In March 2005,
Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures announced that
Joss Whedon would write and direct the film adaptation of
Wonder Woman.
[61] Whedon's salary was reported to be between $2 to $3 million.
[62] Since Whedon was directing
Serenity at the time, and required time to research Wonder Woman's background, he did not begin the screenplay until late 2005.
[63] According to Joel Silver, the script would cover Wonder Woman's origin and include
Steve Trevor: "Trevor crashes on the
island and they go back to Man's World."
[64] Silver wanted to film
Wonder Woman in Australia once the script was completed.
[65] While Whedon stated in May 2005 that he would not cast Wonder Woman until he finished the script,
[66] Charisma Carpenter[67] and
Morena Baccarin[68] expressed interest in the role. In 2006, a wide section of media reported that
Priyanka Chopra was in talks to portray Wonder Woman in the film adaptation by Joss Whedon.
[69]
After nearly two years as script-writer, Whedon had not managed to write a finished draft. "It was in an outline, and not in a draft, and they [studio executives] didn't like it. So I never got to write a draft where I got to work out exactly what I wanted to do."
[70] In February 2007, Whedon departed from the project, citing script differences with the studio.
[71] Whedon reiterated: "I never had an actress picked out, or even a consistent front-runner. I didn't have time to waste on casting when I was so busy
air balling on the script." Whedon stated that with the
Wonder Woman project left behind, he would focus on making his film
Goners.
[71] "I would go back in a heartbeat if I believed that anybody believed in what I was doing. The lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming."