Gal Gadot covers the latest issue of Vanity Fair to promote Wonder Woman 1984 and her role in Death on the Nile, which is also (allegedly) supposed to come out in December. We’ll see on both of those release dates. While I know *some* people believe that Gal can’t act her way out of a paper bag, I enjoy her on-screen. She actually reminds me of an old Hollywood movie star, and you can’t deny that she’s very watchable on-screen. Now, in interviews? She is rather… uncomplicated. That’s not an insult – I get tired of rich, beautiful women complaining and creating drama for no reason. Gal is just a happy person. You can read her interview here. Some highlights:
On Wonder Woman 1984: “I think the first film was the birth of a hero, and this time around we wanted to go deeper in a way. It’s more about the danger in greed, and I think that it’s very relevant to the era that we’re living in nowadays. It feels like everyone is in a race for more, and when you get what you wanted there’s a new bar—and what’s the price? And do we lose ourselves in this crazy marathon?”
When she sees the messages of WW: “One of the biggest things that I believe is that you can only dream about becoming someone or something after you’ve seen it visually. And for boys—lucky them—they got to experience, since the beginning of the movies, that they were the protagonist, they were the strong ones, they saved the day. But we didn’t get this representation. And I think it’s so important—and of course it’s ultra-important for me because I’m a mother of two girls—to show them the potential of what they can be. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be athletic or physically strong—that too—but that they can be bigger than life.”
Her husband is a feminist: “Jaron was the one to say, You can do whatever you want to do. He’s the one who really gave me the strength to follow this dream… On our second date, he announced, I’m breaking it off with all the other girls that I used to date and I’m gonna ask you to marry me in two years, and he did—a man of his word… We are really, equally partners. We have a group of friends here and all of the wives have careers, and we always joke that the husbands are the ‘new man’—very involved in the household and in taking care of the kids and everything. Jaron is literally the wind beneath my wings. We travel together. We’re the circus family. I love what I do, but first and foremost is my family and I won’t travel for long periods of time without them.”
On motherhood: She calls being a mother “the best thing I’ve ever done, the project of my life.”
That stupid “Imagine” video in March: “Sometimes, you know, you try and do a good deed and it’s just not the right good deed. I had nothing but good intentions and it came from the best place, and I just wanted to send light and love to the world. I started with a few friends, and then I spoke to Kristen [Wiig]. Kristen is like the mayor of Hollywood. Everyone loves her, and she brought a bunch of people to the game. But yeah, I started it, and I can only say that I meant to do something good and pure, and it didn’t transcend.”
Yeah, in retrospect, I don’t even hate the “Imagine” video. It wasn’t the right thing or the right moment, but it wasn’t disgusting or offensive, to me at least. It was just kind of tone-deaf in general. As for her husband… he sounds like a really nice guy. But once again, how low is the bar? He helps with the kids, he supports her career, he believes they’re equal partners. Shouldn’t ALL men do that? She’s making a big deal about it because Jaron really is a f–king unicorn.
“We are in this together, we will get through it together.”
Gal Gadot just posted a video of her and other artists (who are also quarantined because of the COVID-19) singing Imagine by John Lennon on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/fRV6GhAF92
— best of gal (@bestofgaI) March 19, 2020
Cover & IG courtesy of Vanity Fair.
I felt like people were WAY over-the-top harsh about the Imagine video. It was clearly made with good intentions and just didn’t land well. Gal does seem like a sweet, happy person who is grateful for the life she has and I like what I know of her.
“And for boys—lucky them—they got to experience, since the beginning of the movies, that they were the protagonist, they were the strong ones, they saved the day. But we didn’t get this representation. And I think it’s so important—and of course it’s ultra-important for me because I’m a mother of two girls—to show them the potential of what they can be.”
This is so true and so important. I was 22 when the Star Wars sequel trilogy started coming out, and maybe it sounds silly to some people, but seeing Rey become a Jedi, becoming THE HERO of the story — not secondary character or “the love interest” — meant more than I can even say as a long-time Star Wars fan. I came away from those films, and from Wonder Woman, which I also love, thinking “oh my god, is this how guys feel after every male-centric action movie? This is awesome.” In both the instances of Star Wars and WW, it’s particularly important to me that the female protagonists are strong, yes, but also kind and emotional. Their gentler qualities aren’t treated as weaknesses but part of their power.
