struggling to integrate the different ages and experiences of Wonder Woman into a unified whole, DC Comics had completely different people existing as Wonder Tot, Wonder Girl and an older Wonder Woman, so they never had to address her childhood, her teenage years or her dotage in a serious way. They could field test Wonder Woman's boyfriends with Wonder Girl, Wonder Girl could get married and have a child, Wonder Girl could have her husband die and go all cosmic on us, and NONE OF THIS happened with Wonder Woman. The older Wonder Woman could turn her back on humanity and declare war against America, the older Wonder Woman could die heroically in ultimate battle, and NONE OF THIS happened with Wonder Woman. Wonder Tot could be a disobedient toddler, Wonder Tot could playfully get into all kinds of trouble, Wonder Tot could have imaginary friends who turned out to be all too real, and NONE OF THIS happened with Wonder Woman.
The only time Wonder Woman's real-time personality was explored in the comics was during her DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN years from 1968-1973, and no less a personage than feminist leader Gloria Steinem put the kibosh to that experiment.
So with her creator Marston failing to give her a grounded background, and her benchwarmer Kanigher failing to integrate her experiences, Wonder Woman was rudderless from 1941-1968. That's a long time to not receive a serious makeover. And during the most creative period of the Silver Age of Comics (1968-1973), Wonder Woman was stripped of her powers and denounced by Gloria Steinem.
So in the 21st century, Wonder Woman remains an icon without a brain or a spine. That might work for the Incredible Hulk, but Wonder Woman needs a lot more than that to make a movie around her succeed!
Tomorrow, more goodies! Be good out there!
Brad

Why Hasn't There Been A Wonder Woman Movie?

Hello, everybody!
I just saw JULIE & JULIA (a terrific movie for foodies and non-foodies alike!) and have decided to join the blogosphere!
Having failed to attend the San Diego Comic Convention this year :( I wanted to share my ideas for the Wonder Woman movie! I have prepared a screenplay to make this happen!
The movie rights are held by producer Joel Silver (of MATRIX TRILOGY fame) and Wonder Woman is owned by DC Comics, a subsidiary of Time Warner. Joel Silver is trying to decide between a movie taking place in WWII or in modern times.
I believe that Wonder Woman is a timeless character whose adventures should be set in the present day! I also believe that the expense of setting the movie in the past will further delay bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen.
What actress should play Wonder Woman? Having just seen Meryl Streep play Julia Child like she was "found money", only a surpassingly excellent actress should be given the golden lasso. Eva Green (CASINO ROYALE, THE GOLDEN COMPASS, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN) has the bearing, the acting chops and the exuberance to bring this thoroughly modern Wonder Woman to vibrant life!
How long should the movie be? Bigger than BATMAN BEGINS, my friends!
The challenge with Wonder Woman is that she has a complicated background. How the Amazon culture works needs to be explained. How Wonder Woman was created by sacred clay needs to be shown. Finally, how Wonder Woman begins her mission for peace in the world. Those three things alone are one movie.
However, as the Wonder Woman animated DVD showed, that leaves hardly any time for Wonder Woman to get into costume and get down to business. That was the same problem with the first Christopher Reeves SUPERMAN movie: too much Krypton, not enough Metropolis Marvel.
Then, Wonder Woman's civilian identity (that of a "philanthropologist") needs to be established. Her first battle with the Cheetah (played by Alison Lohman, MATCHSTICK MEN, DRAG ME TO HELL) needs to take place. Her definitive fight with Ares (played by Russell Crowe, STATE OF PLAY, THE INSIDER, GLADIATOR) has to happen. These three things comprise a second movie.
So; like SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN II, or, more relevantly, like MATRIX: RELOADED and MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS; two films need to be made back-to-back and released within the same calendar year to control production costs, retain the top flight talent and to maximize the wonderment!
These two films shall be called WONDER WOMAN ARRIVES and WONDER WOMAN: AT LAST!
Is Steve Trevor (played by Daniel Craig, CASINO ROYAL, THE GOLDEN COMPASS, QUANTUM OF SILENCE) a credible love interest? No, and he never has been. In these movies, Steve is married to Etta Candy (played by Kate Winslet, TITANIC, LITTLE CHILDREN, THE HOLIDAY), with some interesting results. So a different man (Matt Damon, the BOURNE trilogy) with strong ties to Paradise Island; to Aphrodite particularly; needs to be introduced, serving as a bridge between her childhood in Themiscyra and her new life in Manhattan.
Why doesn't Wonder Woman get along with her mother, Queen Hippolyta (played by Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN, EXCALIBUR, STATE OF PLAY)? It's more than a generational thing, it's that thing between Ares and Aphrodite (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, THE MASK OF ZORRO, CHICAGO) which finds Wonder Woman caught dangerously in the middle.
Did Aphrodite create the Amazons? In these movies, it is Ares who creates (then destroys) the Amazons, and it is Aphrodite who sequesters them away to Themiscyra. This helps to better clarify Wonder Woman's mission for peace.
Who built the incredible Visible Plane? As Wonder Woman's comic debuted in 1941, it makes sense that Amelia Earhart (who disappeared in 1938 and is played by Cate Blanchett, THE AVIATOR, BANDITS, ELIZABETH) would have been rescued by Aphrodite and brought to Paradise Island, where she then built the Visible Plane, which is a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing).
Thanks for reading!
Tomorrow, I'll post more of the proposed cast and have other goodies! If any of you have seen JULIE & JULIA and enjoyed it as much as I did, please let me know! Be good!
Brad