"I wanted to do something different. Little did I know that I would land Wonder Woman not long after."
Though Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice makes no mention of Wonder Woman in its wordy title, fans are rather looking forward to Gal Gadot's big-screen interpretation of the Amazon Princess just the same. Some understandably worry that Diana Prince will be unjustly overshadowed by her male counterparts, or that the warrior she is in the comics will be replaced by the Hollywood standard of a damsel in distress. Gadot had a few thoughts to share on that.
In an interview with Interview Magazine's Teddy Wayne (not Bruce), Gadot had the following to say about her role in Batman v Superman:
Image via Warner Bros.
WAYNE: Picking movies that [your daughter will] someday be able to watch with you and from which she can learn or look up to—is that something you think about with every role? I'm sure you must get offered a lot of roles that you turn down.
GADOT: Now I do. Before, I didn't have the privilege to choose what I wanted to do. I just wanted to work. But now I'm in a position where I can actually choose. When I just started as an actress, you go to L.A. and the managers and the agency set up general meetings with directors and writers. They always ask you the same questions: "What are you looking for? What types of movie would you like to do?" And I always said, "I'm open." I'm very open to all different genres because I'm a very open-minded girl. But eventually, I told them that I wanted to be able to show the stronger side of women. I didn't want to do the obvious role that you see in Hollywood most of the time, which is the heartbroken girl who's waiting to be rescued by the guy, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to do something different. Little did I know that I would land Wonder Woman not long after.
WAYNE: That is clearly a case where you can have a very strong role, not just for your daughter but for women around the world, since this will be the first female-carried superhero movie in more than a decade. You'll become something of an emblem, I would imagine, of cinematic feminism. Do you see this as a big opportunity to advance how we portray women on the screen?
GADOT: Oh, my God, I'm so excited about this role. I feel like I've been given a huge opportunity to inspire people, not only women. And not because of me but because of who Wonder Woman is and what she stands for. There's a lot of responsibility. But I have the best team and the best people to work with. It's going to be an amazing ride, knock on wood.
Image via Warner Bros.[/caption]
Obviously Gadot can't give away too much about her upcoming film but it's nice that she's at least trying to dance around direct answers by giving us a sense of her character. Is it a stretch of the imagination that Wonder Woman should be played as strong and inspirational? No, but it will be refreshing if that's how she actually ends up being perceived when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25th.
Be sure to read up on more of our recent coverage of Batman v Superman using the links below:
