DC and Warner Bros are accumulating a diverse lineup of talent for Wonder Woman. In front of the camera, Gal Gadot is reprising her role as the Amazonian princess, while Chris Pine is reportedly playing love interest Steve Trevor. Behind the camera, Patty Jenkins succeeded Michelle MacLaren as director in April, and Jason Fuchs is writing the script. Now the 2017 film has found itself an award-winning filmmaker for the visual effects team as well.
Buried deep within its report on cinematographers that have been hired for productions, Variety lists Bill Westenhofer as a VFX supervisor on Wonder Woman. Westenhofer kicked off his visual effects career as a digital artist on 1995’s Waterworld, and his notable films since then include Stuart Little, Men in Black II, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. He is also the visual effects supervisor on next year’s Warcraft. Needless to say, this is a major score for the superheroine’s first solo adventure, which begins shooting in England this fall. While most superhero movies rely on CGI to give the audiences an exciting spectacle, Wonder Woman will especially be relying on it given that the film is delving into magic and myth.
With less than two years until its release, no details have been released about Wonder Woman’s plot. That said, presumably the film will incorporate a lot of the mythological elements seen in Wonder Woman’s stories over the decades (especially The New 52), like Greek deities and monsters from mysterious realms. It’s worth noting that Bill Westenhofer has won Academy Awards for The Golden Compass and Life of Pi, and his work on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was also nominated. Each of these films featured realistic looking animals, so if Wonder Woman does find herself going up against a creature or two from deepest corners of legend, you can bet that Westenhofer and his team will do a great job bringing them to life.
After years of appearances both in the comics and in other media (most notably in the 1975 Wonder Woman TV series), Wonder Woman is finally making her theatrical debut next year in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Although not one of the eponymous heroes, she will still play an important role in the 2016 blockbuster, and Zack Snyder has described her as the "gateway to the Justice League." As for her solo film, aside from it helping to set up Justice League: Part One, specifics are light on what to expect from it, but hopefully we’ll start hearing more information towards the end of the year.
Wonder Woman will hit theaters on June 23, 2017.
