Gal Gadot has puzzled some observers with her extremely warm, ongoing embrace of the Barbie phenomenon and, of course, its husband-wife producing team Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley, as Gal was once firmly in the camp of Tom and Margot's arch-rivals, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, after making a fortune on the 2021 Netflix adventure Red Notice, which costarred Ryan and Dwayne Johnson.
A source explains the tricky situation exclusively for Life & Style: "Gal wanted to make a Red Notice sequel pretty much as soon as she was done with the first movie and Dwayne and Ryan wanted to wait.”
“That wait turned into two years and Gal lost patience with Dwayne and Ryan, who had multiple other projects lined up.”
“That's precisely when Gal pivoted and started sucking up to Margot and Tom, who totally love her and are trying to find something to do with her,” the insider explains.
The competition between the two couples is quickly becoming Hollywood’s most intense rivalry, by far.
“It’s becoming painfully clear that you can’t be friends with Margot and Tom and also be friends with Ryan and Blake,” a second insider previously dished to Life & Style, “and it’s really forcing a lot of A-listers to pick sides.”
“Margot did really win the respect of the smart set in Hollywood with Barbie and picked up a lot of incredible new friends along the way.”
Margot and Tom, both 34, who’s company, LuckyChap Entertainment, hit it big with Barbie’s success after spending years spinning up their enterprise, have set their sights on dominating the silver screen in the near future. Not only was the Greta Gerwig-directed flick a box office smash, it was nominated for eight Academy Awards, giving them some serious juice with studio executives and investors.
As the power couple’s star continues to rise, they’ve faced stiff competition from Ryan, 47, and Blake, 37, who are both coming off the heels of pretty big wins themselves, with Deadpool & Wolverine breaking opening weekend records and It Ends With Us drumming up huge press buzz.
Gal Gadot 'Lost Patience' With Ryan Reynolds, Turning to Rivals (EXCL)
With battle lines drawn, the Wonder Woman star, 39, is hopping the fence to warm up to Margot and Tom hoping she can land some more projects to drive her career beyond superhero stardom, which is what a Red Notice franchise was supposed to do.
But, as the first source notes, that prospect is becoming less and less likely the longer a sequel spends in movie limbo: “Meanwhile, a Red Notice sequel is becoming more and more of a pipe dream by the day as Ryan and Dwayne service their other movie franchises.”
Sick of waiting around on the sidelines for a call from Ryan, Gal’s looking to hitch herself to Margot and jump into one of the many projects the Wolf of Wall Street actress and her producer hubby are currently eyeing – which reports indicate may be an adaptation of the board game Monopoly, in the same whimsical-yet-meaningful vein as Barbie.
“Gal is done with those guys and truly sees the benefit of linking up with another famous female filmmaker, even one as busy as Margot is."
