20 RED NOTICE

12 NOVEMBER • NETFLIX

A Red Notice is an alert put out by Interpol to police worldwide to locate and arrest a suspected criminal. It’s also the name of the eagerly awaited new thriller from Netflix, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and featuring Dwayne Johnson as Rusty, a top FBI profiler legendary for his success in bringing the guilty to justice, Gal Gadot as the world’s most successful – and possibly most glamorous – art thief, and the reliably charming Ryan Reynolds as the world’s greatest con man.

Details are being kept under wraps, but with a smart script that harks back to the light-hearted heist movies of the 1960s, a story that flits around the globe like a true jet-setter, and a lavish package of the sort of action sequences Dwayne and Gal have made famous, the Seven Bucks production company behind it has made it plain it has high hopes this will be one of the biggest hits of the season. ‘It’s a big, globe-trotting adventure that delivers fun escapism the world could use more of right now,’ says producer Hiram Garcia. ‘It’s the biggest movie Netflix has ever made.’

For Dwayne Johnson, action sequences – the more hair-raising the better – are par for the course: as a college football player turned professional wrestler turned A-list movie actor he’s seen them in all shapes and forms. ‘But I haven’t always been comfortable in my skin,’ he says. ‘A lot of people struggle with that and I’m no different. When I first came to Hollywood,

it took me some time to find my footing and figure out who I was. It was quite daunting. OK, I came in with some nice pomp and circumstance in my first movie The Scorpion King [the 2002 action adventure], but there was no Hollywood blueprint for a pro-wrestler who was halfblack and half-samoan and could be loud and bombastic and make a funny face with half an eyebrow!’

Nineteen years later, he has combined his athleticism with his acting to become one of the most successful stars in the business, and Gal isn’t far behind. A former sergeant in the Israeli army where she enlisted as a combat fitness instructor, she’s an expert in jiu-jitsu, kung fu, swordsmanship and kickboxing, and that’s just for starters. But unlike Dwayne, who learned his moves in the wrestling ring, the Wonder Woman star says her own early inspiration came from the more gentle world of dancing. ‘I was a dancer for 12 years,’ she says. ‘Learning fight scenes reminds me a lot of choreography because it’s all about expressing yourself with that most wonderful tool, your body.’

Now one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, she says that one day she will turn her formidable talent to a more substantial role – but not just yet. ‘My first US movie was Fast And Furious, and I think that that kind of typecast me,’ she says. ‘But I really enjoy action roles. I know I’ll have my opportunity to do heavy drama one day, but meanwhile I love this and enjoy it so much.’

‘This is the biggest movie Netflix has ever made’

L-r: Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson in Red Notice