When discussing the upcoming DC Extended Universe sequel with ComicBook, director Patty Jenkins has spoken candidly about what inspired her when creating the Wonder Woman 1984 villains. More specifically, the filmmaker has opened up about taking inspiration from one of the world’s most prominent faces when crafting Maxwell Lord, the new baddie played by Pedro Pascal.
“[Donald Trump is] one of [the inspirations],” Jenkins explains, although she stressed that it is not meant to be a political statement. “The funny thing is like, he is [an influence], but I’m not trying to make [a point]. Even we have the president in this movie, and I’ve gone out of my way not to make it look like Ronald Reagan. I don’t want to get political. It’s not about political. Actually, a huge influence of this movie was also Madoff. And so what I was looking at was, those young Madoff story [sic] fascinates me, because I’m like, ‘How do you end up being Bernie Madoff?'”
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“And when you really start tracking that story, it’s like, it all started out in a way that made sense and he was paying it off and then doing this and then paying it off again,” she continues. “And then, it’s just like you just become an evil dude when you don’t even realize that it’s happening. So, yes, Trump’s definitely one of the people that we looked at, but it’s any of those kind of mavericks of business success that was big in the ‘80s [whp] went on to be major players in our world in potentially questionable in other ways.”
Described as the “president of Black Gold,” you can clearly see that Max Lord looks like the ’80s business mogul-era Donald Trump. ComicBook.com reports that Lord’s story will begin in Egypt, showing the origin of his power over business, and then will see him eventually grow into a threat for Wonder Woman.
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Wonder Woman 1984 reunites Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins with stars Gal Gadot (Diana Prince), Chris Pine (Steve Trevor), Ewen Bremner (Charlie), Said Taghmaoui (Sameer), Connie Nielsen (Queen Hippolyta), Robin Wright (General Antiope), Lisa Loven Kongsli (Menalippe), Doutzen Kroes (Venelia) and new additions Kristen Wiig (Ghostbusters) as Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah, Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) as Maxwell Lord, and Natasha Rothwell (Love, Simon), Ravi Patel (Master of None, Grandfathered) and Gabriella Wilde (Doctor Who, Poldark) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
