Gal Gadot Almost Played Furiosa in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’: ‘I Had So Many Almosts’

But what if Wonder Woman was Furiosa? Gal Gadot said she almost played another strong, now iconic female action character.

As a guest on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast, Gadot recalled the acting hustle before landing the DC superhero role, which required flying from Israel to Hollywood with her husband and young daughter for each audition, most of which didn’t pan out. Even after landing a role in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, she was struggling.

“I had so many almosts for big, great things, but I was never big enough of a name,” she said. “It was always me and ‘the big name.’”

A particular high-profile moment she cited was, surprisingly, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” where she was up for the Furiosa role, which eventually went to Charlize Theron.

“It just came to a point where I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this to my family. If it’s not going to work, why push it?’” she said. “I was on the verge of quitting everything and just going back to Israel.”

Then she got called in to read opposite Ben Affleck for a role in “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and the rest is superhero history. Her glorified cameo became one of the highlights of the movie and “Wonder Woman,” which hit theaters this summer, has since become one of the top five highest-grossing superhero films of all time. Also unlike Dawn of Justice,” it was a hit critically.

Gadot also talked about getting the Wonder Woman role, which would change everything for her. She spoke about how a lot of fans weren’t into it at first.

“The thing that I really noticed was they were very judgmental and being very critical about the way that I looked,” she says. “They had a lot to say about the lack of boobs and the lack of booty.”

Gadot will be reprising her role in “Justice League,” which is set to premiere on Nov. 17.