In its efforts to be seen as competing with Marvel’s ever-expanding movie universe, Warner Bros. put out its own slate of Justice League-flavoured films recently. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio and DC Comics are looking to change things up behind the camera, aiming to hire a female director for** Wonder Woman{
While it shouldn’t have to be seen as a landmark decision, the fact remains that despite early discussions on several films, there has yet to be a female director on either Warner Bros. or Marvel’s current efforts (you have to reach back to 2008’s Punisher: War Zone to find Lexi Alexander bringing a studio effort to life). And finding a good director to bring Gal Gadot’s first solo outing as Wonder Woman would be a firm step forward on that front.
No names were mentioned in the piece, but there are several good candidates out there, ranging from known film names like Mimi Leder and Kathryn Bigelow and less famous but equally capable people such as Breaking Bad’s award-winning director Michelle MacLaren.
We recently discussed the struggles of female directors to find acceptance and fair treatment in one of our Future Of Film articles. "If the first** Star Wars** movie had been invented today, I'd be champing at the bit to direct it,” Belle’s Amma Asante told us. “But it's going to take more than an Amma Asante blockbuster film. I think you need some kind of critical mass, because one or two doesn't really make a pattern. You need three or four [women] doing it within a few years of each other, and having hits with those movies."
And while indie directors such a Gareth Edwards and the Russo brothers have found success in blockbusters, it’s not every director who wants to tread that path. "I can't lie, my sensibilities are the moment are probably different to the idea of that great big blockbuster, but that isn't to say there isn't one out there that would appeal to me,” says Obvious Child’s Gillian Robespierre. “So often I will go to watch brilliant movies that I know I wouldn't be right to direct, because who I am as a consumer is different to who I am as a writer or director."
The right director is out there – now it’s just a case of finding her.