In case anyone wondered, Miss CC would like to kick some butt with Joss as Wondy. (I la-la-la'd with my hands over my ears on the VM stuff, as I'm knee-deep in VM-2 even as we speak.) I had to -- I love reading CC -- she just says what she's thinking -- kinda like that Buffy episode "Earshot" when Cordy's speeched mirrored her thoughts exactly.

Ya gotta love that kinda eggs in Hollywood, where many folks don't talk without their publicist-approved talking points in hand.

QuoterGal | September 06, 12:52 CET

Enjoy S2 VM, QuoterGal! Many surprises on the way, la-la-la. :-)

I don't know if I can see Ms. Carpenter as Wondy for one reason only -- she seems so American, and I can't imagine her getting the "foreignness" of WW. But, I haven't seen all of CC's roles, so who knows? She probably has great acting chops I just haven't seen yet! I could really see CC as, like, an American reporter or Army officer or someone like that who is a big contrast to WW -- if Joss wrote a character like that. ;-)

billz | September 06, 13:01 CET

I think she could probably pull off playing WW, but from what I understand, they're looking for someone younger, which could be a problem for Charisma. I do hope she gets some part in the movie though. It would be a nice gesture, and she is a good actress, so I can't see why not.

GreatMuppetyOdin | September 06, 13:20 CET

I think Charisma would be amazing as Wonder Woman if there was going to be a remake of the 70s show (and if the movie is a hit - maybe that will happen) but I can't see her getting the lead for the movie.

Simon | September 06, 13:37 CET

When they really start the casting process for the movie, and when the cast members start to be officially announced, will probably mark the return of the so missed interviews with Joss in every vehicle out there.

I miss reading interviews with Joss.

Numfar PTB | September 06, 15:41 CET

I think she's fantastic & would love to see her get the part. But if not that, what about Wondy's troublemaking younger sister Drusilla, originally played by Debra Winger... though I'm thinking Joss is too much of a purist to include her. But now I know where our Dru got her name ;-)

gingeriffic | September 06, 17:07 CET

She could play ..well..um Donna Troy... the original Comic Wonder-girl,now Troia. Donna is Diana's younger/twin sister. She was made when Diana was younger to be her playmate, since children were not born on the island. Or even Artemis. The amazon who took her role for a time. ALL I really want is Linda Carter as her mother.

I think like Superman, WW should be a relativly unknown surrounded by known actors.

Donna Troy | September 06, 17:16 CET

I am almost through Season One of VM, which is currently on sale at Best Buy for 19.99 US. (I also snagged Season One of Nip/Tuck for 19.99!!!) Thanks Whedonesquers, for talking it up so much. It's not Buffy but I'm thoroughly enjoying it! Looking forward to seeing CC soon. I couldn't read the article because I'm currently unspoiled, but not for much longer. And yes, if the TV series were revived, CC would make an awesome WW.

April | September 06, 17:17 CET

Having just been fortunate enough to see Morena Baccarin at a con, I have to go with her for my choice. We know she can act and she is so incredibly beautiful that as Wonder Woman she could just stun the villains with her beauty.
Ok, so maybe that isn't strict canon.
(Morena agreed to pose with a Wonder Woman Pez container and I told her that when she got the role, the picture would be worth a fortune.)
As for Charisma, I don't feel I've seen a wide enough range of acting to be able to judge but it is true that she isn't perhaps young enough any more.

Lioness | September 06, 17:24 CET

Lioness, I am nodding my head so enthusiastically on the Morena call that I look like one of those bobble-head jobbies. And what red-blooded villain wouldn't want to be tied up in Morena's lasso. Heck, I'd turn to a life of crime in about 15 seconds.

And although WW is usually portrayed as being very tall (Amazon-like, no?), I think Joss could work around that. Perhaps with an intricate network of trenches for the other actors to stand in. But of course, only as long as it doesn't detract from the electric penguin.

mr_shemp | September 06, 18:33 CET

I think like Superman, WW should be a relativly unknown surrounded by known actors.

Except we want WW to be good, right? So the similarities should end with your sentence...

