Wonder Woman

[Ribbons]

I hope that this isn't legit, because... she doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I'm not terribly impressed with Bilson as an actor, so whatever it is that Joss (hypothetically) sees in her, I don't get it.

[Flumm]

I just re-read that, and it comes off as pretty strong fanwank. My apologies.

that's ok, MW, we're used to it.

<- Fanwanked?



...

Ah, who am I kidding, no matter what Peven says, you can fanwank me anytime, Whedo.


EDIT: Sorry, I just reread that and it comes as pretty weak whedowankage. My apologise.

[Peven]

I just re-read that, and it comes off as pretty strong fanwank. My apologies.

...

Ah, who am I kidding, no matter what Peven says, you can fanwank me anytime, Whedo.

reminds me of Pulp Fiction, "before we start sucking each other's dicks here....."

[Flumm]

I was just trying to acknowledge MW's moment of humility with a small divertion of solidarity and humour ACTUALLY.

...

So... despite my apparent attempts at deflection, you're still infact kind of right, Peven...






Wanker.




(*deflective wanky winky smiley*)

[MasterWhedon]

* clutches remaining shread of dignity and hopes no one sees even bigger fanwankage overe here *

[Leckomaniac]

I must say that Rachel Bilson is beyond cute. She would fill out the costume very well. But I thought that Joss was looking for a taller actress to play the part...Rachel is pretty short. Her stature is about the only knock that i can find against her. If she is, in fact, Wonder Woman...I will see this movie 20 times...each time in the back row...wearing sunglasses...and a fedora...and a trench coat...and...well you get the picture.

[TheBaxter]

i can think of plenty of actresses who could fill out a silver bra better than her.

[Leckomaniac]

I hope that is not a knock against my sweet Rachel Bilson. I will fight any man to defend her honor.

[doglips]

LOL, So chivalrous Lecko! I would do the same for Reese Witherspoon.

Bilson looks the part to me. Perfect for Whedon's WW.

[athenabodicea]

This is really disappointing to me...
I mean dont get me wrong (Rachel Bilson is absolutely adorable-but this role needs more than just good looks)
I was really hoping for a more mature (exotic looking/Greek looking) stoic Wonder Woman... I have never seen The O.C. so I shouldnt really cast my disappointment yet but she is just not what I had pictured... She seems more likely to fit the role of Wonder Girl imo...

Well, I just hope she is able to pull off that powerfully commanding amazonian warrior attitude with that pouty looking face

How tall is she???
I hope at least 6 feet.... (Ok at least 5'9")

Wonder Woman needs to be taller than or at least as tall as the average man....

*biting nails*

I guess I just have to put my trust in Whedon...
Or hope this is just another rumor...

EDIT:
I just read Lecko's post...

If she isnt tall this must be just another rumor..
I am fairly certain that Whedon was looking for a "statuesque" actress to play this role..

[Leckomaniac]

Yeah Athena Rachel is not very tall...and not in any way "statuesque". I mean I ADORE Rachel Bilson...however...I really don't think she is right for this role. As much as I would love to see her wearing that outfit for two hours...I think someone along the lines of what Athena discussed (exotic looking...stoic) is a more fitting appraoch. I really doubt this is accurate.

[doglips]

Since Whedon has been attached, I have always imagined a coming to terms with herself ( power wise and womanhood wise ) story for Wonder Woman. Would that be a cliche for him now? Or are we going to get a classic Whedon female character?

[Ribbons]

Don't know.

I do remember one of the things Whedon saying, though, is that the actress could be any age, because living on Themyscyra (?) makes her completely naive to the ways of our world no matter how old she is. That doesn't mean he wouldn't eventually decide it works better with a young'un, but if it's a "coming-of-age" tale of sorts, he might be inclined to skew older anyway.

[athenabodicea]

Well the Wonder Woman he is writing is most like the golden age Wonder Woman. He will be focusing on the greek goddess/amazonian aspects of her character... Definitely a classic Whedon female character here...

Edit: There is a difference between being naive and being immature.... This is the hard part about trying to portray Wonder Woman imo...

[RogueScribner]

It's being reported that Rachel Bilson has been cast as Wonder Woman. I've never watched The OC, so I can't attest to her acting ability--though I will be seeing The Last Kiss this weekend--but she sure is purty.

She certainly looks like a Whedon heroine...

She sure is purty, but not quite how I pictured our star spangled Amazon Princess. She's a bit petite, no?

[ONeillSG1]

Yes, very petite.

I feel Angelina should be Diana. Oh well.

