Set Visit Report: Gal Gadot & Chris Pine On ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ by Ronda Racha Penrice

A few years back around Labor Day Weekend, Warner Bros. hosted an international group of online journalists to visit the London set of Wonder Woman 1984, the follow-up to the 2017 smash hit, Wonder Woman. That first ever big screen adaptation of the iconic female superhero grossed over $821 million globally. Set in 1984, this Wonder Woman installment, with Patty Jenkins once again at the helm, with a screenwriting credit to boot, and Gal Gadot reprising her very successful role and Chris Pine mysteriously back as Steve Trevor, the expectations are high. In a section of London that very much mirrored an important government area of Washington D.C., BlackFilmandTV.com was on hand to hear both Gadot and Pine speak about the highly anticipated follow-up. 

A new trailer will be shown during the Wonder Woman panel in DC Fandome on Saturday, August 22.

In number two, is there going to be more tension between you two?

Chris Pine: We’re just going to push the boundaries of the ratings system (laugh). Blue is the warmest color for Wonder Woman 2 (laughter).

Gal Gadot: Yes, because I think in the first one we just initiated it, we just started it and it was way more naïve and it was the first time Diana had ever fallen in love. In this one, they meet each other again but it’s like more adult. So I think it’s even more romantic and more sexy and plus she’s been waiting for him. You know it’s been 80 years since they last met and they haven’t found anyone else.

And it changed the dynamic between your characters because, in the first film, he was introducing you to the new world and this one you’re introducing Steve to a new world. So how is that?

GG: It’s fun. It’s fun. For me it was fun playing the fish out of water on the first one and on this one for me it’s so much fun to see the world through Steve’s eyes. She got used to this world and now everything is fresh and new all over again and he’s so excited and he’s so fascinated by all the new things now and she experiences it all over again.

And what’s Steve’s impression of 1984?

CP: You see a character who by virtue of being in the world, you have to build a shell that’s harsh to withstand the traumas of being alive, especially during a time of war, and in this he’s kind of in this blissful state of having shed all of that to be a wondrous boy looking and receiving everything with just love and appreciation because for him it’s not a time of war for him; it’s a time of revelation and awe. 

So what do you think is the appeal of the 80s as an era and what do you think [is] the chemistry between the Wonder Woman’s world and 80s world?

GG: What’s the chemistry between Wonder Woman and the 80s?

Yeah, 80s world.

GG: They have great relations! (laughter) No, I think the 80s is a great set-up. It’s the height of the world back then, financially and profession-wise and music-wise and art-wise. Everything is so poppy and fun and colorful. And I think that the fact that we get to shoot this period in our movie is going to make our movie so spectacular and so beautiful. . . It blows my mind how gorgeous and alive everything is. And it’s kind of a good way to change after 1918 where everything was dreary and gray with the trenches. It’s a completely different poppy, beautiful, alive, fun tone.

That’s what I wanted to talk about because the 80s fashion is like ridiculous and amazing at the same time.

GG: I know.

The shoulder pads, big hair, fanny packs.

GG: You should have seen all of the extras we’ve had.

What struck your eye the most about that?

GG: Hairstyle, big shoulder cushions, punk, everything . . .  the music. . . . It’s just a really fun period of time. 

What’s in Steve’s fanny pack?

GG: Don’t you just love it by the way? He loved it. He came up with the idea.

What advice would you give a woman to be wonderful every day in [her] life?

GG: Well, I guess it’s fresh because I just watched the documentary about Fred Rogers and his message to children was you’re special and you don’t need to do something outstanding in order to be loved. I think at the core we all want to be loved and feel appreciated. So I would just tell them that you’re all just special; there’s only one of you. That was very kitsch but I believe in it.

Was the 80s a decade of Wonder Women? Like real-life Wonder Women?

GG: Well, in a way yeah. . . . I think every decade is a decade for Wonder Women. It’s always funny to me because I’m all about women and I’m a girly girl and have a lot of really good girlfriends that I love and adore and appreciate and admire. I’m also all about men. (laughter) No, I always feel that when we give this ‘yes women’ we always progress and it’s one long progress that we’re going through. Obviously there is not equality and there hasn’t been equality in a bigger way. Back then, back in the day, back in the 1980s it was good so it all depends in comparison to what era are you talking to. But I do believe that every decade, every day, is a Wonder Women decade. Like every decade should be a wonder man decade, you know what I mean? I don’t know if I’m being clear here but it’s like we should just celebrate ourselves and be good and it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman.

I was thinking in comparison to the first world we were introduced to.

GG: Oh definitely. In the first movie she wasn’t allowed to get into the parliament building so of course the 80s, you know the place where women are in the 80s, is much better and there’s so much more freedom and opportunities.

What has [stood out] to you as badass this go round? Has there been a costume, a scene, an aesthetic, anything?

