Three weeks after the news that Warner Bros. was specifically seeking a female director for their upcoming Wonder Woman movie – to be released on June 23, 2017 – it appears that they may have found the woman for the job.
Variety reports that Michelle MacLaren is in talks to helm Wonder Woman, after an impressive career directing episodes of acclaimed TV series like “The X-Files,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones.” Although she has been directing consistently since 2002, Wonder Woman would only be her second feature film, after Population 436, which starred Jeremy Sisto and Fred Durst.
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Although Michelle MacLaren may not wind up being the first female director of a superhero movie – provided The Soska Sisters get their Painkiller Jane movie out before Wonder Woman, anyway – but either way, it would be a progressive step forward for the industry as a whole, in which women are rarely (if ever) hired to direct big budget productions.
Beyond that, TV directors are increasingly becoming de rigueur for major franchises. Alan Taylor (“Game of Thrones”) was tapped to direct Thor: The Dark World and the upcoming Terminator: Genisys, and Joe and Anthony Russo (“Community”) were responsible for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and are currently working on the follow-up, Captain America: Civil War.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
