Gal Gadot producing film adaptation of banned Israeli novel

Actress Gal Gadot gets a lot of attention for her flashy dynamic roles on the big screen. Gadot began her career as the sexually charged Gisele Yashar in 2009's FAST & FURIOUS then moved on to play the might Amazonian princess Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. She's even dabbled in light comedy fare with KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES. Her next project however may be her most personal and is definitely outside the realm of what audiences have come to expect from the Israeli actress.

Gal Gadot's next project will be an adaptation of the 2014 Hebrew novel Borderlife by Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan. The English version was published under the title All The Rivers. The novel, tells the story of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man who meet in New York and fall in love, hiding their romance from their friends and family as they struggle to come to terms with their relationship.

Now while on the surface the idea of a cross cultural romance seems fairly mundane for most people, it's anything but. I'm not going to get into the geopolitical/religious friction between Israel and Palestine (there's Google for that) but suffice it to say that Rabinyan's novel had a profound effect in Israel. In fact the novel was so controversial that right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett banned it from mandatory school reading lists in 2015. Much like the "Parental Advisory" warning on CDs (remember those kids?) the action had the opposite effect as book sales went through the roof.

Gadot and husband Jaron Varsano will be co-producing the film. Keshet Studios will be producing the movie alongside Pilot Wave, Gal Gadot's production company. No word yet on whether Gal Gadot will be starring in the film but I feel like it's a foregone conclusion. This seems tailor-made for Gadot and starring in the movie immediately gives it more legitimacy and exposure. It will be interesting to see if the people behind the film cast a Palestinian actor in the male role. Waleed Zuatier perhaps?

In the meantime, Gal Gadot's dance card is certainly full. She's got WONDER WOMAN 1984 due out on June 5, 2020 and DEATH ON THE NILE a few months after that on October 9, 2020. She's also set to take on her first heavy hitting dramatic role as Irena Sendler, a woman who saved thousands of children during the Holocaust. The project is currently untitled but the historical thriller is set to film sometime next year and will be the first film for the aforementioned Pilot Wave production company.