‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Interviews with Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal
“Wonder Woman 1984” stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal discuss the DC film in this interview with CinemaBlend Managing Editor Sean O’Connell. Gadot talks about her reaction to seeing Wonder Woman’s gold armor for the first time, Pine discusses how Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones influences his portrayal of Steve Trevor, Pascal reveals he was worried his failed Wonder Woman TV pilot might’ve cost him his role as Maxwell Lord, and more. Plus, Pascal, The Mandalorian himself, weighs in on why Patty Jenkins is a perfect choice to direct the “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” movie.
Transcript
00:00 - Who needs you?
00:01 (dramatic music)
00:04 - Gal, I really want to ask you about the golden armor,
00:10 which is something that we've never seen on screen before.
00:12 It looks fantastic in the movie.
00:14 I'm curious if you remember the first time
00:16 that you got to see the design of the golden armor,
00:18 what it was going to look like.
00:20 - Um, it was amazing.
00:22 First of all, when I first saw the sketch
00:25 of what we're going to design, it blew my mind.
00:29 It was so beautiful and, you know,
00:31 it's like women and clothes and it's like,
00:34 golden armor is not something a woman would ever try on.
00:38 And I was like, great, I have the best opportunity
00:40 to try this crazy costume.
00:41 It took a lot of work in terms of getting the look right
00:48 and making sure it's still practical so we can move in it.
00:52 It wasn't the most comfortable, you know,
00:56 it wasn't like wearing a pajama.
00:58 There was a lot of things going on,
01:02 but it was so worth it and I'm so happy we did it.
01:07 And Lindy Hemming just did the best, best work
01:11 with all the costumes.
01:13 - Conservative, but not entirely unfun.
01:16 - I can save today, but you can save the world.
01:22 - Steve.
01:26 - Dylan.
01:27 - I won't reveal how Steve is brought back here.
01:33 I know that that's something we're keeping for the audience,
01:35 but I think it's safe to say that at least
01:37 it allows you to approach him completely differently.
01:39 It's a fresh interpretation.
01:40 It's not what you did in the first film.
01:42 And I'm wondering if you felt that way too,
01:44 that it allowed you to do different things with him
01:47 and you didn't have to really worry
01:48 about messing up what you'd done previously.
01:50 - Yeah, I really liked the Steve,
01:53 the version of Steve in the first film is that I love
01:56 that jaded hero archetype is really fun to play.
02:01 I mean, that is such a classic cinema guy.
02:04 - If you see something wrong happening in the world,
02:06 you can either do nothing or you can do something.
02:08 And I already tried nothing.
02:10 - The interesting thing about this version
02:11 is that this is not a classic cinema guy.
02:13 This is, or at least in a hero mold.
02:16 So how do you do that?
02:20 - I have no idea.
02:21 It certainly wasn't, you know,
02:25 all my, you know, gruff guyness was like,
02:29 "No, I'm gonna play the tough guy."
02:31 But it's a lot of fun.
02:34 You know, the hard part about playing
02:36 the kind of fish out of water, puppy Labrador,
02:39 who's excited about everything is you have to really make,
02:43 try, you have to play pretend and making sense of,
02:46 okay, what is a toaster oven?
02:49 And like, what is a pop tarp?
02:51 And what is an elevator?
02:53 What is an escalator?
02:54 What's a fucking subway?
02:56 Like, it's all, you have to completely change your brain
03:01 and be like, how do you digest this?
03:03 So there was a lot of fun in doing that.
03:06 - It's all art.
03:07 [upbeat music]
03:10 - That's just a trash can.
03:12 - It's just a trash can.
03:13 - Yeah, yeah.
03:14 - Life is good, but it can be better.
03:18 [dramatic music]
03:19 All you need is to want it.
03:21 - Pedro, when they called you with an idea
03:24 to feature you in a "Wonder Woman" sequel,
03:26 did you initially think you were getting a chance
03:27 to dust off Detective Ed Indelicato?
03:31 - No, that's such a good question
03:33 because I think that because of the impact
03:35 of the first movie, and then of course,
03:38 the idea of getting to work with Patty Jenkins,
03:42 it never occurred to me.
03:46 And I'm glad that it didn't
03:47 because I think I probably would have been paranoid
03:50 if they knew that I had already had a go
03:55 in a "Wonder Woman" project.
03:57 Maybe they didn't know at the time.
03:59 And well, so yeah, I guess I loved making that pilot.
04:04 And I was really sad.
04:07 Oh yeah, I was super sad
04:08 that it didn't get picked up the series, but here we are.
04:12 - Here you are, exactly.
04:14 Well, you get to play Maxwell Lord now,
04:15 who I find to be a truly fascinating
04:18 and compelling comic book villain,
04:21 along the lines of Alex Luthor.
04:22 And I just, I wish we had a chance
04:24 to spend more time with him
04:26 because there's so much of the character to develop.
04:27 And so because you do have experience
04:29 with longer form episodic television,
04:32 what's an aspect of Max that you just wish you had more time
04:36 to explore and portray?
04:38 - It's funny that you asked that
04:39 because I think that it was the opposite for me.
