10. WW2 SETTING: I believe that the first film in the proposed franchise should be set during the forties near the end of the war. Plainly speaking, it was a simpler time and almost every thing was black and white. Setting the movie and origin of the character in present day would be somewhat confusing. The story goes that during WW2, Intelligence officer Steve Trevor, a colonel in the air force is shot down over Paradise Island and is rescued by Princess Diana who falls in love with him at first sight.
09. Play up the GREEK MYTHOLOGY aspect of WONDER WOMAN background: Wonder Woman is a character based in pure fantasy. There is nothing sci-fi about her (unlike Superman). I think that Paradise Island should look like something out of a Ray Harryhausen film (Jason & the Argonauts, the original Clash of the Titans).
The Greek Gods (at least the female ones.) should be seen at some point in the first film. Wonder Woman’s homeland should be inhabited with all manner of strange & fearsome creatures.
08. LINDA CARTER MUST PASS THE TORCH: Linda Carter should be cast in the only bit of stunt casting of the franchise as Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazon World … Wonder Woman’s mother.
Ms. Carter retains her stunning beauty to this day and has expressed interest in some sort of role in a “New” Wonder Woman project (See: Extras on the Wonder Woman DVD / Season 1).
07. Steve Trevor has to a “HUNK”: Wonder Woman is a tricky project to bring to cinematic life and a HARD SELL to some of the male demographic. Just think, in making a Wonder Woman film you’re making a pro-feminist action oriented “Chick Flick”. Guys don’t generally like to be seen as helpless in these movies.
I believe that STEVE TREVOR should be modeled after pulp action heroes like Indiana Jones, Rick O’Connell & somebody like Doc Savage. He should be badass, but in a human way …i.e. still get himself into situations over his head which would require Wonder Woman’s assistance.
06. NO TONGUE-IN-CHEEK: REMEMBER...The GOAL here is to create something that stands on pare with other franchise movies like Donner’s SUPERMAN & Nolan’s BATMAN films. You want this to be a BIG CASH COW for WARNER’S & DC films.
Humors is okay, but just keep it to a minimum.
05. WONDER WOMAN MUST BE A FEARSOME FIGHTER: The new version of Wonder Woman needs to have “the skills to pay the bills” i.e. when she has to dispense some justice, it should be a sight to behold. Jettison the judo like tosses and high jumps of the television series for some major ass kicking on par with Zack Snyder’s 300.
Don’t be afraid to have Wonder Woman use some classic Greek weapons like the javelin, short sword & shield … Heck, you could even make her legendary bracelets a version of the Cestus (definition-ancient Greek battle glove).
4. This film should be modeled on Spielberg and Lucas’ “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and to a lesser degree the only competent movie Stephen Sommers has directed so far “The Mummy”.
3. DO-NOT-“CHANGE”-THE COSTUME: No modernization is the name of the game here. Wonder Woman must remain the same (although some slight change from WW2 to modern times should be slightly implemented.) She could for instance initially wear battle sandals of the ancient times and graduate into the boots and heels she’s been drawn in for over 40 years.
2. JETTISON “DAUGHTER MADE FROM CLAY” ORIGIN: Part of Wonder Woman’s current origin is that she was made from the clay surrounding her island home of Themyscira (Paradise Island). This origin makes her a mythological “GOLEM” (a mystic avatar made of clay by Jewish rabbis). This would look rather ….STUPID.
Perhaps part of the film franchise could focus on Diana’s parental heritage. Make her father the mythological Greek Demi-god Hercules of even more intriguing … make her dad “Ares” God of War.
1. CAST THE “RIGHT” WOMAN: This would be probably the hardest task to accomplish if you wanted to make a DECENT WONDER WOMAN movie franchise. I’ve read innumerable times about Beyonce, Lindsey Lohan and Sandra Bullock either being interested in the part or as in Bullock’s case …being offered the role outright.
You have to cast a fresh face that people haven’t seen too much of or an outright unknown. Megan Gale had the look of the character at the time she was cast, but George Miller’s project fell through (and rightfully so.). I’ve seen whole blogs dedicated to actress / model Taylor Cole.
MEGAN GALE
TAYLOR COLE
[Note: Taylor Cole definitely has “the look” … I’ve been saying so ever since she guest starred on a season 1 episode of Supernatural.]
You could probably make the case for occasional “Smallville” guest star Serinda Swan as well. She also has other worldly beauty.
SERINDA SWAN
And another WONDER WOMAN candidate could be the up-n-coming actress Gemma Arterton. She has the goods as recently seen in Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia this past summer (2010).
GEMMA ARTERTON
In a word …. SHE’S HOT!!
WONDER WOMAN has to be a beautiful warrior woman with a Regal and GENTLE soul. Someone that can go from the aforementioned traits into FULL THROTTLE HEROINE MODE ion an instant. People are in awe of her astounding beauty as well as her power that is fearsome to behold.
You can’t cast some mature actress with a long face (Bullock), pop stars (Beyonce), a disgraced emaciated actress (Lohan) or anybody that looks like a porn star.
WONDER WOMAN is a ROLE MODEL for girls and Women. She should be the BIG TENT POLE franchise for that coveted 18-34 slot of young men and adults.
I’m optimistic at this time that a happy medium can be reached. So we all will just have to see what happens wont we?
WONDER WOMAN GALLERY
DEDICATED TO LINDA CARTER
Please rate & comment on this feature. I'd like to get your thoughts on what would make a good WONDER WOMAN movie.
Shadowgeek10 returns to the shadows once more …