Director Nicolas Refn: First Logan's Run, Then Wonder Woman
Posted 08.18.11 by Ryan
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's career began with the trilogy of Pusher movies, which were set in Copenhagen's drug world. Refn's latest movie, the upcoming action thriller Drive is the latest in a string of darkly violent, English-language movies that includes the 2009 Viking action movie Valhalla Rising and 2009's Bronson, a biopic that documented England's most notorious (and violent) prisoner. Considering Refn's career, it made it all the more surprising that he admitted that he would like to direct a potential Wonder Woman last June. In fact, Refn admitted that he made Drive just to prove that he could handle — in Refn's words — a "$200 million extravaganza" like Wonder Woman. In June, Refn even pointed to Christina Hendricks as his potential lead for the movie, saying, "If I ever get to do it, she's going to be it."
Earlier this year, Refn became attached to a remake of the 1975 sci-fi classic Logan's Run, which will reunite him with his Drive lead Ryan Gosling. According to The Playlist, Refn admitted at the Empire Big Screen 2011 that it's Logan's Run that could determine whether he gets a shot at Wonder Woman.
I would love to make Wonder Woman. And I also think that Christina Hendricks would be the perfect Wonder Woman, but Warner Bros haven’t called yet. But I’m getting closer with Logan’s Run. I think someone said to me in a meeting that if I get Logan’s Run right, then I’ll get Wonder Woman.
Refn isn't the only interested party. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has also expressed interest in producing a Wonder Woman movie last June, revealing that she thinks Wonder Woman is "the greatest character."
Still, other directors have tried to create an adaptation and failed. Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon started work on a Wonder Woman adaptation in 2005, but, after two years of writing scripts, Warner Bros. rejected Whedon's scripts.
Last May, however, Warner Bros. gave the first sign of life to a Wonder Woman flick when they announced their upcoming movie slate, which included a Wonder Woman adaptation that was "in development." In March, Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov revealed that a Wonder Woman script was in the works. Whether that is the spec script newcomers Brent Strickland and Matthew Jennison described as "Wonder Woman meets Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 2009 is unknown. Their script grabbed producer Joel Silver's attention, but whether it has grabbed Warners' attention is undetermined.
A key to Robinov's comments was that the studio's interest in a Wonder Woman movie wouldn't be tied to the (at the time upcoming) television pilot created by David E. Kelley (Boston Legal), which ultimately was canceled before it aired.
After the financial failure of Green Lantern this summer, expect Warners to be tentative about any DC-related project moving forward. Fans of the character should keep their fingers crossed that Refn's Logan's Run is really, really good.