I think it's not so good to see actresses who have a relatively small chance of getting this part so publicly 'wanting' it. It just makes it doubly sad when they don't get it. I mean, not Sean Young sad, but still sad. How about a "Sure, I'd do WW if Joss asked me, it sounds like fun."?

[ edited by Rogue Slayer on 2006-09-06 16:42 ]

Rogue Slayer | September 06, 18:39 CET

I think she could pull it off in many respects--but that's not what we're after...

I'm with Lioness. When I think "live" Wonder Woman, I think Morena. When I think of animated WW I think of Susan Eisenberg (Justice League), who has the perfect voice for WW. Sadly, she doesn't quite fit any of my conceptions of the look, though it is hard to find pictures of her.

RBB | September 06, 19:08 CET

I love how honest she is...and how excited she is about this movie. For someone who was abruptly let go from a Whedon show after a season she was none to excited about for her character, she still has much love for Whedon and his work.

I think she is really just waiting for her big break into the movies and would prove a great WW. If the age thing is a problem, how great would it be for her to be a villain in the movie!

Keep working on it CC and show some cordy love, Joss!

[ edited by zeitgeist -for grammar-nazi-ism- on 2006-09-06 18:01 ]

yamsham | September 06, 19:45 CET

I don't think Moreena has that strength that WW embodies.
She is a beautiful woman but very soft. I can't see her kicking anyone's butt. I would like to be blown away by someone that the world has no idea about. Someone new and refreshing. A new starlet that Joss selects who is a powerful actor. Whoever he chooses is going to have a very beautiful career in front of them and gets to hang out with Joss. How cool is that? Pick me..Pick me..

tofegari | September 06, 20:10 CET

We haven't seen Morena do tough - she's an actress, I bet she could do it. After all we all bought in to SMG as a Slayer when she didn't know how to throw a proper punch (those wrist breaks in the OMWF 80's training montage just drive me batty).

All that said - I know Joss is going to find the right woman for the job and there's no way I can anticipate who it might be. We may possibly all go "hunh??" when she's announced but I've learned to trust his judgement.

gingeriffic | September 06, 20:17 CET

I wonder if the upcoming audition she's anticipating is for WW? If so, does that mean that auditions for WW have begun??

jbfletcher | September 06, 21:02 CET

We haven't seen Morena do tough, because Inara was a pushover? I'm not sure we saw the same character or even the same show.

dreamlogic | September 06, 21:09 CET

You're absolutely right dreamlogic - I was responding to tofegari who said

Poor wording on my part - tough doesn't equal butt kicking. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that Morena is an actress and Inara is a different role than Wonder Woman. Just because we haven't seen her physically kick butt doesn't mean she can't. She looked pretty handy with that bolt thrower.

gingeriffic | September 06, 21:28 CET

I don't think Charisma has even a remote shot at the role.

TamaraC | September 06, 22:19 CET

This has got to be a fanboy's dream come true. Joss has all these gorgeous women dying to work with him in skimpy superheroine costumes.

Nebula1400 | September 06, 22:44 CET

I don't either, TamaraC.

It's too bad, I'd love to see her in a Whedon production again, but I don't think she has a snowball's chance in the Hellmouth.

Willowy | September 06, 22:50 CET

Joss has all these gorgeous women dying to work with him in skimpy superheroine costumes.

Aaah, so that's why he writes all these strong female characters. Been wondering for a while now.

;-)

(and no, I don't think CC will get it - or is right for the part - but I hope Joss doesn't write off other 'verse actors *cough* Morena *cough* just because it might seem a bit incestuous to cast them)

Saje | September 06, 23:46 CET

All speculation, of course... but if one were in Mr.Whedon's shoes (and how many people wouldn't want to wear his shoes?) , I'd see a 'pluses' and 'minus' list for casting Charisma (or Morena for that matter) versus a complete unknown:

Pluses:
* Working before with a 'known' actor, and having a history with them, I'd guess one would be able to more/less predict his/her behavior over a long haul on-set. Less unpredicability for the director and the studio if the actor is known to be able to be talented and act professional over a long haul. There was a case in "Star Trek:Voyager" where the LEAD actress, after all the sets got built, etc. etc., just said (essentially) "I can't do this" in the middle of the shoot and had to quit the series mid-shoot--- and buh-bye all the footage they shot for the pilot, probably not making anyone very happy. And this was an actress who had done feature films for years. She wasn't a novice. either.

