Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was arguably one of the pillars of the now-defunct DCEU. Her casting was initially met with trepidation from a lot of fans. Upon making her debut as the hero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, however, she became a fan-favorite. Jumping off her supporting role in the 2016 ensemble, Gadot went on to star in her own feature, Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins.
The period film was critically acclaimed, further cementing Gadot as one of the most recognizable figures in the franchise. But, as fate would have it, her popularity as the character wouldn't last. Gadot starred as Wonder Woman in 2017's Justice League, which was critically panned. She then returned to the role for Wonder Woman 1984, which similarly became a critical dud, a failure that coincided with the rapid decline of the DCEU.
Despite cameos in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, interest in Gadot's Wonder Woman seemed to wane considerably as time went on. Now, her tenure as the hero is over, but the actress has released a cool piece of history from the DCEU. To commemorate the 12th anniversary of her casting as Wonder Woman, Gadot took to Instagram to share her screen test as Diana for Batman v Superman, which she filmed alongside Ben Affleck (the video below was reposted by a fan account on X, but Gadot's original video is linked to her name above):
In the caption, the actress provided some background on the footage, revealing Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder had sent it to her, allowing her to watch the screen test for the first time:
"Twelve years ago today, I was cast as Wonder Woman. What a wild, life-changing ride with a character I love so much. I thought it would be fun to share my camera test with Ben [Affleck]—I watched it last night for the first time. [Zack Snyder] thank you for sharing this with me, and for casting me as Diana Prince."
Gadot's road to become the Amazon warrior was an arduous one. Speaking to FilmInk in 2016, the Snow White star offered up more insight into her audition process. As she explained, Warner Bros. asked her to audition, but neither the studio nor her agent would tell her what role she was going up for. In fact, she did her screen test with Batman actor Ben Affleck without knowing who she was playing:
"It all began when Warner [Bros.] wanted me to audition for something, but they wouldn't tell me what. So I went along, and Zack was there. That went great, and two weeks later, they asked me to do a camera test with Ben [Affleck]. I said, 'Great! What's the role?' My agent couldn't tell me, but she said to expect a phone call from Zack [Snyder]."
Then, she received a call from Snyder, who revealed to her she was in the running for Wonder Woman. The news were then followed by seven weeks of silence, which led her to believe she had lost the role:
"He called me later that night, and he said, 'I'm not sure if you have it in Israel, but did you ever hear about Wonder Woman?' I think I literally died for a few seconds and then came back to life, and I tried to pull off my best voice saying, 'Wonder Woman? Yeah, of course I've heard of Wonder Woman.' Then I did the camera test with Ben, which was great. Then I waited seven weeks, and I went through the seven stages of grief! I got angry... it was terrible! But finally, seven weeks later, they called to tell me that I had the part, and that was it."
Though he made her wait for the news, Snyder revealed he knew right away that Gadot would be his Wonder Woman. As one might imagine, the casting process for the hero was no easy feat. Being a coveted role, a lot of actresses tested for it—hundreds, in fact. As Snyder explained, the search was eventually narrowed down to six individuals, and it was Gadot's dichotomy that made her perfect for the part in Snyder's eyes:
"We tested a bunch of actresses, as you can imagine. I can't even remember how many actresses we saw in terms of interviews, but for the final test, we tested six actresses. We interviewed and saw hundreds, so it was a pretty exhausting process. But the thing with Gal is that she's strong, she's beautiful, and she's a kind person, which is interesting, but fierce at the same time. It's that combination of being fierce but kind at the same time that we were looking for."
Something in particular that impressed Snyder was Gadot's ability to hold her own against a seasoned actor like Affleck (which also impressed Affleck himself):
"She can get serious, but she's amazingly fun to be around. And by the way, she really held her own with Ben [Affleck] in the screen test. Ben was like, 'Whoa, that girl is something else!' That was a good sign, because Ben is very tough in the scene, and he's big and commanding. Anytime that you're doing a test like that, and you're looking at the other person, you're thinking, 'Okay, that's good stuff.' That was part of the process, and over time, as we got to know Gal, we found out how amazing she is."
Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 are available to stream on HBO Max.