Keri Russell is the voice of the re-envisioned Wonder Woman while Nathan Fillion voices Steve Trevor.

The Amazon Voice
As dialogue director Andrea Romano told Animation World Network in July at the 2008 Comic-Con International in San Diego, the animated film needed a voice actor who could express both strength and innocence. Keri Russell is the voice of the re-envisioned Wonder Woman while Nathan Fillion voices Steve Trevor.

Other voice actors include Rosario Dawson as fellow Amazon Artemis, Virginia Madsen as Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta, Oliver Platt as Hades, David McCallum as Zeus and Alfred Molina as Wonder Woman's adversary, Ares.

"The main aspect of Andrea's job is that she needs to get performances out of the actors that the producers and directors want," comments Timm. "It has to fit our vision of the scene and the film. As dialogue is written on the page, you could have 30 different line readings of any individual line -- it really depends on what else is happening in the scene or the intent of that specific line of dialogue. But Andrea has an obvious natural instinct for the meaning of the line. Most importantly, she knows how to translate that information into actor-ese to get that performance. She can put our thoughts into words so that the actors can understand where she's coming from and what's needed for the scene."

Like Wonder Woman, Romano also possesses an Amazon spirit and the swiftness of Hermes. "One of the things I love about Andrea is that she's fast," Timm suggests. "She just cuts right to the chase, never goes down blind alleys, and she physically talks fast. It's funny because when I first started working with her, I didn't think I was going to be able to keep up. She's just so full of energy, it's like she must've been mainlining Red Bull before every session. But that's great for me, because I'm very ADD myself. She doesn't equivocate; she's just right to the point -- attack, attack, attack, get it done."

Just the latest PG-13 animated film from Warner Bros. using DC Comics characters, producers are now working on a Green Lantern-centric film and hope to return to a female superhero.

Animated Heroes
The Wonder Woman animated film is going beyond direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray with its availability via OnDemand, Pay-Per-View and download. However, Timm says that the different delivery systems are not a problem. "None of that really figures into our production process or quality," he says. "Our production standards are pretty high already. High-def and Blu-ray already open that door. Unless we're shifting from the TV screen to the big screen, the process shouldn't shift."

Still, Timm says that there are some items of special interest on the DVD. "There are two behind-the-scenes documentaries that should be of interest to any fan of Wonder Woman. I hope our voice commentary is of interest. We like to have fun with those and, at the same time, give some information you wouldn't hear elsewhere. We've included a few Justice League episodes that feature Wonder Woman."

Timm hints that the "defining new look" for Wonder Woman may be carried over into other movies that feature her. "I would hope so, at least in future films that would be Wonder Woman-based animated stories," he says. "I suppose that will depend on the fan reaction, but so far the response has been tremendous."

Montgomery and Timm are now hard at work on the new Green Lantern animated movie. "Green Lantern: First Flight -- we're working on it right now, and it comes out after Comic-Con in late July."

"Lauren and I are coming right back as director and producer of Green Lantern: First Flight," agrees Timm. "It's the first-ever full-length feature starring Green Lantern. We're using Hal Jordan, and we pretty much get the origin story over before the opening credits -- so it's more of a first adventure for Green Lantern.

"Fans will get a full helping of the universe of Green Lanterns, including one notable villain in yellow," he says. "We've got a good cast with Christopher Meloni of Law & Order Special Victims Unit as Hal Jordan, and Victor Garber from Alias and Eli Stone as Sinestro. Plus Tricia Helfer is our Boodikka and Michael Madsen is Kilowog."

And while she may be concentrating on the hero in green for the moment, Montgomery had a blast working on Wonder Woman and has not ruled out working on another super heroine -- or an undersea hero. "I would be more than happy to do any female lead character because, for super heroes, I like girls more than boys.

"And that being said," Montgomery notes, "I'd also like to do an Aquaman movie, because he's the closest thing in superheroes to The Little Mermaid, which is my favorite movie."

Janet Hetherington is a freelance writer and artist who shares a studio in Ottawa, Canada with artist Ronn Sutton, and a ginger cat, Heidi.