As the Hollywood establishment ducks for cover under a cloud of #MeToo accusations and calls for gender equality in front and behind the camera, one director has been at the forefront of this tidal wave of equal opportunity.
Patty Jenkins is not only the first woman to direct a big-budget superhero film and, shamefully, the only female director to ever work with a $150 million budget. She also happens to be a female director who has long stood proud in a male-dominated industry.
Now, as 2019 sees her return to television with I Am The Night (currently streaming on Stan) and a sequel trip to Themyscira for Wonder Woman 1984 promised in 2020, Jenkins is becoming a force to be reckoned with on all screens.
There are plenty of outstanding female directors working today – just look at the success of Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Susanne Bier (Bird Box) and Julia Ducournau (Raw). But with Wonder Woman, Jenkins has landed herself in the big leagues.
In fact, Wonder Woman gave Jenkins the biggest domestic opening of all time for a female director (surpassing previous record-holder Sam Taylor-Johnson, who directed Fifty Shades of Grey).
Patty Jenkins started her career on a high, handing a near-unrecognisable Charlize Theron an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her stunning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. The film also starred Christina Ricci as Wuornos’s lover, and saw the writer director tackle an ugly subject matter with a feminine skew that wasn’t afraid to go for the sucker punch.
After her big success she was approached by record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager to make a film about his life, although that project failed to take off. Ryan Gosling was lined up for (the non-DC Comics related) I Am Superman but the film was delayed when Jenkins became pregnant. Described as the strange and unexpected journey of a fighting pit bull, the movie is still on the director’s radar and may see the light of day after the Wonder Woman sequel.
In the meantime, Jenkins has focused on television, directing episodes of Arrested Development, Entourage and the US remake of Scandi-noir smash The Killing.
And then came Jenkins’ return to the silver screen with Wonder Woman – that is, after a short sojourn at Marvel that saw Jenkins hired as director of Thor: The Dark World for two months before she left due to creative differences.
Luckily DC was in need of a hit. From Man Of Steel in 2013 to Suicide Squad in 2017, a run of humourless, glum comic book adaptations had left DC’s stock at a low ebb against the shiny spandex of Marvel. The studio needed a new injection of excitement – and that came from the Amazon.
Wonder Woman made her first big screen appearance in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice in 2016, directed by DC regular Zack Snyder – but it was Jenkins who gave the world’s most beloved female superhero life.
Now she’s back in television land with I Am the Night. Reunited with her Wonder Woman leading man (and GOAT’s favourite Chris) Chris Pine, the show is a murder mystery of sorts.
It follows Fauna Hodel (India Eisley), a young girl who was given up by her birth mother. While delving into her past she ends up investigating a sinister trail that draws her closer to a gynaecologist involved in the legendary Black Dahlia slaying.
A dark ominous drama about the infamous Hollywood murder – already tackled without much success by director Brian DePalma with Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart and Scarlett Johansson – is not an obvious move for Jenkins, but then she has never gone for the expected. Who would ever predict the director of Monster would go on to helm an episode of Entourage?
And that leads us to Wonder Wonder 1984, already one of the most anticipated films of 2020. With only a few images to glimpse, how Gal Gadot, a mysteriously returning Pine and new arch nemesis Cheetah, played by Kristen Wiig, will factor into an 80s-set story remains to be seen. But the superhero universe is all the better for having these kick-ass women involved – especially Jenkins herself.