[Concrete Block 15]

[Leckomaniac]

There is a very funny interview with American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee over at superherohype regarding her connection to the role of WW. She comes off as a complete idiot, IMO. Here are the highlights.

So anyway, onto other subjects, then. One of the more interesting things I've read is that your name is being bandied about to play Wonder Woman in Joss Whedon's big-screen adaptation.
[Laughs.]

Can you discuss?

I just laugh about it. I mean, I'm not gonna deny it, or admit to it. But it's funny because no one has even received this so-called Wonder Woman script. It's like there's so much buzz created around a script that isn't even in the hands of any actresses yet. And that's all I'll really say. Yes, there have been, you know, like, conversations about it, but as far as the role being mine, or me being the lead up for it, I don't really know. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes in terms of producers and directors getting together to talk about a potential film. As far as I'm concerned, I don't even know if [a] Wonder Woman [movie] is going to happen for sure. I mean, I don't know who's financing it. So it's very flattering. And I think it's interesting how I've somehow wound up in the media again. My manager makes fun of me; he says, ''You're just like my little press hound, aren't you?'' [Laughs.]

Well, it's got to be a little flattering to be mentioned for such an iconic role.

I will say, I do hear some things my fans are concerned about — they're very protective, my fans — and when they heard I was doing a Shape magazine cover shoot — first of all I don't know how they find out about stuff like that — but they're concerned that I'm gonna be this slutty female on the cover of a magazine, and that's not my direction at all. As far as them being concerned about Wonder Woman being my first movie, I think it would be a huge mistake for me to attempt to tackle a role like that for my debut. I really want to make smart choices, and I don't think that would be a smart choice. A lot of times, regardless of whether you're a blockbuster actress, those kinds of movies fail. So it wouldn't be very smart for the girl off a reality television show to take a film like that for her first motion picture. I keep those things in mind. I'm really business-savvy.... Growing up in the business, and having parents who are in the business, I think I get it. And I understand it's not just about being talented, it's about making really smart decisions, and that's always been my priority. And, of course, the album.

Maybe I am being to hard on the girl...I never watched an episode of American Idol...but based on that interview she seems like a complete moron. "My fans are very protective"...yeah right.

[Chairman Kaga]

If this was years ago I would think Sigourney Weaver would have been perfect I can't think of someone contemporary though.

[RogueScribner]

Tiny WW update from Joss via an EW article:

Everything that was hard at the beginning is still hard. I don't feel like I've nailed it yet, and I think the studio agrees. So I'm still plugging away. It's probably not as hard as I think it is, because I'm still a little fired from my TV decade. I should have taken a year off. It's now too late to realize that. But it's a big job. And besides her great origin story, there's nothing from the comics that felt right 100 percent, no iconic canon story that must be told. Batman has it made — he's got the greatest rogues gallery ever, he's got Gotham City. The Bat writes himself. With Wonder Woman, you're writing from whole cloth, but trying to make to feel like you didn't. To make to feel like it's existed for 60 years, even though you're making it up as you go along. But who she, and what the movie, is about, thematically, has never been a problem for me. But the steps along the way, it could be so easy for them to feel wrong. I won't settle. She wouldn't let me settle.

So I guess he's still trying to crack the nut that is Wonder Woman. I wonder how long he'll go before either he or Warner Bros. decides to move on to other things?

[Shane]

Whedon doesn't seem confient in this venture which gives me no assurance that this will turn out as good as some would like. I think at this point it should be scrapped.

[Ribbons]

Tiny WW update from Joss via an EW article:

Everything that was hard at the beginning is still hard. I don't feel like I've nailed it yet, and I think the studio agrees. So I'm still plugging away. It's probably not as hard as I think it is, because I'm still a little fired from my TV decade. I should have taken a year off. It's now too late to realize that. But it's a big job. And besides her great origin story, there's nothing from the comics that felt right 100 percent, no iconic canon story that must be told. Batman has it made — he's got the greatest rogues gallery ever, he's got Gotham City. The Bat writes himself. With Wonder Woman, you're writing from whole cloth, but trying to make to feel like you didn't. To make to feel like it's existed for 60 years, even though you're making it up as you go along. But who she, and what the movie, is about, thematically, has never been a problem for me. But the steps along the way, it could be so easy for them to feel wrong. I won't settle. She wouldn't let me settle.

So I guess he's still trying to crack the nut that is Wonder Woman. I wonder how long he'll go before either he or Warner Bros. decides to move on to other things?

