By Gill Pringle and Mitchell Earnshaw
We are all now well familiar with the comic book character of Wonder Woman. First created in the 1940s, the character was reborn for a new generation, played by Gal Gadot in this year’s hugely successful blockbuster. However, the fascinating story behind the creation of the iconic superhero is less well known. This is something Professor Marston and the Wonder Women tries to remedy.
Angela Robinson’s acclaimed film tells the story of William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans), a Harvard educated Psychology professor who first rose to fame by inventing an early prototype of the lie detector. Beginning in the 1920s, the film starts with Marston and his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) teaching at Radcliffe University. It is there where they meet student Olivia Byrne, resulting in the three of them living together in a polyamorous relationship, which inspires the creation of the famous comic book character. It’s an unusual story to say the least, and it’s one that Luke Evans “couldn’t actually believe was a true story”.
Professor Marston is a much smaller film for Evans compared to his recent work in Beauty and the Beast and the Fast and the Furious franchise. He describes what attracted him to the role was the multi-layered character of William Marston, and Evans’ fascination “to understand how the inspiration of Wonder Woman came about, and the unusual relationship that he had, this polyamorous relationship he had with his wife and this other woman. All of which, along with the lie detector, inspired Wonder Woman and her special powers, and this very strong, feminist woman superhero.”
The film is notable for its on-screen portrayal of a polyamorous relationship, and the complex dilemmas this caused in the 20s and 30s, let alone if it happened today. “It needs to have an authenticity about it, because we are presenting a part of society that isn’t necessarily that well known,” says Evans. “Polyamory is out there, and it really does exist. I’ve met people who are in those relationships, but we’re presenting something that isn’t usually seen.
“It was a story that deserved to be told, and it seemed weirdly appropriate right now, with everything that’s going on.”
Evans also noted that in order for the relationship to work on screen, him and his co-stars needed to have a noticeable chemistry. “Whenever there’s any sort of relationship being portrayed on screen, on stage, or on television, it’s massively important to get that connection. And then you add a polyamorous relationship to a story, you’re asking a lot. And I think we were all quite nervous about that first day when we first met, Bella [Heathcote], Rebecca [Hall] and myself. But we clicked incredibly quickly, and it’s been a very powerful connection that the three of us have. We’ve sort of lived a thirty-year story together”
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is released in cinemas on November 9.
