Wonder Woman movie should be directed by a woman. Presuming you agree with that statement, who do you think should get such a gig?
One of the big news drops last week wasn't just the deluge of DC Comics adaptations on tap for the next five years but also the explicit "written in Sharpie" release date for Wonder Woman. Yes, Wonder Woman will presumably be the first female-centric superhero movie of the modern era, and the first such superhero movie of its ilk since Elektra in 2005. Obviously franchises like Lionsgate's The Hunger Games (which inspired a similar list at my old haunts when Gary Ross left the franchise) and smash-hits like Universal's (Comcast Corp) Lucy have shown that female-centric action fantasies can play in the same blockbuster playing field as the boy-centric ones, and smaller-scale horror-skewed action films like Resident Evil and Underworld have shown that having a female lead as super-powered heroes in a horror-type setting doesn't necessarily harm the box office. But these films are nonetheless still directed by men and the perception remains that female directors either don't want or can't handle the conventional "big" studio movie. If Wonder Woman really wants to be even more of a trend-setter, Warner Bros. and company can start by hiring a female director to helm the action-fantasy tent pole.
In an era when male directors can get their own would-be franchise after helming an indie film or a few commercials, female directors still struggle for even an opening into the world of modern blockbuster filmmaking. One movie won't make a revolution, but when even four-out-of-five Twilight films, both Sex and the City films, and pretty much every major female-centric (and male-centric of course) end up being directed by men, the first step toward relative parity can come from putting women behind the lens with female-specific properties. DC Comics has the chance to shatter a thick glass ceiling with a genuinely appropriate property. With that in mind, here are a handful of viable candidates for the job, all of whom have at least as much experience in directing "big" movies as (all due respect) Marc Webb had before signing onto The Amazing Spider-Man, and all represented in glorious alphabetical order. For the record, I am not necessarily taking into account whether any of the below contenders would actually have any interest in a Wonder Woman movie. If they don't want the gig, that's fine. But I would be as pleased as punch if anyone of them got it.
Lexi Alexander
I don't like The Punisher: War Zone. The film makes a fatal narrative flaw in that it exposes the counterproductive reality of Frank Castle's war-on-crime and yet still expects us to root for him as innocent bystanders drop like flies. But the film, which is the only example of a comic book superhero-type movie being directed by a female, uses the oft-adapted character in a unique way, crafting what amounts to a slasher film where the silent monstrous killer is the "good guy." It's a well-directed and colorful movie (the three-color palette is an interesting companion piece to the obviously less-hyper violent Schumacher Batman films), with terrific action sequences, that I just happen to not care for. Ms. Alexander has been outspoken of late about the barriers to females breaking into the industry and it's hard not to sympathize with her frustration. If Warner Bros. wants a female director who actually has experience directing comic book action (even a cheaper $30 million R-rated entry), then Ms. Alexander is the only game in town.
Drew Barrymore
Ben Affleck kick-started his directorial career with the (absolutely terrific) box office flop Gone Baby Gone ($34 million worldwide) and got the chance to helm The Town and the Oscar-winning Argo. Two years later, Drew Barrymore made her directorial debut with the (absolutely terrific) box office flop Whip It ($16m) and got the chance to make... nothing. She hasn't directed a second feature five years out and has nothing set-in-stone on the horizon. If Gone Baby Gone and the cops-and-robbers tale The Town can get Affleck on the proverbial short-list to direct Justice League and other such properties, then the superb roller-derby drama should have opened at least a few doors for Ms. Barrymore. Whip It proved that Barrymore absolutely has the chops to make a great movie, a great movie with a large ensemble (Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, etc.) cast no-less. The film's narrative, of balancing what you want out of life versus doing what is expected by your family and the very real compromises that can from "following your dreams" are certainly ideas that could play into a Wonder Woman origin story or a film that looks back on her origin accordingly.
Kathryn Bigelow
She often tops the list for these kinds of discussions, often as a token nod to gender-diversity, frankly because she is arguably the only female director that many people can think of on the spot. All she had to do to earn such "on the list" contention was become the first female in history to win a Best Director Oscar. She has of course been directing hard-action pictures for thirty years. She's helmed the likes of Near Dark (a dusty vampire thriller that still holds up 25 years later), Point Break (which is really better than its camp-fueled reputation), the underrated Blue Steel, the ahead-of-its-time Strange Days, the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, and the even better shoulda-been Oscar winning Zero Dark Thirty. Many of her films involve puncturing the masculine-centric myth of strength-through-violence, which would make great material for a Wonder Woman film. If Warner Bros. wants instant critical respectability then Bigelow will be at the top of the list, regardless of gender.
Ava DuVernay
Considering how rare it is for any remotely high profile film to be helmed by a woman of color, it is notable enough that Ms. DuVernay has a relatively big film on the horizon that can act as a calling card should she desire a crack at a so-called blockbuster. Her Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma is one of the bigger would-be Oscar contenders coming down the pike in December, which in turn was a rare example of a woman of color getting a big studio gig off of a small indie (her 2012 gem Middle of Nowhere). If it's as good as we all hope it is, then Ms. DuVernay will be primed to hopefully get the kind of opportunities afforded to male filmmakers as a matter of course. Does DuVernay want to do a Wonder Woman movie? I have no idea, but she's one of our best bets if we want a Wonder Woman movie that is actually about something beyond just the visceral appeal of the iconic female superhero butt-kicker finally doing her thing on the silver screen.
