Robin Wright has made a career out of playing diverse roles, although whether it’s in House of Cards or Land, she has remained very selective about which characters she decides to play. One of her more memorable performances in recent years was playing Antiope in 2017’s Wonder Woman, but it took some convincing to take the role. Wright recently explained how director Patty Jenkins convinced her to join the DCEU.
While Gal Gadot was the main draw in Wonder Woman, getting Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen to participate in the female-led superhero film was a major coup. At the time, Wright had won over audiences and critics as Claire Underwood in Netflix’s House of Cards, so having her in the superhero film was a big deal. With Patty Jenkins teasing a spinoff based on Themyscira, Wright revealed to Collider how enthusiasm for Wonder Woman convinced her to join the first film:
Patty Jenkins the director, her enthusiasm on the phone when she called me - because I was shooting House of Cards at the time - she called and she’s like, ‘Do you want to play one of the greatest warrior women of the Amazon nation?’ I was like, ‘Of course!’ [Laughs] It was a no-brainer. I was like, ‘That’s gonna be a hoot.’ And we got to get in the best shape of our lives training for that movie at 50-years-old. I was like, ‘I’m into that. Let’s go for it.’ I adore her and I loved both movies’ messages. [They’re] really about justice and equality and love, and I’m a sucker for that stuff.
After giving her reasons for doing the film, Robin Wright was asked what qualities she would take from Patty Jenkins if given the chance to direct a blockbuster. She gave Jenkins praise for her being a good leader on set with the following words:
She’s so quick and so bright. And she really pushed to have her movie. You know, because that’s a big production stew, you know? That’s a big pot, a lot of people, a lot of opinions and a lot of directions; ‘This is the movie we should make, this is the movie we should release,’ all those and she really persevered and she was able to make her movie. She’s the Energizer Bunny, you know? She’s going to get what she wants and she doesn’t have to be mean about it. She’s very ambitious and I really respect that strength.
Given Robin Wright’s track record before Wonder Woman, she was an excellent choice to play Antiope, and she seemed to channel previous roles into her character. Even though she was on-screen for an abbreviated period, she stood out in every scene she was in. I especially enjoyed the training scenes between Wright and Gal Gadot in the DCEU film. Alas, given Antiope's fate in Wonder Woman, Wright only momentarily reprised the role in Wonder Woman 1984 through a flashback.
Robin Wright’s Antiope was a true badass in both Wonder Woman films. The actress took a beloved side character in the Wonder Woman mythos and made her a standout. Hopefully Patty Jenkins’ Themyscira-set Amazons film will happen so audiences get to learn more about Antiope.
