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Patty Jenkins
Patty Jenkins at the 2018 Comic-Con International.jpg
Jenkins at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Patricia Lea Jenkins

(1971-07-24) July 24, 1971 (age 53)
Education
Occupation
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • film producer
Years active 1995–present
Spouse(s)
Sam Sheridan
(m. 2007)
Children 1

Patricia Lea Jenkins (born July 24, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. She has directed the feature films Monster (2003), Wonder Woman (2017), and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). For the film Monster, she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and the Franklin J. Schaffner Award of the American Film Institute (AFI). For the pilot episode of the series The Killing (2011), she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and the Directors Guild of America award for Best Directing in a Drama Series. In 2017, she occupied the seventh place for Time's Person of the Year.

Early life

Jenkins was born in Victorville, California, to William T. Jenkins, a U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot who earned a Silver Star in the Vietnam War, and Emily Roth, who later worked in San Francisco as an environmental scientist. Her older sister is Elaine Roth, her younger sister is Jessica Jenkins Murphy.

She spent her early childhood moving frequently due to her father's military service. Having lived briefly in Thailand and Germany, the family eventually settled in Lawrence, Kansas. When she was seven years old, her father died during a NATO mock dogfight at the age of 31. During a road trip from Kansas to San Francisco, her mother dropped Jenkins and her sister off at a movie theater, where they watched the original Superman starring Christopher Reeve. Jenkins found the film inspiring, and the experience sparked an interest in pursuing filmmaking as a career.

She completed kindergarten through her junior year of high school while living in Lawrence. Her mom then moved the family to Washington D.C. where Patty completed her senior year of high school. She received her undergraduate degree in Painting from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1993, and a master's degree in directing from the American Film Institute's AFI Conservatory in 2000. While a student at AFI, Jenkins, an avid fan of the films of Pedro Almodóvar, made the 2001 short film Velocity Rules, that she describes as a cross between a superhero film and Almodóvar's tone about an accident-prone housewife.

Beginning in junior high school, Jenkins took interest in photography, painting, and screen-printing. At age 20, while interning at a commercial production company, she heeded a suggestion that she could receive film training if she worked on set for free. After doing so for some months, Jenkins advanced to second assistant camera and focus puller, then spent eight years as a cameraperson. While shooting a Michael Jackson music video, her director of photography recommended that she attend the American Film Institute to learn directing. She later made a superhero short film that played the AFI Fest. There she met Brad Wyman, who later introduced her to producer Donald Kushner, leading to her directing her first feature film, Monster (2003).

Career

2001–2014: Monster success and TV projects

Patty Jenkins started her career with Just Drives (2001) as her first film as director, she would later follow it up with Velocity Rules (2001). This film follows a housewife who finds out she is a superhero and then has to choose between a life of excitement and glamour or her husband. The film ended up being a Recipient of the Warner Brothers Production Grant.

This ended up moving her towards the film Monster (2003); at first she tried to get producer Brad Wyman to direct, but under his advice she ended up writing the script herself. ..... Wuornos was initially distrustful of Jenkins but on the night before her execution, left Jenkins all of her personal letters which convinced Jenkins that she was the only one who could direct the film.

With a budget of $1.5 million and Charlize Theron attached to the film, Monster ended up being a critical and commercial success, earning $64.2 million and earning Theron her first and only Oscar to date for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Noted film critic Roger Ebert called Monster ″the best film of 2003″ and later in 2009, ranked it 3rd on his list of the best films of the decade. For this film, Jenkins won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and the Franklin J. Schaffner Award of the American Film Institute (the award to an outstanding graduate of the AFI Conservatory), and also was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Screenplay.

After the success of the film Monster, Jenkins was approached by former United States Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager to develop a film about his life. When that project did not reach fruition, she attempted to make a Ryan Gosling movie titled I Am Superman, a film with no relation to the DC Comics character, but development ended when she became pregnant. Jenkins spent the next decade working in television.

In 2011 she directed one segment in the made-for-television anthology film Five. Jenkins received an Emmy nomination because of her work on the film. Jenkins directed many ads and TV programs like episodes of Arrested Development and Entourage. She received an Emmy nomination again for the directing work done on AMC's The Killing pilot. In October 2011, she was hired to direct Thor: The Dark World, the first sequel to 2011 superhero film Thor, but left the project after less than two months due to creative differences. In 2014, she was attached to Sweetheart, a film about a female assassin, but that film was never made.

2015–present: Breakthrough and worldwide fame

In 2015, Jenkins signed on as director for the DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and a story co-written by Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs, and starring Gal Gadot. The film was released in June 2017, and gave Jenkins the biggest domestic opening for a female director, surpassing previous record holder Fifty Shades of Grey by Sam Taylor-Johnson. With this film, Jenkins also became the first female director of an American studio superhero film, and the third female director to direct a film with a budget over $100 million. The film was acclaimed by both critics and audiences and grossed over $800 million worldwide, exceeding box office original predictions. Wonder Woman eventually became the highest-grossing film directed by a woman, surpassing previous record holder Mamma Mia! by Phyllida Lloyd. However, in 2019, Frozen II directed by Jennifer Lee (with Chris Buck) and Captain Marvel, directed by Anna Boden (with Ryan Fleck) became number one and two respectively, dropping Wonder Woman and Jenkins to number three.

Patty Jenkins by Gage Skidmore (cropped)
Jenkins at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

While promoting Wonder Woman, Jenkins mentioned that her next project would likely be a limited television series developed with her husband. This project was later revealed as a horror series titled Riprore, to premiere on the video-on-demand service Shudder. In July 2017, the cable network TNT announced Jenkins would direct the premiere of a six-episode television drama, I Am the Night, written by her husband Sam Sheridan, and featuring her Wonder Woman star Chris Pine. She additionally served as executive producer.

In September 2017, Variety reported Jenkins would return to direct Wonder Woman 2. However, on MTV's "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast, Jenkins revealed that she considered walking away from the sequel due to salary dispute between her and Warner Bros. On December 6, 2017, Jenkins was named by Time as the seventh runner-up for Time Person of the Year.

Wonder Woman 1984 was scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on June 5, 2020, but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release was delayed until December 25, 2020. It had originally been scheduled for November 1, 2019; unlike the first film, the sequel received a mixed critical reception and was a box office failure. She has been negotiating the terms of her contract with Warner Brothers for an estimated seven to nine million dollars, which would be a record breaking salary for a female filmmaker. She signed on to the first film with no guarantee of directing a second film, but envisioned the second one during the making of Wonder Woman, which turned out to benefit her greatly. When she had signed on to do the second film, she had the ability to get a much higher salary than she would have if she had been signed on to do both films from the beginning. Her goal with her negotiations were to make sure she would get the same salary that her male counterparts would be getting for doing this movie and she seems to have succeeded.

In October 2020, it was revealed that Gal Gadot and Jenkins will be teaming up again for the film Cleopatra. The film will star Gadot as the titular Cleopatra, the historical pharaoh of ancient Egypt, with Jenkins as the director. In December 2021, Jenkins dropped out of the film, but remained as a producer, to instead focus on a third Wonder Woman film and the Star Wars spin-off film Rogue Squadron.

In November 2020, a spin off film set in the Wonder Woman universe focusing on the Amazons of Themyscira was confirmed to be in early development. Jenkins will not return to direct the film, but cowrote the script with Geoff Johns. In 2021, Warner Bros. announced a third installment of the Wonder Woman franchise with Jenkins attached to write and direct. However, in December 2022, it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Jenkins' third film would not be moving forward after all and was considered to be "dead in its current incarnation", as the film did not fit with the newly appointed DC Studios heads' plans for the DC Extended Universe or its upcoming successor, the DC Universe.

In December 2020, Disney announced that Jenkins was hired to direct Rogue Squadron, a Star Wars spin-off film inspired by the group of starfighter pilots of the same name. The film was scheduled to be released on December 22, 2023. Jenkins would be the first female director to helm a Star Wars film, but not the first female director within the overall franchise. In June 2021, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Matthew Robinson had been hired by Lucasfilm to write the script. In November 2021, it was reported that the film's production had been delayed due to scheduling conflicts with other projects Jenkins was developing. In September 2022, Disney removed Rogue Squadron from their release schedule. The film was then shelved in March 2023. In March 2024, Jenkins revealed that following the cancellation of the third Wonder Woman film, she had returned to Rogue Squadron, finalizing a deal with Lucasfilm prior to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, and that she now "owes" a new draft of the script.

Other work

Jenkins, Wonder Woman actresses Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson and U.N. Under-Secretary General Cristina Gallach appeared at the United Nations on October 21, 2016, the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of Wonder Woman, to mark the character's designation by the United Nations as its "Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls". The gesture was intended to raise awareness of UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030. The decision was met with protests from UN staff members who stated in their petition to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the character is "not culturally encompassing or sensitive", and served to objectify women. As a result, the character was stripped of the designation, and the project ended December 16.

Style and themes

In the film Monster, Jenkins explored the issues of morality and feminity. In Wonder Woman, Jenkins suggests that the audience experiences the journey of the lead character Diana Prince through Diana's eyes. Diana is portrayed as the universal human character that the audience never experiences from the outside. Jenkins suggests that the major theme of the film is the idea that there are no other villains than humans themselves. She mentions how she was influenced by Superman and how that is incorporated in her own superhero film.

