Comic book filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton originally sold Wonder Man as a “joke pitch” before it became one of the more successful Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) shows on Disney+.
The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Brand New Day director spoke about the early days of the latest MCU spinoff show during a panel at Deadline Contenders TV. Before becoming a director, writer, and executive producer for Wonder Man, he says he helped sell the project – even if the original pitch wasn’t intended to actually turn into anything.
The idea was born from Cretton’s love for Trevor Slattery, the actor-turned-terrorist played by Ben Kingsley, who appeared in both Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi. He’s mostly served to deliver a quick gag for MCU watchers in the past, and that’s exactly how his much larger role in Wonder Man came to be.
“The genesis of the idea actually sprouted when we were on the set of Shang Chi and I just loved working with Sir Ben [Kingsley, as Trevor Slattery] and I really loved his character and I really feel like in every movie Trevor Slattery has been such a standout and under utilized,” Cretton said. “So I did a joke pitch to my producer Jonathan Schwartz and said ‘We should do Trevor Goes To Hollywood.'”
He added: “The joke pitch kind of escalated because [Schwartz], as a joke, made a poster with our art department of Trevor Goes to Hollywood with Trevor Slattery in a convertible and it looked 1980s. And I thought we have to do this show! So that’s how it began.”
