“IT’S A STORY ABOUT HER COMING OF AGE”

gal gadot is Wonder Woman

How does it feel to follow lynda Carter’s iconic take on Wonder Woman?

They’re big shoes to step into. What Lynda Carter did with the character is fantastic and amazing, and I love it. The Wonder Woman that is being introduced – reintroduced – now is different [but] she has a lot of the qualities Lynda Carter brought to the Wonder Woman character of ’75. I wasn’t big on comics, growing up, and I was too young when the Lynda Carter show was out, but I always knew of Wonder Woman. It’s like a household name. It’s like knowing about Superman and Batman. But I never knew what was her story, who exactly she was.

How was the physical side of filming?

I was a dancer for so many years. I’ve always used my body as a tool of expressing myself, you might say. Of course, it’s hard, and sometimes you don’t feel like training or you don’t want to learn the new choreography for whatever it is. But at the end of the day, when I go on stage and I perform, it’s fun. I enjoy looking strong and badass and doing crazy things that I never knew I would ever do. I really, really enjoyed it.

How different is this Diana to the one we met in Batman V Superman?

When I played her in Batman V Superman, I played the end result of Diana Prince. She’s already Wonder Woman. She’s been in the Man’s World for hundreds of years. She’s been around, and now she understands everything. But when we went back and shot Wonder Woman, we actually got to experience the entire arc and evolution of Diana Prince becoming Wonder Woman. She was not even aware of her strengths. She didn’t know of her calling. In our movie, you see that it’s a story about adolescence; about her coming of age; about her enquiring who she really is; and coming out of her shell, finally; becoming a woman.