Bridesmaids Director Pitched a Wonder Woman Comedy to Warner Bros

Another day, another highly hypothetical speculation about the potential of a Wonder Woman movie to burst out of the miasma of patriarchy and enact righteous justice upon the box office. This one is a bit unconventional, though: in recent interview with IGN, Paul Feig — who notably directed both Bridesmaids and The Heat — has revealed that he pitched a more lighthearted take on the heroine to Warner Bros (they weren’t interested, surprise!).

According to Scott Collura of IGN:

The idea for Feig’s film would’ve involved a Wonder Woman who “keeps hitting the glass ceiling” of the superhero world. Conceived as a lighter action-comedy, this Princess Diana of Themyscira has to contend with male heroes like Batman and Superman who are perhaps not as forward-thinking regarding their female counterpart as they should be. (I think the word “jerks” might’ve come up.) Feig compared this Wonder Woman to the suffragist Cicely Hamilton (who wrote the 1908 “feminist” play Diana of Dobson’s).

Feig told Collura that the tone would be sort of similar to that of the Iron Man films (i.e., not straight comedy, but far more humorous than the typical superhero film). He also conceded that he could understand why the studio wasn’t entirely enthusiastic: says Collura “[Feig] told me that in retrospect he can see why the concept didn’t fly, as the fans can be quite protective of their characters and any changes that are made to them.”

Personally, I sort of like the concept of Wonder Woman battling not only the forces of evil, but also of systemic gender inequality and casual sexism. Feig’s concept could also serve as a great meta commentary on the way in which ever major studio has been so timorous about releasing a superhero movie with a female protagonist. However, another part of me feels like Wonder Woman deserves the same type of typical superhero film that most every iconic man-hero has gotten.

“The Director of Bridesmaids Pitched a Wonder Woman Comedy to Warner Bros” [The Mary Sue]