Wonder Woman 1984 Set Visit: The Spectacle of Amazon Olympics!

Today Warner Bros. Pictures released the new trailer for the hotly anticipated Wonder Woman 1984 during their 24-hour DC FanDome event. While visiting the film’s London set in August of 2018 we got to get an up-close glimpse at the shooting of the spectacular Amazon Olympics sequence!

The Amazon Olympics will serve as an amazing Themyscira-set opening scene described to us as “Cirque de Solei meets American Ninja Warrior meets extreme sports.” In the sequence the women will be graceful and fierce, with the camera introducing us to a line up of tall Amazon warriors except for one much smaller competitor: Young Diana. Yes, the wonderful Lilly Aspell from 2017’s Wonder Woman is back as the 10-year-old young Diana, and you will see her race through obstacle courses that include swimming, horseback riding and archery. It will all serve as a valuable lesson for our young goddess warrior.

We visited the backlot at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden where the Olympics sequence is being shot by second unit. The outdoor set is MASSIVE, with tall 30 or 40 foot gold pillars and a waterfall obstacle, along with bars for flipping. Giant cranes hold up lights through big blue screen panels. IMAX cameras hover on wires over the obstacle course. There’s also a second IMAX camera on sticks and another on a supercrane.

“I’ve had five months of training,” Aspell told us in between takes. “It’s been every week. It’s been all of the sequences here, and there’s more to do in Fuerteventura and Tenerife.”

In the scene we see being shot two fearsome Amazon competitors on a thin beam as giant logs suspended above fly at them. One of the Amazons makes it across it as it falls, the other trips and falls on top of it as it rolls back. On the second take they both grab hold of the log and hang on for the ride.

“In the scene I’m doing today I run up the big bridge thing and then I jump off,” reveals Aspell. “That’s probably my favorite stunt. I get launched up and then I run into a handspring into a hole, and I come out and I do the bars and then I do a swing again up off the bars, and then I do my pulls, and then I do my bridge backflip into the sea, and then I do my swimming, and then I do my horses and then I do the mountain thing and then I come down the mountain and I go through like a tunnelly thingie, ’cause I cheat!”

“Lilly’s so great, and feisty,” Gal Gadot told us of her younger counterpart. “She’s not lazy, and she’s a professional, and she’s smart, and emotional, and joyful and she just has the spark. There’s nothing really to teach her. She saw ‘Wonder Woman’ as well. She understands the character completely and she has Patty to guide her and direct her whenever is needed. I’m always here for her to give support. She’s really doing great.”

Wonder Woman 1984 is set to open on October 2, 2020!