Gal Gadot only turned up to that Bond audition out of politeness, and it built her career

If you enjoy a good Hollywood domino effect, you’ll love this one. Gal Gadot — now an absolute household name thanks to Wonder Woman and years of high-octane action — nearly stumbled into her career by accident. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Gadot revealed that her first go at acting was never meant to happen in the first place, and involved both James Bond and Fast & Furious — with one failure setting up her entire career.

Gadot explained on the podcast, 'I wasn't an actress. It conflicted with my schedule in college and I was not planning on going.'

Turns out, she only went along to this first audition — for the Bond film Quantum of Solace — out of courtesy to the casting director. 'She said, "I'm here for 3 hours. Go outside, learn the lines, and I’ll help you,"' Gadot recalled. Fair to say, she wasn’t expecting much. And she didn’t get the part: Olga Kurylenko bagged the Bond girl role in the end.

Here’s where it gets properly interesting: the very same casting director who took a punt on Gadot’s Bond audition ended up recommending her later for something a bit more… turbocharged. Gadot was eventually cast in Fast & Furious as Gisele Yashar, which landed her straight into a Hollywood franchise from the jump.

Summing it up on the podcast, Gadot said, 'She was the one to cast me for Fast and Furious. That was the first film I’ve ever done.'

Gadot wasn’t exactly the clear favourite: director Justin Lin picked her from a shortlist of seven. The part came with its own share of memorable moments, including a classic bit of phone confusion. Evidently, when Lin called to break the news about Gisele’s death, Gadot misheard him and thought he said her character was 'deaf' instead of 'dead'. Even Hollywood’s action stars aren’t immune to dodgy phone lines.

• Gal Gadot’s first professional acting gig was almost a complete fluke — she only went to the audition to be polite.
• The very same person behind her Bond tryout turned around and set up her Fast & Furious breakthrough.
• She debuted as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious 4, chosen over six others by director Justin Lin.
• One death call, one spectacular misunderstanding: Gadot thought her character was suddenly 'deaf'.

Gadot gave the whole Bond rejection a laugh, admitting that in hindsight it was a bit ambitious: 'How rude of me to even think I would ever be able to get the part.' But this bit of early rejection turned out alright in the end.

Gadot’s first major Hollywood role came thanks to a misfiring Bond audition she didn’t even want.

These days, Gadot’s hardly in need of luck: her latest project is The Runner, a thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald, with Gadot playing a mother on a desperate dash to rescue her kidnapped son. All that because of a random Bond audition she nearly skipped in college. Strange how things fall together.