NBC’s Wonder Woman revival apparently has landed its villain, in the form of English actress and model Elizabeth Hurley.
“Thrilled to be doing the NBC pilot Wonder Woman,” she wrote early this morning on Twitter. “I’ll be playing the evil villain. Can’t wait.” Presumably she means Veronica Cale, who in David E. Kelley’s script is an evil scientist and business rival to Adrianne Palicki’s Wonder Woman/Diana Themyscira.
Created by Greg Rucka as a “Lex Luthor for Diana,” the character was introduced in November 2003′s Wonder Woman #196 as a co-founder of Cale-Anderson Pharmaceuticals who, after working so hard to attain that position, resented Wonder Woman’s simplistic message and the ease with which she found acceptance in Patriarch’s World. Cale attempted to turn the media against the superheroine, going so far as to ally herself with Doctor Psycho and Circe.
Hurley, 45, is best known for playing Vanessa in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and the Devil in Bedazzled.
Kelley’s pilot is described as a reinvention of Wonder Woman, who’s recast as a successful corporate executive who fights crime in Los Angeles while trying to balance the elements of her extraordinary life. Kelley and Bill D’Elia (Boston Legal, The Practice) are the executive producers. The pilot will be directed by Jeffrey Reiner (NBC’s The Event).
The business rival angle alters their point of fundamental conflict.
The Veronica Cale here is a totally different character than the one I read about in “Wonder Woman: Down To Earth” and “Wonder Woman: Bitter Rivals.”
Not an inherently BAD thing, but the appeal the OTHER one had is lost.