Gal Gadot appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast to promote her Prime Video action movie “The Runner” and told host Josh Horowitz that she would likely not return as Wonder Woman if an opportunity to make a third movie came to be.
“For me to go to do another Wonder Woman, I am not sure I would at this point in my life with four children and different schools and all of that,” Gadot said. “To check out from all of them for such a long period of time, it doesn’t work for my life anymore at this point.”
Gadot played Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder’s DC Universe, debuting in 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” before headlining 2017’s “Wonder Woman.” The standalone movie, directed by Patty Jenkins, was a blockbuster hit with $824 million at the worldwide box office. Gadot would appear in “Justice League” the same year before reuniting with Jenkins for 2020’s “Wonder Woman 1984.”
Jenkins was developing an idea for “Wonder Woman 3” when James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios, effectively ending Snyder’s tenure. While Gadot had claimed in 2023 that a third “Wonder Woman” would be developed in the rebooted DC Universe, sources told Variety at the time Gunn and Safran would not be moving forward with another Gadot-led sequel. The actor was ultimately not surprised when she got the boot.
“I saw the way everybody else was handled. The Henry [Cavill] situation was not handled elegantly to say the least. Patty [Jenkins] was not handled elegantly. We’re all adults and we’re all good,” Gadot said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast about the transfer of DC Studios power. “I am so grateful I got the opportunity to wear these boots and have the character be so celebrated. I can only wish whoever is next comes pure to this journey. This character means so much to so many of us. It was never mine. I was always just a vessel. This is Hollywood.”
Gadot also spoke about her upcoming role in Doug Liman’s “Bitcoin,” which has garnered controversy for using AI to create the movie’s sets and lighting. The cast, which includes Gadot opposite Casey Affleck, Pete Davidson, and Isla Fisher, was shot in a completely barebones space. The film’s producer, Ryan Kavanaugh, has claimed the $70 million production saved more than $200 million by using AI to fill in the production design and lighting.
“This was the longest contract I have ever worked on,” Gadot said of the movie. “It was six months from my lawyers to go through every scenario we could think about as far as the AI component of it. I did not want AI to have anything to do with my performance. We had to protect that, to such an extent that SAG called my lawyers to ask for pointers to update the SAG contract to protect other actors. As far as the performances, it’s all me.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Gadot continued, “I am afraid of AI, but I am going to be afraid and look away? No. I am afraid but I am playing with it and learning it and trying to educate myself. The train has left the station. You’re going to work with it or be out of the game completely. I am trying to make the best of it and protect what I can protect. The AI component in this movie is for sets and the lighting. We had a broad crew and a lot of people were working on this movie.”
Because Liman shot all of the actors in what amounts to a barebones warehouse, Gadot compared the experience to working in theater because it was essentially only the actors on set.
“It felt like a pure art form of creating a movie,” she explained. “I haven’t seen a single shot. As an actress, I wait so much. There’s the legendary quote: ‘You are being paid to wait as an actor.’ Here we would film nonstop because we didn’t have to wait for lighting. We would film on and on and on for 10 hours. It was amazing… as actors you’re always hot. You don’t cool off. We’ll see. It’s crazy.”
Watch Gadot’s full interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in the video below.
From Variety US