'It's OK to say this is my value': 'Wonder Woman' Gal Gadot opens up about her Hollywood ascension

Let’s face it, even Wonder Woman has had to manage her expectations this year.

In a parallel universe, “Wonder Woman 1984” could have marked a billion-dollar moment for one of the DC Universe’s most popular cinematic characters. But nine months into a wearying pandemic, the sequel instead lassos an oh-so-2020 kind of milestone: It's biggest streaming release of the year, arriving on HBO Max (while also playing in theaters) on Christmas Day.

“There comes the point where you just need to take a decision and it wasn't an easy one, trust me,” says Gal Gadot, 35, of the pandemic-fueled choice to stream Wonder Woman’s return. “But, you know, the thought of having families watching this movie on Christmas Day just warmed my heart. And it's come to a place where I don't know when the theaters are going to be back.”

Even on a small screen, "1984" is grandly imagined: Directed by Patty Jenkins, the film allows for a 60-year time hop to the neon-hued-'80s, a fairly plausible return of the dead Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), plus a new villain, the huckster Max Lord (Pedro Pascal). The sequel also serves up an unexpected foe (Kristen Wiig as Cheetah/Barbara Minerva) for Diana Prince, who now works as a cultural anthropologist for the Smithsonian in Washington.

Review: 'Wonder Woman 1984' is a rousing, retro throwback to Christopher Reeve's 'Superman'

For the record, the plan had always been to keep Steve around. “The first one, toward the end, Patty had already been thinking about it. I remember she came to the set, she was like, ‘I have a great idea for how you could come back,' ” says Pine.

Gadot was in. “Chris was one of the reasons why the first movie was such a big success, and it was weird thinking about going and shooting another one without him,” she says.

Back in 2017, Gadot and Jenkins broke records launching the Wonder Woman franchise to the tune of $822 million globally: Wherever the earnest, raven-haired superhero swung on her golden lasso, audiences (and Halloween costumes) followed. In turn, the Israel-born Gadot became a superstar.

“It's interesting, my personal evolution with this character," says Gadot. "The first movie, when I was told I'm going to shoot my own Wonder Woman, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, they're going to find out I’m not a real actress and I can’t do it. They're going to call my bluff. And then Patty and I did it. We did it together.”

After wrapping the WWI-set “Wonder Woman,” Gadot kept on her superhero treadmill, shooting “Justice League” before filming “1984.” (She squeezed in “Death on the Nile," too, which has been pushed to 2021.)

Industry watchers are still waiting to see how Gadot's box-office potential unfolds outside of superhero films. “Her status is still an unknown commodity, albeit one on the rise and with unlimited potential,” says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “It’s always a gamble when you try to transform from superhero back to a civilian.”

Go on the set: How 'Wonder Woman 1984' took over an empty mall to create a rad '80s experience

Inside the DC Universe, close doesn’t do justice to the partnership Gadot and Jenkins have forged. Gadot describes them as family, their partners and children merging for dinners off camera. At work, “we're like one organism now,” says Jenkins. “It's crazy that she's on that side of the camera and I'm on this side of the camera, but we're just both driving in the exact same direction together and kind of seamlessly doing it.”

The sequel, stuffed with '80s nostalgia and centered on an artifact whose wish fulfillment can bring down the world, is “ambitious,” allows Gadot, who is also a producer this time. “If there's something that I learned out of this experience is just, there's no shortcuts. Nothing happens quick. Even my breakout – it took me 13 years before my breakout. But that's why I was ready when it happened.”

By day Gadot put sweat equity into her "1984" stunts, which were largely practical instead of computer-generated. The fight scenes were so intense, she and Wiig found their fists accidentally connecting. “We would do these scenes and we'd be like, 'Oh, sorry, sorry! Was that too hard? Did I hit you?' ” Wiig recalls.

Off camera, Gadot has developed thicker skin in Hollywood, learning “it's OK to demand or to ask what you're worth … and that we shouldn't be shy about it. That it's OK to say, this is my value, and this is what I want. And this, for me, was a process. Because (by) default I'm a pleaser and I don't want to fight with people and I want people to like me.” She adds: “But essentially I've learned that work is work.”

Gadot is speaking broadly, but it sheds light on the film's recent negotiation to head to HBO Max. To get Gadot and Jenkins on board with a streaming release, the two were offered $10 million, according to The New York Times. The rest of Warner Bros.' 2021 slate was also soon shuffled to HBO Max, sending the industry into an uproar.

Box office: 'Wonder Woman 1984' launches with $38.5 million overseas as COVID cases climb

“First of all, I hope that the decision is not going to last a year,” says Gadot. “I hope that the decision will last only for the period of the pandemic time because I'm truly hopeful that within a year, the world will be back to itself with the vaccinations and everything. With us … we shot the movie in 2018. The movie was ready for a long time and it felt like we didn't have other good options. We didn't want to wait with a movie for another year. And we did feel like the movie was more relevant than ever.”

Gadot’s own pandemic? It’s been “a roller coaster,” she says, split into “chapters” spent around the world.

The spring found her in Los Angeles, juggling Zoom school for her daughters, Alma, 9, and Maya, 3, wiping down groceries and keeping her household running with husband Jaron Varsano, with whom she shares a production company. This summer she and her brood flew back to Israel, which was then past the first wave: Schools were open, numbers were low and it felt like “some sanity, finally,” she recalls.

But then fall brought her to Atlanta, where she shot the thriller “Red Notice” with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. Sequestered again with her family outside of work and worrying if she or the crew would contract COVID-19 was destabilizing. After wrapping, the family has returned to their home in Los Angeles and rebubbled.

Raising two daughters as one of the most recognizable women in the world, Gadot seems determined to keep it simple. “I just try to make sure that they're grounded and they don't feel like they are entitled of anything,” says Gadot. “You know, they clean their dishes and they tidy up after their stuff.”

It's in line with how those who work with Gadot describe her: patently unchanged. “Gal is really one of those rare individuals in that she's transparently herself. She's a bright, positive – relentlessly positive – force of nature,” says Pine.

When Wiig got to the set, “I remember the three of us ate lunch in Patty's office and we just immediately started talking about really personal intimate stuff, and it just felt totally normal. We're like sitting on the floor and it was just like, 'OK, these are my girls,’ " says Wiig, calling Gadot “one of my closest friends now.”

And with her own James Bond-like film "Heart of Stone" on the horizon, Gadot may soon embark on a new chapter of her action career. At least, once the COVID-19 forecast clears.

“I just hope that soon it will be figured out and it will be contained and we'll get the vaccinations," she says. "I hope it's going to be a memory in a few months."

Contributing: Brian Truitt

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Wonder Woman 1984': Gal Gadot gets honest about Hollywood success