When viewers finally get the chance to see
Wonder Woman 1984, they may recognize some similarities between new supervillain Maxwell Lord and a certain American president. According to writer-director Patty Jenkins, that’s by design but isn't meant to imply that the movie gets political.In a new
interview with Screenrant, Jenkins confirmed fan speculation that the movie's businessman (played by
Narcos' Pedro Pascal) is partially based on Donald Trump. However, she also wants to make it clear that it's more of an overall type of personality that was flourishing at the time."Trump's definitely one of the people that we looked at, but it's any of those kind of mavericks of business success that was big in the ‘80s, who went on to be major players in our world in potentially questionable other ways," she told
Screenrant. "Yeah, I don't have an agenda to have a political message to send to the world, but I think that the world all needs the same political message. Everybody needs to look at themselves right now, and our politics, our belief system of excess."[video_embed id='-1']RELATED:
Wonder Woman 1984 starts filming[/video_embed]In the comics, Maxwell Lord is a shrewd businessman who becomes an important factor in the Justice League International coming together in the DC universe. This is the first time the character is getting the big-screen treatment, although TV versions have appeared in
Smallville (played by Gil Bellows) and in
Supergirl (played by Peter Facinelli).“The funny thing is he is [an influence], but I'm not trying to make...We even have the president in this movie, and I've gone out of my way not to make it look like Ronald Reagan. I don't want to get political, it's not about being political,” she told the publication. “Actually, a huge influence of this movie was also Madoff. Those young Madoff stories fascinate me, because I'm like, ‘How do you end up being Bernie
Madoff?’ And when you really start tracking that story, it's like, it all started out in a way that made sense, and he was paying it off, and then doing this, and then paying it off again. And then you just become an evil dude when you don't even realize that it's happening.”
Wonder Woman 1984 was originally supposed to hit theatres at the end of 2019, but through a variety of delays it was pushed to this past June. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and the movie was rescheduled to its current October 2 release. Given the state of the world and the general uncertainty around public health measures, some are speculating that the movie could be pushed again but there's no word from the studio that another delay is in the works.
In 2017,
Wonder Woman was a global box office hit (pulling in US$821.8 million), and it made a household name out of star Gal Gadot. Jenkins, who previously directed Charlize Theron to her Oscar win in the 2003 movie
Monster, also directed that original film.Gadot of course returns for the sequel, and she’s joined by Chris Pine who reprises his role of Steve Trevor (although fans are clamouring to know how, given the first film’s ending). Funnylady
Kristen Wiig also notably stars as the film’s other big bad, Cheetah. Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Gabriella Wilde, Kristoffer Polaha and Ravi Patel round out the stacked cast.[video_embed id='2019598']RELATED: Batfleck returning in 'The Flash' flick[/video_embed]
