Gal Gadot To Produce, Star In WWII Film About Polish Woman Who Saved Jewish Kids From Warsaw Ghetto

Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot, of Wonder Woman fame, is set to produce and star in a WWII-era film about a Polish social worker and nurse who saved over 2,500 children in Nazi-occupied Poland by helping to smuggle them out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The film will be the first project taken on by Gadot’s newly formed production company called Pilot Wave, which she founded with her husband, Israeli producer Jaron Varsano, Deadline first reported on Thursday.

The film, a historical thriller, tells the story of Irena Sendler (also the name of the movie), a member of the Polish underground who worked in the children’s section of Zegota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews. She was part of a vast network of volunteers and workers from that organization who worked to smuggle children out of the Warsaw ghetto and provide them with false identity documents and shelter with Christian families, Catholic convents, and orphanages – saving them from the Nazis.

The movie begins following her arrest by the Gestapo, the secret police of the Nazi regime, at the height of the war. “The drama becomes a race against time to save not only herself but the identities of the hidden thousands who’ll face certain execution,” Deadline wrote.

Sendler managed to hide the list, surviving torture and imprisonment. In 1965, she was recognized by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations. She died in 2008.

“As producers, we want to help bring stories that have inspired us to life,” Gadot and Varsano told Deadline. “Pilot Wave will create content that promotes the perspectives and experiences of unique people and produce impactful stories aimed at igniting the imagination.”

In a post to her Instagram page, Gadot wrote: Pilot Wave is taking off! I’m so excited this is finally out. @jaronvarsano and I have been working on this for quite some time and I just CAN’T wait to bring to life all the amazing stories we’re working on with all of our wonderfully talented partners.”

Gadot’s 2017 film Wonder Woman nabbed more than $800 million at the box office worldwide, making it the 5th highest-grossing US superhero movie of all time.

Gadot’s Wonder Woman 1984 sequel is set to be released in 2020.