Gal Gadot Shares the Surprising Story of Her ‘Wonder Woman’ Audition That Turned Her Into a Superhero

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot is doing the rounds of late night television to promote her upcoming summer blockbuster, so she dropped by the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday to regale him with the story of how she got the career-making part. Fun fact: she had no idea which role she was auditioning for when she was first called up to read lines for the iconic comic book character — and she was very close to retiring from acting altogether before she was ultimately cast.

“I did not know anything,” she insisted. “I went back to Israel to shoot an Israeli movie, and I didn’t know if I wanted to continue acting afterward. Anyway, I’m in Israel and they tell me they want to do a camera test. And I’m like, again? Another camera test? Again?” But when Zack Snyder called her up a few days later to spill the beans on the character, she realized it could be a big deal — and then forgot about it.

When she finally got the news that she’d landed the role, she was actually sitting in an airplane, having just landed in L.A. “I’d been waiting for six weeks. I’d already thought that the part is not my mine, f–k that!” she said candidly.

Gadot also shared that she was actually pregnant during shooting for some of her action scenes, so they dressed her in a green screen cut-out around her belly to hide the baby bump. (Her daughter is now two months old.)

Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, is in theaters June 2.