So there's got to be that worry always nagging in the back of his head. For as beautiful and talented as people are, who knows how stable a new actor can be under pressure?

* Also, if Mr.Whedon works with an actor he's worked with before, he would know what the actor can and can't deliver (even if trying). One director (I think it was Rob Reiner) who mentioned in an interview that he hired an actor once based on her audition- but when the camera actually started rolling, the actor couldn't replicate what she had given in the audition, which made for a better argument for hiring people who are proven to be able to play the same 'type' over and over again. Less guessing. Seems to make sense.

Minuses for using 'known' actors:

* Even if he/she (well, I assume that the actor chosen for WW will be a 'she') is fantastic, one loses the 'magic' of seeing a movie character for the first time ever---
(sorta)--- example might be of Ben Affleck as 'Daredevil'--- while I thought Ben gave a great performance, there was ZERO sense of mystery when we first saw the mask unveiled.

((*And I know this is a highly unfair perspective towards known actors who struggle, but it's also highly unfair that actors are better looking people than most of us in real life, so it evens out in the bigger picture.))

Wonder Woman is such a larger than life character, that part of the magic surrounding a Hollywood rendition of it is like seeing a possibility of new star being born, who you have zero association with. Like Hugh Jackman's first appearance in Xmen or Brandon Routh's appearance in Superman Returns (both Bryan Singer movies... wow- if he wasn't a director, maybe he should be a casting agent!) ; ) ...or if one wants a better comparison, Sarah Michelle Geller as "Buffy" and David Boreanaz as "Angel"--- one was really open to these character/actors, because one had no feeling towards him/her from a prior association.

Just as the characters had to 'earn' the audience's affection, so did the actors' performances as well.

It's true that a known actor can transcend any prior conceptions or prior roles (I'm thinking of the chameleon Sean Penn), but there's something also quasi-mythical about a complete unknown with zillion to one odds in Hollywood being given a shot to stardom in one role.

Casting a known actor is probably safer, of course, but in the end, Mr.Whedon is making a motion picture and a possible legend that will last for decades, just as Buffy and Angel will last.

Whoever he choses, (and maybe the correct casting is a known actor, this may be true, too) I hope he doesn't let friendship cloud his judgement as to who is the best choice to bring this character to life.

harvey chin | September 07, 00:58 CET

I love Joss' shows, not only for the beauty of the writing, the intricacy of the plotting, etc., but because they were all so prefectly cast. Here's hoping Joss has a large say in who's hired to play WW. Whatever his choice, I'm sure it will work for me.

looking | September 07, 01:40 CET

A crowded Paradise Island scene early in the movie would be the perfect occasion to reunite the female half of the Whedon Diaspora.

Charisma Carpenter would make a great Wonder Woman, especially if JW's script emphasizes the humor of her fish-out-of-water position. Imagine CC in costume on the streets of Manhattan being sexually harassed for the first time, and responding without feeling even slightly threatened. Imagine it happening a few weeks later and CC responding by smiling and flipping over the perp's car. Imagine her sincere puzzlement, almost hurt, that mortals do not treat her with the humble gratitude and deference to which she was born entitled. I think such a characterization could combine the funniest and sweetest aspects of Cordelia and Anya. Lonely at the top, and oh so pretty.

ETA: I'm not sure that this is the kind of Wonder Woman JW wrote, but CC could definitely communicate the sheer fun of having superpowers. Imagine her casually deflecting a machine gun's worth of bullets then flashing that smile, like she found the attempt to kill her kind of amusing.

(My preference, as always, is Sarah Michelle Gellar. In everything.)

And: Meryl Streep — born to play Queen? “Take this invisible airplane so that you may confound your enemies, soar high above the battle unseen, and come visit.”

[ edited by Pointy on 2006-09-07 05:51 ]

Pointy | September 07, 01:52 CET

Me too, TamaraC, which is why the baldness of her stating it makes me wince a little.

A lot of it is based on reality: to jumpstart a franchise, Joss and co. have stated they're looking for an actress of a certain age. CC looks gorgeous and very much her age, and sometimes in Hollywood (unfortunately much more for women than for men), just how you look physically is what ultimately matters. Wonder Woman is going to be an origin story, and CC is the wrong age and look for the role. I can't get too up in arms about this; age is merely one of the factors -- race, height, weight etc. count almost as much, and I cannot foresee them ever casting a Wonder Woman who wasn't absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. That's a way more limiting factor than age range.

I personally love the idea of casting Morena, but realistically find it unlikely. I think Joss might lean that way, but I hope he's seriously going to stretch himself to find a truely unknown talent -- after all, he's had luck with that before: he gave Summer, Baccarin, Denisof, Boreanaz, Nick Brendan, CC and Marsters their first major jobs (though including Denisof is arguable) and they shone in their respective roles, did their best work to date in his shows. I trust in God.. I mean, Joss.

dottikin | September 07, 02:44 CET

pointy, this is a happenin' phrase: "Whedon Diaspora."

I larfed, but sadly.

QuoterGal | September 07, 09:00 CET

Take heart, good QuoterGal, as the era of televised Whedonlessness is, I imagine/prophecy/fancy, not a permanent one. My guess is, he misses television, based in part on his famous quote to the effect that, "I miss it," or something.

It is probably hard for him not to be doing TV -- to eschew, for a time, the daily company of the Mutant Animas and Animuses, to forego the sort of weekly feedback that series TV provides, to go on a long, lonely chase after his (I think) first love, the movies. Hard, but necessary, because, as Kahlil Gibran kind of said (and was, I'm sure you will agree, kind of spelled), "The passion untended is a flame that burns to its own extinction." IOW, follow your heart, or you're screwed.

The aforesaid chase is a painful but necessary part of the Jossy journey, this wedding of his TV/feminine/question-asking sensibility with the movies' male, question-answering mode of storytelling. (I'm almost certain he said some of the words in that last sentence at some time in some order.)

Since Wonder Woman is more man than most men and more woman than most women, his anima and animus will certainly, as Carl Jung put it, get to do their thing. And then he may well do more serial television drama, or serial novel writing, or serial eating.

So we should be patient and supportive (I hate that part) and perhaps read Dickens. And when he (Whedon, not the dead guy) makes jokes about having failed to master the English language, which he has lately (correct me if I'm wrong and if you don't care about my feelings), try to understand that he is attempting something big and hard and vaguely cigar shaped, but not Freudian so much as, I am almost certain I already said, Jungian, you filthy-minded QuoterHussy. Something like Serenity but with even more "hot chicks with superpowers." (It's called Paradise Island. My only question is why Victoria's Secret hasn't already used that as a catalog theme.) And wish him well as he battles Writing Rats of Unusual Size. Or the equivalent.

In the meantime, we look forward to certain comic books with more enthusiasm than adults ought admit. And remember that even if the Big Showrunner in the Sky decides to twist his plot tomorrow, Joss Whedon is the beloved creator of a body of work that we will always heart, save only for the gypsy crap.

[ edited by Pointy on 2006-09-07 20:55 ]

Pointy | September 07, 10:34 CET

The real question is, has Charisma Carpenter been working out? If she beefed up a bit, she might could pull it off. However, whoever gets the role, she needs to be able to do her own stunts. If we could get Summer Glau to gain some weight and maybe a foot in height, she could probably do it.

Although, I'd rather see her in ELUSIVE THE MOVIE. The role's practically tailor made for Glau. She's the right height and weight and everything. She can play innocent. She can play crazy. She can dance. She can play "I know something you don't know" and oblivious to her surroundings all at the same time. Most importantly, Summer Glau would look good in a hat with a computer generated pookah on her shoulder.

She could probably even play Elaine in the many age variants that'd be required. I'd need an actress who could pull off Elu as a teenager and at middle age, as well as the twenty-something Elusive, where the bulk of the action takes place, but whoever played her would need to do some of her own stunts and...

Sorry. We were talking about Charisma, weren't we? She'd make an okay Elusive, I guess. (smirk)

ZachsMind | September 07, 23:14 CET

Karen Carpenter has a better shot at gettting the role.

tinktanker | September 07, 23:44 CET