ONE STRONG GAL
Actress worked hard for physical role
Wonder Woman
Opens Friday
Think of the Israeli-born actress as a standup Gal Gadot — literally.
The 32-year-old strained muscles in her back, so Gadot’s promoting her Wonder Woman role upright on this day.
“I’m not trying to be superior here,” she says at a Los Angeles warehouse converted into a Wonder Woman showcase of costumes and sets.
“I promise you, I’m not becoming a diva.”
Surviving the demanding Wonder Woman portrayal is proof enough. She’s played the DC Comics superheroine in last year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the upcoming solo film and in next November’s all-star flick Justice League.
In the Wonder Woman origins movie, Gadot is Amazonian Princess Diana, who is living on the all-female island of Themyscira. Events unfold when Diana, daughter of Zeus, saves First World War U.S. pilot and spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from a crash landing.
When Diana, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, hears about the war to end all wars, she is convinced the horrors of it have been incited by Zeus’s evil son Ares. In order to save civilization, she follows Trevor to the front.
Armed and determined, the godlike champion has her super strength, sword and shield, lasso of truth and her indestructible bracelets, yet she believes in kindness and fairness for all.
“She embodies the most wonderful qualities that I love in people,” Gadot says of Wonder Woman. “She’s curious, warm, loving and she’s very inclusive.”
As some sequences indicate, “she also can be very vulnerable, confused naive and worried, but fixed on her mission. So I like everything about her because she’s not perfect.”
The complex profile might underscore the fact that Wonder Woman is directed by Patty Jenkins, best remembered as the filmmaker who shaped Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning serial killer performance in 2003’s Monster.
“That’s one of her biggest strengths,” Gadot says of Jenkins and her ability to define intricate behaviour.
“And it was very important for both of us that this movie has a profound message that is not necessarily in superhero movies.”
Pre-filming preparation was daunting just the same. Gadot spent several months of intense training in sword play, martial arts combat, body sculpting and horseback riding.
Luckily, the five-foot-10 actress and former model is athletic. She also studied dance for 12 years and served a two-year stint in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“I did a lot of boxing, too, just because I enjoy it and it helped me build my body, and also it’s very explosive, and explosive movements (are) something really important for my character,” Gadot says.
Injuries were apart of her daily routine, but she avoided serious ones. “I was bruised all the time, but nothing major,” she says. “I had a mark here, a mark there. The most painful thing that happened to me is when we shot in Italy and we were shooting this fight sequence on a beach and I stepped on a sea urchin. That was painful.
“Other than that, honestly we got to work with such professionals that they made sure once we get to set, we’re 100 per cent ready — no room for any question marks or mistakes.”
It was worth the extra effort. After all, Wonder Woman has been trying to make it to the big screen for decades after cartoonist William Moulton Marston introduced her in a 1941 All Star Comics edition.
A kitschy 1970s TV series with Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman lasted three seasons.
Since then, there have been various directors and potential headliners attached to a Wonder Woman movie, but all the projects stalled. A few years ago, DC Comics decided to rejuvenate its superhero movie universe lineup (motivated by the Marvel movie success) using Wonder Woman as one of its main players.
By then, Gadot had impressed with a slow build in support roles. She made her Hollywood movie debut as Vin Diesel’s love interest Giselle in Fast and Furious, returning to play her in Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7.
In between, she had smaller roles in Tom Cruise’s secret agent picture Knight and Day and the Tina Fey comedy Date Night and she co-starred in last year’s farce Keeping Up with the Joneses.
From the start, she understood that accepting the Wonder Woman challenge would be a test of her stamina and ability to juggle her on- and off-camera agendas.
The balancing act continues to be a work in progress for Gadot, who gave birth to her second daughter in March.
“But I feel very grateful,” Gadot says. “Working on this project has been such a phenomenal, unique, special experience.”
Even better, preview audiences are providing positive assessments of the final product.
“I just feel like, ‘Thank you’,” she says. “I’m super excited and I’m really very happy.”
Obviously, Gadot’s relieved, too, as she stands up for what she believes in.