(courtesy IMP Awards)
SNAPSHOT
Wonder Man is a meta live-action Disney+ series with a “story about acting and the journey of an actor in Hollywood.” Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Simon Williams, a working actor who auditions for the lead role in Wonder Man, an upcoming reboot of a classic Wonder Man project from his youth. The story is a two-hander between Simon and Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery, who bond over their shared love of acting. Wonder Man is a series created by filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (director of Short Term 12, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, American Born Chinese series, upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day) and Andrew Guest (writer / producer on Marry Me, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Twilight Zone, Hawkeye). Showrun and written by Andrew Guest. And with episodes directed by Destin Daniel Cretton & Stella Meghie (director of Jean of the Joneses, Everything Everything, The Weekend, The Photograph, and series Insecure, Minx). It’s executive produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Guest, Jonathan Schwartz. (courtesy First Showing)
I have superhero storytelling fatigue.
I used to find the seeming never-ending stream of Marvel, and sometimes DC, superhero movies to be just the sort of escapist jab my reality-weary soul needed, but then it just suddenly felt like I was watching the same movie over and over again with some rare exceptions like the first Guardians of the Galaxy, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Hawkeye.
Thankfully Marvel still seems to be capable of a little rabbit-out-of-the-hat creativity and this time around it comes in the form of the Wes Anderson-ish, with an extra helping of adrenalised mania, Wonder Man which looks like it will all kinds of weird fun.
Sign me up – this is just the escapism I’ve been waiting for …
Wonder Man releases all eight episodes on 27 January.