GG: I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say so everything. So there is one particular costume. It’s a fresh new costume for Wonder Woman and it’s freaking badass, like I’ve never seen anything like this before.

So it will be like the Halloween [costume]?

GG: Oh my God.

Does Diana and Steve watch the Wonder Woman show that was on TV in the 80s? [laughter]

GG: Worlds collide [laughs]. I didn’t watch the show because I wasn’t born when it was airing but when we were looking for costumes and we needed to have something that was right for the scene, I started to go through the Internet and looking for beautiful costumes from the 80s and this one was Brooke Shields that I found from back in the 80s but then Lindy [Hemming], our wonderful costume designer, just made it and then I found out that Linda [Carter] had the similar one.

Kind of talking about the costume, like you were talking earlier about how the style was so much colorful and everything, but based just entirely on what you’re wearing right now, you’re still in the kind of tailored kind of suit kind of thing.

GG:  Wonder Woman is very fashionable but very elegant in trying not to have attention, unnecessary, she’s kind of trying to blend in with the rest of the people.

How has she like changed since the first one and how has she stayed the same?

GG: Now she really does understand the complexities of life and what it means you know being in a human being’s world. She’s very lonely. She’s super sweet and nice and has goodwill towards anyone she comes across but she doesn’t want to get hurt, she doesn’t want to hurt anyone or they’ll stay friends because she will never grow old so that would become quite weird. So I think she’s in a good place. She wants to be in this world because that’s her calling to try to make a better world but she has a thing lost. I think that Steve was in her heart. It’s very, very hard feeling . . .

So Chris what about Steve? How has Steve changed?

CP: It’s been fun for me not to be, there’s a body dysmorphia and kind of psychological dysmorphia that in order to be a badass you have to be able to kick someone’s ass and hurt them and break the gun and all this which is fun storytelling in a different guise but I think what Patty’s all about in our films is that the greatest weapon can be vulnerability and emotionality and tenderness and compassion and heart. Whereas Steve was shown that in the first one via his relationship with Wonder Woman, in this one he’s already in a place of extreme openness. He can still punch and kick and obviously he doesn’t have super powers like Diana but he still has violence and aggression at his beck and call but really the more difficult thing is to go into a world and be open.

I was listening to this thing [from] Ram Dass yesterday about loving awareness. Like even just walking down here it’s like cars are great, hot dogs are great, trees are great, people are great, guys are great, girls are great, and there is something that sounds . . . a little Ram Dassian or whatever or new agey or whatever but I think the shift that we’re seeing societally with the women’s movement as a human I would hope that again I think I’ve said before is what women can teach us as the nurturer and the bearers of life is the appreciation of life instead of this very mechanical, rigid male ideal of an eye for an eye and this kind of revenge trope can be matched by something even more powerful which is the love trope which is like you can just be in awe.

With all things that have been going on in recent years, the Me Too Movement and everything and this kind of character that has been so iconic and you’re playing it again, do you have a sense of responsibility? Do you feel the pressure?

GG: A sense of responsibility in what way?

I mean somehow that I think it’s an iconic character at a very specific moment in history or at least in the movies. I think very many people they are looking at that character like it means something and you’re playing the character. And I think we, journalists, ask about these kinds of questions a lot to you or not tell me but do you feel like you have to be careful what you say, that you have like a special role in all these conversations?

GG: I think I got lucky and I was told a bunch of times by various people that they think that the movie had ignited or initiated the whole blowout of everything that’s been happening with Times Up, Me Too all these things. I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not but I’m always so humbled about it. If it did make an impact then I’m grateful for it and I’m happy that I’m the one to be the vessel for this message also. Being a woman in this world who has two girls I was never sexually abused by anyone. I definitely was in situations that I felt uncomfortable with but I knew where to draw the line and I knew to say no and I got lucky and for me as a woman first of all and as a mother of two girls and even if I had boys or were the mother of boys I just want to be able to live in a world and maybe I’m too romantic or maybe I’m naïve that we all respect each other and we all love each other and no one is abusing his power in order to gain something out of someone against someone else’s will.

And for me this movie is important for this kind of reason but for so many more because there is so much content in this world and in the content there’s also so much commercial and we’re exploding our children, this next generation, and the youth and the teenagers and whatever it is and with Instagram and Facebook and social media, whatever it is, like uber load of information and everything is so fast and they don’t know what’s real and what’s not and they think everything based in Instagram is true. I just want to be responsible for the message that I’m putting out in the world and make sure that I stand behind it, support this message and this message is positive for this reason and for people to be more tolerant and accept others and be just more love, just love more and for this I think that this movie, which I’m really proud of and Patty is orchestrating this entire project in such an amazing way, I’m just very happy to be a part of it and to be there to tell that story, this story.