Entertainment

Stuntwomen make frequent appearances here, with good reason for they embody what this blog is about.

And in that spirit we continue. Today our star is Jessie Graff—another female athlete (former pole-vault champion) making a home for her athletic skills in Hollywood:

Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, perhaps best known for Bronson (which, alas, I haven't seen), wants to make Wonder Woman and isn't shy about saying so. And after reading his Movieline interview, I'm inclined to think that he might be the person for the job. He obviously has a passion for it, no small plus. Moreover, his take on how to approach the movie is different, fascinating—and most important, respectful of the character and what she stands for (and against).

Refn's movie, it seems likely, would be very different from the typical Hollywood slant on female heroes; these tantalizing snippets from his interview, for instance:

At the same time there is [something subliminal], because the real origin of Wonder Woman is: What if women were more powerful than men? What would the world be like? That’s a subliminal theme.

The whole idea of a woman who is basically more powerful than any man — and who will always be that, and comes from a society of women who are more powerful than men — is an interesting theme that I think can be very contemporary.

I do hope someone at Warner Bros. is paying attention.

I don't know how you feel about a 5'2" Wonder Woman, but Jennifer Love Hewitt, through her publicized entreaty, does lend credence to reporting of late: "I'm fighting so hard. I think Warner Bros. is getting ready to make Wonder Woman and I really want to play Wonder Woman."

Thus we may conclude that something is indeed afoot.

The next (and hopefully final) round of Wonder Woman casting rumors is sure to start soon. We'll have those here, that is, the ones worth commenting on anyway.

A poll is in the works too—consider it the "Official Unofficial Who should be Wonder Woman? Poll"—and suggestions for candidates are now being accepted, so feel free to leave a comment or write in with your nominations. So far there are only two: the first, my nominee, is no surprise, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. The second, Amelia Cooke, is by request.

It is most likely still a long way off, but the news is exciting nonetheless—a live-action Wonder Woman film is finally on its way to theaters!

Doomsday didn't win any Oscars—the Academy can stoop only so low—though it did give us a delightful, indelible action heroine: Major Eden Sinclair. But for the most part the credit for Sinclair's convincing aura of strength and grittiness goes to Rhona Mitra. It was her performance in Doomsday that conjured the sturdiest action heroine we've seen in recent memory.

So what is Mitra up to now? It seems we'll find out June 20 when her new series The Gates premieres on ABC:



And the Doomsday trailer again, just because: