What's it like to audition to play Wonder Woman in her first ever stand-alone film? Pretty confusing, according to Gal Gadot, the Israel actress who finally made the cut to bring Diana Prince to the big screen - largely down to the fact that Gal didn't actually know anything about the role she was trying out for...
Speaking to talkshow host Jimmy Fallon, the star revealed that before she landed the role of a lifetime, she was considering quitting acting for good after a series of 'near misses' that brought her close but not close enough to winning parts.
'This profession – the rejection can be tough,' she told Fallon. 'I had so many “almost” [auditions], and another camera test, and then it was almost mine, and another role… and I told my husband, “I’m not sure how long I can take it,” always dragging my family to Los Angeles.'
On one of these trips to LA, though, the actress received a call from Zac Snyder, director of Batman Vs. Superman and a major player in the DC Extended Universe (of which Wonder Woman is a part).
'On the same trip, we were in Los Angeles, I got a phone call from Zac Snyder to audition me for this “secret role.” I was like, “OK, sure, I’ll do that,"' she said.
How do you audition for a role without knowing what the role is? Imagine interviewing for a job, without any awareness about what the position would entail... 'You get the lines, but you have no idea what the story is about, what the character is, nothing,' Gal explained. Simple, then.
'I went back to Israel to shoot an Israeli movie and I didn’t know if I wanted to continue acting afterwards. Anyway, I’m in Israel, I get a phone call [saying] that they wanted to do a camera test. I’m like, “Again? Another almost?”' she continued, explaining that her agent was surprised to learn that she hadn't yet been told anything about the role.
'Anyway, Zac called me two days later and he says, “I don’t know if you have this character in Israel, whether she’s big or not, but did you ever hear about Wonder Woman?” And I was like… “Yes, yeah. I’ll be there. Done!”
The rest, of course, is superhero history, with the film going on to take over $100 million at the box office in its opening weekend (here's our Wonder Woman review) If you ever needed proof that persistence is key...
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