Patty Jenkins
Seemingly hired late in 2011 to helm Walt Disney and Marvel Comics' Thor: The Dark World, Ms. Jenkins was supposed to become the first female director to direct a mega-budget comic book tent pole. But "creative differences" sent her packing, and she replaced by longtime television director Alan Taylor (director of the heartbreaking Homicide: Life on the Street series finale and the superb Mad Men pilot, but presumably hired due to his Game of Thrones work). Taylor did fine, although his film is arguably among the least personal and most assembly-line of the Marvel projects thus far. In an age where Gareth Edwards gets a Godzilla movie after a low-budget indie horror film like Monsters, Jenkins has barely worked since directing the Oscar-winning low-budget indie Monster nine years ago. She won an Emmy for directing the pilot for AMC's The Killing in 2011, but that's pretty much all she has done since 2003. If you haven't seen Monster in a while, it's a still a pretty great movie, and it's certainly more than just Charlize Theron's deservedly-Oscar winning star turn (Christina Ricci is just as good). Call it poetic justice or merely good sense, but Warner Bros. can certainly win free positive press for grabbing what should have been Marvel's glory.
Mimi Leder
In the late 1990s, Mimi Leder was on her way to becoming one of the biggest female directors in modern history. But while male directors get whiff after whiff until their eventual 'comeback film' (think Scorsese in the 1980s, from Raging Bull to Goodfellas), Leder was out after just one high-profile miss. Never mind that The Peacemaker was a frighteningly ahead-of-its time action drama (and a painfully underrated one at that), never mind that Deep Impact was at-the-time the highest-grossing film in history directed by a woman. The critical and artistic disaster of Pay It Forward pretty much killed everyone involved, basically ending the film careers of Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment while fatally damaging Kevin Spacey's prestige for a decade or so. Leder hasn't directed another theatrical feature since that 2000 disappointment (she helmed the 2009 Morgan Freeman/Antonio Banderas direct-to-DVD action flick Thick As Thieves). Her planned remake of All Quiet On the Western Front never came to pass and she has continued to direct television (Shameless, The Leftovers, etc.). If you want a female director who knows how to craft top-notch action that packs an emotional punch, why not hire Leder and spring her from director jail?
Jennifer Lee
As a general rule of thumb, when your most recent (original and non-franchise-affiliated) film goes on to gross $400 million in America and over $1 billion worldwide, that's generally a "good" thing for your career prospects. And for the record, the female half of the Frozen directing duo (along with Chris Buck, who should also be on the various "short lists" right now) has signed on to her next project, the pretty awesome-sounding big-screen adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, which is arguably a better "cash-in" than joining a comic book superhero property. And while there isn't anything specifically in Walt Disney's Frozen that screams "Wonder Woman!," it stands to reason that one of the directors who helped revitalize the Disney princess fairy sub-genre could also step in to make female superheroes cool one more, just as (for example) Martin Campbell revitalized James Bond twice while making Zorro the coolest superhero known to humanity. From a marketing perspective, having "from the director of Frozen" on your poster and your trailer won't hurt in the slightest.
Sarah Polley
If I had to pick an absolutely preferred choice, it would be Ms. Polley because she is basically my favorite filmmaker in the business right now. Her directorial debut in 2007, the blistering Alzheimer's drama Away From Her, was a scorchingly powerful character play, while Take This Waltz was a towering look at marital dissatisfaction and discord. She followed up those with a genuinely stunning and creative documentary Stories We Tell, which painfully and acutely examined the filmmaker's own personal family history in a way that played to and subverted the conventions of the documentary form. I have no idea if Sarah Polley has any interest in helming a mega-budget superhero film, although she just signed on for a somewhat more commercial venture for her next film, directing an adaptation of John Green's Looking For Alaska. But Sarah Polley signing up for a Wonder Woman movie, which would be as a much of a "get" as Chris Nolan signing for Batman Begins, means that we're that-much-more likely to get a genuinely classic Wonder Woman film.
Lynne Ramsay
In a gender neutral world, Lynne Ramsay would be on all of the wish-lists right now. After all, she made a splash with the fantastic We Need to Talk About Kevin in 2011, coaxing a career-peak performance from Tilda Swinton and crafting a powerful psychological horror drama that defies easy description or even common interpretation (I read it as a metaphor for the emotional horror of raising a child who gives you nothing back in return). It's a powerful and gripping picture, her third feature no-less, and one which introduced Ezra Miller and eventually led to him being cast as The Flash last week. So yeah, if you want to know who the new Flash is, grab We Need to Talk About Kevin and hold onto your butts. Ramsay would be an inspired and outside the box choice, and arguably someone who can bring suspense and intensity to a franchise that seems to want to avoid too much levity. If We Need to Talk About Kevin is good enough to get everyone to notice Ezra Miller, then it's good enough to get people to notice Lynne Ramsay.
Jennifer Yuh
With all the seemingly justified hub-bub about Brenda Chapman getting canned from Pixar's Brave in 2012 and Jennifer Lee going on to win an Oscar for co-directing Frozen, no one seemed to notice that DreamWorks (who hired Chapman to direct The Prince of Egypt fourteen years ago) gave one of their prize franchises to a South Korean female director who promptly knocked it out of the park. Kung Fu Panda 2 was my favorite film of 2011. It's a visually spectacular and genuinely thoughtful action dramedy that absolutely stands with Toy Story 2, The Dark Knight, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and X2: X-Men United on the list of great genre sequels from the last fifteen years. She's already set for Kung Fu Panda 3 in late 2015, so she should be able to theoretically hop over to the DC lot if the proverbial stars align. If Brad Bird can go from The Incredibles (awesome animated action) to Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (awesome live-action action), then Jennifer Yuh deserves a shot at the live-action playing field as well.
There are other names that came to mind (Deborah Snyder, Jane Goldman, Debra Granik, etc.), but I didn't want this essay to run on forever. Okay, your turn to pick. Who would you want to see helm Wonder Woman? It doesn't have to be a woman or a minority, but try to be a little creative.
