Just because Bride of Frankenstein has been put on hold, don't think Universal has given up on Dark Universe. The biggest hurdle remains casting, and I guessed the upcoming rewrites by David Koepp were to prepare for the possibility that Angelina Jolie would turn the title role down, especially since she's busy with Maleficent 2. And it seems that I was at least partially right, because director Bill Condon has a backup plan in mind, and what backup she is.
The Wrap says Condon has Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot in mind if Jolie backs out. At this point, Jolie and Javier Bardem remain in talks but no deal has been made, and neither wants to commit until they see Koepp's new script. Can't really blame them, especially when the franchise is being described by insiders as "Basically ‘Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘The Avengers’ – but with super monsters. “
Yuck.
That may keep Gadot a thousand miles away from this, too. Besides, she's got Wonder Woman all to herself, and it doesn't get much better than that.
