Writer-director Angela Robinson’s “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and she sat down with stars Luke Evans and Bella Heathcote at the Variety Studio Presented by AT&T to discuss why she felt compelled to tell the story of William Moulton Marston — who created the character of Wonder Woman under the pen name Charles Moulton — his wife Elizabeth, and their relationship with Olive Byrne.
“To me, it was always just, I wanted to tell a simple love story, and have it play out in an organic way,” Robinson explained. “My goal for the film was not to otherize their experience at all or be like, ‘This is weird, this is kinky.’ I just wanted to portray what I thought it would be like for three people who love each other to come together and form this family and see their hopes and ideals kind of realized in this Wonder Woman character.”
She added that she had been frustrated by the fact that Batman and Superman, who comprised two of the “Big Three” superheros of DC Comics, received multiple film treatments while it took 75 years for Wonder Woman to get just one. When a friend gave her a book with a chapter on the Marstons, she was intrigued by their story.
