to direct one — I gotThor: The Dark World. And
that was a very heartbreaking story because
I was so happy to have gotten the job, but I did
not think the script was going to work. I thought
that I was going to take the fall for it, and it was
going to be a big deal because it was going to look
like a woman did it. And so I just dug in, saying,
“It can’t be this script.”Did you just walk away?
I told them I’m not doing the script, and they
told me they were doing the script.There’s a circular narrative with superhero
movies: they’re loved by men and boys;
therefore men have to make them for men
and boys. How did you break that?
I think I got lucky, because they’d followed what
they thought was right and it didn’t work out. By
the time they hired me, they were very supportive.
But it wasn’t easy getting across the finish line.
We had our struggles and there was a fear that
womenwould not show up to a superhero movie.It had been a difficult time for DC, which
must have felt like a risk and responsibility.
I feel like it was a real tremor. Like, it was
shaking us constantly during the release process.
Luckily, the movie still was what it was. It wasDo you think it’s harder as a female
screenwriter?
Yes, I do. In a weird way, I feel that I’ve always
been embraced and offered a lot. More than,
I think, men, because there aren’t that many of
us, right? So I continued to stay active in the
conversation and I’m so grateful for that. I feel
like the studio system was always wanting to talk
to me and offer me jobs. But I did feel like the
jobs they were wanting to offer me were not of
a point of view that felt right for me to express.
There were a lot of male-visioned versions of
female films. My biggest complaint against
Hollywood for a long time was: it’s not that you’re
not trying to hire women, you need to involve us
in what movies should be made in the first place.
Because you’re not really interested in my point
of view. You want me to walk around on set so you
can take a picture of me, but you don’t actually
trust in and believe in women-driven content
being anything but tampon commercials. Like,
there’s something they think is inherently soft
about female filmmaking — which is changing.Those other films you were being offered —
was there a temptation to take them for the
money, having a family and bills to pay?
Nope. I will direct TV episodes for money, but
not a movie.Did you think at that point you might stay
doing pilots?
There was a moment that I was like, “I give up.”
It’s not to wave the sexism flag, but I think if
somebody directed a movie likeMonsterwho
was a man, somebody would have financed their
crazy second movie. But me it was like, “Hmm,
no.” They were like, “Oh, we’d love to meet with
Patty Jenkins,” but they didn’t want to read my
script. They wanted me to direct something
about a hooker with a heart of gold.How did theWonder Womanconversation
begin with Warner Bros.?
I’d come to Hollywood very much because of
things likeSuperman, so it was the only studio
that I was able to walk into and say, “I want to
directWonder Woman.” And Chris Nolan was
making theDark Knightseries then and they said,
“Okay. Cool. So we’re not doing that right now.”
Then they sent me a version [of the script] that
Joel Silver was working on when I was eight
months pregnant. And I was like, “Not now! I’m
busy!” I couldn’t even make myself read it. And
it’s funny because after those dark moments
where it was like, “Wow, I madeMonster,” and
then I couldn’t get that done and then I had my
son and I couldn’t getanything. But to end up
getting to do the very next thing I wanted to do
anyway, which wasWonder Woman,andgetting
to spend time with my son feels... I’m so grateful,
I could cry. I’m like, “Oh, my God. I got to have
him, and I got to makeWonder Woman.”When did it start to become real?
Before I got the job — because the word was out
there that I loved superhero movies and I wantednot easy to change the tone. But it was not a tone
that people were sure about. They believed in
more serious...I feel like the legacy of Chris
Nolan’s films was that people thought that’s
what DC had to be.Wonder Womanwas a critical and commercial
smash. Was there one particular moment
when you were like, “We’ve pulled it off!”?
The night the reviews came in. I was laying on
my bed meditating and my phone rang, and I saw
that it was Gal [Gadot] and I was like, “Fuck, they
must be good! If they were bad she would not
be calling me.” I was so relieved. And then it
grew and grew, and I started getting pictures of
women posing in front of the posters. I was like,
wow, we’re actually in the middle of an event that
I never knew I would experience in my life.Apart from this film and maybe a third
Wonder Woman, what’s next? Your
Netflix deal?
I love TV. It allows you to tell a different kind
of story. So I really do have a passion for both.
And I have a passion for comedy, which I would
like to get to do more of in television.The Young Onesfor 2020?
Alamy, Getty, AAP Yes! Exactly.
Main
picture, left:
Patty
Jenkins:
“I loved
superhero
movies and
I wanted to
make one.”
Right, top to
bottom:
Gadot
reprises
her Diana
Prince/
Wonder
Woman role
inWonder
Woman
1984 ;
Kristen Wiig
plays villain
Barbara Ann
Minerva/
Cheetah
in the
new film.