Gal Gadot and her co-stars came to blows on the set of Netflix’s spy flick Heart of Stone, but not because of any behind-the-scenes feuds. They just got too into the stunts.
“You want to go full-on to make sure that you sell the punch. Of course, from time to time, we hit each other,” Gadot tells 9Honey Celebrity with a grin.
“We all had bruises. There were a lot of apologies on set, but it was worth it. We all stayed friends, thank goodness.”
Watch the video above.
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She, along with co-stars Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt, picked up her fair share of minor injuries while filming the movie’s many action sequences but it was worth it.
In an age where entire fight sequences can be generated using nothing but CGI and artificial intelligence (looking at you, The Flash), it felt “electric” to do most of her own stunts.
“A lot of it was done by me,” Gadot says, adding, “Not all of it, some of it I just- I don’t know how to do it.”
Though the more dangerous stunts went to the professionals, the Wonder Woman star worked with personal trainers, stunt coordinators and fight choreographers for months so she could do most of it herself.
Gadot was determined to make the action feel authentic, consciously shifting away from her “superhero movie” roots.
“When I read the script I said, ‘we need to make sure this could be done with humans, I don’t want this to be a superhero movie’,” she says.
“The whole idea was ‘let’s make it grounded, and raw, and gritty, and messy’. So everything that you’ve seen was done with real people.”
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There were a few times she worried they’d “gone too far” with the action and audiences probably wouldn’t call many of the stunts ‘grounded’, but they sure are entertaining.
Could a real human slide down a snowy mountain, strap on a parachute while falling, then paraglide onto a snowmobile? Probably not. Is it fun to watch? Yeah.
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Directed by Tom Harper, Heart of Stone was planned as the start of a new film franchise in the vein of Mission: Impossible with a female spy at the helm.
With so many cinematic universes and film franchises on the market right now, does this mean the end of standalone films? Gadot doesn’t think so.
“When we developed the film, the intention wasn’t to go for a saga or a franchise. My focus was always, ‘let’s make a great movie’,” she insists.
“Hopefully, if we get lucky and everyone goes and watch the film on August 11 on Netflix, we’ll get lucky and get to come back. But the intention was always to just focus on making a brilliant film first.”
Viewers will definitely pick up on a few plot threads designed to tie into possible sequels, though it remains to be seen if the flick will inspire a full franchise.
Though she’s already starred in massive blockbusters like Wonder Woman and the Fast and Furious series, Gadot enjoyed exploring a new genre with the spy flick.
“The whole idea was ‘let’s make it grounded, and raw, and gritty, and messy’.”
Her character, Rachel Stone, initially comes across as timid but capable, only to reveal that she’s a hardened undercover agent just playing a part to keep her cover.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see her switch between the two personas when so many action films push actresses into the ‘strong female lead’ archetype without any room to breathe.
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Sadly, that duality only gets a tiny bit of screen time before being left by the wayside early in the film in favour of a more stereotypical ‘badass’ attitude.
It would have been fun to see Gadot play with the two parts of Rachel Stone more in the film, but she wouldn’t have taken the role if she didn’t love it.
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It’s not about the genre for the 38-year-old, the project just “always has to be with a filmmaker, with a story, with a character” she resonates with.
“I love acting. I can act in any- I feel like I can act in any genre that there might be, but it’s all about the right project,” she says.
Does that mean we may one day see her tackle a horror? Gadot smirks and teases, “You might. That’s such an interesting question, a good one.”
Perhaps it’s a hint about an upcoming project? With the SAG-AFTRA strike ongoing in the US, fans may be waiting a while to find out.
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.
This interview was conducted before SAG-AFTRA and its members went on strike. Heart of Stone hits Netflix on August 11.
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