The chemistry between Gal Gadot as Princess Diana aka Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as her love interest Steve Trevor was one of the highlights of 2017's Wonder Woman. In the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, Pine is back as Steve, who returns from the dead to find himself in the 1980s. A lot of the humor of the sequel arises from Steve trying to get used to the new era he finds himself in. During a recent interview, Gadot revealed the actor had a hilarious method of staying in character by wearing eighties clothing even when off-camera, and getting his own personal fanny pack.

"Oh, [Chris] loved it. He's the only one who can pull off [the fanny pack] look, honestly. But in real life he actually got himself his own fanny pack. And he used to ride a bicycle around the sets, on location, wherever we were and come visit us. And he completely looked like someone from the eighties. He loved the whole fashion and style but at the time he was using it for his personal life. And it looked good on him!"

The role of the love interest in a superhero movie who needs to be rescued is often a thankless one. And for a male to do such a role can be seen as emasculating. In an interview in February, Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins had explained how the charisma that Chris Pine brought to the role of Steve made the character a natural alpha male from the start.

"[Chris is] not beta at all. He's a super alpha who can absolutely wear his discomfort on his sleeve. So, from day one, I was always saying that it should almost be like Wonder Woman meets Indiana Jones, where Indiana would never be emasculated. Chris just very naturally has that quality. You can tell by meeting him that he's warm and he's chill and he truly appreciates women."

For his part, Pine was happy to return to the role of Steve Trevor, and he explained how his character in Wonder Woman 1984 was much more fundamental to the plot and the message of the film, that love and compassion are what makes someone a hero rather than magic powers.

"In the first movie, I played the world-weary soldier who has seen all the depravity that humankind is capable of displaying and in this one I get to be much more wide-eyed and joyful. My role is really just as a friend, lover, boyfriend-cum-bodyguard who's trying his best to help Diana on her mission. I'm like the Watson to her Holmes... I think sometimes superhero films may feel they have to fit in a love story just to tick that box. Whereas in this, it's part and parcel of the spine of the lead character. And that is Wonder Woman - she leads with love and compassion and protectiveness, and these qualities that I think are nurtured by a good strong relationship."

Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and Natasha Rothwell. The film is now available in theaters and on HBO Max. Gal Gadot's quote comes from The Big Ticket podcast, while the Patty Jenkins and Chris Pine quotes arrive from Entertainment Weekly.