Tom Cruise is a movie legend, that much is indisputable. His persona, built around his sugary sweet charisma both on and off-screen, as well as his unrelenting professionalism, has earned him a lot of praise, and the latest is coming from fellow action star Gal Gadot.
The Wonder Woman and Heart of Stone headliner drew from Cruise to prepare for the latter, set to premiere on Netflix this month. Gadot told ComicBook that Cruise was “a big inspiration,” but admitted his work would be hard to emulate. “[He’s] a unicorn in this genre,” the actress remarked.
Known for doing his own stunts – some of which could actually be considered life-threatening — Cruise has raised the bar for all action heroes, so much so that he was praised for “saving cinema” with his high-quality and high-altitude Top Gun sequel in 2022. Still, Gadot is already threading her own individual path.
Heart of Stone is described as the female-led answer to spy thrillers like Mission: Impossible and James Bond, and will be Gadot’s biggest role since her history-making turn as Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe. The actress is no stranger to action flicks, having previously joined the Fast family, as well as pairing up with The Rock and Ryan Reynolds for another Netflix title, 2021’s Red Notice.
Gadot plays Rachel Stone in the upcoming Tom Harper-directed movie – an intelligence double agent working for a top-secret elite organization called The Charter. When hacker Keya Dhawan – played by Alia Bhatt – decides to steal a valuable asset known as The Heart, Rachel must do anything to stop her. The film also stars Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, and Matthias Schweighöfer.
Heart of Stone premieres Friday, Aug. 11. Let’s hope Gadot harnessed the power of the unicorn for this one.