Even though it's one of 2017's many superhero movie offerings, Wonder Woman promises to be something particularly unique this summer season. Besides being Diana of Themyscira's first solo theatrical outing after more than 75 years of existence, it's also the first female-led superhero movie to be released in 12 years (and going off early reactions, it could be the best one yet) and is primarily set in World War I. But according to director Patty Jenkins, one of the other things that makes Wonder Woman different from other superhero movies is how she and her team shot on film as opposed to going digital, noting that she's not alone in preferring to go with the old school medium. As Jenkins detailed:
I've come up on shooting film and working on film for a long time. Digital has come a long way. Digital does a lot of great things. There are things I really like about digital, but they are not the same and there is some sort of strange myth that 'Oh, you can do everything now on digital.' Well if that was true, why do all the great, great, great filmmakers still shoot on film? Is it because they know less? Is it because they're more haphazard? Is it because they can't move on to new information? No. It's because there's a certain type of epic grander escapism that film gives you that you cannot --- you will struggle very hard --- to get that on video.
When Patty Jenkins was preparing for Wonder Woman, one of her producers asked her how she was planning on shooting the movie. Jenkins answered that she'd be using film, and while she had a long-winded explanation ready for why this was important for her, this producer was fortunately completely on board with that decision. During her interview with reporter Kevin McCarthy, Jenkins also thanked Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino as being among the like-minded directors who have kept film alive despite digital shooting taking over in the modern movie-making era.
You can listen to Patty Jenkins' full comments on the importance of film below.
The debate over film vs. digital continues to rage on in the cinema community, but when it comes to the "epic grander escapism" that Patty Jenkins appreciates, that's something that was especially important for Wonder Woman to nail down. Besides being another superhero movie that thrives on spectacular visuals, Wonder Woman is also a war movie, and as such, scenes like when Diana is charging across No Man's Land need to pop out. No doubt Wonder Woman still would have looked incredible had Jenkins elected to go the digital route, but in her eyes, choosing film means that her DCEU blockbuster ended up looking more realistic.
Wonder Woman charges into theaters on June 2.
