WAITING FOR GADOT: WHO IS THE NEW WONDER WOMAN?

It has been the role to score amongst Hollywood’s young actress ranks. For the last three decades, it you are a starlet under 30 with a surprise hit or a model with the right dimensions, you were tested for the role of DC Comic’s iconic super-heroine, Wonder Woman - the one superhero franchise that the industry can’t seem to tap. Is an ex-Miss Israel with only 10 industry credits to her name the woman to carry the weight of the greatest female super-hero on her shoulders?

Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman has its Wonder Woman, in the form of Gal Gadot (pictured, top). The 28 year-old ingenue, mostly known for her role as Gisele in the The Fast and The Furious sequels, was born in the contemporary central Israeli enclave of Rosh Ha’Ayin. Gadot has been a star in her homeland since representing her nation at the 2004 Miss Universe pageant. Bit parts in TV series such as the supermodel soap-opera Bubot led to a top-tier Hollywood debut in 2009’s Fast & Furious followed by a single-episode spot on the series Entourage and a recurring role on The Beautiful Life. After walk-ons opposite Steve Carell in Date Night and Tom Cruise in Knight and Day, she reprised her ‘Gisele’ role before returning to Israel for much-touted guest spots on the home-grown series Asfur and Eretz Nehederet.

The alter-ego she will embody has endured a far more complex back-story.

Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, debuted in 1941, replete with bondage imagery (author William Moulton Marston acknowledged the character’s S&M influence) and a ‘man-hating’ agenda (several commentators accused the character of 'lesbian' tendencies). It took until 1966 for Wonder Woman to begin her multi-media divergence; she debuted as an audio book in 1966, then was the subject of a failed TV pilot called ‘Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?’

Various kid-friendly incarnations followed (a guest spot on The Brady Kids; a co-starring slot in Super Friends; a dedicated episode of The Muppets) before Cathy Lee Crosby fronted a series pilot (that never progressed). In 1975, the part was recast with Lynda Carter (a Miss World USA contestant, no less) and the most iconic representation of the character was born. As recently as 2011, an expensive series pilot penned by David E Kelley and starring starring Adrianne Palicki (Gi Joe: Retaliation; Red Dawn) was lensed but shelved.

So, in a modern cinematic era where such meagre super-hero figures as Daredevil, Elektra and The Shadow get big-screen treatments, why has Wonder Woman taken so long to graduate to franchise status? (Editor’s note – While acknowledging that Hollywood studios have struggled to foster all but a handful of action-based female leads, this article will focus on other elements). Crucial factors include her costume (sexy and marketable but anachronistic and hard to take seriously) and origin story (hailing from an island of Amazonian warriors, as she does).

Stars have been attached over the years; Sandra Bullock, Rose McGowan, Emily Blunt, Megan Fox, Elodie Yung and Yvonne Strahovski were just a few of those tested but were passed over. Australian supermodel Megan Gale was announced as being cast, before George Miller’s Sydney-based production was shut down; genre experts David S Goyer (the Blade trilogy) and Joss Whedon (The Avengers) went after the project but pulled out. Director Snyder wanted Oblivion co-star Olga Kurylenko, but Warner’s held out for the super-hot Gadot, counting on her being relatively inexpensive now but with a career trajectory that feels legitimate.

It is arguably the casting announcement of the year. Warner Bros have a grand plan to spin off Justice League projects, in exactly the same way the Marvel Universe has proved a goldmine for competing majors, Universal and Disney. If all goes well for Gadot, she may be the biggest female star of the next decade. If all goes well….