Gal Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman, duh, and director Patty Jenkins explains it’s for this reason

While making Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins was put in a unique position in that her lead, heroine extraordinaire was selected for her. Director Zack Snyder cast Gal Gadot as the character in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — and we think we can pretty much all agree that things worked out. But, how did the casting come together?

“The story of the casting is like a miracle because I am so picky about casting, ever since I wanted Charlize Theron and everybody thought that was a very odd idea” Jenkins said at a recent Wonder Woman Master Class at YouTube Space LA, referencing Theron’s Oscar-winning role as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos for Monster, which Jenkins wrote and directed. “I was like, ‘She is the spirit that I believe is the right spirit for this.’ I was like, ‘When it comes to women, or anybody, you have to be following an internal thing that you believe in.'”

Thankfully, Jenkins and Snyder were very much on the same page. “When I found out that Zack had cast Wonder Woman…my heart skipped a beat because I was like, ‘Oh my God, what are the odds that we would pick the same person?’ That’s unlikely, and that is everything. Then, I started to watch Gal more carefully and I started to see everything about her and I was stunned. Really, it’s not a big surprise. They were looking for the spirit of Wonder Woman and someone who had all that in them too and they found her. Boy, did they find her. I’ll never stop singing the praises of the miracle of Gal Gadot.” Ditto!

But, what about how Wonder Woman fits within the DC Extended Universe?

Because Wonder Woman centers on the character’s beginnings, Jenkins had a lot of freedom in the making of the film, despite the fact that it’s coming out after Batman v Superman. “Her origin story of who she is and how she came to this world is what it is,” she said. “It was a beautiful portrait, a vignette, but it wasn’t setting up some complicated thing I had to build up to. They were incredibly supportive. ‘Great, you’re a different filmmaker with a different vision and we want all of these heroes to have a different film. In this case, it’s pretty easy to do because you’re doing something that takes place in 1918, so great, go tell her origin story.'”

Then, there’s the upcoming Justice League — and for our part, we’re so excited to see how Diana evolves in that entry into the DCEU.