At least on paper, Nicolas Winding Refn isn’t the type of filmmaker one would associate with the superhero genre. That’s not to say the Danish auteur wouldn’t create a compelling end product, it’s just that his movies are often so different, so bizarrely unique that we can’t imagine Refn conforming to studio quotas over how best to handle their costumed heroes.
But low and behold, it seems the Drive and Neon Demon director has at the very least flirted with the possibility of dipping his toe into the genre. Upon doing the press rounds for The Neon Demon, Refn not only revealed his admittedly ambitious desire to one-day helm a Batgirl movie, but also that early on in development, he held talks with Warner Bros. over the possibility of directing Wonder Woman.
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via CBM), Refn confirmed that he held a “very early meeting” with Warner, before laughing off the notion that studio would appoint him at the helm of a tentpole blockbuster to begin with. One interesting tidbit to come out of the interview is that the Danish filmmaker also wanted Mad Men starlet Christina Hendricks for the title role. Of course, history tells us that it was Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot who ultimately landed the roles of director and lead star, respectively.
After making her grand debut in Batman V Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman will finally headline her own standalone feature on June 2, 2017.