“Their gentler qualities aren’t treated as weaknesses but part of their power.” Yes, this! In a lot of action movies with female stars, the protagonist is a woman but in order to be a hero, she has to embody masculine traits. She has to be tough, aggressive, etc. I appreciate that Rey and Wonder Woman are both still quite feminine. Their femininity is part of their heroism, not drawn in contrast to it.
Gal Gadot is okay but wonder woman isn’t all that half of that movie was just bad, the boyfriend became the hero instead of her by sacrificing himself captain America stile he stole half the movie from her, plus some of the Dc-Marvel-Starwars fanboys the way they treated Ray and Captain Marvel with misogynistic attacks while pretending wonder woman is the best female ever created no is not, she was a born yesterday trope too.
What? No, he prevented the gas from killing everyone so that Wonder Woman could defeat Ares. She was the hero.
I agree with this in theory, but I really don’t see that message in Wonder Woman or Star Wars. Especially Star Wars, when Rey literally uses two lightsabers to overpower the bad guy (rather than offering him compassion, as Luke does to Vader). The sequel trilogy very much reads as a masculine power fantasy.
That being said, I do agree that more movies need to move away from telling stories that are stereotypically masculine and showing that traditionally “feminine” qualities have value.
Why is that? I mean, this is an old comment so you probably won’t even read my reply (I know I wouldn’t) but if by any chance you read this: Why? Why is the idea of non-feminine women so offputting to you?
It breaks my heart how feminine women refer to “masculine” women and deny them their womanhood. There has never been a truly “masculine” woman leading a film. Shaming or complaining of “masculine” women in media is regressive, not feminist. There are very, very few actually gender nonconformist positive role models for girls out there.
Besides, what “masculine” values? Determination? Bravery? Courage? Being outspoken? Is a female character not feminist if she has muscle mass or speaks her mind “too much”? Does she have to wear makeup and high heels in a jungle, or else she’s not woman enough?
As for violence, even some feminine women like myself fancy action and solving our problems with our fists (I’m not aggressive, but I practice Muay Thai lol) are you and the Truly Feminine/True Woman squad coming to deny my womanhood?
Has feminism really become You Need to Be this Feminine to Ride?
I would have disliked the Imagine video less if they hadn’t gone with that song. I don’t hate the song but it’s sanctimonious and hearing it from rich people who live the complete opposite lives of the virtues espoused in that song, well… it’s obnoxious. But she tried and I can recognize now like I did when it was released that it was done with good intentions. Still annoying though.
I think it’s extremely unfair to say that rich people live the lives opposite of virtues espoused in that song. There’s only 1 line about possessions. There are plenty of lines about no countries, no religion, and no war. Rich Hollywood celebrities can – and pretty much do – live like that. I feel like calling them out for singing Imagine, rather than a million far more detrimental things the rich people do was super weird.
K.
I agree with you, I don’t like the song she picked and I don’t really understand why she chose it. It just didn’t seem to fit the mood. She tried. Maybe something like “don’t worry be happy,” “that’s what friends are for,” “lean on me,” or “stand by me.” Something less heavy.
Lean on me or Bridge over troubled water would have been far more appropriate. She picked a bad song, it just didn’t fit the situation at all.
Ooh!! “Bridge over troubled waters” is such a pretty song. They would have butchered it. I was also thinking that “with a little help from my friends” might have been good, too
How self absorbed to think that you and a bunch of your tuneless rich buddies singing a song would make the rest of the world feel good.
God, these people.
That’s a little harsh. They’re entertainers. They entertain people to make them feel better. I don’t think it’s a completely baseless assumption to think they could bring their skills in entertainment to help people’s headspace during a stressful time.
The criticism just kind of feels like mindless Twitter sniping at relatively benign targets who had good intentions, tbh.
What part of it was meant to be entertaining? Half of them can’t even hold the tune for one line, only a couple put anything vaguely resembling energy or passion into it, and they all filmed themselves in the most boring way possible while looking as boring as possible.
Forget about the pandemic and this is still an incredibly dull, empty little project.
Why is it harsh?
Firstly – they were not paid or asked to do this so the ‘entertainers’ excuse is moot. I wouldn’t appreciate any of them approaching me to improv or jam and I don’t appreciate this.
Secondly – they quite patiently exhibited the fact that they do not have skills.
We didn’t ask for it. We didn’t want it and it’s certainly not mindless to criticise some deluded narcissists who thought that an unsolicited view of their stupid faces singing an entirely irrelevant song in a bid to soak up the attention they’ve been missing while on lockdown, could be in any way comforting.
