Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, Disney+’s ‘Wonder Man‘ brings together two artists, both spiritually lost and carrying a damning secret of their own. Simon Williams dreams of becoming the world’s best actor, but his journey to the silver screen is filled with innumerable obstacles and potholes. The biggest problem is that he has superpowers, which technically makes it illegal for him to act. Still, with his favorite superhero movie slated to get a remake by a legendary director, Von Kovak, Simon decides to keep his abilities secret and steer himself with sheer acting prowess. On the complete other end of the spectrum is Trevor Slattery, an industry veteran who is now infamous for pretending to be a terrorist. As the lives of these characters intersect in this superhero drama series, a love letter to films and storytelling begins to take shape.
Trevor Slattery is a Fictional Cinema Legend With a Wild Journey Through the MCU
Trevor Slattery is a fictional character who has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for more than a decade, first appearing in ‘Iron Man 3.’ Created by writers Drew Pearce and Shane Black, Trevor is a somewhat legendary actor who finds himself entangled in a terrorist network run by Aldrich Killian. While the latter conducts a series of experiments that endanger human lives, Trevor plays the role of a made-up terrorist, named Mandarin, whose sole job is to take the blame. His role doesn’t end here, however, as he makes a second major appearance in ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,’ this time ambushed by the real Mandarin, Xu Wenwu. By the end of the movie, Trevor is freed once again, and it is here that his story converges with Simon’s, through ‘Wonder Man.’
While Trevor may be a crafted presence with no direct real-life or comic antecedents, he is not without his reference points. The writing team of ‘Wonder Man,’ spearheaded by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, drew partial inspiration from iconic film characters like Forrest Gump and Chauncey Gardiner (from ‘Being There’). The running theme between all of these characters is their simple nature clashing with the increasingly complex situations they end up in. Chauncey Gardiner draws some particularly strong parallels with Trevor, as both become politically significant figures by pure chance. However, in Trevor’s case, this journey isn’t exactly a comedy of errors, and ‘Wonder Man’ puts special emphasis on his journey towards repentance.
Von Kovak is a Fictional Collage of At Least Four Real-Life Directors
Unlike Trevor, who comes from a more ambiguous lineage of film inspirations, Von Kovak is a fictional director who is explicitly modeled after real-life filmmakers. The official production notes for the show reveal that Kovak is essentially a composite of Christopher Nolan, Werner Herzog, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and Paul Thomas Anderson. The unifying force behind this selection of artists appears to be their commitment to the nuances of filmmaking, and while Kovak’s overall look may not reflect any one director in particular, his direction style is clearly inspired. Initially, the creators intended to cast a real director in the show to play themselves, but as the role got more complicated, they decided to invent a new character who could best fit the needs of the story.
While Kovak may be vaguely based on a collection of celebrated filmmakers, it is actor Zlatko Burić’s incisive performance that gives the character meaning. Cretton and Guest were moved by Burić’s work in ‘Triangle of Sadness,’ following which, the actor instantly became their dream cast. Reportedly, Burić even found it hard to be mean to Simon’s character on-screen, which speaks to how much psychological and emotional investment he put into the film. The actor has hinted through interviews that his take on the character was loosely inspired by his experience with European directors who specialize in low-budget, arthouse film, and while bringing that aesthetic into a large-scale production was a challenge by itself, the combined efforts of the cast and crew came together in the end to create a memorable character in a series of many.
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