'Wonder Woman' Banned In Lebanon Over Israeli Actress Gal Gadot

The upcoming “Wonder Woman” film was banned in Lebanon Wednesday. The culprit is none other than its lead star, Gal Gadot. Sound surprising? It all has to do with Gadot's ethnicity.

Gadot was born and raised in Rosh HaAyin, Israel — she’s very vocal about it, too. As all Israeli citizens do, she was required to serve time within the country’s military for two years, according to the Los Angeles Times. This unfortunately proves to be a conflict of interest for the Lebanese government because Lebanon is currently at war with Israel. Likewise, it wouldn’t make sense for Lebanon to support their enemy’s work.

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According to local Arab newspaper The Daily Star, the Lebanese Ministry of Economy needed to quickly “take the necessary measures” to exclude the film from screening within the country.

The call to ban the film stemmed from a letter written by Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement representative Dr. Abdel Malik Sukria.

According to Arab News, he wrote, “This actress served in the (Israel Defense Forces) and was crowned the beauty queen of Israel. She also revealed her support for the IDF during the last war in Gaza.”

Currently, Lebanon fully intends to boycott anything affiliated with Israel. The country is “preventing citizens from buying Israeli products, traveling to the country, or being in contact with Israelis,” according to Fortune. Taking this into consideration, the decison to ban “Wonder Woman” doesn’t prove to be a complete surprise.

Since Wonder Woman always conquers her foes, minor setbacks as this will most likely not hurt the film. Lebanon’s decision to prevent it from screening isn't expected disrupt its box office numbers. Leading up to this announcement, the film was only set to screen at 15 Lebanese theaters. Now, “Wonder Woman” is projected to open at $87M domestically and it's also expected to perform well internationally, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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A live-action Wonder Woman film is a prject that has taken 76 years too long to arrive in theaters. For some reason, she has had a much harder time accomplishing her cinematic debut compared to her heroic counterparts. Yet, Gadot’s film adaptation is “the payoff to decades of on-again, off-again efforts to bring the Amazonian princess to the big screen,” according to Mashable.

From 1996 onward, there have been several failed attempts to bring the Amazonian princess’ tale to life. Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters” director) and George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road” director) were amongst the ranks of filmmakers who had attempted to accomplish a Wonder Woman film many years ago. Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, had also revealed that “How I Met Your Mother” star Cobie Smulders was his top choice to play the iconic character.

Nonetheless, the film is now a reality and has been welcomed with praise from many critics alike prior to its official debut.

We fully expect to see “Wonder Woman” kicking butt and taking names during its premiere weekend June 2, 2017.