The Maddening Reason Why Michelle MacLaren Left 'Wonder Woman'

By Vivian Kane | Miscellaneous | April 17, 2015 |

By Vivian Kane | Miscellaneous | April 17, 2015 |

When director Michelle MacLaren left the Wonder Woman movie earlier this week, the only reason we got was that PR catch-all of “creative differences.” She was immediately replaced with Patty Jenkins (who herself had once been attached to Thor 2, but left because of, you guessed it, “creative differences”). However, now multiple sources have been talking about what those differences were and it all reportedly boils down to MacLaren wanting to direct a big blockbuster of an action movie— you know, pretty much what everyone would expect from a mega-huge superhero movie whose lead we’ve already seen elsewhere looking like this:

Apparently MacLaren wanted to create a film reminiscent of Braveheart, while Warner Brothers was looking for “a more character-driven story that was less heavy on action.”

I’m trying really really hard not to see this as a gender issue, but… I mean, come on. It’a a fucking gender issue. No studio would want a director to put less action into a Batman or Superman movie, or Spider-Man or the Avengers or whatever dude-driven franchise we’re talking about. But ladies = feelings, not large-scale CGI destruction.

Oh, right. The studio also didn’t seem to have any idea who MacLaren was or what her background was.

Warner executives, these insiders said, became increasingly concerned about MacLaren directing a large-scale, action-packed production when her experience was limited to the small screen, where she made her name directing episodes of “Game of Thrones,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead.”

Via Variety.