Patty Jenkins put her son in Wonder Women 1984 three times

Patty Jenkins got her son to play three background characters in Wonder Woman 1984.

The Monster filmmaker, who was the first woman to helm a big-budget superhero movie, returns to the director’s chair for the follow-up to her 2017 feature, starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian warrior.

In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Jenkins revealed she put her 11-year-old son Asa to good use while he was on set and drafted him into the shoot on three occasions.

“I just changed his hair. Every time I needed a kid to do something, I was like, ‘Asa, get in here! Okay, now you’re blond,’” she joked.

The 2017 film broke records and became the highest-grossing movie to be directed by a solo filmmaker, and Jenkins is fully aware that a lot rides on the success of the sequel.

“It’s an interesting, complex thing when you realise that not only are you just a person doing your job, but that there are all of these other ramifications to what your success or your failure stands for,” the director admitted, before adding that she hopes her achievements will open doors for others. “If I can make another successful film and it proves that this model works, then it will hopefully help other people.”

Wonder Woman was an inspiration to Jenkins when she was growing up, and although she wanted the character to be powerful, the protagonist needed to be multidimensional too.

“There’s been such fear that a female character… couldn’t be vulnerable and they couldn’t be funny and they couldn’t have love,” she explained. “There’s this list of things they can’t have, to prove (that they’re strong). I’m like, ‘Well, that’s not a main character. You have to be able to have all these things.’”

Wonder Woman 1984’s release has been postponed until August due to the coronavirus pandemic.