Netflix has been on a pretty good run with its action movies lately, as flicks like Extraction, The Old Guard and Army of the Dead pulled in a lot of views and have sequels on the way. But as in terms of star power alone, the streaming service’s upcoming Red Notice arguably sits at the top of the list, as it features Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as its leads. Red Notice director Rawson Marshall Thurber certainly feels fortunate to have these three together, having recently explained why it’s great to have them attached to his next movie.
Along with premiering the first official still of Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson together in Red Notice, Empire spoke with Rawson Marshall Thurber about what it’s like directing the trio. After highlighting their “charisma,” Thurber said the following:
I feel very, very fortunate. It’s a little bit like directorial cheating, having all three of them together in the same frame. Chemistry is just not a function of writing or even directing – it’s a function of casting. You either have it or you don’t. And those guys have something special.
These certainly have that “it” factor, which is how they’ve been so successful in Hollywood. Of these three, Ryan Reynolds most recently graced the screen with Free Guy, one of the few big-budget movies to score an exclusive theatrical run this year, though Dwayne Johnson preceded him only by a few weeks with Jungle Cruise, which played in both theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot was last seen playing Diana of Themyscira in both Wonder Woman 1984 and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Now these three actors have been brought together for Red Notice, i.e. what could end up being Netflix’s biggest action movie yet.
Interestingly enough, Dwayne Johnson has already worked with both Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot in the Fast & Furious franchise. Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Gadot’s Gisele Yashar shared screen time in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, and Ryan Reynolds cameoed as Victor Locke in Hobbs & Shaw. Johnson will also soon join Gadot as a member of the DC Extended Universe family when he debuts as Black Adam next year. Reynolds, on the other hand, will be sticking with Marvel on the superhero movie front, as he’s reprising Wade Wilson for Deadpool 3.
As for what we can expect from Red Notice plot-wise, the move follows Dwayne Johnson’s Rusty, an FBI profiler who’s been tasked by Interpol to find Ryan Reynolds’ character, the world’s most wanted art thief. Gal Gadot appears as a “mysterious figure in the art world,” and once these three cross paths, “high-jinks ensue,” as Rawson Marshall Thurber put it. Ritu Arya and Chris Diamantopoulos also star in the Netflix movie. Principal photography originally unfolded from January to March of 2020 before having to pause in response to the pandemic, and then the rest of the footage was shot between September and November of the same year.
Red Notice hits Netflix on November 12. While we wait for its first trailer to drop, look through our detailed Netflix September 2021 guide to learn what the platform will deliver next month.
