Gadot finds Wonder Woman’s power
LOS ANGELES — Despite wielding the golden lasso and deflecting bullets with her bracelets on the big screen for more than a year, Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot still doesn’t see herself as a superhero.
“I’m not there yet,” the 32-year-old actress said in a recent interview. “When I look on playback or I look at the monitor, it’s not there yet. I know it’s me. I understand everything, but I still don’t get that I’m doing this iconic character… It’s crazy.” Gadot didn’t grow up with Wonder Woman and wasn’t a big superhero fan as a child. A former Miss Israel, she started her acting career there before making her American movie debut in 2009’s Fast & Furious.
But she dug into stacks of comic books and the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show once she was cast as the Amazon princess, and quickly realized what an exceptional character she’d be playing.
“On the one hand, she owns something that is usually owned by men, which is the strength and the power” Gadot said. “But she brings the feminine qualities with her, which are love and warmth and compassion. And if you bond those two worlds together, then you get a very special, beautiful, whole character.”
Wearing Wonder Woman’s costume helped her feel like a superhero — once the outfit was retooled after she made her debut in last year’s cinematic showdown between Batman and Superman.