-Welcome to the show. -Thank you. So happy to be here.
I have been a fan of your work, uh, from Monster.
I remember the movie with Charlize Theron,
it blew my mind.
And that was the first time
I-I heard of your work as a director.
-But you-you've been in the game for a very long time. -Yeah.
In fact, is it true-- I heard a rumor
that you were once offered a position at The Daily Show ?
It's true. One of the first--
So when I first started working in film,
I was PA-ing on commercials, and looking for other jobs,
and one of the very first jobs I was offered
was on the first season, I believe, of The Daily Show,
-which we knew nothing about-- -Wow.
-as a PA or something. -Right.
But I was already starting to do camera work
and getting paid more, so I was like,
"Well, I'll stick with what I'm doing."
-And the money. Yeah. -But, but it was one
of those many decisions that years later I was like,
"My God, I really like that show.
I kind of feel regretful now."
-Oh, no. Are you kidding? -Yeah. Yeah.
-I don't think you could regret anything. -No, no.
-I'm hap-- I'm perfectly happy with how it worked out. -Yeah.
Your journey has been truly amazing.
I mean, Wonder Woman was not only
a critically acclaimed movie, it was a box office smash.
-Right? You directed that. -Very lucky.
-Yes. Very, very lucky. -That was amazing.
-Thank you. -No, it truly was.
-Yeah, thank you. -(cheers and applause)
Here's something I've always wanted to do.
This is a selfish question for myself only.
Do you think that there is something
in how a woman can direct
a scene differently from a man, in how you see the beauty
in moments that maybe we don't?
Because, like, there's the fight scene on the beach.
And I don't know if anyone else experienced this.
I was, I was in the cinema
and we were watching that scene, you know?
And you've got all these soldiers are coming
on the beach, and then you've got all of, you know.
Wonder Woman and her crew and they're fighting,
and women around me were crying.
But it wasn't like a sad cry,
-it was like a cry of, like, amazement. -Yeah.
And then I asked the woman next to me,
I was like, "Why are you crying?"
And she was like, "I've never seen this before.
"I've never seen us
-just kicking ass like this in a moment." -Right. Aw, that's...
And it was... it was a beautiful, different scene.
It was a fight scene that was different.
Do you think that for too long people haven't realized
that there is something special
that having different directors can have
-and bring to a movie? -Yeah, definitely.
The interesting thing is, like, the history of story
has been many different types of people
-telling different kinds of stories. -Right.
But in the last 100 years in Hollywood,
it's been, like, a very set group of people
telling a very similar story,
-and it gets a little played out at times. -Yeah.
The interesting thing about making Wonder Woman to me
is I don't think of myself as a woman director,
but of course I am a... I am a woman.
-I see things slightly differently. -Right.
And when I approached those exact scenes,
I was really trying to feel, like, what would...
what's exciting to me
and what's, you know, what feels right.
And there were all of these fascinating things,
like head butt.
I was like, "Wonder Woman would never head butt."
She doesn't glory in putting someone down.
-Right, right, right. -She's taking them out, no problem,
but it's a different way of fighting.
What was amazing to me
was of course I was following that barometer,
but then to see women...
So many women said to me afterwards,
"I thought I didn't like action movies,
and then I saw that,"
which was an interesting point,
because I thought, "Well, maybe that's it for everybody."
Maybe you're just seeing the storyline
-as not something you relate with. -Right.
But who doesn't feel panicked in a... in a moment
and wish that they could save the day?
-We all do. Everybody does. -Right.
So, yeah, it was really interesting that way.
What was really amazing was that the film was met
with, I mean, just so much love and respect,
and it blew up.
-And you had only signed on for one movie, right? -Yeah.
And you already had an idea for a sequel,
-but you hadn't signed on for that. -Yeah.
And so when the next movie came around
and it was time to negotiate,
you were like, "Uh, I want my money."
-Yes. -(laughter)
No, I love that. I love that so much.
-Because... -I-I really... I actually...
I felt it's interesting to make money that way.
-Right. -Because I've never thought of myself as someone...
-I'm an artist. I didn't set out to be about money. -Right.
However, I took it very seriously
and felt very strongly that it was my duty.
If not me, who? If not me, who to...
And Charlize did the... has had to do the same in a moment.
-Right, right, right. -To be the person who says,
"You know, we don't have a chance
"to build up to the same thing,
but now it has to be an equal pay situation."
So, yeah, it was interesting. I was so grateful
to be supported by Warner Bros.,
and it was, you know, it was a great moment
-to have that happen. -I'm genuinely...
Yeah. I'm excited.
It was phenomenal. I was happy for you.
I was like, "You need to make all the money,
'cause the movie was amazing."
I can't wait for the sequel.
And now this story has come out.
-This is a completely different world, you know? -Yeah.
Watching this year's...
I remember seeing the billboards of...
You know, and it was like, "What is this story gonna be about?"
And it is a wild story,
-but it's also based on a true story. -Yeah.
How did you-- how did you come about the story?
So, a friend of mind said, about ten years ago,
"I've met this woman. You have to hear her story."
