What is there to say about Gal Gadot that has not already been said? The 2004 Miss Israel title winner has taken the world by storm in the last decade – with her role as Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe immediately skyrocketed her to A-list status and opening the door to star in Netflix’s Red Notice, among plenty of other thrilling blockbusters. Of course, her career is not just defined by action flicks and superhero movies, as she is also one of the leading characters in Death on the Nile, for instance.
However, there are more than a few intriguing behind-the-scenes facts about some of the actress’ most notable film credits that not as many people may know about. For instance, did you know that she almost landed a role in an entirely different action-packed, long-running movie franchise that likely would completely changed the trajectory of her entire acting career? How about we start our rundown of some of the most interesting things to know about Gal Gadot’s life as a movie star by revealing the truth behind that lesser known secret...
Gal Gadot Was Considered For A Role As A Bond Girl Before Her Acting Career Took Off
Before Red Notice, Gal Gadot had already contributed to the spy movie genre a number of times before. She had a small role in 2010’s Knight and Day opposite Tom Cruise, took a more comedic turn as one-half of a husband and wife espionage duo with Jon Hamm in Keeping Up with the Joneses in 2016, and, that same year, played the widow of a CIA operative (played by fellow Red Notice cast member Ryan Reynolds) in Criminal. However, there was a time, as her acting career was still in its infancy, and during the period she was given the chance to star in the most iconic spy movie franchise of them all: James Bond. Gadot revealed this trivia in a February 2022 InStyle interview, explaining,
After my service in the military and modeling, I started university and studied law. There was a casting director there looking for the new Bond girl, and she had seen my card at my modeling agency. I was like, ‘Listen, I’m not an actress. I’m here because my agent told me you really wanted to see me, but I don’t want to waste your time.’ I didn’t get the part, but I started working with acting coaches and auditioning in Israel. I got my first role for a TV show, and that same casting director remembered me and hired me for Fast & Furious. Then I started my affair with acting.
You know, as much as I believe that Gal Gadot would have likely made a great Bond girl in 2008’s Quantum of Solace – the Daniel Craig-led thriller she was considered for back then – I think we can all agree that she would be a better fit as Bond. Luckily, she would find her true calling with her breakout role as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious in 2009. Yet, she was not ultimately satisfied with her experience as part of the high-octane franchise until her third outing.
Gal Gadot Requested To Do Her Own Stunts In Fast & Furious 6
Despite a history of being an intelligence operative for Mossad (and the attitude and skills to show for it) before joining Dominic Toretto’s crew, Gisele Yashar does not participate in very many action sequences in either Fast & Furious or 2011's Fast Five . So when Gal Gadot was preparing to reprise the reprise the role for what would be the final time in Fast & Furious 6 two years later, she made sure to change that.
In a promotional interview found on Fandango’s Movieclips Coming Soon channel on YouTube, Gal Gadot recalls urging director Justin Lin to let her be more involved with the action sequences in the sixth installment. She adds that when the filmmaker asked her if she wanted a stunt double, she refused, wanting to do as much as she possibly could on camera. The stunts she performed for Fast & Furious 6 are not even the most shocking example of how far the actress is willing to go for a role.
Gal Gadot Filmed Wonder Woman Reshoots While Five Months Pregnant
I remember when I first saw Batman v. Superman on opening day in 2016, I thought that, instead of Dawn of Justice, the subtitle should have been Dawn of Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot continued to absolutely nail the role of the immortal, Amazonian warrior princess in her own movie, Wonder Woman, in 2017, and in the theatrical cut of Justice League later that year. She kicked so much ass that you would have never believed that she was pregnant while filming both.
Yes, as the actress revealed in an interview with W Magazine, she discovered that she was pregnant with her daughter, Maya, during production of the DC crossover epic and managed to keep the news hidden. She suffered from hormone-induced migraines, but pressed on with the demanding shoot. The magazine later quoted her from an Entertainment Weekly interview talking about how she was five months along by the time she had to do reshoots for her solo movie. The costume department helped her keep that hidden by covering her armor in green fabric so her baby bump could be digitally altered in post-production.
How Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman Performance Was Inspired By Princess Diana
Another fascinating aspect of Gal Gadot’s portrayal of the legendary DC Comics hero is its real-life influences. I mean, it is more common these days for actors to bring something somewhat more grounded and relatable to superhero movies to appeal to a broader audience, but the way the actress attempted to ground Wonder Woman is especially fascinating. She revealed the secret in a pre-Oscar ceremony interview with Vanity Fair in 2021, saying,
I remember watching a documentary about Princess Diana... and there was a part where they say that she was full of compassion and she always cared for the people. And that was like, ding, ding, ding, ding. That should be the Wonder Woman that we have.
Looking to the late Princess Diana (whom Kristen Stewart played to Oscar-nominated acclaim in 2021’s Spencer) as inspiration for Wonder Woman is kind of a no-brainer if you really think about it. I mean, the fact that they have same first name should have been the first giveaway.
Gal Gadot Auditioned For Wonder Woman Without Even Knowing It
When Gal Gadot first appeared as Wonder Woman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, it was the first time that the character had ever appeared in a live-action, theatrically-released feature film in the heroine's 75 years of existence. With how monumental and important it was to get this part (which had only been portrayed in a live-action setting on television, most famously by Lynda Carter), you can only imagine what sort of fierce competition Gadot had to face before being cast. Well, as it turns, she could only imagine it, too.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Gal Gadot told host Jimmy Fallon about the time Zack Snyder called her wanting her to audition for a “secret role.” She agreed to it, despite questioning if she wanted to continue acting at that point in her career. After reading lines without any additional information about the role with the filmmaker, she later received a call in Israel from her agent saying Warner Bros. wanted her to come in for a camera test, at which point she finally asked who she would be playing. In another phone call, Snyder mentioned the name “Wonder Woman” and, weeks later, she discovered the role was hers.
Gal Gadot Was Offered To Play A DC Villain
Most people would agree that Gal Gadot was the perfect choice to play Wonder Woman and might even go as far to say that she was born for the role. However, there was a time when she almost could have made her comic book movie debut playing an entirely different character from DC Comics.
In 2015, a year after she was announced as cinema’s Diana Prince, the actress had an interview with the Israeli website XNet (which was translated to English by Batman-News.com) in which she revealed that was previously offered a villainous role in 2013’s Man of Steel. While she does not describe the character by name, she was likely referring to Faora, the right-hand woman to Michael Shannon’s General Zod. Gadot goes on to say that if she had not been pregnant with her daughter, Alma, at the time, she would have said yes, which means we never would have seen her don the lasso and tiara.
Gal Gadot Wears A Real Priceless Diamond Connected To A Classic Movie In Death On The Nile
In Death on the Nile – star/director Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to his 2017 Agatha Christie adaptation, Murder on the Orient Express – Gal Gadot plays a wealthy heiress. So, you might not even needed to see a promotional photo to know that her wardrobe was as high-class as it gets.
In fact, there is one particular article that was destined to turn heads, especially hardcore film fans. Gadot’s character can be seen wearing a $30 million diamond necklace that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is the same necklace worn by Audrey Hepburn in the iconic opening scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961.
Hopefully, with plenty of upcoming Gal Gadot movies to look forward to - such as her Cleopatra biopic and Disney’s live-action Snow White remake, there will be even more fascinating facts about the actress to be revealed in the years ahead.
