With Annapurna Pictures’Professor Marston and the Wonder Womennow playing in theaters, I recently sat down with writer-directorAngela Robinsonto talk about the making of the film. If you’re not familiar with the incredible story, the film tells the true story ofWilliam Moulton Marston(LukeEvans), a professor who entered into a polyamorous relationship with his academic wife (Rebecca Hall) and one of their students (Bella Heathcote), both of whom served as the inspiration for him to create theWonder Womancomic. While some directors might have used the story to focus on the sex and wild threesomes, Robinson has crafted a great film aboutacceptance, love and feminism and done it with a delicate brush.Professor Marston and the Wonder Womenis a fantastic film about challenging the norm and finding acceptance. The film also starsConnie BrittonandOliver Platt. For more onProfessor Marston and the Wonder Women, you canread Adam Chitwood’s review here.
During the interview, Angela Robinson talked about how she’s been trying to make this film for eight years, when she first heard about William Moulton Marston’s story, how they managed to make the movie in only 25 days, what she learned from early friends and family screenings, and a lot more. Check out what she had to say in the video above, and below you’ll find a breakdown of what we talked about and the film’s official synopsis.
Angela Robinson:
Below is the official synopsis forProfessor Marston & The Wonder Women.If you want to know more about the unique origins ofWonder Woman, check outJill Lepore’s bookThe Secret History of Wonder Womanorlisten to Lepore’s interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, the film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940’s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her ‘sexual perversity’, he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research — while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.
