Filmmaker Patty Jenkins revealed how she "started to walk away" from Wonder Woman 1984 before Warner Bros. executives finally agreed to her pay equity demands. The director was highly praised by both fans and movie critics after working with Gal Gadot for Wonder Woman's first solo movie in 2017. The movie went on to earn $821 million at the global box office.
Jenkins had a candid interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast where she opened up about the situation. Jenkins said, "I was gonna walk away. I even said I'd be happy to go to another studio and make a quarter as much because it's not a sequel, on principle, no problem."
The director confessed how she almost cut ties with DC Comics altogether just because she was determined to stand on her ground. The director wanted the same pay that male filmmakers receive when helming superhero blockbusters.
Jenkins stated that her career had never been focused on making money because she doesn't have any leverage to ask for a pay raise. However, the director realizes that it was "time to turn the tables" upon discovering how much her male counterparts were making for the same kind of work she does.
Jenkins said, "They got paid seven times more than me for their first superhero movie. Then on the second one, they got paid more than me still. It was an easy fight to say, ‘This can't be. It super can't be. And it really can't be on Wonder Woman…"
It took some time before the studio announced that the director would be coming back for Wonder Woman 1984, amid the reports that Jenkins was leveraging her position to get a better deal. As it turns out, the reports were true. The director said, "It was an interesting thing to do, but it was an easy thing to do in the fact I was dead serious. That I was like, ‘If I can't be victorious in this regard, then I'm letting everyone down.' If not me, who? So it became something I became very, very, very passionate about."
"I don't think I'm doing it next," she continued, "and so I have to sort of wait and see where we are in the world, you know? What I wanted to talk about in (WW84) was very prescient to what I was feeling and what you were sort of feeling was coming. So now I'm not sure. So much has changed in the world."
The director continues to gain acclaim in the industry as Disney also revealed that Jenkins will direct Rogue Squadron, a film under the Star Wars universe. She revealed that she is unsure on whether she will return for the third installment of the Wonder Woman franchise as it all depends on the status of the movie industry that was shaken by COVID-19. However, the director revealed that she and Geoff Johns already outlined a plot if ever Wonder Woman 3 will come to fruition.
Wonder Woman 84 will be released on HBO Max and in theaters on Christmas Day.
Also Read: Gal Gadot Reveals Unpleasant Experience with Joss Whedon on the Set of Justice League
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