Chromatic Casting: David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman
By Arturo R. García
It was confirmed earlier this week that NBC is moving forward with the pilot episode for David E. Kelley’s much-discussed Wonder Woman revamp. Not only that, but the alleged script for the episode has leaked online.
So, using some reports on the script as a guide, let’s step back into remix mode and pick contenders for both the characters confirmed to appear, and some important members of Diana’s personal canon, assuming the show survives.
A note on the choices: this time around, I played it a little closer to the vest and went with actors more likely to be available. So, names like Maggie Q (Nikita), Rutina Wesley (True Blood) and D.B. Woodside (Hellcats) missed the cut.
That said, if you’re a fan of Joss Whedon, some of these picks might make you wish (again) he’d gotten to stick with the project.
First, let’s talk about Diana herself. According to iFanboy, this Diana is very much written as the archetypical Kelley heroine: juggling a lot of hats in her life. And in this case, three different identities:
Primarily, she is Wonder Woman, superhero crime fighter in Los Angeles. In a world (and a town) that worships celebrities, she’s the biggest one there is. She is also Diana Themyscira (her “secret identity” is not a secret to the world), the head of Themyscira Industries, whose primary function is to make money to fund Wonder Woman’s super heroics. They do this primarily through selling Wonder Woman merchandise. But Themyscira Industries also functions as her super hero support staff: she’s got analysts and techies and such to help her while she’s in the field. What most people don’t know is that Diana has a THIRD identity, that of Diana Prince. In this identity she pulls a Clark Kent act – she puts in colored contacts and puts on glasses and changes her hair and her body language. This identity serves to help Diana feel more normal and more a part of the world around her, which will clearly be a running theme in the series. It is implied in the script that as Diana Prince she also holds a low level job at Themyscira Industries, which is honestly kind of bizarre.
Entertainment Weekly had previously released a wish-list of its’ own for the role, but with all due respect … uh, Keri Russell? Sorry, but in this case a popular fandom pick still fits:
Wonder Woman: Gina Torres
Kelley’s version of Diana seems to be written to be in her thirties, an unexpected blessing – can’t really see Torres playing an ingenue, y’know? Plus, the argument that Torres wouldn’t “get” the character is now absolutely null and void: Torres voiced WW for the recently-released DCU Online video game, as well as her evil alternate-universe counterpart, Superwoman, in the Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths animated feature. Whether it be in the old-school star-spangled shorts originated by Lynda Carter, or the new “street avenger”-ish costume, this should be Torres’ role to lose. Her biggest challenge would be lifting up some of the more groan-worthy lines in the script, which includes lines like, “Lucy’s got some ‘splaining to do.” Seriously.
Of course, Kelley also has a tendency to fail the Bechdel test, and according to a review in Bleeding Cool, that’s the case for the pilot, as well, which features WW’s original love interest, Steve Trevor.
Page 1 of 3 | Next page