Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is DC’s latest animated film. At New York Comic-Con, actress, Rosario Dawson, sat down with the press to discuss playing Wonder Woman yet again.
To promote the recent Wonder Woman animated original, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, Wonder Woman herself came to the famed New York Comic-Con to provide insight on the latest incarnation of arguably the most famous female superhero in comic book history.
The Workprint sat down with Rosario Dawson, the lead vocal talent, in a roundtable interview. The actress, comic book creator, and activist just finished her sixth time voicing the Themysciran.
Was there anything from the live-action movie that you used or wanted to use?
No, I think it’s, I’ve been doing Wonder Woman now for a few years, and it’s been amazing. I think the folks who’ve been writing this character and promoting this character have in many ways, like a lot of the different iterations that have come forth from a lot of our iconic heroes have been really trying to explore how to modernize these stories so they can continue to be as compelling as they have been for generations, and I think that’s really beautiful. I mean, I got to work with Frank Miller, who’s very responsible for that, in taking the Dark Knight and taking Batman from Go-Go Gadget Belt Batman to someone a little more serious and exploring the psychological make-up of someone who does what he does. I think even in this story, with Bloodlines, we’re going back to the origin story of Wonder Woman; Steve Trevor coming into Themyscira, her leaving and going to America, and being confronted with this new culture. But we’re also exploring in the sense (that) there’s a lot of female characters, it’s very female-centered, and really seeing the conflicts that arise just from, even with the best intentions, Wonder Woman’s mere presence, and just really grappling with the nuances and complexities of being someone who’s an ambassador and a dignitary and wants to put out that olive branch, but is also very willing to come out with that sword and fight. It’s an unusual kind of perspective in hero comics, and one that I’m grateful has been around for a long time and continues to be something that a lot of us actors get to, not so many of us actors actually, you know what I mean? It’s still a pretty small group but a few of us get the honor and privilege of being able to explore her, and it’s cool being able to do it in this generation.
What were your thoughts on the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman?
Yeah, what was amazing about it was that we’ve had the chance to bring her back into a forefront, and Gal was so incredible at it that it broke a bunch of records, and it continued to push for even more storytelling in that vein, and we’ve since had a lot of different characters that we’ve continued to explore that women have been able to embody. But I also still really feel like that’s been pushing in a lot of different spaces, and I’ll never put down (anyone). I remember when I first started voicing Wonder Woman, and people were like “Finally, we’re getting a Latina Wonder Woman,” and I’m like, “Lynda Carter was Latina.” You know, like I grew up with her, and I thought that was super awesome. It’s a different iteration of her, but it was very inspiring, nonetheless, and it meant a lot of my grandmother, my mom, and myself when I was a kid, and now to see that we can change what her outfit looks like, and we can change a bit more of what the perspective of which we are showing her, but it’s an evolution of the times, and I think Gal really represented that well, and I’m hoping that this film does as well.
What’s the best part of playing Wonder Woman?
For me, because I’m not doing the physicality of it so much, except when I’m in the booth by myself with a fake sword, it’s all the whoops and hollers and as they call it “efforts” that I get to do, and the distinctions in her voice of what it sounds like to be smashed by a mythical creature or to be winded from battle in the skies to what the difference between a struggle run when she’s fighting and another one to when she’s actually in pain and hurt. It’s the kind of stuff I grew up watching a lot of awesome cartoons and animated films and the power of the voice and the pause or the tremble in your voice and what that can convey; it’s just incredible and it’s great to be apart of that because I try often to do that with a look when I’m on camera but when you don’t have that resource, how do you convey it, it’s an awesome and really fun challenge.
How do you feel about the progression of her character?
Wonderful. I mean, I think it’s a character that will continue to have new iterations, you know? I imagine Wonder Woman 25 years from now and how different that Wonder Woman will be, and she’s a character that continues to exist in our modern world. So we can continue to adapt her because she’s not going to just age and die like the rest of us. She’s going to stick around, you know, like Captain America and different characters like that, or so you hope and think. So it’s just fun. You know, I voiced Lego Batgirl, and we got to poke fun at Batman. We’ve gotten in so far that we’ve gotten back around to just being like, “Dude, you’ve got so much money. Why are you fighting petty crime in a Batsuit? Go and pay for some stuff.” It’s great that we continue to get to go back and revisit why we’ve love these stories intergenerationally but also continue to push them to be interesting for us in the future and adapt them to a new world, and I think that’s a beautiful thing for us to have to do. You know, not taking anything for granted, and recognizing even an iconic character can be adapted and evolve and grow. People will criticize big tentpole movies and maybe they’re just entertaining, but look at all the community that’s brought from it. This transcends age, it transcends the gender spectrum, it transcends culture, it transcends borderlines, it’s intergenerational: my grandmother loved Wonder Woman. It keeps going. We have a touchstone like that to go back to revisit and challenge ourselves to what would you do in that situation and what it inspires in you is a really powerful tool.
Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is available on digital today. A physical release on 4K Combo Pack & Blu-ray Combo Pack will release on October 22.
Here’s the trailer for Wonder Woman: Bloodlines:
