Wonder Woman joins cast with star power in ‘Criminal’
Gal Gadot takes on non-superhero role in film directed by fellow Israeli Ariel Vromen, previously known for 'Iceman'
Batman is still battling Superman in the theaters in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” but Wonder Woman portrayer Gal Gadot is already promoting her next film, “Criminal,” from Israeli director Ariel Vromen.
Starring Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman, the film features Gadot as the strong but desperate widow of CIA agent Reynolds, who was recently murdered. Her husband’s brain has been planted by Jones, playing an evil doctor, in Costner, a federal prisoner.
The film, released on April 15, hasn’t gotten great reviews so far, but it was a coup for Vromen to assemble that cast.
He told the Hebrew-language news portal Mako that it took awhile to recruit Costner, who told Vromen he plays baseball heroes, not monsters. Ditto for Jones, a crusading hero in most films. Only Gadot didn’t have to be convinced, just threatened a little, he joked.
Now he’s thinking about his next film, about the drug trade in Colombia, but while Gadot would be perfect for one of the roles, he joked that his films may be “too small for her now.”
“Criminal” is Vromen’s fourth film. His breakout film as a director was 2012’s “Iceman,” chronicling the life of Richard Kuklinski, a mafia hit man who killed more than 100 people while his family thought he was working for Disney.
“I have a thing for anti-heroes,” Vromen told Mako. “It allows me to offer the viewer an unusual journey with a hero with whom they don’t identify immediately, a hero who’s not really appropriate.”
Vromen, born and raised in Ramat Aviv, studied law in London while moonlighting as a trance music DJ after completing his army service in Israel’s air force. He has said he didn’t think about the filmmaking industry until he attended a film class with a friend in New York.
“Criminal” opened in Israeli theaters on April 15.