Heart Of Stone Was More Intense Than Anything Gal Gadot Had Done Before (Even Wonder Woman)

Playing a grizzled assassin, a haunted mercenary, or just your everyday globe-trotting secret agent in a Netflix action flick has become something of a rite of passage in Hollywood. At this point, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, Mads Mikkelsen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Gosling, and even Allison Janney have all done it for the streamer. Now, Gal Gadot is joining their ranks thanks to "Heart of Stone." The former "Wonder Woman" actor stars as Rachel Stone, an elite agent who must protect a clandestine peace-keeping organization known as Charter by recovering a MacGuffin referred to as the Heart, which is apparently the key to their success. Making your entire secret operation to maintain global order dependent on a single enigmatic asset doesn't seem like a great idea to me, but what do I know?

After starring in several "Fast & Furious" movies, portraying a DC superhero across multiple films, and basically playing Carmen Sandiego (complete with her predilection for the color red) in Netflix's action-comedy "Red Notice," you might think Gadot would feel nice and ready to star in a film like "Heart of Stone." Not so much, she told Entertainment Weekly (which interviewed her prior to the actors' guild strike):

"First of all, it's a real-life character, meaning the tone of the film is very different than anything I've ever done. The character is very much grounded and gritty and raw. That's something that I wanted to bring, something that is not polished and grand. When she's cold, you are cold. When she gets a punch, you feel the pain. You're right there rooting with her."

Netflix's "Extraction" films have made a big show of putting their leading man, Chris "Thor Odinson" Hemsworth himself, through the motions with their intense stunts, which obviously require tons of preparation. According to Gadot, she had a similar experience making "Heart of Stone." "It was the biggest take-on I've ever had," she told EW. "It was a lot of work. Months and months of preparation and trainings and workouts and learning all the different choreographies. It was a lot."

Adding to the challenge, Gadot contracted COVID-19 during filming. "As soon as I was negative, the same night I traveled to [the set in] Portugal, I slept the night, and I woke up really early to go and shoot a scene of me running a very long distance," she explained. "And I just had COVID, so every time we cut, I couldn't breathe." However, as Gadot sees it, not letting factors like that affect her performance is simply part of the job:

"You just go for it. There's something in me where once the red light in the camera goes on, I'm on. I think to myself, it's not like they're going to say in small letters, 'She just had COVID, that's why her running is not perfect,' or, 'It was a really hot day,' or 'She didn't sleep,' or 'It was a really cold night.' You just have to do it."

As is now customary for Netflix's wannabe action franchise starters, "Heart of Stone" isn't blowing critics away. In his own review for /Film, Josh Spiegel calls Gadot's performance "wooden" and dubs the film a glib "Mission: Impossible" imitation. For all the blood, sweat, and tears actors pour into these things, you would think they'd turn out a little less generic than they do.

"Heart of Stone" is streaming on Netflix.