Superman overcame his loss and moved forward
and became a hero and was brave and yet he
had weaknesses, it was me. And it’s why to this
day I believe in the metaphors of superheroes
so deeply — we always used religious fi gures
or mythical fi gures to tell these universal
stories. Right now, superheroes are our amazing
vehicle for doing that. A lot of people can
do really stupid things with superheroes, but
they’re ripe for the picking to do profound
things with.Do you think they’re needed now more
than ever?
Yes. Passionately. And it’s a tricky line. You
don’t want to be preachy, but we have got to
talk about what’s happening in this world. You
know, there was a period of time that I was like,
“I’ll do one and maybe I’ll do two.” Now I’m like,
“I don’t care about my career. I could do 13,
14 superhero movies in a row and become
Anonymous Superhero Director 7, you know?”
If you can be a part of trying to inspire younger
people of the next generation to be heroes, that’s
what we’re going to need in this world.Can you talk about the role of sincerity?
There was great sincerity in Superman. And
Wonder Woman felt incredibly sincere.
This has been a very long-term, ongoing theme
in my life. I went to a very high-brow, snobby art
school and conceptual art was the name of the
game. And it was so insincere on every level.
And to do something sincere was out of fashion.
The things that moved me to be an artist were
sincere: death, tragedy, love and fear.Below, top
to bottom:
Jenkins with
cast and
crew on the
set of
Wonder
Woman;
Diana Prince
steals the
mystical
Sword Of
Athena.
❯