Normally, a movie sequel tries to make its villains bigger and badder. So where does Wonder Woman go after Ares, aka the God of War? Apparently, to former reality star and current president Donald Trump.
Journalists broke out their own lassos of truth during set visits to Wonder Woman 1984, reporting that Trump is indeed an inspiration for Pedro Pascal’s villain and greasy businessman, Maxwell Lord.
According to Collider, you can expect “parallels” between Trump and Lord, who is described by associate producer Anna Obropta as a “desperate, self-obsessed, fraudulent entrepreneur who runs a business selling the American Dream”.
Costume designer Lindy Hemming reportedly discussed Trump while explaining sketches for Lord’s business clothes, saying: “There is something about the period of Donald Trump and being a businessman, of being rather sleazy a little bit, and a bit goofy and a lot of talk.”
Though director Patty Jenkins confirmed that yes, Trump is an inspiration for Pascal’s Lord, he’s one of many, Io9 reported.
She also made sure to note that the movie isn’t making a political statement:
I don’t want to get political, it’s not about [getting] political. Actually, a huge influence of this movie was also [convicted fraudster Bernie] Madoff. What I was looking at was... the young Madoff story fascinates me, because I’m like, ‘How do you end up being Bernie Madoff?’ And when you really start tracking that story, it’s like, it all started out in a way that made sense, and he was paying it off, and then doing this, and then paying it off again. And then, it’s just like you become an evil dude when you don’t even realise that it’s happening.
The character is all about selling excess, the director explained.
“So yes, Trump’s definitely one of the people that we looked at, but it’s any of those kind of mavericks of business success that was big in the ’80s [and] went on to be major players in our world in potentially questionable other ways,” Jenkins said.
Former Wonder Woman Lynda Carter has sounded off on Trump in real life. Time will tell how Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman deals with him in the movie.