Leading up to the release of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, one of the most talked-about additions to the film was Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot, who was tapped to voice the ultra-cool street racer, Shank. Fans around the world were unbelievably excited to see Gadot join the already beloved Disney franchise, and there’s actually a sweet story behind how she got the role.
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As it turns out, directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston had someone “like” Gadot in mind from the jump, so they thought why not swing for the fences?
While speaking to ComicBook.com at the Ralph Breaks the Internet press junket, Moore and Johnston talked about working with Gadot on the movie, as well as the Alan Menken song that she sings with Sarah Silverman’s Vanellope.
“[We flew to London] quite a few times,” Moore began. “It started as just throwing out this idea of, ‘Well Shank is supposed to be this cool big sister to Vanellope,’ but who could play that? Undeniably the coolest person. And we’re like, ‘Well, Gal Gadot.’ Someone in the room was like, ‘Good luck with that!’ We’re delusional, we’ll try, it doesn’t hurt to try. So we wrote her a letter and told her about the story and sent the script over to her, talked to her on the phone after she read the letter, and very quickly she decided, ‘Okay, I like this! There’s a song in it and I get to sing, so I’m in.’”
“It reminds me,” Johnston added, “when we [initially] said that, we said ‘A Gal Gadot type.’ And with the song we were like, ‘an Alan Menken-type song.’ And then we were just like, ‘Wait, why don’t we just get the real ones?’ It shockingly worked and here we are.”
It did work, and thankfully so, because Gadot is absolutely perfect for the role. Hopefully, if there is ever a third Wreck-It Ralph movie in the future, we will get to see even more of Shank’s adventures.
You can watch the full interview with Rich Moore and Phil Johnston in the video above!
Ralph Breaks the Internet is now playing in theaters.
