PattyJenkins praises Gal Gadot at her Walk of Fame Ceremony

Variety

Transcript

00:00Wow, I am so honored to be here and so excited.

00:03I like was crying this morning and so overwhelmed.

00:06Like what an incredible honor.

00:08I think we all enter, you know,

00:11our art form and our industry.

00:13And no matter what,

00:14we know the significance of these stars

00:17and we may not think about them,

00:18but it's people who have left an indelible mark

00:21on this art form.

00:23And so what an honor to be here with you

00:26who has done that so many times over, gal.

00:28Thank you, Vin, for the most beautiful speech

00:30and for bringing her into our life.

00:33And I've enjoyed it.

00:34You know, I've got a lot more to say.

00:36So I think what's remarkable is hearing that story

00:45from Vin about what family she's become to you.

00:47And that's the experience I've had

00:49and has everything to do with this.

00:50You may not realize how close gal and I have become as well,

00:53but we're not only, you know,

00:55have we worked together hundreds and hundreds of days,

00:59literally, but we've also,

01:00our friends have become super close family,

01:02you know, family friends.

01:04We've traveled together.

01:05We lived together for a while during the pandemic.

01:07And it's, we've been through all kinds of highs,

01:10lows, extreme efforts, absolute bliss.

01:13And so here are a couple of my favorite things

01:16I get to say about gal.

01:18My first favorite thing is,

01:19is there are a lot of people honored on these streets

01:22and they've made profound contributions to the art form.

01:24But as my years as a director have taught me,

01:29there's very few movie stars.

01:30It's a real thing.

01:32You know, a lot of people come around this industry

01:34and they think like,

01:35oh, everybody could do it if they had their chance.

01:37No, they can't.

01:38It's a phenomenon to have somebody who can be your hero,

01:44your lover, your villain, your warrior,

01:47and always draw your eye, no matter where you go.

01:50Because, and it's a very strange thing

01:52to be friends with a movie star,

01:54because on the one hand, you're my BFF on set

01:57who I'm shooting the shit with.

01:58I'm waiting for you to show up

01:59so I can complain to you about things, right?

02:04But then time and time again,

02:05we're just sitting around hanging out

02:06and all of us on the Wonder Woman films

02:08know each other so well,

02:09that we're like, okay, blah.

02:10And gal steps in front of the camera and people gasp.

02:14Me too.

02:15We're all saying, oh my God, look at her.

02:20Look at this.

02:21And then she starts to perform and you say,

02:23my God, that's a movie star.

02:25She's a movie star.

02:27And it doesn't hurt that we all love her too,

02:28so everybody on set,

02:29but I can't tell you how many times that's happened.

02:31Like me and the script supervisor and the DP are like,

02:33my God, she's incredible.

02:36The second reason I love you gal,

02:38is that during all those hundreds of days

02:40that we've shot together,

02:41you've managed to dazzle me with incredible performances.

02:44But does anybody wanna know

02:45how she's giving those performances?

02:47Would you like to know how?

02:49Where do I even begin?

02:51Quite often, she's in a swimsuit.

02:54In outdoors, in the winter,

02:56in the wet and stormy gales of the English winter,

02:59but not a comfortable swimsuit.

03:01It's one made of a rigid armor,

03:03squeezing her corset like tight

03:06as she runs through knee deep mud in platform wedges

03:11or sand on a sweltering beach or underwater

03:14or suspended in the air, sideways,

03:16maybe up right, maybe upside down.

03:18Maybe fans blasting in her face

03:20as she acts to a green screen

03:22or flying through the air

03:24on Cirque du Soleil worthy wire rigs,

03:26fighting stunt performers.

03:28And I really could go on and on

03:29because that's just like literally,

03:31I started pulling up the photos last night and I was dying.

03:34Because I was like, we gotta make a book

03:35of just you in these strange contraptions.

03:37But when people think of actors,

03:39all they imagine is the glamor.

03:41But the truth is gal has had the least glamorous job

03:44I can imagine and yet never stopped

03:46from giving powerful performances,

03:48somehow always being the happiest,

03:51kindest, most loving, most heroic person on the set gal.

03:55How?

03:56I don't know, as I said,

03:57I'm waiting for you for me to complain.

03:59You're never complain, you know?

04:01And blowing me away every single day.

04:04Which brings me to the last wonderful thing I wanna say.

04:08And I could go on and on, so I had to really limit myself.

04:11Some have heard me talk about the profound effect

04:13Superman had on me.

04:14It reached me at a moment where it really inspired me

04:17to believe in myself and to be the person

04:19that I thought I could be.

04:21So I know what these movies can do.

04:23And I know what inspiring the next generation means.

04:25So gal took the job with the same attitude as me.

04:30We took it very seriously.

04:31But I think the most special thing for me truly

04:34was all of the time that we traveled together

04:36and went places together was watching

04:38when a kid would reach up and gal would kneel down

04:41and she would reach out to a fan.

04:43I said, I'm so grateful because she is the real thing,

04:47you know?

04:49She's,

04:52she's,

05:03these kids are not being met by an actor.

05:05They're not being met by someone who's just acting like it.

05:09She is Wonder Woman.

05:11She's the most wonderful, kind, gracious person.

05:14What a gift to have someone like that embody a hero

05:17that I care so much about Wonder Woman.

05:20So there are lots of reasons to receive a star.

05:23There are so many different reasons to be in this industry.

05:25I'm so honored to have gotten to walk through this

05:27with someone who's really here

05:28to make the world a better place.

05:30And it's a much better place for you in it.

05:32I'm so proud of you.

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