Connie Nielsen (who plays Hippolyta in the Wonder Woman franchise) said that Jenkins fought for feminist themes to be included in the Wonder Woman film and rejected the idea of including a controversial origin story for the Amazons which portrayed them as victims rather than warriors.

Some of Jenkins' mentors and influencers include Gary Ross, Kathryn Bigelow and Steve Perry. She mentions that she often likes to discuss the process of making music with musicians like Perry. The organization and structure of music, according to Jenkins, has a lot of parallels to theatre and drama. As a director, she uses this rhythm to direct the delivery of dialogues. Perry was also the musical consultant on her film Monster.

Personal life

In 2007, Jenkins married Sam Sheridan, a former firefighter and the author of the book A Fighter's Heart. They have a son and reside in Santa Monica, California.

Filmography

Short films

Year Title Director Writer
2001 Just Drive Yes Yes
Velocity Rules Yes Yes
2017 Epilogue: Etta's Mission Yes No

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2003 Monster Yes Yes No
2017 Wonder Woman Yes No No
2020 Wonder Woman 1984 Yes Yes Yes
2023 Poolman No No Yes

Television

Year Title Director Executive
Producer
Notes
2004 Arrested Development Yes No Episode: "The One Where They Build a House"
2006 Entourage Yes No Episodes: "Crash and Burn" and "The Release"
2011 Five Yes No Television film; segment: "Pearl"
2011–2012 The Killing Yes No Episodes: "Pilot" and "What I Know"
2013 Betrayal Yes Yes Episode: "Pilot"
2015 Exposed Yes Yes Unaired pilot
2019 I Am the Night Yes Yes Episodes: "Pilot" and "Phenomenon of Interference"

Acting credits

Year Title Role Episode
2008 The Sarah Silverman Program Jill Talley "Fetus Don't Fail Me Now"
2020 Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party Herself "The 4 Meals, 1 Color Episode"

Accolades

In 2004, for her work on Monster, she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and the Franklin J. Schaffner Award of the American Film Institute (an award for outstanding graduates of the AFI Conservatory). In 2011, Jenkins received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot of The Killing. She received two nominations at the 2012 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, one for Dramatic Series for The Killing and the other for Movies for Television/Mini-Series for Five; she won the former.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee Result
2001 Telluride Indiefest Short Film Winner Velocity Rules Won
2004 American Film Institute Top Ten Films of the Year Monster Won
American Film Institute Franklin J. Schaffner Award Recipient Herself Won
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Award Monster Nominated
Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion Picture Screenplay Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature
(Shared with producers Mark Damon, Donald Kushner, Clark Peterson, Charlize Theron, and Brad Wyman)
Won
Independent Spirit Awards Best First Screenplay Nominated
Iowa Film Critics Awards Best Movie Yet to Open in Iowa Won
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
2005 GLAAD Media Awards Outstanding Film – Wide Release Nominated
Robert Awards Best American Film Nominated
2011 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series The Killing (episode "Pilot") Nominated
LA Femme International Film Festival Visionary Award Herself Won
2012 Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series The Killing (episode "Pilot") Won
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series
(Shared with: Jennifer Aniston (Segment "Mia"), Alicia Keys (Segment "Lili"), Demi Moore (Segment "Charlotte"), and Penelope Spheeris (Segment "Cheyanne").)
Five Nominated
2017 Chicago Indie Critics Awards Impact Award Wonder Woman Won
Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards Steve Friedman Award Won
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Best Film Nominated
2018 Saturn Awards Best Director Nominated
EDA Female Focus Awards Best Woman Director Nominated
Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry Nominated
Cannes Film Festival Kering Women in Motion Award Recipient Herself Won
Empire Awards Best Director Wonder Woman Nominated
Dorian Awards Wilde Artist of the Year Herself Nominated
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form
(Shared with Allan Heinberg (screenplay/story), Zack Snyder (story), and Jason Fuchs (story).)
Wonder Woman Won
National Board of Review Awards Spotlight Award
(Shared with Gal Gadot)
Won
North Texas Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated
2020 IGN Awards Best Movie of the Year Wonder Woman 1984 Nominated
IGN Awards Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Nominated
EntreNews Awards Best Director Won
EntreNews Awards Best Film Won
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Best Film Won
Golden Issue Awards Best Director Nominated
Golden Issue Awards Best Movie Nominated
2021 Hollywood Critics Association Awards Best Blockbuster Film Nominated
Kids Choice Awards Favorite Movie Won
Jupiter Award Best International Film Won
Cape & Castle Awards Best Superhero Movie of the Year Won
Cape & Castle Awards Best Movie of the Year Won
Series Em Cena Awards Best Movie of the Year Won
Dragon Awards Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Nominated
2022 Comic Book Film Awards Best Writing Nominated
Comic Book Film Awards Best Director Nominated
Comic Book Film Awards Best Comic Book Film Nominated

See also

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