Los Angeles: Filmmaker Patty Jenkins has broken her silence over the news that she parted ways with Warner Bros. on a sequel to 2020’s ‘Wonder Woman 1984’.
“I never walked away,” Jenkins shared in a post on Twitter, reports ‘Variety’.
“I was open to considering anything asked of me. It was my understanding there was nothing I could do to move anything forward at this time. DC is obviously buried in changes they are having to make, so I understand these decisions are difficult right now.”
Jenkins’ statement comes almost a week after news first broke that Warner Bros. leadership had passed on her treatment for a third “Wonder Woman” movie, which set off a torrent of speculation about what the news might indicate about the future of DC.
It also sparked headlines suggesting that Jenkins had rebuffed efforts to reshape the film to fit into the nascent plans for DC Studios by newly appointed chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran.
In her statement, Jenkins said that story is “simply not true”: “I’m not one to talk about private career matters, but I will not allow inaccuracies to continue.”
Roughly an hour after Jenkins poster her statement, Gunn supported her on Twitter, replying, “I can attest that all of Peter and my interactions with you were only pleasant and professional.”
In her statement, Jenkins also said that while she remains in active development on the ‘Star Wars’ film ‘Rogue Squadron’, she had initially departed the project after realising that working on the film would delay a third “Wonder Woman” movie.
“When I did, Lucasfilm asked me to consider coming back to (“Rogue Squadron”) after (‘Wonder Woman 3’), which I was honored to do, so I agreed,” Jenkins wrote. “They made a new deal with me. In fact, I am still on it and that project has been in active development ever since. I don’t know if it will happen or not. We never do until the development process is complete, but I look forward to its potential ahead.”
Lucasfilm and Jenkins announced ‘Rogue Squadron’ in December 2020; at the time, it was meant to be Lucasfilm’s first ‘Star Wars’ feature film following 2019’s ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ and had been set to premiere in theaters in 2023. But Disney officially pulled the film from its schedule in September.
Jenkins’ hopeful tone on ‘Rogue Squadron’, however, is in contrast to the rest of her statement, which reads as a farewell to the ‘Wonder Woman’ franchise.
“I do not want what has been a beautiful journey with WW to land on negative note,” Jenkins wrote. “I have loved and been so honoured to be the person who got to make these last two ‘Wonder Woman’ films. She is an incredible character.”
Along with the movies’ fans and her filmmaking crew, Jenkins paid tribute to actor Lynda Carter, who played the superhero on TV in the late 1970s and had a cameo in ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ and to her star, Gal Gadot: “Where do I even begin? Gal is the greatest gift I have received in this whole journey. A cherished friend, inspiration, and sister.”
–IANS