Over the weekend, the New York Post‘s Page Six reported that Gal Gadot is threatening to not play Wonder Woman in Patty Jenkins’ sequel until producer Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, and his RatPac-Dune Entertainment production company are removed from the project. “She’s tough and stands by her principles,” a source said about the actress (and possible actual superhero). “She also knows the best way to hit people like Brett Ratner is in the wallet. She also knows that Warner Bros. has to side with her on this issue as it develops.”
But according to the Los Angeles Times, Gadot’s threatened walkout might not matter.
RatPac-Dune’s financing agreement with Warner Bros. expires in spring 2018, and as a result, the existing deal is not expected to include funding part of the Wonder Woman sequel, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. Warner Bros. announced Monday that the follow-up film would be released Nov. 1, 2019.
In other words, Ratner wasn’t going to be involved with the Wonder Woman sequel even before the Page Six report (which a representative for Warner Bros. called “false”). The studio cutting ties with Ratner “happened weeks ago,” according to Jenkins, “so that actually had nothing to do with Gal. That was a foregone conclusion, I think. I was surprised by that story.” For her part, Gadot would only say, “Look, there’s been a lot written about how I feel and my views about this topic, and everyone knows how I feel about it. And the truth is there are so many people involved with making this movie, and they all have echoed the same sentiments.”
(Via the Los Angeles Times)