WONDER WOMAN: THE ART AND MAKING OF THE FILM Book Review
Bringing an icon to life is a difficult task. We’ve watched countless writers and directors struggle with adaptation after adaptation of superheroes both new and old. Where we’ve seen some heroes’ origin stories enough to make us scream, there are others that have hardly been told at all. Wonder Woman is one such hero. Thankfully, Patty Jenkins and her team were up to the task of bringing the seventy-six-year-old character to life in a way that none of us dared hope for.
In Sharon Gosling’s Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film we explore Jenkins’ process and the processes of her team. The forward itself is a beautifully written love letter to Diana Prince, illustrating just how right Jenkins was for the task of giving the hero the film she deserved. After the foreword and introduction, the book explores several key areas of the film: Themyscira, the journey from Themyscira to the world of man, and the world of man itself.
The introduction is a brief 6 pages, but those pages are filled to the brim with tidbits from the making of the film, and personal accounts from several members of the cast and crew. You’ll also find stunning classic works of Diana’s visage from artists like Alex Ross and the original artist himself, Harry G. Peter. Each person who discusses Wonder Woman’s vast history does so with a reverence that the princess of Themyscira has earned but has rarely received, all of which couples perfectly with the exceptional work of these two artists.
After Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film gets done gushing over the character that made the movie possible, it delves into exactly what you were looking for in a book with its title. Each section breaks down countless parts of sets, story boards, art work, costumes, props, and more. The beautiful scenery of Themyscira comes to life in the pages of the book, showing you stills of things that may have flown by when you watched the movie. Man’s world comes into sharp detail, portraits of characters in concept and execution fill page after page. For cosplayers who are salivating over this last paragraph, it’s exactly what you need to make sure your Wonder Woman, Hippolyta, and Antiope costumes are screen accurate and ready to go. Oh, and did I mention the weapons are also shown in detail?
If you’re into seeing all the love and detail that go into making a major motion picture like Wonder Woman great, then this book is absolutely for you. Really, this book is for damn near anyone. Wonder Woman fans, cosplayers, costumers, comic nerds, or even the brand new fan who’s just getting involved in the universe. If none of that is enough to sell you on the book, there’s also a special surprise hidden in the back for collectors. I won’t spoil it for you, but it comes from Wayne Enterprises, and it is infinitely cooler than you might expect from that little detail.
