Back in the summer I remember writing a story about Wonder Woman Gal Gadot will be the lead of an original spy franchise and now we’ve got the title, Heart Of Stone.
While Discussing Film broke the original story in July, Deadline last night brought in some added info like the title and Skydance have found a director.
As Tom Harper looks set to be helming the spy thriller for Skydance, and in case you haven’t heard of the British filmmaker before, I highly recommend checking out his past two features. The Aeronauts (which is on Amazon everywhere) and the incredible Wild Rose (which was my favourite movie of 2019).
Following the success of The Old Guard, Greg Rucka will be penning the script alongside Allison Schroeder, who was nominated for an Oscar for the fantastic Hidden Figures.
The Deadline also reveals Gadot will be earning an eight-figure salary, which will put her in the same bracket as Daniel Craig as James Bond and what Tom Cruise makes from Mission Impossible as Ethan Hunt.
The story is still under wraps but is described as the female spin on the genre in the vein of Mission Impossible and 007. Meanwhile, Skydance is keeping its options open for either a theatrical or streaming release.
I can think of several studios that would love to have this potential franchise on their books.
The top five that come to mind are Sony (previous home of Bond and need a new tentpole as they can’t rely on Spider-Man every time), Apple (that wants to buy Bond but this might be a cheaper option) and Paramount (they need something other than Mission Impossible, which is also under the Skydance banner).
Then you have Warner Bros (Gadot is Wonder Woman and they have a great working relationship & they don’t have a spy franchise on their books) and Amazon (they’re able to release both theatrically and on Prime months later).
Additionally, this news proves what I’ve been saying James Bond doesn’t need to be a woman because it’s lazy. Instead create something new and awesome, like Atomic Blonde and The Rhythm Section, which is why I’m so excited about this project and can’t wait to hear more.
The Bear Cave 