Few movies of 2017 were quite as badass and empowering as Wonder Woman — or at least, that’s been the general consensus considering the fact that it was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. However, as you may remember Titanic director James Cameron was basically the only person who didn’t think so — and Wonder Woman herself, a.k.a. Gal Gadot, has finally opened up about her ~thoughts~ on Cameron’s critique of her character.
As a quick refresher, Cameron received some backlash over the summer, when, following Wonder Woman’s release, he referred to Wonder Woman as an, “objectified icon.”
“All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided,” Cameron had said in August. “She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards.”
While Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins had plenty to say about Cameron’s misguided and sexist comment (since when are women not allowed to be both attractive and smart and powerful?!), Gadot remained largely silent on the controversy at the time — and according to her recent interview with Entertainment Weekly she had a really good reason for doing so.
“I didn’t want to give him the stage,” she told EW when asked about Cameron’s opinion of her character. “First of all, I’m a big fan of his work. His movies are great. He was very innovative in many things that he did, and I’ve got nothing but great things to say about the creative and professional side of his work. When it happened, the timing of when it happened, he was promoting another movie of his. It was like he was looking for publicity and I just didn’t want to give him the stage.”
Boy, bye — maybe next time, leave the commenting on whether a female character is a “step backward,” to, I don’t know, women? In any case Gal handled the situation flawlessly by not giving Cameron’s attention-seeking criticisms the time of day — we have a feeling Wonder Woman herself would totally approve.