Alicia Silverstone doesn’t get the “Wonder Woman” hype.
The “Clueless” star sat down with Variety at Cannes Lions to talk about her TV Land sitcom “American Woman” when the subject turned to “Wonder Woman.”
Silverstone’s point, from what we can gather, is that “Wonder Woman” isn’t special because there have been smaller movies that have also starred women, including the one she’s most famous for.
“Before ‘Wonder Woman’ … ‘Wonder Woman?’ Before ‘Wonder Woman’ there have been many movies with female leads, so I get a little confused,” Silverstone said. “We have made strides, of course. I think about, what about all those wonderful comedians who are females who have had massive hits? There’s ‘Bridesmaids.’”
“I don’t know. I just feel like, over the years, there was ‘Mean Girls,’ there was ‘Clueless,’ over time we have had so many movies that have been female-driven,” she added.
Of course, the actress is no stranger to the superhero genre, having played Batgirl in the critically-panned 1997 movie “Batman & Robin,” opposite George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell.
Silverstone did acknowledge the action movie aspect of “Wonder Woman,” but was put off by how large it truly was.
“It has to be ‘Wonder Woman.’ It has to have tons of flash, right?” she said. “Like when you’re looking at children’s films now, as a mom, I don’t want my kid to see all that. Loud effects, all the stuff that’s like stimulate, stimulate! But that’s what audiences want, so it’s a tricky thing. Sometimes it’s just the quieter more interesting things sometimes get seen because they touch someone enough.”
“We have made strides, of course… It’s like a few steps forward and back.”
“Wonder Woman” has been a huge critical and financial success. As it approaches its fifth weekend in theaters, “Wonder Woman” is set to pass its DC Extended Universe predecessors, “Batman v Superman” and “Suicide Squad,” at the domestic box-office with a $325 million total and counting. It also became the highest grossing live-action film directed by a woman — in this case Patty Jenkins.
To Silverstone’s credit, “Wonder Woman” isn’t the first movie to have a female lead (surprise?). However, it is the one of the most commercially successful and has beaten out others in a genre that has been predominantly led — and created — by men.
You can watch the full clip above.