Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins was part of a TV directors roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, where she discussed her TNT miniseries I Am the Night. The miniseries saw Jenkins reuniting with her Wonder Woman actors Chris Pine and Connie Nielsen to adapt the memoir One Day She’ll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel, about Hodel’s experiences with her grandfather, George Hodel, one of the prime suspects in the Black Dahlia murder.
Jenkins talked about working with Pine again, and the ease with which they collaborated, saying,
I’ve had it happen with several actors where you really get up to speed and you really know that person, so you see this incredible skill that they’re capable of, so you can spin them this way, and that’s fun. You can spin them that way. Chris and I definitely have that. I also think that he has a bunch of dimensions of him that I haven’t quite seen him get to explore. Now, at this point, I’m feeling like I just want to keep working with so many of the same actors because it is so fun. I have Connie Nielsen in it too, and you just spin her in a whole other direction and watch this whole other side of their personality come out and now you have a shorthand … I love that, I love working with the same people.
Jenkins didn’t reveal the hows and whys of Steve Trevor’s return in 1984, which has led to internet speculation that Trevor could be a figment of Diana’s imagination or an illusion designed by an enemy. Considering the role the Greek Gods play in the series, my money is on Hades bringing Trevor back to life. No word on whether or not Hades appears in the film, but we do know that Pedro Pascal (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) has been cast in a major role.
Jenkins and Pine are hardly the first actor-director power duo in Hollywood. Film history is filled with powerhouse collaborations, like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorcese, the Coen Brothers and Frances McDormand (who is married to Joel Coen), and Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, to name a few. These lifelong collaborations highlight the importance of creative chemistry and collaboration between actors and directors, who often push one another to achieve career bests.
Pine weighed in on his working relationship with Jenkins during a Variety interview with Wonder Woman co-star Robin Wright, saying,
“I found this time, the tables had turned on me as a man, in terms of how I interacted and played on the screen. I loved, as the character, my woman. My partner. She’s my partner. So that came to define this man. What a wonderful thing, as a character, to be in love. As a man on screen in a big film, it was interesting because my ego comes out: ‘Well, I want the big f–king fight. Let me climb something.’ And Patty’s like, ‘No, not about you.’ She said ‘not about you’ more times making this film.”
Pine’s work in Wonder Woman saw him take on what would traditionally have been known as “the girlfriend” role: supporting and being saved by the film’s hero, Wonder Woman. One of the pleasures of that first film was Pine’s performance, where he took a backseat and gave focus to Gal Gadot—as well he should have; the film is called Wonder Woman, after all.
We can’t wait to see Pine and Jenkins reunite in 2020 for Wonder Woman 1984.
(via ComicBook.com, image: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)
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