The annual Power of Women L.A. issue of Variety is out Tuesday, and it features interviews with “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins and Michelle Pfeiffer opening up about everything from sexism in Hollywood, to James Cameron, to becoming “unhirable” while raising kids.
Jenkins, who has been at the forefront of the fight for equal pay for women, talked about what it was like as a woman to receive a big paycheque for her work on “Wonder Woman.”
“You’re of course aware of the money,” Jenkins said. “But I’ve never been more aware of a duty than I was in this deal. I was extremely aware that I had to make sure I was being paid what the male equivalent would be.”
“Women who have not been in a system that allows them to build up the same level of pay as men are not able to be paid the same as men forever if that’s the way it continues,” she added.
The 46-year-old director is also proud of the symbolism the Wonder Woman character represents. “I think the legacy of ‘Wonder Woman’ is a different kind of hero,” she explained, “one that hits the same marks but also really is about love and empowerment in a slightly different way.”
Asked about James Cameron’s comments bashing the feminism of “Wonder Woman”, Jenkins replied, “I actually was not upset at all. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But if you’re going to debate something in a public way, I have to reply that I think it’s incorrect.”
As for why it took seven years between her film “Monster” and “Wonder Woman”, Jenkins explained that it was partly her choice so she could be there for her family. “When you have a little baby, directing a feature where you’re gone every few years is not the easiest thing to sync up,” Jenkins said. “I know people who have done it. It wasn’t something I chose to do.”
Pfeiffer went through a similar period, taking a nearly five year hiatus from acting in order to raise her kids, though it wasn’t exactly a decision she made on purpose.
“It wasn’t a conscious choice to not work for five years,” Pfeiffer said. “It was just as my kids got older it got harder. They were school age and I couldn’t schlep all around the world and disrupt their routines. I set down so many restrictions about when and where I could be on location that I became kind of unhirable.”
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The “Thelma and Louise” returned to the big screen last month in Darren Aronofsky’s film, “mother!”, which stirred a fair bit of controversy. “It’s what Darren set out to do,” said Pfeiffer. “He set out to make controversial film that was going to engage people and enrage people and provoke people. It’s certainly thought provoking and got people talking.”
Pfeiffer will next be seen in the upcoming “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, though she admits she having trouble digging into the comic books for research. “I just started reading them and I’m having a really hard time,” she said. “There’s so much information on a page and it’s not linear. When I’m skim reading them it’s difficult to know that this part comes after that and who is talking in what bubble.”