I worry sometimes that this will be one of those movies that the principle filmmakers attached to talk about making for so long but never do, and that finally gets abandoned several years down the road, there to wait in limbo for a decade until someone else finally finishes it. Whedon always talks about the process of writing Wonder Woman, and that he loves her but she's a tough nut to crack, etc., and we must've gotten close to a dozen blurbs that constitute updates of that nature; and -- even though it's impossible to tell -- the whole time, I don't think I've ever gotten the impression that he's actually making progress. Plus, Whedon's got so many other things on his plate (Goners, "Runaways," Buffy comics) that I can see him allowing himself to get sidetracked. Oh well. If it'll happen, it'll happen.

[Adam Balm]

I worry sometimes that this will be one of those movies that the principle filmmakers attached to it talk about making for so long but never do, and that finally gets abandoned several years down the road, there to wait in limbo for a decade until someone else finally finishes it.

Shades of Superman?

[Peven]

I worry sometimes that this will be one of those movies that the principle filmmakers attached to it talk about making for so long but never do, and that finally gets abandoned several years down the road, there to wait in limbo for a decade until someone else finally finishes it.

Shades of Superman?

soooooo..............Singer ends up making it, Wonder Woman gets knocked up, has a kid, and stalks the father?

[Adam Balm]

And it becomes a pseudo-sequel to the Linda Carter tv series!

[Ribbons]

I worry sometimes that this will be one of those movies that the principle filmmakers attached to it talk about making for so long but never do, and that finally gets abandoned several years down the road, there to wait in limbo for a decade until someone else finally finishes it.

Shades of Superman?

Basically. Stuff like Watchmen springs to mind as well.

[Adam Balm]

Yeah. Either way though, while movies that go through that process aren't perfect, they are usually better than the several incarnations preceding them that didn't get made. And they usually aren't as bad as movies that get rushed into production to meet a release date...

[Peven]

whoa, then, then, Supe's son and WW's daughter could meet while going to boarding school for kids with superpowers, run by a Professor ............Z, and have to come to the rescue of their parents when they fall victim to Lex Luthor who is attempting a land scam deal by blowing up all the dikes in the Nethrlands and creating beachfront property in Germany and Belgium, which of course,he has already bought up for bargain basement rates.

[buster00]

whoa, then, then, Supe's son and WW's daughter could meet while going to boarding school for kids with superpowers, run by a Professor ............Z, and have to come to the rescue of their parents when they fall victim to Lex Luthor who is attempting a land scam deal by blowing up all the dikes in the Nethrlands and creating beachfront property in Germany and Belgium, which of course,he has already bought up for bargain basement rates.

Tim Allen could play the teacher! It would go over really really well.

[torpor_haze]

Joss Whedon had an interview with fanboy radio. He talked a little about Wonder Woman. Nothing much we haven't hear already. He was asked how different was it for him to write for a solo than ensemble project. While he was talking about it, he mentioned Steve Trevor as someone who would be interacting with Diana.

[ONeillSG1]

whoa, then, then, Supe's son and WW's daughter could meet while going to boarding school for kids with superpowers, run by a Professor ............Z, and have to come to the rescue of their parents when they fall victim to Lex Luthor who is attempting a land scam deal by blowing up all the dikes in the Nethrlands and creating beachfront property in Germany and Belgium, which of course,he has already bought up for bargain basement rates.

Announcer: So you just basically ripped off the plot to Sky High and made into an abomination. Where are you off to now?

Peven: I'm going to Disneyland!

<fade to black>

[Peven]

hey, SkyHigh was actually a fun, unpretentious little movie my 9 and 10 yr old loved.

[RogueScribner]

I liked Sky High. I hope Wonder Woman can be as entertaining!

I'm speculating, but I think if Warner Bros. doesn't receive a good draft of the script from Whedon some time early next year, they may start looking for other writers. What of Whedon then? Without Wonder Woman, will his Hollywood mojo drop (what little of it there may be)?

[Chilli]

I'd say Whedon managing to hook a primo comic-book adaptation gig after the rather dissapointing Serenity Box-Office shows that he is held in high enough steam to continue getting work. Besides, if WW goes belly up he can move onto Goners, which as an original film doesn't have the stigma of either comic-book lore or failed TV show-dom.

[RogueScribner]

Yeah, but he hooked the gig before Serenity was released. I was actually surprised Warner Bros. didn't drop him soon afterwards. So I figured they liked his ideas and there'd be progress soon, but one year later . . . *sigh*

[Chilli]

New information. Cheers dude.

[Shane]

hey, SkyHigh was actually a fun, unpretentious little movie my 9 and 10 yr old loved.

My oldest is 7. He didn't care too much for it. I think it had too much teen dating stuff for him. It wasn't too bad for what it was. If I were a kid of that age I know It would have been one of my favorite movies.

