Gal Gadot, Keshet Partner on Film Adaptation of Novel Banned in Israeli Schools

Amy Spiro

Click here to read the full article.

Gal Gadot is partnering with Keshet International on a film adaptation of a novel banned from school reading lists by the Israeli government because of its depiction of an Israeli-Palestinian romance.

The “Wonder Woman” star and her husband, Jaron Varsano, will be co-producing the film with Keshet Studios through Pilot Wave, the production company the couple founded together.

More from Variety

The project is based on the controversial 2014 Hebrew novel “Borderlife” by Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan, which was published in English by Random House as “All the Rivers.” The novel tells the story of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man who meet in New York and fall in love, hiding their romance from their friends and family as they struggle to come to terms with their relationship.

The book set off a firestorm of controversy in Israel when right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett banned it from mandatory school reading lists in Israel in 2015. Ironically, the ban gave the book a major sales boost in the country.

Gadot is visiting Israel right now on a break between filming a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” with Kenneth Branagh and “Red Notice” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. “Wonder Woman 1984,” the sequel to the 2017 superhero movie that catapulted Gadot to international fame, is due in theaters next summer.

Pilot Wave’s first project is slated to be a historical thriller starring Gadot as Irena Sendler, who saved thousands of Jewish children in the Holocaust.

Keshet did not disclose whether Gadot would have a starring role in the adaptation of “All the Rivers,” saying only that casting announcements would be made at a later date.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.