I mean.. the ego of that .
I mean, they posted it on social media for their followers, who presumably like them. Maybe those who participated have fans who were just happy to see their fave celebrity.
I am really looking forward to WW84 and hope it holds until everyone can go to the theater to see it.
I can believe she had good intentions with the song stuff, it was just tone deaf and oblivious, not cruel, but it would have been nice to use all those celebrities and the viral video to be better use.
This article made me google her husband because I realized I had never seen pictures of him and had no idea what he looked like. I was surprised at how much older he looked and found out he’s 10 years older than her. I did the math and she was 24 and he was 34 when they met and started dating–not a huge age gap but it surprised me! However a quick google and they really do seem to adore each other. He seems super proud of his badass wife and celebrates her a lot on social media (or at least from the posts I saw from a few articles). I hope it stays that way for both of them, they just seem very into each other and it’s cute to see.
I read the interview with Kate McKinnon’s voice impersonating her.
It’s the funniest thing ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nv1KoqM6vc&app=desktop
(I hope it’s okay to post the link)
I didn’t hate the video and wasn’t as outraged as some people were but I understand why some people didn’t like it nor why/how it didn’t land like it was intended.
To be honest, I hate that song so that might have been the first criticism (and from what I found out, I’m not the only one (see what I did here?)).
Also, I have an uncontrollable hatred for Gadot: it’s one of those things. I know why, but I don’t want to spread negativity.
I was surprised to see – and for me that’s the interesting bit – how someone as beloved as her (I seem to be a unique case of not sympathising with her) was immediately shut down.
That’s when you see that people are hurting and that we are in deep sh*t. It was eye-opening.
Gal Gadot always reminds me of Jon Hamm’s character from 30 Rock. If you aren’t familiar, he’s basically a doctor who is so beautiful that he lives in “The Bubble,” a place where beautiful people don’t experience real-life ramifications lol. She seems sweet, but she isn’t a very good actress and she isn’t very shrewd, she’s just very, very beautiful. Which, I mean, isn’t the worst thing to be! I feel bad that she got so much heat for that stupid video, but…like, come on… how out of touch do you have to be that you don’t realize how that will land???
Honestly, people are so in love with influencers and tiktok but they have a break down when rich celebrities people sing. I didn’t find it offensive in the least bit. There are people that probably loved seeing some of their favourite movie stars sing to them from home. Especially kids. The world is tense enough right now. Relax about someone who was clearly trying to do something nice. Not flaunting their money, not showing lavish trips, they were freaking singing!
The video wasn’t offensive. It was dumb and tone deaf.
Agree. Although in retrospect it’s not like she rented out a private island, was able to get everyone in her family to take two weeks to quarantine, get tested multiple times, fly private and stay at the island for a little piece of normalcy or anything. I mean, that would be offensive.
I loved her in WW and left the cinema feeling 20 feet tall and ready to fight crime on my way home. I’ve watched it a few times at home since and still enjoy it. Really looking forward to the next one.
As for Imagine – yes it missed the mark and…? If you don’t like it don’t watch it. Shrug.
I thought the video was good. People really overreacted in my opinion. It is a great song. John Lennon for gosh’s sake. It boggles my mind that people get so worked up over this kind of thing.
Of course, I unfollowed someone on TikTok for smacking their gum in a video. So. I can’t really talk.
Sometimes I wonder whether Gadot isn’t fooling us and is actually a very smart woman, at least when it comes to PR.
It’s kind of amazing how she has cultivated this feminist, innocently dumb beauty image, when she’s done things that’d get other celebrities “cancelled”.
She’s a known right-winger in her country. Her “girl power” persona is faker than a three dollar bill. Like…
Also, she can’t act her way out of a paper bag on screen, but she can definitely pull the good girl act for the press. So, again, maybe she’s both smart and a good actress after all lol
Wonder Woman was a mediocre film that doesn’t compare to the feminist messages from the comic, tv show, or cartoons. Its Pygmalion plot and infantilization of Diana were gross.
Jenkins literally distanced herself from feminism during the press tour for the first film. She said it was “humanist” and not feminist because blah blah evil ugly man-haters something equality.
I don’t care about WB’s fauxfeminist crap. I mean, you can enjoy the film and I’m glad it means something good to people. But it’s not feminist and it actually has a lot of harmful messages.