Munn thinks love for Wonder Woman won't win role

[July 24, 2013]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- Olivia Munn's love for Wonder Woman may be no secret, but the actress doesn't think she'd be likely to play the superheroine on the big screen.

The Chinese-American Munn says she likely wouldn't be considered due to her heritage as well as competition from bigger-name actresses.

"It would be great, though, if the producers could make Wonder Woman an Asian-American, but that's probably not what they would do," Munn said. "I don't know a lot of Asian-American women who are getting great opportunities yet, and the other actresses (vying for the role) are probably really famous and Hollywood tends to go for the girls who are already in the big movies."

Munn has a fierce following among comic book fans thanks to her love for "geek culture" and regular appearances at San Diego's Comic-Con. The 33-year-old actress born in Oklahoma also has appeared in "Iron Man 2" and "Magic Mike."

While she gushed about feeling "strong and invincible" dressed up as Wonder Woman, she admitted discomfort in the costume, too. "I dressed up as Wonder Woman one year and that was my last; it's not comfortable to dress up in front of all those people," Munn said. "Costumes for superheroes; man or woman, are always very skimpy, so it's not something that you want to wear with a lot of people around you."

"But I love Wonder Woman as much as I love Batman but obviously a little bit more because she's such a strong female figure and there aren't that many strong female superheroes out there," she gushed.

She also carefully explained that the title of her book, "Suck it, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek," was not her idea, but rather an editor's inspiration.

"I did not want to name it that, and I actually did not agree with it because I love Wonder Woman," Munn said. She continued, admitting "it worked out well because the name was so silly that it became memorable and helped my book sell so I stopped complaining about the name."

The self-professed "vigilante superhero" broke into a smile when told about fans wanting her to play Wonder Woman in an anticipated "Justice League" movie. Warner Bros. hasn't confirmed reports that a film was being slated for 2017 in which a medley of DC Comics superheroes -- including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman -- come together to fight crime.

Munn was in Singapore on Tuesday to promote the season premiere of the HBO series "The Newsroom," where she plays financial journalist Sloan Sabbith.

She said she always dreamed of being an actress but that Hollywood dreams were not encouraged in her traditional Asian family, where her older sister practices law and her brother is an engineer. "I was never encouraged to go into acting, so I majored in journalism as I love telling stories, and I love doing it but the moment I had the opportunity to pursue acting, I took it," she said.

"Playing Sloan is really nice because in some way, my mom feels I am making good use of my journalism degree," she added with a laugh.

[Associated Press; By HEATHER TAN]

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