[Al Shut]

whoa, then, then, Supe's son and WW's daughter could meet while going to boarding school for kids with superpowers, run by a Professor ............Z, and have to come to the rescue of their parents when they fall victim to Lex Luthor who is attempting a land scam deal by blowing up all the dikes in the Nethrlands and creating beachfront property in Germany and Belgium, which of course,he has already bought up for bargain basement rates.

Announcer: So you just basically ripped off the plot to Sky High and made into an abomination. Where are you off to now?

Peven: I'm going to Disneyland!

<fade to black>

Sky High had dutch dikes?

Maybe I need to see it afterall.

[Peven]

hey, SkyHigh was actually a fun, unpretentious little movie my 9 and 10 yr old loved.

My oldest is 7. He didn't care too much for it. I think it had too much teen dating stuff for him. It wasn't too bad for what it was. If I were a kid of that age I know It would have been one of my favorite movies.

my 14 yr old daughter really liked it too, and of course at up the whole teen dating aspect of it. she would be prime audience material for a decent WW movie too, if Whedon can figure out how to write one.

[The Ginger Man]

Just out of curiousity. Has there been any mention of how Wonder Woman will be handled as a character? Will this be the Wonder Woman with a secret identity or will she just be Diana aka Wonder Woman?

[RogueScribner]

Whedon mentioned a fish-out-water aspect to the story, and the fact that Steve Trevor would be involved, so I'm thinking there may be dual identities, but I'm not sure. He hasn't spilled any beans on what the general story is yet.

[Peven]

that latest blurb from him makes it pretty clear a lot is still up in the air as to how the character and story will be handled. if he is still wrestling with the approach then i think the possibility of an '08 WW movie is starting to slip away.

[The Ginger Man]

Hrm. I'm getting a little tired of the Superhero/Secret Identity story. It works in comics, b/c it's a never ending medium. But for film, I think it's getting repetitive and tired. It works for certain characters like Spider-Man b/c the story is more about Peter Parker, and Batman b/c duality is a key story theme. But Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Capt. America, Thor... these are all heros with future projects. And they would all be stronger w/o the secret identity story. It's not like the secret identity stays hidden. Key supporting characters ALWAYS find out who the hero is by the film's ending. Just seems like a waste of plot at this point.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

You know what? As much as I think that Rachel Bilson is painfully horny and gorgeous, and how I'd just die if I saw her in a nightclub as there'd be no way I could pull her - isn't she not voluptuous enough to play Wonder Woman? Also, she seems more Wonder Girl. her body didn't look that incredible curved in that WW costume in the OC. She looked great no doubt, but not enough for WW's curves anyway.

[Peven]

so, are you saying you want to see WW as Diana when she isn't fighting bad guys? wouldn't it be difficult to fill an entire movie of WW zipping around in her suit the whole time without any character development? i thought the whole alter ego device was a way to humanize these superpowered heroes so we mere mortals are be able to identify and empathize with them, which draws us into the story more.

[RogueScribner]

so, are you saying you want to see WW as Diana when she isn't fighting bad guys? wouldn't it be difficult to fill an entire movie of WW zipping around in her suit the whole time without any character development? i thought the whole alter ego device was a way to humanize these superpowered heroes so we mere mortals are be able to identify and empathize with them, which draws us into the story more.

Dare I say it? I agree with Peven.

Superman wouldn't be half as interesting without Clark Kent.

[Adam Balm]

so, are you saying you want to see WW as Diana when she isn't fighting bad guys? wouldn't it be difficult to fill an entire movie of WW zipping around in her suit the whole time without any character development? i thought the whole alter ego device was a way to humanize these superpowered heroes so we mere mortals are be able to identify and empathize with them, which draws us into the story more.

Dare I say it? I agree with Peven.

Superman wouldn't be half as interesting without Clark Kent.

But Mr. Fantastic doesn't have a secret identity and he's not bor-



...okay you win this round Trebek.

[RogueScribner]

Ha ha.

[Peven]

good point, Adam, but we get to see Mr Fantastic's personal life as well, since his public persona and hero persona are one and the same. with WW, what does she do in her off time if she does not have an alter ego? what kind of interpersonal relationship would there be for the audience to care about? i'm not saying there couldn't be one, i don't know much about the comic so maybe there is a way, i am just asking.

[RogueScribner]

But that's just it. Do we want Wonder Woman "on" all the time? She's from a secluded island community steeped in tradition. It makes sense that she'd want some privacy from the public. Easiest way to do that is to assume another identity when she's not playing hero.