Wonder Woman Producer Talks Fans Original Backlash Against Gal Gadot

05/23/2017 10:16 am EDT

With Wonder Woman hitting theaters soon, fans have fully embraced Gal Gadot as the amazon warrior. That said, it didn't always start out that way, as producer Charles Roven distinctly remembers.

Roven spoke to Joblo recently about the project, and he remembers vividly the backlash the casting received. It was very similar to casting made in The Dark Knight. "Oh no, there was terrible backlash. There was backlash when we made Heath The Joker, it was a pretty big backlash. When we made Ben Batman, the same thing. That's the other thing as to why you've got to be a little bit, you have to revere the fans but not everything that the fans say is… and there is a lot of fan opinion. You've got to be careful, and ultimately you have to take all that in and still have your own instinct about what to do."

The good news is that fans soon realized Gadot was the right choice, thanks to her fantastic performance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. When asked how often fan opinion affects casting decisions, Roven said "I think that the thing that we looked at was the amount of push back that we got on BVS. At least in terms of things that we should look at about tone. Even though we felt very strongly that in the making of the film - and if you actually look at the canon of when Batman and Superman fought. that that's a very dark comic. And this movie was going to be dark. As much as everybody embraced it when we announced it, I think that nobody really thought that - but you had to take these characters and get them to the place where two guys that we really admire and like, are going to fight each other in a really tough way where one may be thinking he's going to take the other one out. How are you going to get that and make it feel real. The good news for us was that we knew that just by virtue of the fact that we were going to be bringing these other guys into the group with this recruitment, it was going to be lighter in tone."

Wonder Woman currently has a 4.07 out of 5 on ComicBook.com's anticipation rankings, and you can find the official synopsis below.

Wonder Woman hits movie theaters around the world next summer when Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action-adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.

Wonder Woman is directed by Patty Jenkins and is written by Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, and Zack Snyder. The film stars Gal Gadot (Diana Prince/Wonder Woman), Chris Pine (Steve Trevor), Robin Wright (General Antiope), Connie Nielsen (Queen Hippolyta), David Thewlis, Elena Anaya, Lucy Davis (Etta Candy), Danny Huston, Ewen Bremmer, Doutzen Kroes, Samantha Jo (Euboea), Florence Kasumba (Senator Acantha), Said Taghmaoui, Eleanor Matsuura (Epione), Emily Carey (Young Diana), and Lisa Loven Kongsli (Menalippe).

The DCEU continues with Wonder Woman opens in theaters on June 2, 2017, followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League 2 on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020. The Flash, The Batman, Dark Universe and Man of Steel 2 are currently without a release dates.

MORE WONDER WOMAN: Patty Jenkins On Why Wonder Woman Is The Greatest Woman Of All Time / Director Reveals Why She Chose To Shoot Wonder Woman On Film / The Women Of Supergirl Unite For A Wonder Woman TV Spot

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