Bella Heathcote on Wonder Woman’s Courageous Origin Story

Heathcote plays one of the superhero's inspirations in 'Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman.'

October 14, 2017 5:00 am

Wonder Woman made more than $800 million worldwide when it was released this summer, proving that a superheroine could play just as hard, and make just as much, as superheroes. But Esquire writes that for fans who only recently met Wonder Woman, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women might “come as bit of a shock.”

Wonder Woman was created by Harvard psychologist William Moulton Marston (played by Luke Evans in the movie). The film is based on his polyamorous relationship between him, his wife, Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and his former student Olive (Bella Heathcote). The women were his “lovers, cohorts, and muses” writes Esquire. 

Heathecoat told Esquire that she was really rooting for the relationship when she read the script, saying, “We think there’s a stigma now, but imagine what they must have gone through back then.” Esquire writes that the movie is not a “musty period piece” but instead, an “impassioned love story.”

It does however, happen to include spanking, role-playing and bondage. Heathcote, a 30-year-old from Australia, said it never occurred to her to have trepidation based on that part of the story. Writer-director Angela Robinson crafted a “deeply human tale, one of courage in the face of prejudice and doubt,” writes Esquire. Robinson would play loud music while shooting some awkward three person scenes, and Heathcote said she made the scenes “really fun.”

Heathcote moved to Los Angeles after winning the Heath Ledger Scholarship, which is award to an emerging Australian talent. Since then, she has played a cannibalistic supermodel in The Neon Demon, and also had a role in the Amazon series The Man in the High Castle. She said that the roles are “more interesting than the girl next door or love interest,” and that she got into acting because it was a “safe space to explore those parts of myself,” according to Esquire.

Professor Martson believes that women, not men, should run the world. What does Heathcote think of that?

“I just want the right person to run the world, male or female,” she told Esquire. “Just find the right human for the job.”

Watch the trailer for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women  below.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.