SNEAK PEEK : "Wonder Woman" Casting Call

According to Central Casting, Los Angeles, the upcoming NBC TV series pilot "Wonder Woman", from writer producer David E. Kelley ("Boston Legal") is looking for 'military types' :

"...Central Casting Los Angeles is looking for Super Buff, Worked out, Bodybuilder Type Guys to play soldiers that appear to be on steroids for 'Wonder Woman'. This will work at the end of March or beginning of April. Email bodyshots with all sizes and contact info to:
centralww@gmail.com"

Actress Adrianne Palicki ("Friday Night Lights") has landed the lead role in the reboot of the classic 1970's TV series, based on the DC Comics character.

Palicki previously appeared in "Legion", the CW's unaired "Aquaman" TV pilot and in the Vancouver-lensed series "Smallville".

Kelley's TV pilot will incorporate the iconic comic book character's signature 'magic lasso' and 'invisible plane', in what is being described as a "...serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character...".

Kelley ("Boston Legal") is no stranger to 'genre' ideas, as his wife, actress Michelle Pfeiffer, played the iconic 'Catwoman', in the 1992 feature "Batman Returns".

Kelley is also noted for creating TV series "Ally McBeal" and "Chicago Hope" as well as writing screenplays for features "Lake Placid" and "Mystery, Alaska".

The best known adaptation of the Wonder Woman character was the three-season live-action series in the 1970's, starring actress Lynda Carter as the 'Amazon Princess' and her alter ego, 'Diana Prince'.

DC Comics recently rebooted the character with a new costume and origin backstory, different from the established 1940's originating character.

DC Comics co-publisher, illustrator Jim Lee re-designed WW's costume for 'the modern era' in collaboration with writer J. Michael Straczynski and artists Don Kramer/Michael Babinski.

"Wonder Woman" # 600 "...begins a run that is both forward-looking and true to the legendary character, planting her firmly in the modern era..."

'Wonder Woman' was created by pyschologist William Moulton Marston, ('Charles Moulton') who saw the “great educational potential of comic books”, and was subsequently hired as an ‘educational consultant’ for National Periodicals/All-Winner Comics (forerunners of DC Comics) in 1941, before creating a female comic book superhero, in a field dominated by male characters.

Marston was inspired by his lover Olive Byrne, who lived with him and his wife in a ‘polygamous, polyamorous’ relationship.

Having 2 children with both women, Marston said that both women served as exemplars for his character, subsequently illustrated by artist 'Harry Peter'.

"Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world," Marston wrote at the time, defending his character’s look and sado-masochism, with usually every story highlighting women tied up by a ‘magic lasso’ (of truth), chains, ropes, etc, in order to 'force obedience'.

"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power", said Marston. "Wonder Woman satisfies the subconscious, elaborately disguised desire of males to be mastered by a woman who loves them"

For Marston, Wonder Woman was not primarily a role model for girls, but the vehicle through which he could get young boys familiar with the idea of 'dominating' women.

"Women are exciting for this one reason — it is the secret of women’s allure — women enjoy submission, being bound" Marston said.

"This I bring out in the 'Paradise Island' sequences where the girls beg for chains and enjoy wearing them".

Most of the early "Wonder Woman" stories included a full-length WW in an oversized bondage panel. In one 1948 story, there were no fewer than 75 panels depicting bondage.

"The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound," said Marston.

"Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society.