Following the success of the long-awaited movie version of Wonder Woman, the new film explores Marston's relationship to both women, and how they helped him created one of the most beloved superheroes of all time. Starring Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast) as Marston, Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3) as Elizabeth, Bella Heathcote (Fifty Shades Darker) as Olive, and Oliver Platt (Rules Don't Apply) as Marston's publisher Max Gaines, the film comes out on October 13th - just a little over four months after Wonder Woman opened in theaters.
While earlier trailers for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women have focused largely on the polyamorous relationship between Marston, his wife, and Olive Byrne, this last trailer - released by Annapurna Pictures - gives its attention to the Wonder Woman comics. Opening the trailer is an extended scene of Marston showing the two women in his life what his idea of a female comic book hero is.
In the scene, the three characters are in their pajamas. They sit on a bed together while Marston shows them his outline for the comic, admitting he will need someone else to do the actual drawings. The women ask their questions with a twinkle in their eyes, wondering about the island populated entirely by women, the invisible jet, and why the heroine is wearing a burlesque outfit. Marston defends and explains his decisions, but Elizabeth doesn't believe anyone will publish the comic.
The rest of the trailer cuts quickly through different times in Marston's life. When Olive was his student, when Gaines helped him come up with the name Wonder Woman, etc. There is also an acknowledgment that the character of Wonder Woman is based on the women he knows best - the two he lives with.
There is a lot of evidence that Marston was influenced heavily not only by Olive and Elizabeth, but by all aspects of his life. It's a little hard to miss that the inventor of the lie detector also came up with the lasso of truth. Or that a man who practiced bondage with his partners would write a comic where Wonder Woman and her enemies were so often tied up or chained. Hints that these elements of his life will be explored in the film also came up in the trailer.
A movie about the creation of Wonder Woman coming out so soon after the successful film is a smart move, odds are good that fans will want to know where the character came from. But it is also possible that seeing Professor Marston and the Wonder Women may change or affect the way we all see the Amazon Hero forever.
Source: Annapurna Pictures