Sony Nabs ‘Professor Marston’; Biopic About Wonder Woman Creator Stars Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall & Bella Heathcote

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired worldwide rights to Topple Productions and Boxspring Entertainment’s Professor Marston & The Wonder Women, the unconventional true story of behind the creation of the most famous female comic book superhero of all time. Written and directed by Angela Robinson, the indie feature began production this week and stars Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote.

Professor Marston details the life of Dr. William Moulton Marston (Evans), Harvard psychologist and inventor who created Wonder Woman in 1941; his wife, fellow psychologist and inventor Elizabeth (Hall); and their polyamorous relationship with Olive Byrne (Heathcote), a former student of Marston’s and an academic in her own right.

Their relationship proved enduring. Marston created DC’s iconic Amazonian princess with significant input from Elizabeth having been inspired to do so by Olive – Marston, like Wonder Woman, was profoundly influenced by the feminist ideals espoused by Elizabeth and Olive. After his death from skin cancer in 1947, Elizabeth and Olive raised their children by Marston together and remained a couple until Olive’s death in 1988. The film will explore how Marston dealt with the controversy surrounding his creation — which homophobic moral guardians charged would turn young girls into lesbians — while he and his partners navigated and concealed a romantic and family life that, if exposed, could have destroyed them all.

Topple co-founder Andrea Sperling is producing alongside Amy Redford, Andrea Sperling and Terry Leonard. Topple co-founder and Transparent creator Jill Soloway is executive producing with Boxspring Entertainment co-Founder Clare Munn. WME Global packaged and represented the film.

Robinson most recently acted as consulting producer on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder and was an executive producer of the final season of HBO’s True Blood. She’s repped by WME. Evans, who’s onscreen in The Girl on the Train, recently wrapped his role as in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast. He’s repped by WME and United Agents. Hall most recently appeared in Steven Spielberg’s The BFG and will be seen in the lead role of the biopic Christine later this month. She’s repped by WME and Julian Belfrage & Associates. Heathcote’s next film is Fifty Shades Darker. She’s repped by WME and manager Brian Medavoy.