Patty Jenkins, director of the Wonder Woman sequel Wonder Woman 1984, has revealed that the film isn’t as long as she would have liked. The sequel clocks in at an impressive 151 minutes already, but Jenkins has discussed her reasoning for wanting a longer film.
Speaking to Digital Spy, the filmmaker commented: “The first cut was two hours and 45 minutes. It was just a little bit more of every scene and I, even now, personally would have preferred the pacing of this movie a tiny bit slower.”
She explained: “I grew up watching those grand movies that took their time, I still believe in that, but the modern studio system is very uncomfortable with that, so I ended up splitting the difference and going a little bit tighter than I would like to go, but it's okay.”
Jenkins also added why some scenes ended up trimmed: “We had a problem in this movie because every time we shot a scene, people would improv or pick up some cool shot, and we just had way too much… All the action scenes got longer, all the funny scenes got longer and it was very hard to kill your darlings.”
Despite this, not many scenes ended up being cut from Wonder Woman 1984: Jenkins explained that she’s “meticulous” when it comes to scripts, so every scene is necessary. She also revealed that the cut footage is from Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor’s stroll through Washington DC, in particular a scene where they call for a cab.
Wonder Woman 1984 is very nearly out internationally, arriving on December 16 in UK cinemas, and is getting a simultaneous HBO Max and cinema release in the US on Christmas Day. After that, we’ll next see Diana in Zack Snyder’s Justice League – and Jenkins has recently shared her dislike of the theatrical version, saying it contradicts both of her Wonder Woman movies.
Until Wonder Woman 1984 hits our screens, check out our guide to watching DC movies in order to get all caught up. Meanwhile, Jenkin has been announced as the director of the next big-screen Star Wars movie.
