As the long-lead marketing campaign for Suicide Squad heats up with some electrifying Empire Magazine covers, Warner Bros. is solidifying plans to start production on its next DC Superhero film, Wonder Woman. While Squad has the honor of directly following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and bringing a bit of a supervillain twist to the genre, Wonder Woman is also unique in that it will be the first female-led superhero pic of the post-Iron Man era.

Warner Bros. has been working hard to put Wonder Woman together, and while they had their leading actress Gal Gadot set long ago, filling out the other pieces of the puzzle has been more difficult. Impeccably talented TV director Michelle MacLaren initially signed on to develop and direct the film before departing over creative differences, and WB has been rumored to be developing multiple separate scripts at the same time. However, Patty Jenkins (Monster) has been onboard to take the helm for a while now, and recently the film landed its first new cast member: Chris Pine.


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Image via Warner Bros.

Pine is said to be playing the role of Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman’s love interest, and many are hoping the film will play on gender tropes by positioning Trevor as the “damsel in distress”-type character that the female traditionally fills in a superhero movie. While it will likely be some time before we discover just how, exactly, Trevor fits into the story, Pine recently confirmed to Premiere (via Heroic Hollywood) that he is indeed co-starring in the film, revealing a very promising behind-the-scenes piece of information: Jenkins is shooting on film:

"I do not really know what I'm allowed to tell you. I'm super excited, of course, Gal Gadot is super talented, Patty Jenkins will perform, and we will shoot in film ... What excites me most is to turn in a movie with a superhero woman. With a woman in the lead role. I team with this intelligent, beautiful and strong [woman] to destroy the wicked and save humanity."

The interview was printed in French so the translation is a tad wonky, but Pine certainly seems to suggest that Wonder Woman is treading rare territory behind the scenes. Almost everything is shot digitally these days, but David Ayer shot Suicide Squad on film, so it appears that Warner Bros. is granting Jenkins the same courtesy of capturing Wonder Woman in the same medium. Perhaps it provides a bit of cohesiveness to the DC Cinematic Universe—though Zack Snyder shot most of Batman v Superman on digital.

Regardless, I’m certainly enthused to see how Wonder Woman comes together, and nabbing Pine as the co-star and shooting on film is a promising start. The film is slated for release on June 23, 2017.


For more on Wonder Woman, peruse our recent coverage below:

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Image via Paramount Pictures