Summary
- Actress Matilda Lutz reveals the upcoming Red Sonja movie will focus on empowering females rather than pleasing males
- The film has been in development for a couple of years and is currently in the editing process
- The reboot will have a different direction and will subvert the original’s male-gaze trope
Already sounding like a smash hit, fans have another female comic book movie to look forward to, as actress Matilda Lutz let is be known the new Red Sonja movie reboot is more about empowering females than pleasing males.
Hey, all the women certainly came out and it worked for Madame Web and The Marvels, right? Not to mention Black Widow, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Birds of Prey.
The flick doesn’t have a release date but has been in development for a couple years with filming complete and things in the editing process.
A first look was released back in 2022, and back in September of last year, a producer said they are working on getting the CGI right because the flick is a darker take than the 1985 movie most people are familiar with.
Known for being sexy
Red Sonja is a fantasy sword and sorcery comic book superheroine who is often depicted in scantily glad bikini armor. The character debuted in the pages of Conan the Barbarian in the Marvel Comics published in the 70s and 80s, with Dynamite Entertainment now publishing the latest comics (see poster below).
The character is also in part based on Robert E. Howard’s character, Red Sonya of Rogatino, a female swashbuckler from his 1934 short story “The Shadow of the Vulture.”
Separating it from the comics
However, star Matilda Lutz says they are not adapting the original comics or version but going in a different direction that, according to CBR.com, “will subvert the original’s male-gaze trope.”
“So, what I can tell about Red Sonja, is that the first ones and the comics were [made] with a very male-gazed orientation.This is a completely different story, and it’s very women-empowered, which I loved about the script.”
The article further adds the Red Sonja reboot will be “separating it from the previous adaptations and original comic books.”
Update: Lutz also spoke with Collider and mentioned the bikini armor will be used in a different way:
Even in costume rehearsals and building the whole costume was like, I felt very exposed. But what I love about it is that the bikini is used in a completely different way from the comics. So I’m excited to see what the audience is gonna think. It was already in the script that the costume was gonna [be] used not as an exposure kind of like element but in a different way, I don’t want to spoil it but in a different way. So, I felt good enough to wear something that was used for a purpose.
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Red Sonja reboot details:
Red Sonja is from Millennium Media with M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) directing.
The film also stars Robert Sheehan from Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy as Draygan, and Wallis Day of Sex/Life is playing Red Sonja’s wicked half-sister, Annisia. Additional casting includes Michael Bisping as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak, Eliza Matengu as Amarak, Manal El Feitury as Ayala, and Katrina Durden as Saevus.
The script is by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider).
Producers include Mark Canton (300, Power), Courtney Solomon (Cake, After), Luke Lieberman on behalf of Red Sonja LLC, Millennium Media’s Les Weldon, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger and Yariv Lerner, and Joe Gatta (Out of the Furnace, Conan the Barbarian).
Avi Lerner, Trevor Short and Boaz Davidson are executive producing for Millennium Media, alongside Dorothy Canton, Millennium Media’s Tanner Mobley, Nick Barrucci on behalf of Dynamite Entertainment, Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell on behalf of Campbell Grobman Films, Eclectic Picture’s Heidi Jo Markel, and Soloway on behalf of Topple.
