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Author's Note: Recent audience engagement on the thread had given enough inspiration to write this entry. I'm still feeling in the doldrums so updates may still be sporadic going forward.)
Wonder Woman was a project close to Lauren Schuler-Donner’s heart. While her husband Richard shared a producer’s credit with her on the project, he remained hands off and acted as more of a consultant while he focused more on the Superman side of DC’s burgeoning cinematic universe. Most importantly, Wonder Woman would female-dominated production behind the camera with Mimi Leder in the director’s chair. [1] However, the perfect actress to bring the Amazon to the big screen remained elusive during the pre-production. Warner execs wanted someone like Sandra Bullock, whose name would certainly bring in a large audience, but both Schuler-Donner and Leder fiercely resisted the notion. Bullock herself would also pass on the role citing a lack of interest despite her agent’s prodding.
Schuler-Donner and Leder would instead seek out A-list talent to fill out the supporting cast similar to 1978’s
Superman where Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman played Jor-El and Lex Luthor, respectively. First would be
Siguorney Weaver as as Diana’s mother, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Weaver’s science fiction bonafides with the Alien trilogy gave Wonder Woman a greater degree of legitimacy with general audiences. Next came
Jeremy Irons as the god of war, Ares. While the nature of the character required him to provide voiceover a more taller and more physically intimidating stand-in, Irons would also portray his human guise of Aaron Warwick, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Then there was Wonder Woman’s love interest of Steve Trevor whose arrival of Themyscira sets in motion the events of the film. Will Smith’s name came up many times, but Smith (like Bullock before him) declined for two reasons: the first being concerns of being typecast as he played a similar character as Steve Hillard in
Independence Day, and his own status as one of Hollywood’s leading men. Instead, the role went to the
Ray Liotta.
Meanwhile, hundreds of actresses from all corners of the globe auditioned the titular that included such names from the obscure like Lucy Lawless from New Zealand to
Goldeneye’s Famke Janssen to Ashley Judd. However, it would by
Mariska Hargitay to landed the role of Diana. Daughter of bodybuilder/actor Mickey Hargitay, Mariska trained for the role prior to auditioning and continued training in sword fighting and other forms combat ahead of principal photography. Indeed, leaked production stills at the tail end of 1996 and audience reactions from test screenings generated positive buzz.
Rounding out the cast would he cameos from
Lynda Carter and even
Cathy Lee Crosby from the 1974 telefilm. Most had assumed Carter was a shoe-in for the role of Hippolyta, but would instead play the UN Secretary General while Crosby would play television reporter, Cat Grant.
Lyle Waggoner would also get in on the action with cameo as President of the United States. The first trailers for
Wonder Woman began to appear in theaters during the 1996 holiday season. With
Superman ‘95 being a billion-dollar smash and
The Dynamic Duo restoring Batman’s good name with promotional partners,
Wonder Woman was well-positioned to take on Marvel’s twin behemoths,
Spider-Man 2 and
Fantastic Four.
Meanwhile, the studio was hardly idle when it came to DC Comics’s other properties as the studio solicited pitches for characters such as The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. WB approached
Danny Bilson and
Paul De Meo for another go at the Scarlet Speeder whose early drafts curiously took inspiration from
The Rocketeer.
Brandon Lee, hot off the success of
The Crow, expressed interest in playing Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner. However, technological limitations of the time cast doubt on the feasibility of such a project. Despite this, the studio’s momentum appeared to be in the direction of an event like no other.
[1] Props to
@Geekhis Khan for this suggestion.
[2] Butterflies fluttered away
Alien Resurrection due to Weaver being unavailable for the role.
).