And I said, "Oh, okay, cool." And he, like--
I think he said a few different little descriptives.
-Just enough to make me sit down with her. -Right.
And we had a meal. And I sat down with the woman,
Fauna Hodel. And when she started to tell me her story,
it was like... my jaw dropped.
I had never heard anything like it.
And then, as soon as I would hear one thing,
the next chapter would-would drop,
and it was even more mind-blowing.
So it's such a dark and terrifying story in certain ways
that, at first, I was-- I was worried about it and thought,
"Oh, my God, do I really want to take this on?"
But I couldn't stop talking about it.
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I couldn't stop, you know, thinking about her
and the way that-- here, this woman told me
-this incredibly dark and scary story. -Right, right, right.
But she was like a ray of light.
And, you know, everything that she had found out about herself,
she said, "That's probably true."
And there was something so interesting--
Identity has become an interesting hot topic now,
but, even th-then, sitting there and looking at her
and seeing how this woman singlehandedly said,
"My identity will not define me.
"Doesn't matter what the descriptives are.
"Maybe the worst possible thing is true about me.
-I'm living my life." -Right.
So the positivity of that kept me hooked.
So I tried to make it back then,
but no one was quite doing limited series yet.
And so, all these years later,
I had stayed in touch with Fauna and remained friends with her.
And other people were trying to do her story,
and she kept saying, "I really believe that you're the one.
Please." And, um,
I ended up telling Chris Pine about it,
and Chris' head just exploded, as everyone's does
-when you hear this story. -When you hear her story. Yeah.
-Right. -And so one thing led to another.
My husband is a great noir and, you know, fiction writer,
and he, um-- he suddenly--
We all just started talking about it, and he said,
"You know, there were all of these other characters.
There is this very interesting way, actually, to tell it."
-And it just kind of took off. -It-it really is a story
that-that captures the imagination.
'Cause I-I really would say you should watch it.
I don't want to-- I don't want to give anything way
that-that tips the story, but-but it's-it's
a fascinating tale of a woman
who thinks her entire life
-that she is biracial. -Yeah.
And she's living with her black mother at the time.
And then she finds a birth certificate.
And, all of a sudden, she realized that her life
is not the life that she thought.
She sets out to find her real parents, her father.
She learns things about her grandfather.
But you're in this world where, as you said,
-it's a really dark story, because the things -Yeah.
she finds out would crush most people.
And yet, through it all,
she seems to maintain a certain level of optimism
that's almost unrealistic.
-What-what...? -But it... but yet, it's true.
What do you think... what do you think drove her?
I... I don't know. She's a very st...
She was a very... She sadly passed away last year.
She was a very strong and powerful person.
-Right. -As powerful as her grandfather had been
as a force of dark, she-she is a pos...
-She was a positive, you know, force of light. -Right, right.
So that was part of what interested me so much
about the story, is that when she described herself to me...
Here she was in these incredible circumstances.
Had grown up so...
the furthest away from high society in Los Angeles,
and suddenly, she was infiltrating this world.
And she said, "I always felt like
"I was the investigator in a noir novel,
"but I was a 16-year-old girl.
I was, like, a young woman."
That fascinated me of, like, telling this kind of story
-through this lens. -Mm-hmm.
Then there's the Black Dahlia murder, which--
I'm a true crime buff-- I'd heard a thousand times,
and always been...
It's kind of like, "Mm, maybe, maybe."
When her story suddenly ran right into that,
it blew my mind, and for the first time,
I-I... I heard a version of it
-that I felt very certain was real... -Right.
...because it just tracked and made perfect sense.
So, yeah, it was...
It's-it's deeply scary, but interest...
It's an interesting story about the fortitude of the spirit..
-It's a... it's... -...despite what you find.
Yeah, it really is a gripping story,
and it's-it's interesting to see you playing
between the different mediums, you know.
So, you're directing films, like mega blockbuster films,
-and you're also directing limited series on TV. -Yeah.
Is there a space that you operate within,
or do you think, like, the industry has blurred now?
Has it just become a space where you can direct wherever,
and it doesn't mean anything anymore really?
Yeah, I definitely think that the crossover has been better.
When I first went from directing Monster
to Arrested Development,
it was a much, much more questionable...
You know, people were like, "Why are you doing that?"
-Well, I love the show. -Right.
You know? And so that is why I did it, but, um...
But I feel like more and more feature directors
have crossed over.
For me, I just want to do things that I think are great.
I love both. I love the short term of a...
-of-of television versus the long term. -Right.
A movie can take... You know, Wonder...
The Wonder Womans take three years, three and half years.
-Wow. -That's a serious commitment,
and it has to be your life force and everything, you know.
So, I like both.
This-this limited series was more feature-like
-than it was television. -Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
But I just want to be involved in stories
that I think are great, and I think I have a shot at,
you know, being deeply passionate about,
-and doing some good work. -I think you're doing
more than just good work. You're doing amazing work.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
-Thank you. So nice. -We love everything that you're doing.
I Am the Night, a fascinating, harrowing and inspiring story,
premieres January 28 at 9:00 p.m. on TNT.
Patty Jenkins, everybody.