Wonder Woman 1984 drew inspiration from Donald Trump to create the villainous Maxwell Lord. During a set visit attended by CBR, costume designer Lindy Hemming revealed how Trump influenced her wardrobe choices for the character, as played by Pedro Pascal.
"The president of Black Gold [Maxwell Lord] is a man who has quite -- well, appears to have quite a bit of money, but not so much taste," Hemming explained. "So he has really beautiful tailoring done by lovely tailors, and beautiful fabrics, really elegant and expensive, but just something is not quite right. How's that? They don't quite fit and they're not quite right. And I'm sure that people will think I don't know anything about tailoring when they see it, but the truth is, that's how we wanted them to be."
"[Pascal] is a great actor, so I think it's really good. And so, I can't tell you too much about him, other than he's a leading character and he has a lot of costume and there's some reference," she added, indicating a mood board filled with photos of Trump during the 80s. "Donald Trump, of course. Well, that's helpful to look at Donald Trump, isn't it?"
"There is something about the period of Donald Trump and being a businessman, isn't there, of being rather sleazy a little bit, and a bit goofy hair and a lot of talk. So that's why he's there. Yeah, so that's it, really," she concluded.
Director Patty Jenkins also weighed in on Lord and Pascal's portrayal of him. "He's a great character," she shared. "He's just great and he's a super part of the times, and that's what was so fun about him to me. It's like, what is the epitome of the 80s, but also very symbolic to our times right now? Which is like somebody who's everything about that era and what we believed in then that has resulted in who we are now."
After he was cast in Wonder Woman 1984, Pascal's role was kept heavily under wraps for quite some time. Eventually, his role was revealed as Maxwell Lord, but even then, few details about the part were released. At the time of writing, all we know is that Lord is a businessman and TV salesman, who crosses paths with Diana at some point during the film. Notably, Wonder Woman infamously snapped Lord's neck in the comics, so he may be in for a grim fate.
Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film arrives in theaters Oct. 2.