04:41 I think that there's an opportunity
04:43 to really like dive into a really, really incredible arc
04:48 of a storyline.
04:50 And the only way to accomplish it, you know,
04:53 under Patty's vision was to do it
04:54 with a kind of uncompromising honesty.
04:57 So I got my fill actually,
05:00 more than I have other characters.
05:01 - That's excellent.
05:03 'Cause that means it was a rewarding experience.
05:04 - It felt rewarding.
05:07 (dramatic music)
05:08 - Nothing good is born from lies.
05:09 (dramatic music)
05:12 - You're great, this is not what you think.
05:14 - There's a moment in this movie
05:15 where Steve is standing on top of a truck in the desert
05:19 and he turns and punches a soldier.
05:20 And the Foley mixers use a sound
05:22 that I only know as the Indiana Jones punch.
05:25 (punch thuds)
05:26 And then I brought it up to Patty
05:28 and she mentioned that you guys use Indy
05:30 as a reference point for Steve often.
05:31 And I was hoping that you could elaborate
05:33 on what that means in terms
05:35 of how you approach the character.
05:36 - Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
05:38 I've said it basically about every hero I've ever played
05:41 is that Harrison Ford's reluctant hero
05:44 is like my touchstone for pretty much, you know,
05:48 all of these types of guys.
05:50 - You have to show a certain amount of vigor.
05:52 - The humanness of it and the fact
05:55 that he always feels like he doesn't wanna be there,
05:57 but he has to be there.
05:59 The fact that he'll try his hardest,
06:01 but you know, getting hit hurts, punching hurts, you know.
06:05 And that particular sequence always reminded Patty
06:10 or reminded me, and I know I talked to Patty about it,
06:13 and I think she modeled it
06:14 after that famous sequence in "Raiders."
06:17 You know, so to shoot in the desert
06:19 with like tanks and stuff
06:20 and pretend that I'm Indiana Jones
06:23 is, you know, like essentially my dream.
06:26 And yeah, I had a whole bit, I think they cut it out,
06:32 but I had a whole bit planned for,
06:35 I don't know if they used it,
06:36 a whole bit planned for the,
06:38 fighting the guy on the top of the thing.
06:40 And it was like a whack-a-mole
06:42 and I'm hitting one guy and his head pops out
06:44 and then he disappears and I go look in
06:46 and then he pulls me in.
06:47 I forget if it remained in the film, but.
06:49 - The pulling in the hole bit ends,
06:51 but not the whack-a-mole.
06:53 - Yeah, so that was, I love, you know,
06:56 that was, it's always trying to find the comedy
06:59 and like, you know,
07:00 Trevor thinks that he's one-upped someone
07:04 and oh no, he's gonna get his ass kicked somehow.
07:08 - Well, that's neat.
07:09 Because of the groundbreaking streaming deal,
07:12 a lot of people are gonna get to see this movie at home.
07:14 On Christmas day, they'll get to press play on it.
07:16 But something like "The Mandalorian"
07:17 has allowed us to get used to seeing stuff at home
07:21 and better our systems
07:23 and really learn how to focus on something
07:25 without distractions.
07:26 Is that what you've been able to do?
07:28 Do you have a system at home
07:29 that you allow yourself to like really focus on something
07:31 and do you ever like press play
07:33 on your "Mandalorian" episodes as they drop?
07:35 - I am very, very, very, very precious
07:38 about my TV viewing and my movie experiences.
07:43 To the point of being obnoxious,
07:45 you'll get kind of kicked out of a room
07:47 if you're messing with my movie experience.
07:51 - It's not a toy.
07:52 - So I honor that often.
07:57 I'll turn off my phone.
07:58 - Stop touching things.
08:00 - Why is Paddy the right choice to make a "Star Wars" film?
08:05 - Because she's the best.
08:07 (laughing)
08:08 That's why.
08:09 - That simple?
08:11 - Yeah.
08:12 (laughing)
08:12 I think it's the best thing of anything she's made.
08:14 I mean, you know, Paddy can do anything.
08:17 I think, you know,
08:19 I think it's a gorgeous compliment to one another.
08:24 - This is a weird compliment,
08:26 but you are my favorite Spider-Man.
08:28 I think that you nailed the humor of the character
08:31 in a way I've never seen before.
08:32 And he's my favorite, Spider-Man's my favorite character.
08:34 And the way that you, in a short amount of time,
08:36 the way you got him to me was majestic.
08:39 - I appreciate it very much.
08:40 I had a lot of fun working on that.
08:41 Those guys are great.
08:42 And I think what they made was spectacular.
08:45 I seem to die.
08:46 I have to get in something where I at least don't die.
08:50 I think that's my actor challenge for 2021.
08:53 - No, but you're so good,
08:54 we find ways to bring you back each time.
08:56 - Yeah, right?
08:57 It's just going to become ever more ingenious
08:59 how you bring me back from the dead.
09:01 - Duke Roundhog Day.
09:03 - Yeah, there you go.
09:03 - Sure, oh God, you can't fuck with that.
09:05 You can't fuck with that.
09:07 (upbeat music)