Gal Gadot’s popularity has skyrocketed since she starred in Wonder Woman, the superhero film which quickly became the third highest grossing movie by DC comics, behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Striking while the iron is hot, Gadot has four major motion pictures set to release in 2020, but she somehow still found time to start a new production company, Pilot Wave.
Founded with her husband and production partner, Jaron Varsano, Pilot Wave’s first big project will be a biopic on Irena Sendler, the Polish humanitarian famed for her efforts to save an estimated 2,500 Jewish children from the ghettos of Warsaw — and ultimately from the extermination camps — during the German occupation of World War II. Gadot will play the title role of Sendler and will portray her through her good works to her arrest by the Gestapo during the height of the war.
In an interview with Deadline, Gadot and Varsano spoke about the goals of Pilot Wave:
“As producers, we want to help bring stories that have inspired us to life,” Gadot and Varsano said. “Pilot Wave will create content that promotes the perspectives and experiences of unique people and produce impactful stories aimed at igniting the imagination.”
About a year after Poland fell under Nazi occupation, the Jewish population of Warsaw was forced into a small area, only a little larger than one square mile, where they were subjected to squalid living conditions and starvation. This was when Sendler, a Catholic Polish citizen, began her work to sneak children out of these ghettos, to be placed in Christian families where they could hide.
In order to avoid detection by the Nazis, Sendler employed a variety of methods of distraction and disguise. CNA notes a few of these methods:
… she was able to get children out of the ghetto in ambulances, or through the still-standing courthouse located on the edge of the ghetto, through the sewage system, and on a few occasions by using dogs. There was also a Christian church next to the ghetto guarded by the Germans, and a Jewish child who could convincingly recite some Christian prayers could sometimes use this as an escape route.
Irena Sendler is still in pre-production and there is currently no release date announced, but it will most likely reach theaters in 2021 or 2022.
And today we celebrate...