It is plain to see that Wonder Woman, likely the most famous super-heroine of all, is quite the hot property at the movies. Her first major feature film for DC and Warner Bros. last June was a smash hit, with credit to star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins. She does not lack for further exposure either, since she was in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” last year, and will appear again in “Justice League” this November, with a solo sequel also on its way. In the wake of that popularity, Annapurna Pictures is preparing to release its biopic featuring the character’s creator, with “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” set to premiere this Friday.
Comic-book style
As stated, “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” will open in cinemas this October 13, just over a month after it was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie stars Luke Evans as William Moulton Marston, the psychologist and lie detector inventor who created the Wonder Woman character in 1941 under the pen name Charles Moulton. With the official premiere date ever so close, Annapurna Pictures has decided to release one last trailer for the film, an abridged version of past previews, but made over to look like comic book art as a very charming shout-out.
Granted, Annapurna had been banking on comic book fandom in promoting the “Professor Marston” film too.
During the first teasers put out during and in the wake of the “Wonder Woman” premiere, there was a comic book mock-up advertising the biopic. Very recently a movie poster was also revealed that was done up like a retro comic book cover by veteran comic-book artist Terry Moore. But this final trailer takes scenes from the movie and presents them in motion comic form, emphasizing the strange relationship between Marston, his wife and his former student, and how it led to the creation of the codifying female superhero.
Created from experience
William Moulton Marston may have never expected that he would be able to draw inspiration for the idea of a superhero like Wonder Woman from his own life experiences, but that is just what happens, as to be related in “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.” The title refers to Marston’s wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and their mutual lover Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote), and how by combining their personalities and using Byrne’s physical form, Marston created Wonder Woman.
The film also stars J.J. Field, Oliver Platt, and Connie Britton, and was written and directed by Angela Robinson, whose past work includes “DEBS,” “The L Word,” and episodes of “True Blood” on HBO. Produced by Stage 6 Films and distributed by Annapurna Pictures, “Professor Marston” comes to cinemas on Friday, October 13.
