Maxance Vincent
When editor Nena Erb, ACE, joined Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man, she had not heard of the character of Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) before, nor any of the other figures that populate the eight-episode television series. However, the screenplays for the series were so refreshing and unexpected that she immediately fell in love with the project, as told to Awards Radar during a Zoom conversation about her work on the series:
“I had just finished Joy Ride, and I was actually going to do a movie with Issa Rae, but it fell through because of the strikes. The studio decided not to go forward with it. Then, John Goldsmith from Marvel called and asked if I was interested in reading the scripts for the series. read it and completely fell in love with the story because it was so refreshing, different, and very character-driven, which is stuff that I’m really interested in. We had a meeting, and I was very nervous because I don’t do many superhero projects. I wasn’t sure why they were reaching out to me, but I had a great meeting with them, and they talked to me about the character arcs and things that they found really important for this series. It turns out that it’s not really about the action. It was about friendship, betrayal, and identity, and all the things I’m really fascinated with and try to look for in the projects I sign on to. I was very excited that they decided to choose me.”
The series is unlike anything Marvel has done before. It completely forgoes action and spectacle, save for one fifty-second brawl in the fifth episode, and asks the audience to meaningfully sit with Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) as they embark on an emotional journey within Hollywood. As the characters figure out who they are, the audience also has a sense of their place within a cinematic universe where literally anything can happen.
According to Nena Erb, this required a careful balance of different tones, because “some of it is satire, comedy, drama, but all of it is very human, right? Instead of Simon wanting to save the world, like a typical Marvel superhero, he just wants a callback. It’s very simple. He’s an actor. He just wants a casting director to see him for his talent. Who can’t identify with wanting to be seen, right? That was something I really held close to my heart while working on all the scenes. Especially in episode three, when it was the mother’s birthday party and his family was trying to understand what he did for a living, but he wasn’t understood. This scene helps us through the rest of the season, where he’s got a secret that he doesn’t want people to know, but he also feels like no one sees him. He’s very isolated, but he’s got this one friend in Trevor. There were a lot of moving parts and an intricate weaving of their friendship, of his struggle for acceptance and identity. I had to make sure everything was grounded and human, so it felt relatable.”
Erb edited episodes three, four, seven, and eight of the series, which were directed by James Ponsoldt (3-4) and Stella Meghie (7-8). In our conversation, she discussed the process that went into editing the kitchen scene between Simon and her family, the episode entirely focused on Doorman (Byron Bowers), attempting to figure out the rhythm of each episode she was working on, the conversation with journalist Kathy Friedman (Lauren Weedman), and the show’s final episode, which deconstructs most of the tropes found in superhero filmmaking.
You can listen to the full conversation below and stream all episodes of Wonder Man on Disney+ today.
[Some of the quotes in this article were edited for length and clarity]
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