Longevity of focus, I think, is the hardest part. You know it's to have a vision and then try to hold that vision and not have it change.
— Patty Jenkins
At the end of the day, making 'Monster' was unbelievably hard, as making any movie is. And the only thing that made it worth it is not those awards and all those kind of things that I can barely remember because I was so overwhelmed. It was really that night in the editing room, that day on set. It was those things.
I'm as interested in exceptional characters as men are.
There was a very difficult time when a female hero was a man in a woman's body. 'Hunger Games' really changed that: a woman leading a non-woman's film in the action genre. I think 'Wonder Woman' does that on a very big scale.
I was aware that I was the first person of all time getting to direct a Wonder Woman film, and that was taken very seriously.
The thing about 'Wonder Woman,' which is very feminine and definitely different, is that her objective is to bring love and truth to mankind.
I did not necessarily feel that Hollywood was interested in what I wanted to do. They wanted me to do what they wanted to do.
I think that what Wonder Woman stands for is gorgeous and incredible.
It's not easy to be a hero. You do it because of what you believe, not because of what other people deserve.
I am super-comfortable with powerful women.
The education of going through the 'Thor' experience was great.
When I made 'Monster,' I didn't think about it being about a woman. I didn't think about that she was a lesbian. I was telling a story about a specific person who was tragic and looking for love in the world, and the more I could make her you, the more of a victory.
It is ironic you could make an animated film about a dog that's a universal character, but God forbid it be a human being who is not a man.
There's Batman, there's Superman, there's Wonder Woman. She's the full-blown real deal.
To me, the two things that Gal Gadot - who is an amazing actress, and she played a great Wonder Woman - but the true things that she actually has inside of her are this incredible warmth and charm that is also informed by great intelligence. It's those two things.
When I'm on a movie, I'm unavailable every day for a year and a half. You can't do that with a little baby. Somebody might be able to do it, but not me.
It's like there's something very maternal about Wonder Woman: when push comes to shove, if nobody else wants to do it, Wonder Woman would step up and take care of business. But she doesn't want to do it, and she would never take any delight in it. That's Wonder Woman to me.
There's the 7-year-old me that pretended to be Wonder Woman running around the schoolyard. Like, what an incredible thing to imagine that when the bully shows up or the villain, you would be strong enough to do something about it. But, also, you look like Lynda Carter while you're doing it - like, 'Oh, my God.'
I like to work, and I worked for years as a camera person before I directed.
My father wanted to be a hero. He went to the Air Force Academy, was valedictorian, and then he found himself strafing villagers in Vietnam in a war he didn't want to be in and didn't understand. He was extremely conflicted about the line where he went from being the good guy to possibly being the bad guy.
If you want more diversity in the industry, you need diverse people writing scripts and developing them.
I have a high bar for myself already; I always want to do something beautiful and meaningful.
I love that duality of Wonder Woman: that she both wants peace and means peace, but when push comes to shove and someone needs to be put down like a dog, that's what she would be willing to do.
My fantasy is that I could wake up looking amazing, that I could be strong and stop the bully, but that everybody would love me, too. I think that's intrinsic to fantasy - fantasy is fantasy.
I believe in Wonder Woman and the true spirit of Wonder Woman, and I wanted to tell that story. I didn't want to make her an alt version of Wonder Woman.
If you look at the history of Wonder Woman, you look at the iconography, the images that have kept her alive - they're not dark. The thing I think is so important to always keep in mind about her is how positive and bright and shiny she is - very much in the same way that Superman has been.
I never want to set a belief that a woman has to direct a woman's film, meaning she can't direct a man's film. If only films can be directed by people who are exactly the same as that, it's only gonna limit all of the women more.
I've had tragedy in my life, and it doesn't stop comedy, so I think it's important to do both. Particularly in a superhero movie, but in any movie that accesses all people. Nobody wants to be abused for two hours.
I'm making a movie about Wonder Woman, who I love, who to me is one of the great superheroes, so I just treated her like a universal character, and that's what I think is the next step when I think you can do that more and more and when studios have the confidence to do that more and more.
I grew up in a bit of a feminist fantasy with a single mom. I was totally shielded, in a way, from an idea that I couldn't do something.
Just look at Gal Gadot when she smiles or when she meets somebody and shakes their hand. That is the embodiment of Wonder Woman. She is so beautiful and powerful, but kind and generous and thoughtful. She's just an amazing person.
There's a lot of mythological stories you can tell. There's not just one. I appreciate all of those different kinds, but what I was personally missing was grand, classic, true-north hero. Pure and simple emotion, and also aiming for big time emotion, like love story as well, in a very sincere way. Like 'Superman: The Movie' had done for me.
I think that in superhero movies, they fight other people; they fight villains.
I have an aggressive streak of my own.
I do care about success and all of those things. But I don't care enough to do movies just for that reason.
TV is really hard to break into. This may be the worst piece of advice, but make an independent film. TV oftentimes takes people who are established. The great benefit of not breaking in yet is purity of voice.
New kinds of heroics need to be celebrated - like love, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, diplomacy - or we're not going to get there.
There was a movie I was trying to make right after 'Monster,' a bigger behemoth: the Chuck Yeager story. It was a life dream, but it just didn't line up. We just had issues with the life rights, ultimately.
I grew up very inspired by 'Superman One' and by kind of the promise of the genre of what a superhero origin story can do.
I have passed on a lot of things that would have been extremely lucrative, because they were nothing else.
Ultimately, so many things come down to money, but particularly when it comes to superheroes - people really thought that only men loved action movies and only men would go see a superhero movie.
I don't love all superhero films, but I love a great one.
I love a great myth. I love a superhero origin story.
I know that I'm carrying a bit of a weight on my shoulders of what I do represents more than just myself as a director. I wish that wasn't true, but it is. It makes me think about doing work that I believe in and that I believe I can do well, probably even a hair more than I would otherwise.
I always say that 'Star Wars' had a huge effect on me, too, but what 'Star Wars' did for some people, 'Superman' did for me.
The idea of getting to make a movie like the ones that impacted me as a child is my life's dream.
To make a masterpiece would be my life's dream.
I had an interesting moment with 'Wonder Woman' where, when I first thought about doing 'Wonder Woman 2,' I thought, 'Well, these are so intense, making these movies. It's a lot to think about doing more.' But then I had an epiphany, and I thought, 'Oh, it's not more - it's better.'
To me, superhero movies are like Greek myth.
I don't think I could have made a good movie out of 'Thor 2' because I wasn't the right director. And I don't think I would have been in the running for 'Wonder Woman' as a result. And that's one of the reasons why I'm glad I didn't do it.
