If you saw Wonder Woman this weekend, you may have noticed a mysterious teaser that played just before it — and you may have been left wondering, “What is this?”
Today, more details about the teaser and the film it accompanies, Professor M, have been released. Annapurna Pictures, the same studio behind Her, The Master, Sausage Party and American Hustle confirmed today that the teaser was for its own biopic on Wonder Woman creator, William Moulton Marston.
Marston — and the story of how Wonder Woman came to be — has a particularly interesting history. Marston was a psychologist who wrote under the pen name Charles Moulton. He debuted Wonder Woman in 1941. In later interviews and articles in scholarly journals, Marston affirmed that he created Wonder Woman as an icon for young girls and women to look up to.
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In an article Marston wrote for The American Scholar in 1943, the psychologist said that unless women have a strong figure they could look up to, it would be impossible for women to grow into the independent people they should.
“Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness,” Marston wrote. “The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”
Annapurna’s movie will examine Marston and the origin of Wonder Woman’s creation. Perhaps even more importantly, the movie will examine Marston’s relationship with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne, the couple’s partner. Byrne lived with them and was a secondary partner to the both of them. Both women were crucial to Marston’s development of Wonder Woman — Byrne served as an inspiration for the character — and have been accredited as such.
There is no release date attached to Professor M, but Annapurna has an impressive, interactive website for the movie.
